He explains that the little door goes back to when he first set up the studio. At first, Kevin had to bring in 10-foot pieces of stock through the and try to maneuver them around to get them to the chopsaw table and then get what was left back outside. So Kevin thought, “Let’s put a door there.”
Then he built a rack outside for all of his long stock, from the 1/4 x 1/4 to half-inch, pipe, square stock and bigger metal stock on the bottom. So now he can just open the door, slide the stock onto the cutting table, and cut it to length.
The table is made of rollers from Harbor Freight – they were about $3 or $4 each – and heavy-wall 1″ square tubing. Kevin figured out the table height by taking into account the height of the rollers and the height of the table to make a stand for the chopsaw to bolt to so everything would come across flat and smooth.
Some eagle-eyed viewers are probably wondering what the cut out on the table is for. Kevin lifts his plate shear and slides it into place to show them. The plate shear can cut 16″ round stock and up to 1/8″ metal. The plate shear throat is about the same height as the roller and the chopsaw table. He can even use the chopsaw backstop and clamp, as long as the plate shear is 90 degress to the backstop.
So Kevin keeps all of his cutting gear – chopsaw, plate shear, foot shear and his Beverly shear, which is just across the way and which he uses to cut curves and circles – in the same general area. That way he can cut his stock, then move it to his welding table or bending tools. It makes things more efficient.
Kevin says he’s ready to go back to work, so you have time to go to subscribe to see more free how-to videos.
Well, you might want to take one more moment to see him tie his tongue in knots …..