1st Gen Lunchtable Thread - General Discussion

Oh damn! That's way nicer and cleaner than my job, well done

I don't know enough about welders to understand your question? We've got a Lincoln 256 MIG machine and I leave the volts about 20.6 for 1/4" aluminum, the spoolgun has its own separate dial for wire speed and I sent that about 4.5 out 5. Then push only

 

I remember that know, you went back to the same guy twice right.. and supposedly the owner welded the second time and he can't be wrong cause he's the best welder in the shop

 

yup, came back and he did the repair. HE didnt grind/ sand down the old welds or anything. Just threw another glop over the last shit welds and charged me 40 bucks for his 10 min. I refused to give him another 40 to do the same, that's when he went off on me and told me to go somewhere else

 

spent 180 total on that. live and learn, went up the street to a legit shop and the work has held up well for over a year now

 

Thanks, I was using a full Miller AlumaPRO setup. The slang for it is push-pull, since it feeds the wire by pushing it on one side and pulling it at the gun side to avoid it having binding issues (cause alum wire is so soft). Keeps you from having a bulky gun and keeps wire speed more steady. The machine is capable of welding nearly 1" thick single pass, it's high frequency and variable feed rate (to sort of simulate TIG torch dipping and pulling) you can have it start overly hot to make sure you immediately get penetration (since alum sheds heat so fast) and it can also post purge. You can even switch wave patterns while welding if you detect the arc having trouble. The machine is amazing and it was amazing to weld with, but man did I have to read a lot to understand how to use it. The push pull is like an auto feed TIG whereas a spoolgun is like an alum capable MIG, sorta.

 

That's awesome, that's the kinda education you want. The crash course on everything all at once was nice, but only cause I got to try everything and see how each set up works... there was absolutely NO time to really practice one skill set and get good at it. My boss has the best analogy for the differences

Stick is like using a bulldozer, doesnt matter what the landscape looks like, it'll do the most work and be fully functional, but not the prettiest.

MIG is like driving a cop car, any idiot can do it and it can be the most versatile, but won't work in every application

TIG is like flying a helicopter. Every appendage is doing something, it's the most finicky and requires the most setup. You only TIG when you absolutely have to, buy when you get it right, it's the cleanest of all three

 

Gotcha! Yea that's WAAAY more sophisticated than our setup, this spoolgun is bulky and awkward as hell to wield and I think is only good for up to 1/4". To make sure it gets good penetration you've gotta clean the shit outta the material AND use a MAP gas torch to preheat the material. Using that torch is absolutely critical otherwise it gets real gross right outta the gate lol

 

I remember having to use our Oxy-Propane torch when preheating for alum welding because the Acetylene was bad news bears for contamination

 

cancelled the netflix account today, tired of being billed 20 dollars a month when they dont have a good selection

 

@Das it mang here's what things look like ATM. The other engine bay was cleaner haha

I got the new hydro lines in but need to reroute one of them so it has more slack.

After everything gets wrapped it's getting a bath in Simple Green.

You can see I need a bigger volume reservoir, the fluid pukes out of it

 

What am I gonna do with an instrument cluster?

 

Sink it with the boat

 

go to the dollar store and buy a couple decks of cards. Stick them between the bead of the tire and the wheel

 

Thats big brain right thur

 

how far from the greater seattle area?

 

Quite far, but you'll probably drive through my neck of the woods to get here or go home. I'm right next door to Idaho off I-90

 

I stole the pic from someone else on TW but I remember my grandpa talking about doing it in the 80s

 

You could also drape the wheel with a dollar store table cloth and tie fishing line around the rim lip. Cut off what's left to expose the rim and paint.

 

Index cards for sure.

Did this for several wheels in the past; stupid cheap and easy.