09/26/2026
A big hat tip to CS Unitec and EverlastWeldersUSA for making top shelf tools for industry professionals.
And another hat tip to my friend Drew Ridgeway for being a stud with a 120 pound mag drill!
We have 54 tank fittings to install. They are 4" sanitary style and they must be installed plumb into the ends of spun (work hardened) stainless steel tanks.
We built a swanky steel plate that can adjust to the tank height and locations, and give the 26,000 pound capacity magnet of the badass MAB1300 drill, something to grip.
The drill base is 3/4" thick steel and has stainless ears welded to it so that we can weld it to the tank in 2 places and not impart steel contamination into the surface of the tank.
We worked like rented mules yesterday to bore and weld EIGHT 4" fittings in under 8 hours; we also skipped lunch because the boss is a wretched slave driver (am I the boss?).
The little Everlast 161 STH pulsed GTAW ("tig") was a champ and had ample power and great control to weld the sanitary fittings into the nearly 1/2" thick 304 stainless tanks.
And that drill was an absolute beast as it LEISURELY punched a 4" carbide tipped hole saw thru nearly 1/2" of work-hardened stainless steel.
When people ask what we do, I sometimes wonder myself...
The customer struggled to find anyone that would even look at this job, so it was right up my alley lol.
After a few trips to test different options, and one burned up Vevor mag drill, we settled on the "go big or go home" approach and began knocking them out at a rate better than one per hour!
Thanks again to Drew and those that made this possible!
