Haupts welding - Best welding shop in Danville since 1940

The Front of Haupts Welding shop

How many people can say they play with fire for a living? Kathy Snyder the owner of Haupts welding can. Started in 1940 and to this day is one of the best welding shops in the town of Danville. Being the only welding shop that will weld aluminum. Aluminium is usually very flimsy and bends way too easy as well as having a very high melting point of 1221 degrees Fahrenheit, its very hard to work with in any scenario. Haupts welding is a family owned business and its a very nice place to be. Its also very successful and new customers from around the state come to Haupts welding daily to see just the sheer amount of work that can be done in such a small shop only consisting of 3 people, Kathy , her son Jake and her brother Skip.

Kathy takes her job very serious , she struts to work with her flannel shirt and dark flame retardant pants. the shop doesn't open until 8 am,  but she gets all the equipment heated up and ready to go at 7:30. she does this because sometimes customers just need something made quick like a propeller or need two small pieces melted together and she can just do it right away. she works until 5 but if things need to be done soon she works until 6. she becomes the store at times and her employees look up to her. she works very hard , rarely takes breaks and leads her team to victory and makes sure every project big or small, is done right. She is quick and energetic everywhere she runs to. she does her job with the most upmost care but also quick and precise.

A Drill head being fabricated with a Tig Torch

There is humongous array of things that can be done at the welding shop.  Of course things can be welded together but metals are also bought to make objects as well. Things like pipes, propellers, wrenches, car hoods, engine parts and many more. Although hard to do , masterful welders can turn a lump of metal into basically any shape or design and sometimes blueprints are actually brought to the shop and the object is sculpted out of red hot iron. All that's needed is the shape and dimensions. Just like that it can be made, just like magic. Although the building isn't the biggest, spanning about 50 by 40 ft, it is filled with equipment , tables and lockers filled with molten metal cooling off. After something is welded its put in a cooler fridge, not too cold to the point the metal shatters but cool enough that the metal doesn't take all day to simmer so that it can be used. Everything can certainly be welded together like super glue on plastic except this is metal on metal at extreme temperatures , enough to burn your skin clean off your body if you touch it. things are done with care at Haupts welding shop , its clear to the point from watching Kathy and her employees hard at work , carefully sculpting and manipulating metal in just the right way. Skip one of the employees quoted this " Welding is sometimes thought of just repairing things. You can actually weld things together to make brand new things". This to me is the spirit of the shop, knowing you can do anything.

Kathy, wearing her protective gear , grinds away at
a propeller , smoothing it out into the correct shape

You must be safe when your working with a blow torch hot enough to be the sun in your hands.You must take the most upmost precautions. Everyone is required to wear thick flame retardant black gloves, a yellow jacket and safety goggles. Although everyone smells like burnt toast , at least they are not burnt toast. You can see the sheer amount of heat emanating off of the blow torches and the sparks flying off the grinders. Certainty wouldn't want to be around any of that with anything that could remotely catch on fire or explode. That is why much caution is needed when doing big jobs here because some trucks are filled with gasoline or they have wood on board and all of that can easily catch fire or explode. Safety is recommended with any scenario, but here it's essential.

As can be seen from watching Kathy and her workers at the welding shop , working with fire can be exciting as well as dangerous but is defiantly a rewarding line of work. Who wouldn't want to say I can melt through steel bars like butter? A rigorous line of work indeed , made for the sweaty and strong , but anyone can be a welder. Kathy probably didn't think she could be a welder, she went to school to learn to type on the computer, and now she owns a very successful business. Quite a rustic sight looking at people do hand work while most of the rest of the worlds work is done on computer or even the phone. Even as a concept as simple as playing with fire can be made into a job that rewards the whole world.