Inside the Built For Dirt Fabrication Shop

Built For Dirt walks through the fabrication shop behind their Jeep and off-road builds — a working metal shop that also handles stainless work for the wine industry.

Featured in “Welding Fabrication Shop Tour (Behind The Scenes)” by Built For Dirt.

The steel rack holds mostly stainless (for the wine work) plus mild steel, so they can turn around emergency jobs without waiting on material. Mild and stainless are kept separate through the whole process — even dedicated grinding and sanding stations — to avoid cross-contamination.

Welding

TIG work runs on Miller Dynasty 210 and 280 machines with wireless foot pedals and water-cooled torches for long sessions. For wire feed, they run Miller Matic 252 units set up for mild and stainless, ready for aluminum when needed.

Cutting, bending and machining

• Bandsaw: an old but reliable DoAll for stock cutting
• Shear: ten-foot shear that handles up to ten-gauge steel
• Press brake: customized older unit with multiple dies for brackets and parts
• Slip roll: four-foot roll for rounded panels
• Ironworker: a Piranha for quick cuts on thick metal
• Tubing bender: a programmable Bailey RBD 250 for repeatable bends
• Machining: an Enco mill and a lathe for drilling and coping tubes

A jig table with an integrated grounding system keeps parts accurate and cuts down on cables underfoot. Air comes from two compressors — an Ingersoll Rand and a Husky — positioned to keep the noise down.