Creating Light from the Darkness of a Recession
For 13 years I owned and operated a local construction company that was based in the residential market. When the economy crashed and the housing market took a turn for the worst, you can imagine how that might of effected companies like mine. We tried to stay open for as long as we could, but it became clear a new means to make a living was needed. In the mean time I kept myself busy with personal projects; in early September 2011, I made a device that fit onto my CNC mill, to plasma cut some parts out of tubing for my sand rail (dune buggy). This gave me the idea and ability to cut designs out of the pipes that were lying around the shop. So I cut out a single design of a Trident and presented it to my daughter. Encouraged by the positive reactions, I cut a number of designs for Halloween. I showed the Halloween designs to just about anyone I could, and again received a lot of REALLY positive reactions. So for the next few months, I put in countless hours designing a machine dedicated to cutting designs from pipe or tubing, like those you see here.
Starting in early January, my daughter joined me and her creative talent is highly noticeable in many of the new designs. She also recently graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering, so she has been a great help with many of the technical issues involved in getting this process to work smoothly.
About the pipe.
Up to now, all that I have worked with is what is referred to as 3” Schedule 10 "black" pipe. It’s a little confusing, but the outside dimension is actually 3 1/2” and about 0.100” thick. So about 3 1/4” left on the inside.
Tube vs Pipe
The first difference is how tubing and pipe are described. Tubing is based on its outside diameter (OD) and wall thickness, while pipe sizing is based on its capacity. So 3” pipe has a minimum inside diameter of 3” and its thickness is determined by the “schedule” and its outside diameter is 3 1/2 inches. Tubing is generally used for structures, like roll cages for vehicles and is also available in dimensions other than round (like square, rectangular, etc.) Pipe is used for moving fluids or gases and have fittings designed to connect them together.
For my process, the important thing is that it isn’t too heavy. The pipe we’re currently using is considered very light duty and it still weights around 4 lbs per linear ft.
