Anything welding

Thanks for the advice! To be honest, I am going slow trying to figure out what I’m doing. I’ll try upping the heat and speed and see what happens. Thanks again!

 

Progress is progress!

 

Sold my table





Should be getting the bigger one the next few days

 

welp, i found a new project today... it had been sitting out in front of a house for the past 2 weeks with a pile of construction debris on it, with a cardboard sign scrawled "FREE, TAKE IT ALL". it was a small sign, on a curve of a busy road, and wasn't easy to read until i made a point to pull into the driveway.

apparently i'm the only one stupid enough to mess with it? crazy to me, as even the most rotted out basic trailers on facebook seem to be going for at least $3k....

it's an old pop-up camper chassis--the hand crank just behind the front jack was the lifting mechanism, the plate behind that was for the propane tanks, and you can make out the pulley's on each corner to redirect the cables for the lift mechanism. it used to have hydraulic surge brakes that appear to have been cut out somewhere between the nixon and bush administrations. tire date code is '0318' from what i can tell, which doesn't make any sense at either 2018, or 1918. given the multi-piece wheels and inboard design, my guess is 1960-1980. i need to wash it off and look it over harder for some sort of VIN, though i believe rv's normally carry that info on the shell, not the chassis.



the good news is that it's mostly straight, was definitely used as a flatbed trailer for an indeterminate amount of years, only 1 cracked weld in the center of the crossmembers that go over the axle, and the entire frame seems to be mostly 1/16-3/32" metal, and absolutely none of it is rotted out, just not pretty. and despite all of that, it towed amazing. having only 10 pounds of air in the tires definitely helped, but it never jarred the hitch ball once. which is something i've never experienced with any empty trailer.

the bad news is that my car will fit on it with a wider axle, with space for a winch in the front...

 

Finished it up this morning. Spayed black bedliner on it for some texture.

 

Fuck me, no welding but cleaned up and moved a ton of stuff around

#smallshopgang



Going to park my welding cart where the plasma cart currently resides

Going to build a small platform to sit my plasma cutter on under the CNC table

Need to make room to ensure I can fit an HF refrigerated air dryer as well

Need to dedicate a corner on the wall to chain my extra welding bottle to

Need to make a laptop mount/holder for the new table coming in

Need to get rid of the scrap near the front of the garage to allow a vehicle to park inside

Anyone wanna help

 

My plasma lives near the ceiling. It helps with keeping the liquid water at floor level.

Think about mounting the PC above head height and out of the way.

 

Well...things are getting expedited

My friend called me half an hour ago and asked if he can just swing by today; he's bringing it over now

I'm glad I moved all my shit around this morning but for the meanwhile, I'm going to keep the laptop on the wood bench where you see it posted in the pic; I may just cut the laptop holder found on Fireshare and use that the same way I did for my last table until I decide on something else

Definitely didn't expect to be getting it today

 

Knowing it's flat and square just makes that thing sexy AF

 

Speaking of



Bigger table is here

 

Thanks bud

Aquarium goes on this week!

 

Time for a project barn!

 

Last thing I need are more projects

Send help

 

All cleaned up, but damn one thing I didn't consider.

I don't want my plasma cutter under the table because the power switch is on the rear of the machine. Putting the plasma cutter where the welder is would be the best place to go but, I don't know where the welder should go as I want to keep it on its cart as well since it's got a big bottle on it

 

Finished putting together that fire pit grate. I appreciate everyone’s suggestions! I definitely have huge respect for you guys who do this on the daily!

anyone have any suggestions on high temp paint to use? Otherwise I’ll probably just head down to Home Depot and get some BBQ grill paint

 

VHT

Works great for fire pits



Or realistically leave it bare because any high temp paint will burn off over time

Just don't buy their red as it's really orange

 

Hey @Kwikvette
So my friend who is teaching me to weld suggested getting the Vulcan omnipro 220 multiprocess welder. Any experience / comments on that machine?

 

Can we get some background on your end?

What do you plan on welding, how much welding, what style are you leaning towards?

I like the Vulcan line that HF offers. I've used the Vulcan MiG Max 215. It Mig welds amazing! I wish these were around when I started out.

As for multi functional machines, I'm not a fan. They really only do a fair job of those 3 types of welding.

I've never shied away from the fact that I have no need for TIG or stick welding. My Mig machines have made me huge amounts of money over the last 30 years. I have only ran into a half dozen jobs where I could not do the job with my Mig units.

If you are set on TIG welding, please plan on maintaining those skills. It takes a lot of time to master...and keep those skills.

Any monkey can make great looking MIG welds. ( me looking in a mirror)

In short, I like the Vulcan line and you really can't go wrong with those units. I'm just not a fan of any brand muli purpose welding machines.

 

Thanks for the input and good questions.

Here’s the background. I’m really into off-roading & rock crawling. Bought my Taco completely modified by my buddy @rngr in Tennessee and want to make a few more modifications.

I’m pretty good with building/ fixing stuff and I’ve done a good amount of home improvement and work on my cars over the years. Things like replacing head gaskets, removing the rear differential and replacing the broken tension springs inside the automatic locker, installing a new suspension, etc.

I have never welded before. I like the idea of being creative with

I have several little jobs planned for the taco. Reinforcing a 1/4 inch skid plate longitudinally with some angle iron. Cutting off the ends of my wraparound tube front bumper and welding on an oval cover plate where it protrudes into the wheelwell and the tires rub on full lock when stuffed.

Also designing and building a bed-mounted spare tire carrier — thinking of welding it onto the back of my pickup bed toolbox.

I’d also like to replace the 1960’s wrought iron bannister in the entryway of my house with something more modern! Maybe a custom bbq grate for my backyard fire pit.
Stuff like that!

I hear what you’re saying about TIG being very difficult. Also it seems like iron work could cover all of the above projects. But I guess it’s conceptually appealing to have the ability to do aluminum— maybe for the bannister in my house!

Here’s my question: what makes a multiprocess machine “a jack of all trades but a master of none”? What makes a dedicated MIG machine better at MIG welding than the MIG function on a multiprocess machine?

Honestly I can see being satisfied with dedicated MIG machine. But if a multiprocessor works well, then “Why not?”

 

That VHT goes up to 2000 degrees which is a way better choice than what Home Depot has to offer at only 1200. Thanks for the suggestion!