My name is Evan Jezek, and I am an experienced welder, fabricator, and designer with a degree in Welding Technology. My background includes custom chassis fabrication, motorsports, and defense manufacturing, where I have gained hands-on experience with both traditional fabrication and automated manufacturing processes. I am currently working toward a bachelor’s degree in Welding and Fabrication Engineering Technology at Pennsylvania College of Technology, and I am a proud member of my school’s Baja SAE team.

While I was finishing my associate degree, I got a job at a custom hot rod chassis shop. Most of the work we did involved fabricating and welding square and rectangular tubing. It was the kind of work I was interested in, but it did not take long for me to realize that the business was struggling.

We could not complete orders fast enough, and we did not have the equipment we needed to keep up with the workload. Nearly every tube had to be laid out and cut by hand. We would manually scribe cut lines and hole locations, then make the cuts using drills, handheld plasma cutters, grinders, and whatever other tools were available.

It worked, but it was a slow and labor-intensive process. A large amount of time went into measuring, marking, cutting, grinding, and test fitting parts before they were ready to weld. When nearly every job required the same manual process, it became difficult for the shop to complete work quickly enough.

I knew there had to be a better way to produce these parts.

Industrial CNC tube-cutting systems already existed, but they were far outside what a small shop like ours could afford. Many also depended on complicated CAD and CAM workflows just to create common cuts such as copes, slots, and hole arrays.

Instead of accepting that this kind of equipment was simply out of reach, I decided to try building my own affordable CNC tube-cutting machine.

That project eventually became Mr. Gusset.

My original goal was to finish the machine and use it in the shop to help us produce parts faster. Sadly, I was not able to complete it before the business closed its doors.

Even after the shop closed, I did not want to abandon the project. I had seen firsthand how much small fabrication businesses could benefit from this type of equipment and how difficult it was for them to afford the industrial machines already on the market.

I made a promise to myself that I would keep developing Mr. Gusset so it could eventually help other fabricators avoid the same problems.

Since then, I have continued building my skills in fabrication, machine design, automation, CNC equipment, and industrial robotics. After earning my associate degree, I continued my education in Welding and Fabrication Engineering Technology while developing Mr. Gusset into a complete machine, plan package, and software system.

I designed Mr. Gusset to bridge the gap between slow manual fabrication and expensive industrial machinery. The machine is completely bolt-together, making it more practical for small businesses and individual builders to assemble without needing the resources of a large manufacturing facility.

The software was developed around the same goal. Instead of requiring users to model every basic cut in CAD and transfer it through a separate CAM program, the conversational software allows fabricators to enter their tubing dimensions and cut information directly. The software then generates the G-code and controls the machine from one application.

Everything is designed to run locally on the user’s computer without depending on an internet connection.

Just as importantly, the software is a one-time purchase. I believe that when customers pay for a tool, they should be able to keep using it without monthly payments or annual renewal fees.

The goal of the business is to create practical and affordable automation tools for welders, fabricators, hobbyists, and small shops. These are people who can benefit from better equipment but are often priced out of traditional industrial automation.

Mr. Gusset was created because I watched a shop struggle day after day with slow, manual work that held everything back. Hedgehog Fabrication exists because I want to build the kind of tools that would have changed that situation and put them in the hands of people facing the same challenges.