1st Gen Lunchtable Thread - General Discussion

My instructor made us learn to lay an entire rods worth in one go and I vaguely remember it having to do with some requirement for a length of a weld on pressure testing or maybe structural testing. All I know is if you can be that consistent for an entire rod especially around a circular item there are lots of career options for you

 

fucking milkshake got me (cracked at the top of the seams, 30k miles) ….. time to call the dealer for anotha one

 

Oh shit...

Milkshake would normally refer to coolant+transmission fluid mixing due to an internal failure in the radiator.

My engine bay looked like that when my 250k radiator finally split at the plastic end tank.

 

I know for Tig you lay a 1/8" rod in the gap and weld over it. No torch movement whatsoever. Just a straight line.

 

I worked there years ago, loved that area.

 

Its an AWS thing. I remember it too. We had filler rod requirements for each pass on our test plates.

 

Yeah we lay down entire rods too, but the main one being 6010 as we have to fill bevels on flat plate as well as pipe.

I'll be doing the stick module of the course near the end (when the first/second class joins and it's their time to run stick) so even though I'm doing something a bit advanced for Me even, I'll be coming back to stick to do even more for testing and all.

 

I can't wait for TIG

 

Get yourself a cheapo DC inverter stick welder and rig it up for scratch tig so you can practice at home. I think I have maybe $600 in my setup not including the argon.

 

So, everything you just said is foreign to me

I considered right off the bat going with something like this - I was impressed with everything when I opened her up (in-store).

 

The only thing I can see myself being 'bothered' with is when I have to switch bottles if I decide to go from welding stainless to something else or whatever.

But I doubt I'll be anywhere near as busy at home to even be bothered by it.

 

Just get a stick welder so you can do tig (you'll want to do that more once you get good at it, its also much safer in a garage at home with no sparks flying around). If you need to do something quick just use the stick functionality.

My Stickmate 160 runs on 120v or 230v. Its the size of a lunch box and can weld 3/8" plate no issues. Its also a Hobart so finding consumables is no problemo.

 

Since I don't know exactly how that works, what all do you need, and how do you set up your stick welder to run DC TIG?

The Stickmate 160 runs at $600+

I may as well buy a dedicated TIG welder and dedicated MIG welder, but then at that point I'm not far from a Miller 215 or 220 like I want.

 

Well they have gone up a little due to inflation I imagine, I paid $350 for mine a few years back from the same place. https://store.cyberweld.com/hobart-stickmate-160i-500570.html

As far as setup, you setup the rod holder on electrode negative, clamp it to a power lug which is what you connect the torch to one side of and the gas hose to the other.
https://store.cyberweld.com/tigtopoad45.html

Heres a pic of it courtesy of Jody at WT&T.

 

The biggest thing missing from the titanium is pulse (DC square wave) and pedal. It's a scratch start, unlike expensive models, which means you scrape the electrode on the plate to ignite, then back it off. I find it can be easy to ball the electrode if you're not precise with it (it can stick pretty easily). If I were to do it again, I'd get an AC MIG and DC TIG - two machines

 

Oooh ok now that makes sense.

Was trying to picture it in my head.

 

Without having done TIG yet, I can't say what I'll want but yeah the machines at school all have a pedal for TIG.

 

My school sent a lot of people to work for boiler companies, so all they taught was scratch tig. I cant get used to a pedal to save my life.

 

yumm

 

Everyone, need your opinions. This is for the 1976 Pontiac Firebird I’m adding gauges too. With or without the black sun bezel?

@Kwikvette you too, since you had a Firebird.