| Author | Message | ||
     Ourdee |
Get it down to 2 amps and do party tricks with aluminum foil. | ||
| Fast1075 |
I had an old Hobart 300 amp water cooled TIG machine. That thing could be turned down to 5 amps. I used it to build wheelie bars and such for drag bikes. Mainly 4130 down to .025 and some light gauge aluminum. One day a lightning strike killed it. Sad. Now all I have is a Miller 211 auto set and my oxy/acetylene torches. | ||
| Greg_e |
Hmmm, I wonder why my second image is violating their terms of use? | ||
| Ourdee |
Clothing optional? | ||
| Greg_e |
I paid $100 for the ability to direct link from them, I want my picture back! I did send a terse email, have to see where it goes. | ||
| Greg_e |
Looks like complaining worked, the image of the torch is back but now one archive back. | ||
| Greg_e |
Trying to keep this for disappearing. Metal for the cart is here and I'll start slicing it up next week, unless I'm still trying to fix a rust box car, which I need to get back on tomorrow. | ||
| Zac4mac |
Looking for something else a few days ago, I found my Smith's "The Little Torch". I now have a full size OA torch and bottles that the Little Torch will connect to!!! Hooked it up to the bottles and have been having fun with the biggest tip. Got some aluminum brazing rod, takes a lot of heat but works well.... Keeping it alive Greg Z | ||
| Etennuly |
Y'all got me thinking.....I'm going to have to dig out my torch kit now. It has only been set up for oxy-propane cutting torch work for years. Last time I had it out was to solder an old style un- replaceable radiator. This should be fun. | ||
| Ourdee |
There are times I can not believe I have not picked up a set of tanks and hooked up my medium duty miller set. My most favorite thing to do was welding with a small tip. Making my avocation my vocation was not the thing to do. For me it was only an avocation when I did not have to do it. Some piece of the enjoyment left when welding on cars before they left the factory. Something I said often to my bosses there was," You have the hands of a sculptor polishing turds". I foolishly gave them my best years. I need to make it a goal this year to get a set of full tanks! So, before you remind me to tell some story, remind me to live the dream. Vern, Break out the set! I believe you understand. | ||
| Etennuly |
Yes sir RD I do. My professional life has also been that of a sculpted, and a blacksmith, with the eye for color of an artist. In different times we may have been other than worker bees. Going to try welding those cutter blades. If only oxy-acetylene weld looked as good on the back side as TIG, it might be nearly as strong. Our stick welder, before we had a MIG welder, was down waiting for parts years ago, when we needed some tubing welded into a late model race car. The guy I worked for kept it red hot with a cutting torch, while I welded it with oxy-acetylene and steel filler rod. Made for some beautiful strong welds. No problem passing tech looking like TIG welds. When it got bent later on there was no signs of weld failure or The dreaded tubing tear just off the weld. | ||
| Tootal |
Reminds me of when I was five. Dad took a 1922 Ford Model T pickup body and welded it to a shortened and narrowed VW belly pan. We called it the Tbug. He used acetylene torches and coat hangers. The thing still runs all these years later! | ||
| Sifo |
Just finished welding up some hand rails for my deck stairs. It's my first project in stainless steel. I'm playing with burning linseed oil into the surface for an almost black finish that is supposed to be pretty permanent. It looks pretty nice on some scraps, I just hope I can make it look good on a big piece. I'm getting better and welding the inside of acute angles, but sometimes it's just hard to get set up where you can work the torch, filler rod, and still see what you are doing. Fun stuff. I'll have to post some pics when I get them mounted up. | ||
| Etennuly |
 bottom first, top last. First time in at least 18 years. Just some simple beads on Toyota pickup roof structure steel. Steel filler rod on the bottom three. Coat hanger on the top three. I need a rest for my arms and better magnifying glasses. Hit it with a wire brush on a drill. I'm rusty! | ||
| Greg_e |
You need a Tig Finger: https://weldmongerstore.com/products/tig-finger?gc lid=EAIaIQobChMIxoSlgOLT3QIVXVgNCh2rVAO7EAAYASAAEg JK5PD_BwE He has numerous videos on youtube as well. Haven't tried my finger protection yet, but probably will when I get done cutting pieces for the cart. Got the bottom layer sliced out and cleaned up, need to cut the top and two more vertical supports and then I can start tacking. Got some ugly cuts where the saw bound up on the material, will need to fill those a little. Still not sure if I'll need to box any parts to keep it from twisting. Welder is about 60 pounds and with the relatively short lengths I think it will be ok. 1.5x1.5x0.125 6061-t6 angle which will have a t0 (annealed) rating at the joints once it is done. I did put a 1.5x cheater in my hood, but not sure I'll use it. My eyes still focus fairly well at arm's reach up to about 8 inches from my face. The cheater actually makes it a little harder to see, the 2.5x I bought makes it impossible. But what I do want is the slightly larger appearance of the object, this should make seeing the puddle a little easier so I need to try to come to terms with it. (Message edited by greg_e on September 24, 2018) | ||
| Shoggin |
Thats hilarious ^^^ I've been using these for years: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LZUU6ME/ref=sspa_dk_d etail_3?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B01LZUU6ME&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX 0DER&pf_rd_p=f52e26da-1287-4616-824b-efc564ff75a4& pf_rd_r=SF4BGMC6D7M36GDWSVDD&pd_rd_wg=sw9TK&pf_rd_ s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&pd_rd_w=1YYLN&pf_r d_i=desktop-dp-sims&pd_rd_r=af254bef-c000-11e8-b3a 9-1f5f95d9d540 Etennuly: Maybe a little more post flow to stop the little divot in the end? FYI I'm certainly no pro... | ||
| Etennuly |
