Fabrication is one of the most important pillars of automotive customization. Everything from roll cages, suspension components, accessories, and chassis design employs the process of fabricating parts from raw materials. For the off-road world, this is almost exclusively done with some form of metal. But every finished part that’s ready to bolt-on to your rig started from raw materials, and had to be fabricated to reach it’s final form.

On this episode of Chasing Dust, Matt takes us to Welding Sparks in Riverside, CA, where he meets with owner, Chris Begley, to gain some education on the basics of off-road fabrication. Chris has been a fabricator in the off-road world for over 25 years, and has built everything from Prerunners to crawlers to UTV’s and show trucks alike. Chris has a background in Graphic Design, which he credits to the functional but aesthetic designs he puts in the vehicles he builds.

We wanted to get some of the basics of fabrication from Chris at his shop. Starting off with a plan is always the first step. Know what you want to build, what it’s made out of, where it will be installed, the purpose it has, and what it will look like are some of the important pillars of fabrication. Chris shows us some of these first steps, and how to properly begin your design so you can take it from an idea to reality.

Furthermore, Chris shows us examples of proper and improper welding on a MIG welder. Having the correct settings on your welder is important to the structural integrity of the weld, and Chris shows the signs to look for when you’re welding on your own projects. He also demonstrates ways in which he uses a chop saw to notch steel tubing for cage work, or other junctions in which tubing is used. Matt asks Chris for a basic list of tools you’ll need to get started in fabricating, and Chris explains how they all work together to get the job done.

Before we end the video, Chris shows us some of the finished work he’s done on his customer’s rigs. Starting with a windshield he built for a customer’s Can-Am X3, Chris explains the same processes he showed us earlier and how they played a role in building a finished product that’s installed to the vehicle. The same goes for the Land Cruiser 80 series parked next to it, and the custom rear bumper and sliders he built for that rig.

Fabrication is part engineering, part design, and part passion. For those who see the bigger picture, and want to build something for themselves from scratch, there’s no more rewarding hobby or career than fabricating. While Matt admits that he’s more of a wrench-turner, Chris’ advice in this episode has him wanting to go out back to the shop and try his hand at building something from scratch. If you’ve been thinking about tinkering in fabrication, we hope these tips will help get you started.

0:00 | Intro
3:12 | Meeting Chris and Shop Tour
7:48 | The Basics of Off-Road Fabrication
12:42 | Designing Parts
21:22 | Good Welds vs Bad Welds
32:46 | How to Notch Tubes with a Chop Saw
36:43 | What Tools Do You Need to Start Fabricating
38:43 | Customer's Rigs
42:21 | Wrap-Up

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