Hi Everyone,
My name's Erik; I'm a full-time college student who spends most my free time outside of class working to turn my passion for welding and fabrication into a side business. When I was 13, my parents helped me purchase my first welder; it was a Home Depot Lincoln Flux Core. I'm self-taught other than one semester of welding during my time in Heavy Equipment school.
All of my disposable income gets invested back into growing my backyard shop. After selling the Home Depot Lincoln I upgraded to a Millermatic 180, it's been a great machine. Then after attending Fabtech 2015 here in Chicago, I bought my Lincoln Square Wave 200 TIG. Most recently I've invested in a Plasmacam DHC2 working in conjunction with a Hypertherm Powemax 45XP.
Most of my recent welding and fab work has been mild steel. I'm in the process of learning Fusion 360 and have started to incorporate it into my design process. My weldtables.com fabBlock has also been a great asset. I design and build a lot of tube steel furniture and the ability to quickly fixture the weldment speeds up the setup process and helps me achieve higher build quality. If you're interested in seeing my work, please feel free to check out my website erik-lutz.com and my Instagram, lutzylikeswelding.
The podcast, youtube channel, and everyone's Instagram's have been such a great learning resource and inspiration. I'm very grateful for everyone's generous contributions to the online welding community. I'm a one man outfit and don't know any local welders; I owe much of my recent progress as a fabricator to Jody and the welding tips and tricks family.
I look forward to contributing, learning and getting to know everyone. If there's anyone on here in the Chicagoland area don't hesitate to say hello, I'd love to lay down some beads with ya.
My apologies for the long post. Have a great day everyone!
