Thomas Martinez

If you’ve ever walked on edge of a roof deck, you know the hollow sound. It’s thin oriented strand board stretching across unsupported span. This … Read more

There is a balance between heat and voltage drop when it comes to sizing your welding leads. The amperage rating on your machine isn’t the … Read more

The wire feed settings don’t account for most of the welding cost; it’s the spool bin. If you think you’re using X pounds of wire … Read more

How do you remove a tree stump? Well, you figure you chop down some wood and it goes away. Seems like a brute force kind … Read more

The vast majority of problems with laser cutting happen in the first couple seconds of use. It happens the moment you hit start and beam … Read more

After pressing the cycle start button you hear the CNC spindle scream like a turbine and you know you guessed at the feed rate rather … Read more

It’s happened to every fabricator; you are standing in front of a pile of welding rods and asking yourself, “Did I get enough? Did I … Read more

Steel: On first thought, mild steel seems pretty straightforward. A pound here and a pound there, right? Not quite! Steel can be lighter or heavier … Read more

So if you have framed a roof by eye before you might notice that there isn’t always a stack of lumber that fits perfect together. … Read more

How many bundles do I think will be needed? How many bundles? It’s hard to tell until you break the roof down into its true … Read more

A roof is a constant balance of material limits, geometry, and gravity. If you grab a two-by-eight at the lumber yard, there are two properties … Read more

Draw the plan, choose the plants, erect the walls. Sketch in the base, then add the roof, and now it is all about geometry. A … Read more

Deciding on a roof shape sets tone of the house’s appearance for half a century. Beyond its main task of keeping rain out, pitch determines … Read more

You can run the numbers in the calculator at the top of this post; but knowing what it’s asking for will help you catch your … Read more