Went to the coolest job shop...

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So I went to pick up some parts for school at this job shop in MN called metal joining labs... based on the name I figured it would be some crazy clean shop that does medical and aerospace stuff and that it would be all locked down, no tours, no touching, no breathing kind of place.Man was I surprised when I walked in... showed up on my motorcycle and right when I walked in I saw pics of sport bikes all over, knew I would like this place. The shop itself was tiny, narrow and long and so full of equipment you could barely walk around. This guy had one of everything you wish you had and some things that you didn't even know you needed. He was a little light on fab equipment as most of his stuff seemed to be prefabbed where he just did the welding... he had a mill and your basic cold saw and grinders, but nothing crazy.The welding equipment was way too cool though... he had a Syncrowave 500, damn thing was as big as a coke machine and used tungsten that rivals stick rods I have run. Other highlights were his hydrogen arc welder, analog orbital welder, clear dome welding atmosphere from the 60's, and a wall of filler rod. When I say a wall I mean most of one of his walls was a filler rod rack, had everything from 70S2 to inconel, pure copper, nickel, mag, titanium, and some other crazy stuff that I had never even heard of.I sat and BS'ed with him for an hour or so and picked his brain about SS header welding and proper back gassing, which he gave me some great tips about. All around an awesome shop and an awesome guy running it. If I have as much cool equipment some day I will be very happy!Almost forgot to mention the welding positioner rated for 5000 lbs or something crazy like that!
Reply:Did you ask for an internship or apprenticeship.   sounds like a great place to volunteer in exchange for probably some of the best teaching you will ever get...   Work there for free for the summer or something if you can...  clean floors, take out the trash, whatever..   you will get paid back a 100 times over with what you learn at a place like that..Tiger Sales:  AHP Distributor    www.tigersalesco.comAHP200x; AHP 160ST; MM350P,  Spoolmatic 30A; Everlast PowerTig 185; Thermal Dynamics 60i plasma.  For Sale:  Cobra Mig 250 w/ Push-pull gun.  Lincoln Wirematic 250