Anything welding

Small panel for the side of rv gates.

The main gates I posted a few pages back before they got their tops.

and just ran out of welding wire...

 

Off to harbor freight you go...

 

Here’s the posts for the gates. 4x4 .188 wall. Some heavy pieces of metal. But was fun to weld the hinges too. Welding thick metal is always fun. One small panel goes on the house side because of the gas meter and it’ll get another panel on the retaining wall side because of the fire hydrant.

 

Never tried it and airgas is just a little farther so I’ll go to them and get a roll. May get a 2lb roll of .023 to finish this off and my usual 11lb of .030

 

Lucky you. I always ran out at 6pm on Saturday night.

 

I should have taken a picture but a customer brought in a large drain funnel from an auto store that had a crack around the base. He tried to weld it and blew a big hole in it. First thing I did was take the torch and burn all the oil off where it needed welded then turned the welder down low. Took it back a few minutes ago and he couldn’t believe it

 

True, but if you know how to do it right the 1st time, you don't need to start early.

 

I can see if it is just a hobby running out of wire or shielding gas or any other consumables .

When it pays the bills I guess my habits just carried over

 

This got me to thinking about Welding a broken Mirror Bracket at BFI in Lawrenceville Ga A long time ago

They were just going to replace the whole bracket Did not think it could be welded

 

I took it in they ask what they owed me, I said nothing. Bet next time I get tires rotated it’s free and I didn’t buy these tires there

 

Normally I have a roll on standby and did have some .035 but used my spare and forgot to order another. Oh well

 

I have finally established the facilities to weld in my garage, and could not be more excited about it! Here are my very first welds:



I started by pulling the trigger while looking away, holding my breath, wearing earplugs, and with a fire extinguisher under each arm. Surviving that, I tried welding two things together while actually looking through the helmet. Thanks @glorifiedwelder for the scrap steel tabs for this effort!

I put this assembly in my vise and beat the living hell out of it with a hammer, and I couldn't break the tab off from any direction!

I've already learned so much. For example, I learned that welding and hammering metal is very loud, and that my wife, who was previously asleep, does not share my enthusiasm for welding, even slightly. So I won't be doing any more welding or hammering for now, but I'll surely dream about future projects on the couch tonight.


UPDATE: Over an hour since the welding and my house is STILL not on fire!


UPDATE 2: Much metal has been ordered, but bedroom door remains locked.

 

I know there's been some talk in here about cutting with a torch and the slag it leaves. Wanted to share something we had cut a few years ago with a water jet. This is 6" thick aluminum and it looks awesome. The guy said he could cut 8" aluminum.

 

Then I came in this morning and there's this project laid out on the break table cut with a laser from 3/8" hot rolled. Apparently someone is building a tilting belt grinder, it’s not ours.

 

Huh, wonder if that's a kit you can buy or if someone is designing/building it themselves. Pretty cool. I'd be interested to see the rest of those plans.

 

My boss had the people who do our laser work cut it out, looks like I have to drill and maybe tap a lot of holes in it. I'll post pictures of the process and when I go through the book it as well

 

Looking forward to this process. Take lots of pictures.

Thanks

Kirk

 

The ole millermatic 250 earned it’s keep today. Customer liked the prototype so good the other week he ordered 3 more. The miller has twin bottles, we added a spoolgun for aluminum about 15 years ago that rarely gets used. This has been a great machine, I been here 25 years this year and we've had one problem with it, it was here before me.

 

That's exactly my set up. The 250 has treated me great and made a lot of money!