Same. I'm a software engineer who's been going down the metal fab/welder pathway for the last 1.5 years. It's highly rewarding, but also the overhead continues to grow and grow. Probably because the scale continues to grow as well.

I need to be happy making small physical things instead of huge physical things... http://www.breefield.com/projects/prodigal-swan

I've also looked into the timeline involved in becoming a PE. Not only do you have to take 6 years of school but you have to work under a PE for 2 years to become one. The pay doesn't seem to justify that much training (considering my anecdotal interest in the field).

Call me new-school, but I continue to enjoy working on systems that can't kill or maim people.