I've been running a ranger 8 for about 3 years now. Not the most respected if your gonna run with the big dogs down south or west on rig yards or pipeline. However, mine has done me well with over 1000 hours on it now. In fact done well enough to earn me enough to finally pick up an Sa. Local guys I talk to and work with around here pretty much have air cooled machines. Trailblazers, bobcats, Lincolns and one buddy runs some pretty big stuff off his trailblazer......all day long for weeks at a time. My ranger will become my backup or auxillary machine if I can land the equipment to run tig. If your just starting out, work hard, do good work and listen to these old guys on here you'll gain respect. Don't spend a ton of money up front hard times will come when your wondering if you can make your business insurance payment, truck or house note and having a pricey new money machine sitting there idle is gonna hurt.
The ranger won't do you wrong, run a mig welder off mine at times, a tank of argon and some aluminum wire and I'm out welding aluminum. Dry rig and some argon and I'm out tiggin' steel or stainless. Need bigger aluminum my mig won't run, rent a tig machine, plug it into the ranger and grab your gas and roll on. All and all very pleased with my ranger. Now, it depends on what your goal is as far as "what/where I want to be welding" but for just starting out with a limited budget in a market that has lots of welders and even more "weldors" out there to compete with dumping a ton of money in rig without LOTS of work lined up might do you more harm than good. And believe me, you gonna run across more people now that "know how to weld" than ever. There are different folks though, the type that say, " I can weld a little, but not anywhere near as good as you are" and the others are the ones that "know how to weld" and ask how you like those 7011 rods, "I used them all the time". Then you'll have your obvious real welders.
Don't know where your at or who you know but it's gonna take time to get your name out there. I got a bunch of welders around here I consider friends and talk to them to see where they are at, what they are doing. Sometimes they have something that they can't get to and send it my way or maybe they get a big job and need me to work single hand. I do the same for them, passed a big job off to a buddy with the hopes he could get it. Or maybe even there is a job big enough that they might bring me on with my rig. I'd do the same for them.
Your gonna need,
- insurance(millions) call an independent agent near you that deals with business insurance. This will cover your work and truck/tools
- workers comp? Here in Tennessee I'm not required to have it as I have no employees, next year they're changing that, even though it will not cover me if I get hurt. So you'll need to check into that.
- business cards obviously
- loads of patients, craftyness to figure out how your gonna pay your insurance payment when you've been sitting idle for a few weeks droppin' business cards, shakin' bushes to try and find work.
- LOADS of patients.....oh, did I say that already?
If you don't have the personality to be a small business owner it may beat you up. It's no sh_t up and down, slow,slow, slow then next thing you don't know how your gonna get everything done and it may be like that for several months, then once you get caught up on come the brake lights. Try and find a mainstay, a company you can do lots of work for or maybe not lots but someone you can build a relationship with. For example, I have a good friend now who is the son in law for a fence company owner. He found out I was welding back when we first met. He kept me real busy with gate repairs, fence repairs and all sorts of whooky stuff you would not think a fence company would do. I swear if not for him I would have been out long ago. I did good work, charged a fair rate and he would call me for the work. Gate installs, dumpster enclosure gates, bollards, handrail and we even did an indoor batting cage. I still do work for him and were looking at a job right now that's pretty good size. I'll end up making most of the money building what needs to be built but with quality work and a fair price the client will say, hey, that welder guy does good work, we'd like him to bid on job for us. Had that happen at the school with the boilers, main guy for the schools loved my work, asked for a card and said, "I don't need any references".
Well, gotta get to work on some stairs, good luck, get some tums, you'll need them!! Ranger 8, you'll here lots of die hards say no, if you got $20k laying around with nothing to do by all means go drop $10k on a vantage or a pipepro. If you don't have it to burn, start out small with something you can buy for cash. The more you buy for cash the less you have in bills, trust me when you start running three jobs at once you'll have money scattered all over the place and invoices in the mailbox everyday, one less bill is like heaven on earth!!
Hope my mindless ramblings help,
Shawn