Yeah, post flow. I was standing free handing it. That was about as far as I was going on each of the individual welds without leaning on something. TIG Finger. For oxy acetylene welding? That's funny right there! We who do it don't even wear gloves. I don't have cheater lenses in a torch goggle. I used my bifocals under big sun glasses! Lol | ||
| Etennuly |
That post flow hole was caused by the filler rod being engaged in the flow puddle then being pulled away a little late as it was cooling. An old habit, as we used to let the filler rod stick in the end of the weld to start a new rod by welding them together, then continuing. | ||
| Etennuly |
I love the little nuances that pop back from the minds storage spaces when it has been a long time since doing something that was as normal to me as breathing. Lol (Message edited by Etennuly on September 24, 2018) | ||
| Sifo |
Funny thing, and typical of welding... When working on my new stair railings, which are 1.5 inch pipes, now capped on the ends, I was welding on the mounts, and as the puddle penetrated a bit deep, pressure inside the tubing from heating the air, blew the puddle right out. Naturally, it landed right on top of my head! I keep thinking about one of those tig fingers. I'm not sure one of those spark plug insulators would go over my finger, much less with a glove on. Vern can be a man's man and weld naked for all I care, (I don't have to see it!) I'll wear some protection. I don't imagine you have the UV issues with gas welding though. I wish I had learned gas welding when I had access to torches. It's a cool process to know. | ||
| Greg_e |
The TIG finger is to combat the heat that gets through the thinner TIG gloves. He has single finger and double finger sizes, cheap enough that I won't try to cheat him out of the money by finding a different solution. And I've gotten a lot out of his videos. | ||
| Ourdee |
I just wear some goat skin gloves. I put on the gauntlets if I'm heat bending tube. I had a splatter get in my ear once. That was annoying, but I finished the bead before stopping. | ||
| Greg_e |
Sat outside during lunch and sharpened all my tungstens, ready for 10 dips in a row! (in two sizes too) | ||
| Court |
I have never welded and confess a fascination with it . . . I love watching our folks weld aluminum bus in the power plants . . . it's pure art. This is fun reading and it looks damn good to me . . . We actually have a mobile testing and certification job set up on the current job with 1,200 folks hard at it . . . | ||
| Ourdee |
I was lucky to get exposed to it at an early age. Same with bikes. They became escapes for me. I tried pottery on a foot powered wheel. I knocked my first attempt off the wheel onto the floor. I never claimed to be good at pottery. First thing I fired was an ash tray. I can not play a guitar. I can make one, but it does me no good. People that can play fascinate me. | ||
| Etennuly |
Ha Ha ha ha! Gas welding is less dangerous than fire pit jinga! No fancy rays to blister you just the heat of the weld. And it's weld area is small. One of those things where if it hurts you you are likely to not be safe cooking dinner in a kitchen. There are no showering sparks like stick and MIG. Just a nice quiet flame focused on a small area just about triple the thickness of a coat hangar wire. No gama rays(or what ever)to toast you, just a bright blue flame making steel bright orange, bright enough to have to wear sun glasses. The hazards are fire, bright blue flame, and what toxic shit that you might not have ground off. It really can be quiet and relaxing to do, as is TIG when done properly. | ||
| Greg_e |
I'm content being a hack, I can't see this being a career step for me at this point in my life. It's all self serving for my own interests. That's one reason that I couldn't spend $2000 to $3000 on the welder that I know would really be best. There are some seriously nice multi-process AC/DC TIG/MIG/stick machines out there that would let me wire feed aluminum without a spool gun, tiny and light, and work on 110v or 220v with a simple swap of the power cord. For my own hobby use, just couldn't spend that kind of money. If hard times hit, maybe I'll be familiar enough by then that I can get certified fairly easily and move on to doing this as a living, but I'd probably opt for driving a dump truck or fuel delivery truck first since I already have a class B with a couple certifications on it (pending keeping it with this next renewal). Right now I'm in for about $1000 and that includes all the filler rods and stuff like that. Heck the 80cf of Argon cost almost as much as the welder, it was like $330 after tax and fill, so with the welder that totals $730. Easy to spend the rest on consumables and metal for the cart. Though I did cheap out on the wheels, probably need to go back and spend money on wheels later. Good wheels are not cheap, would be easy to spend $150 on two casters (locking) and two fixed rubber wheels in 3 inch or larger sizes. Anyway, I'll have to get some pictures as I move along on this cart build. Next project is a clip on adapter for my Z125. I had the design built in steel, but the welding sucks (fluxcore), the paint sucks (rattle can), it's just not what I want. I used steel because I knew I could weld it. Next version will be 6061 and will be anodized. Have the tubes ready to cut, have the end mills I need ready to machine, just need to get the welding skills good enough that I can make solid welds without overheating the metal. Going to use 5356 filler since I want to anodize, 4043 is supposed to turn a blackish/brown during the anodize. (Message edited by greg_e on September 24, 2018) | ||
| Ourdee |
Harbor fright has wheels. I usually just scrounge wheels from trash. | ||
| Etennuly |
Northern Tool has a giant selection of affordable caster type wheels of every size. Welding is fun! But I still suck at TIG. I have a TIG/stick unit that I bought when my old stick unit went up in smoke. I had some essential cast iron to weld with the stick unit. This thing is from China at about $800 with parts. I'll put up a pic when I get one that can be seen. I studied several internet sources and still suck at TIG. I MIG aluminum overhead and upsidedown. I still suck at TIG. | ||
| Ourdee |
I always got the overhead and upside down. The union brothers of mine would just tell the bosses they couldn't do it. Guess what I would come in to in the morning. |
