TinkerMill Shop: Welding

Join metals together for a variety of project use. TinkerMill has a MIG and TIG welder. Shop is located outside in our back bay, along side blacksmithing.

Notable Equipment

  • MIG Welding for steel (Lincoln Electric)
  • TIG Welder for steel, stainless, aluminum 
  • Oxyacetylene Torches
  • Stick Welder
  • Abrasive Chopsaw
  • Metal Bandsaw

Ron Dauplaise

Ron is originally from Massachusetts but has been in Fort Collins for two years now. He has 20 years of custom metal fabrication experience, ranging from all kinds of residential and commercial projects to one-off projects. He has worked with all different metals over the years, stainless steel is his specialty. TIG is his weapon of choice but has enjoyed relearning MIG for the benefits that can be achieved with a simpler welding process. We are so glad to have him here to share his experience! 

Contact info: ronald.dauplaise@tinkermill.org, 508-789-9763, and active on Slack (members only)

A training class is required before accessing any equipment independently in this shop. These need to be taken in order (other than the bandsaw certification which can be taken after WBS 101).

  • Welding Bay Safety (WBS) 101: Your intro to the shop – you will learn safety practices and will focus on the horizontal bandsaw, belt sanders, chop saw, bench grinder/wire wheel, handheld angle grinder, and drill press. 
  • MIG 101: Learn basic skills with hands on practice. After completion of this class, members can use MIG Welder independently and have use of shop space.
  • TIG 101: Must have taken MIG to attend a TIG class. This class will teach you and grant access to steel use of TIG DC process.
  • TIG 102: This is part two of TIG certification where you will learn aluminum application, AC process. Completion of this second class will grant member’s independent use of the TIG Welder for AC and DC applications.
 
Members and non-members can attend classes, but members can only use the shop independently after certification.
 

Minimum age 14 in this shop but only with a certified legal guardian present.

Classes are listed on our online calendar, but if there is not a class currently listed you can also reach out to the Shop Captain. 

 

In addition to being a member, there is cost associated with shop use. 

Gas Use:
  • $10/hr, you will learn this procedure in your certification class.

We encourage you to practice these skills independently. Additional skillbuilding classes are also available after certification:
MIG 201: Basic Building and Sanding 
TIG 201: Basic Building and Sanding 

Slack Channels (member’s only) – #welding 

Reservations not required however Google Calendar reservations (members only) will take precedence and classes will be scheduled around them. 

If there are no classes available (or the ones you want), feel free to email Shop Captain, ronald.dauplaise@tinkermill.org, to let him know you’re interested!