General Fabrication

Meh!!! Anything is movable man! I put my pro tools on casters and a hydro set up and away she goes. Anywhere I need her. Don't think so much on ease of portability as anything can be transported in pieces. Go for quality and reliability that you can trust to do the job.

 

It's a nice bender but keep in mind, size is probably more a limiting factor than whether or not it has a stand (which you will want). You'd be better off picking the right tool for what you want to do and making the stand removable-you could add wheels that would allow you to move it as needed while still sitting flat too.

 

Vertical welds..

 

good looking welds man. consitant travel speed and well burned in. one thing i would say, that bottom of the plate needs to be tied to the vertical weld... dont leave that little spot open.

 

Thanks man..i was hoping somebody would come in with some words of wisdom..

 

Yeah always turn the corner, breaks up the stress point

 

I think it just depends on what type of joint you're working with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGczSAb57Ps

 

I go with what's easiest for the situation but I'd like to know what others think too.

 

The only thing that stopped me from doing that was having the puddle run into the nozzle..

 

Normal true yes. You always want to working against gravity as opposed to letting gravity pull molten material down before it penetrates in. As stated it can be done top to bottom but is typically looked down upon if in an industry requiring damn near perfection.

And if your puddle is that lose to your nozzle, you need to decrease your angle and get the torch away from the material a bit. Turn the gas flow up a bit if needed and see if that solves that issue.

 

If you have puddle going in the nozzle, you need to pull the torch away

 

Definitely bottom up with stick welding, not so important with mig.

 

I run my share of vertical down. I just make sure my heat is up pretty good and i've never seen a weld come out with too little penetration. Plus vert down welds typically come out really aesthetically pleasing

 

True..

 

that last sentence will always bite you in the ass. my weld instructor was a 28 year veteran naval welder . i sat with that man many days after class and listened to some gnarly ass stories. one thing i pulled from those conversations that i will never forget is " function over beauty". a pretty weld is worthless if you sent more energy and focus making it look pretty than you did ensuring it is burning right and penetrating properly. if you have proper wire speed, proper feed rate, and proper hand speed, a vertical bottom to top like they are supposed to be will look as good or better than a top down....

 

Sure, the weld needs to first be properly laid when it comes to heat and penetration, but once those are in line making the weld nice and uniform and clean certainly isnt a bad thing. I can see what you mean that welds should first be function over beauty, but if you've got the technique and settings perfected, then the visual look of the weld can then be focused on IMO.

 

isnt "properly laid" and "uniform and clean" basicly one in the same in this instance? again... if wire speed, travel speed, and temp are all spot on, then the pretty-ness is still a by-product. it should never be what the welder is focusing on under that hood.

potato - patato... im looking at it as we are both saying the same thing in different formats.

 

^^^ Ta-DA!