Tehachapi, CA - At the age of only 14, "custom fabrication" was already practically Sean Mahaney's middle name. By the time he graduated from high school he had too much business to continue working out of his home garage and had to open his own shop.
From those early entrepreneurial days to now, Sean has worked in a number of shops on a variety of projects - from reality shows (Remember Discovery Channel's "Street Customs?") to mini trucks (the original Master Image Customs) - and has made a name for himself as a chief master fabricator.
Through it all though, one thing has remained constant - his passion for hands on work through custom fabrication. Now, that passion has put Sean to work in an unlikely direction - his newest business venture - building custom wheelchairs.
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Topics:
Welder,
welding,
ESAB,
ESAB blog,
TIG,
TIG welding,
SeanCo,
fabrication,
metal fabrication,
custom wheelchairs,
welding fabrication
Last year, I was working in Juarez, Mexico on a training job for ESAB with a great group of TIG welders. I made some good friends, had some great food...But the thing that really left an impression on me was how well we all understood each other.
None of the trainees spoke English, and I don’t speak Spanish. Yet, despite the language barrier, for the whole week, we just went on with it - welding together, learning, and figuring out procedure.
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Topics:
Welder,
welding,
ESAB,
ESAB blog,
education,
welding basics,
TIG,
welding tips,
TIG welding,
tungsten
Lately, I've been following the websites and social sites you guys share your work on, like Instagram, and the TIG welds are incredible. I see all the pretty colors - straw, rose, green and blue.
ESAB Photo
There's a good contest going between all of you to see how many colors you can get in one weld. I have to say it's pretty impressive...
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Topics:
Welder,
welding,
ESAB blog,
education,
metal,
welding basics,
TIG,
welding tips,
TIG welding,
color chart,
aluminum,
stainless
I have long had a passion for TIG welding and a love for tungsten. It’s a craft that takes your mind off everything else.
And let's face it, tungsten is the Chuck Norris of the metal world. It even has a hardcore element name - WOLFRAM. Tungsten has the highest melting point at 6,191 °F (3,422 °C), the lowest thermal expansion coefficient, and the highest tensile strength of all pure metals.
Add a little thorium or zirconium and you have a tungsten electrode.
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Topics:
Welder,
welding,
ESAB,
ESAB blog,
education,
metal,
welding basics,
STICK,
TIG,
welding tips,
TIG welding,
tungsten
As a former welding instructor, I would often watch as new students walked in and looked completely overwhelmed at all the welding equipment in class. Dials and digital readouts, gas tanks, regulators and torches...
My first goal as an instructor was to put them at ease.
“See all these gizwidget dials? Just wait and let me walk you through it, because it’s so easy,” I would tell them. “It all starts with what metal you want to weld.”
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Topics:
welding,
ESAB,
education,
Fabricator,
metal,
welding basics,
training,
STICK,
Tweco,
Fabricator 211i,
TIG,
MIG
