Red Seal Welder Expands Skills With Torchmate - And Grows A Fabrication Business

“The Torchmate table works like a dream, it has not had any issues whatsoever.” 

DC Fab is a small town welding and fabrication business located in Coaldale, Alberta, Canada. The business specializes in building custom trucks and vehicle frames. The company is owned by Dakota Carpenpier. Dakota has more than a decade of welding experience and is a Journeymen Red Seal Welder. For much of his life, he enjoyed his career as a welder. About 3 years ago, Dakota’s friend asked him if he could do a job for him. He agreed and the rest is history. Other people saw the piece Dakota fabricated for his friend which led to them also inquiring about custom jobs from Dakota. That is how DC Fab was created.

When the business first began, Dakota was using a handheld plasma cutter to complete his fabrication projects. “Cutting by hand took so much time, I knew there was a better way. My girlfriend’s uncle had a Torchmate® table he was willing to sell me. I have over doubled my productivity and capabilities since purchasing the Torchmate. I have been able to accept so many jobs that I was not able to accept when I was cutting metal by hand,” Dakota said.

Torchmate Table Going Strong For 18 Years

Before purchasing a Torchmate table, DC Fab researched many different plasma cutting options and CNC table brands. We asked Dakota why he decided to choose a Torchmate over other CNC table brands. He said, “The biggest reason was because Torchmate is made and supported by Lincoln Electric®. I did not want an off-brand machine that makes it hard to get parts and support. I did a lot of research and looked on many forums and found that most all off-brand machines seemed like a constant headache.

The Facebook Torchmate groups have been a lot of help. Torchmate also offers so many resources that make owning a Torchmate much better than other brand machines. Once I unloaded the Torchmate into my shop, I went onto the Torchmate website where I found the machine manual that showed where all of the connections went and explained how to properly setup the table. I was surprised and thought it was awesome that my model machine manual was still on the Torchmate website even though it is an 18 year old Torchmate.

The resources Torchmate provides allowed me to have the table up and running within a day. After 18 years, the Torchmate still works like a dream and hasn’t had any issues whatsoever. I even taught myself how to properly operate the machine using all of the YouTube videos Torchmate has available.”

Torchmate Cuts Weld-Ready Parts

DC Fab has expanded its capabilities and grown its customer base since purchasing a Torchmate. The demand increase for DC Fab’s projects has been strictly from word of mouth. The business has not yet needed to do any advertising. However, Dakota’s ultimate goal is to exclusively build and sell custom frames and trucks. He hopes to one day offer custom parts on a website and hold an inventory of those parts so customers can buy directly on a website. For now, DC Fab does all types of metal fabrication and welding.

“I make coolant tanks, brackets for turbo kits, suspension parts, exhausts, body panel replacements, build frames, gussets, 4 link parts and even wall art signs. I recently built an oil tank for a World War 2 plane. For every project, the Torchmate cut quality has been great. After the pieces come off the table, there is only a little slag I chisel off before welding. I don’t even have to touch a grinder to clean up the parts. Eventually, I want to offer parts on my website such as universal bag mount kits or 3 and half inch axels to name a couple,” Dakota said.

DC Fab continues to grow with the help of their Torchmate table. The table gets used at least every other day and is used to cut almost every part that DC Fab creates. The Torchmate machine allowed the business to reach new heights and gain new clients. Now, they will more easily be able to fund and achieve their ultimate goal of opening a full custom truck and frame business. Thank you to DC Fab and Dakota Carpenpier for telling their story. On behalf of everyone at Lincoln Electric, we are thankful for each of our customers’ business and are happy to be contributing to your successes.

Check out DC Fab’s social channel. On their Instagram, they display a wide variety of their metal fabrication projects. Customers can browse through DC Fab’s portfolio and contact them directly. Additionally, visitors will find behind the scenes photos and videos about how the business completes small and large projects. To view their social content, place an order, or for more information about the business, please visit their Instagram page.

Check out Torchmate CNC Plasma Tables here and see how you can start growing your business!

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