Tools for a MIG Welding Hobby Shop - Part 3

Hood

You can spend a LOT of money on a hood but it is not necessary. For that matter, you can get by with a $25 hood if you have to. Your basic hood is pitch black until you strike the arc. This makes it really hard when you are tacking something together and when you are starting each bead.

No big deal if you are a seasoned craftsman, but if you're new, a quick-change hood will be WAY better to learn on and use in your Mig hobby shop.

With a quick-change you can see what you are doing and it will instantly go dark when you strike the arc. They change in thousandths of a second so as not to burn your eyes. (At least that's what they say!)

I was real leery of quick-changes because I'm old school, but when I first started using a quick-change I realized I'd been missing out BIG time. Makes tacking a breeze and is so easy for starting new beads and doing re-starts.

My hood adjusts clear for grinding, #5 for cutting, and all the way to #13 for heavy gouging. All those bells and whistles ain't cheap! My hood was over $300 and the only reason I have it is it helps when I'm teaching.

If I was just gonna' get one for a hobby shop I would get more of a basic model. You can get one of the name brand quick changes from $90 to $300. You can get one of the online tool store hoods for about $50. Not near as nice, but will get you by.

Chisels and Punches

A good assortment of chisels and punches will cost you $30 on up and will be well worth the purchase. You'll be using them all the time to take off burrs, mark holes, punch for holes to drill, etc.

Vice and Anvil

A good vice and anvil are worth their weight in gold. I made a great anvil/vice combination by taking a piece of railroad rail and mounting it on a ¾” flat plate. Burned a couple of holes in the plate to hang tools and make bends on round bar with.

For a mount I welded a three foot piece of angle into an old truck wheel. I had the angle coming out of the lug-nut hole side. (In other words as you would be looking at the wheel if you were going to change it when it was on the truck.

I then turned that upside down and welded some re-bar on the inside and poured concrete into it. After it hardened I turned it hole side up and welded the plate with anvil and vice onto the angle post.

Makes for a great work bench with the bottom heavy concrete and I can move it all over my garage by just tilting it and rolling it where ever I want to go.

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