The garage door in the metal shop is for bringing large materials into and out of the metal shop. It should generally be opened only as long as necessary to accomplish this in order to preserve our AC/heating.
The area in front of the door is currently being used for staging materials for upgrades to the metal shop. I have also allowed extra storage there a few times upon request. Once the fiber laser enclosure is built and the laser is online, we may allow vehicles to back in to get under the fiber laser’s material lift. If so, this will be strictly for quick drop offs.
Otherwise and until then, no cars are allowed in the metal shop. It never occurred to me that I had to explicitly forbid this until several people drove their car in, one apparently just to park!
Another person was apparently welding on their car. Taking a welding machine immediately outside the shop is permissible – this is stated in the welding classes – and we have a long heavy duty power extension cord to permit this. It is not necessary, and not permitted, to bring your car into the shop for welding.
Asmbly had an auto bay at one point, and an intentional decision was made to eliminate it. There are other places to go in Austin if you need such facilities, such as https://diyatx.com/ The metal shop is not for repair of entire cars.
Couple additional questions — I am considering stopping by for a day before sending my chassis off to paint to do some welding and use the grinders.
Is there an ideal time to work outside? Would grinders / drills cause too much noise for the neighborhood?
Is there a rule about parking a project for a day or two if it takes me more than one day to weld panels? I’m guessing that we need to take our projects, including a car chassis, home with us every night.
Do you know if wind outside interferes with the gas coverage for TIG?
We’re deep in an industrial park, and our nearest neighbor is another industrial park. I don’t think that level of noise is an issue. I doubt ten times that much noise would be an issue.
I don’t think we have an explicit rule about length of time parking, and I think leaving a car that you are actively working on is reasonable for a few days. (Management can clarify if I’m wrong.) I would only say, don’t leave it parked in front of any garage door of course.
@SavHarvey would know with more certainty, but I suspect not. Even under normal circumstances, the area shielded by the gas is very local; it would take a very strong external air flow to disrupt that right at the tip.
You could definitely get away with MIG or TIG welding outside on a day that isn’t windy, I’ve TIG welded outside many times, once it starts to get windy though your shielding gas could easily get knocked out, but bringing some welding screens outside with you can also help shield you from some of the wind.
OK, bad news regarding item 2: we do indeed prohibit overnight parking, and that’s based on our lease stipulations, so there’s no room for flexibility there.
Hey Ethan, Ari here! I’m the one probably this is about. I’m not specifically working on my car but welding a pre-fab Coastal Off-road steel bumper, which requires assembly onto the vehicle itself. This is my first welding project which also means everything also takes twice as long. I generally do it late at night when temps are down and only a handful of people are around (sometimes none). I was told it would be ok when I first proposed the project a while back before I joined.
I’d like to propose a prior approval needed as opposed to an outright ban as there are number of variables that I fear will make the project virtually impossible to finish, and I probably only need a couple more welding sessions (it’s already 85% done).
Ethan I’ll respond to you directly via email to see if we can resolve this. Thanks!!!