Troll Mate

A little battery box cover/step for a semi we did last week, buying this new from the dealer was, for whatever reason over $1,000!!! We got this made up for a fraction of the cost for our customer.

Last night we did a quick test run on an aluminum piece for a customer. This is just a small part of 3 doors for a cabinet, we did a little test because we weren't sure how the scribe was going to react to the aluminum. Glad we did because we ended up with a little chatter while the x axis moved away from home location towards the end of the run. We'll adjust and do another sample, overall though it turned out pretty well. The scribe tends to put a lot of pressure on the sheets and can move them if they aren't heavy enough, so we'll have to clamp this down solid! Stay tuned for finished pics!

Our office is just a small makeshift office in a corner of the shop, nothing fancy by any stretch of the word. But the kiddos help brighten it up with their pictures they make for us 😁

Lots of times, older boats especially, have "extra" holes in them from years of changing things up with accessories, rod holders, locators, anchor mounts etc etc. Whenever we get a boat in for any project, big or small, we like to ask the customer if there are any holes they want filled in. This helps keep things looking a little nicer, newer and better taken care of. Especially when they plan on doing other touch up painting anyways! Last year we had an old jon boat in that we reinforced the transom, and filled probably close to 80 holes in all, lots of times filling the holes can be a pretty minimal cost when the boat is in the shop anyways.

A custom bracket for a locator screen we did on a boat, just part of a handful of little projects on this Grizzly Tracker 😁

Well, tis the season! Got some hatches to button up and a one to build from scratch for behind the back bench on the tracker, and some corner gussets/rod holder mounts to weld in on the boat to the left. This winter we fixed a couple pontoons and have a different one with a leak to fix once it's pulled out of storage.

We've got a little project going on today. Thank goodness we can fit it in the shop because it's cold outside!

Just a few things on the list, hatches welded in, a small hole fixed, console welded back in place and a few mounts for locators and anchor reels!

Hey folks it's time we move a few firepits! So here's the sale we mentioned, going for one week, everything we have in stock will be discounted!

23" firepits usual price, $165
Now $150!

27" firepits $225
Now $195!!

27" grills $325
Now $275!!

34" firepits $400
Now $350!!

34" grills usually $450
Now $375!!

These are some of the best prices we have offered so if your in the market for a new firepit, or an amazing gift, or even an early father's day present this is it!

More details to come with inventory, but we have a couple firepits of each size and a few grills in 27" and 34"!

Better make a second wish or go directly to bed if that happens, pending your luck!

This weekend we did a little more testing, the blue target has one hole in it, but that was from the .300 win mag, at 75 yards, definitely way too hot of a round from that close. But we just wanted to see what would happen. Same with the putting, most of those rounds came from the .308, at closer range than is recommended. It was a ton of fun! This is definitely getting me back into target shooting, which is what I've been wanting to do more of 😁

Yesterday we had to fix a boat, the nephew and son decided they wanted to come check things out in the shop!

Let's play a little game, and the winner gets a couple bottle openers sent to them just for guessing!

First things first though: Shout-out to our boy Ronny for swapping this beast of an air compressor pump! Our old one was getting worn out, big time! The old one used to keep up with the plasma table, but lately it just never stopped running! The new one however, I don't think we're going to have that problem again 😂

So here's the game, you guess 2 numbers,

1. The time to fill a 60 gallon air tank from empty to full with the old compressor in minutes.

2. The time for the new pump to fill from empty to full!

Your one and only hint is more than 10 minutes for the first, less than 10 for the second.

Just make sure you guess ON the original Troll Mate post!

Yesterday went a little better than Saturday for shooting, we broke out everything from the .22 to the .300 win mag. Not too surprised that the 300 blew right through the 3/8 AR500 at only 70 yards...😂😂. By the way, ALL rounds were shot at 70 yards or less (15 max for the pistols), as we wanted to see how much abuse these things could actually take.

But, we tested out our dualing tree and other gongs with just about everything we had, learned a few things about what we want to improve with the little dualing tree system we mocked up, found weak spots and will improve them. Hopefully we'll get another day this next weekend to make a thought out prototype and really put it through the paces! The hanger we had for the gongs was very crude, we just welded a few scraps together and hung targets up with welding wire 😂

Worry about the explanation and the questions after a great day on the lake 😂

We did a little testing today in the wind, needless to say my shot placement is NOT what it used to be. Not that I've ever been great with pistol....🤣🤣🤣. Tomorrow we try with the bigger ones

Is that a roll of TP?! No sir, this is our last filter before compressed air goes into our plasma cutter. It helps to remove moisture, oil, and any dirt or contaminates before going through the plasma. Super clean and dry air is very beneficial to have when cutting, it helps improve cut quality and tip life!

This is the filter after approximately a year after we added a "condensation" tank, coalescent filter and air drier. Without the added filtration and drier, this same filter would be pretty brown and nasty and I could ring out the water! Definitely looks like a worthwhile investment!

This picture came up on our memories going through some pics and we wanted to share. Yesterday he helped clean up the shop by filling up the dust pan with all the junk on the floor, we love having the kids come out and help, even if they aren't exactly the most "helpful" sometimes 😂😂

Don't worry, we'll get him better PPE than a diaper and his sister's rain boots when the real work starts....

This weekend we shipped another tray to Larry, in Arkansas! Thanks for the support and tight lines!

Got one of these bad boys, our Troll Mate aluminum XD, heading to Virginia right now, thank you Michael for your purchase, happy fishing!

A few pieces we've cut out for the kiddos, totally worth seeing how excited they get when we get them back from powder coat. Thanks to Ultimate Coatings in spring valley and Eclipse Powder Coating in Eau Claire!

Recently we had a customer contact us that was needing some help, a family member had been diagnosed with cancer and was looking for a few donations. So we cut out a few of these flags, and we'll be doing a gift certificate for a little bit of custom art as well, stay tuned, we'll throw a few pics up tomorrow of a couple pieces we did for our kiddo's!

Last week we decided it was time to finally completely drain and clean the plasma table, the buildup from all of the cutting we've done recently was starting to become an issue. In all we pulled about 11 5 gallon buckets worth of what used to be steel!

Fun fact, this time when we filled the table we added 5.5 cups of borax, as it has rust inhibiting properties! Who knew a laundry booster/additive could be helpful when plasma cutting!?

Adding borax can also help keep bacteria down and keep things from getting nasty, how cool is that!?

Saw this and had to share it 😂 I know a few people like this

Had a pontoon come in the other day that had some bad luck, got everything fixed up, pressure tested, and ready for the customer to pick up!

Just a little heads up/awareness for our who have business pages, we've received a few of these in our messenger, and as legit as it looks it is not!

It's gonna be hard to do, but I think I can manage...

Today we've got a Trollmate XD heading to North Carolina! Thank you Shealah for your purchase!

Brilliant! May as well look at them if there's ice on the water anyway!

Better bring home some of your favorite veggie seeds on the next trip home from the lake! She'll be so excited!