Anything welding

@koditten have I mentioned how much I'd like to see you visit Southern Indiana? I mean, it's a huge tourist destination. You could stay in my garage.

 

Lol. I've had some great times in Indiana!

When I was a kid we explored a bunch of the caves in Bloomington, then when in collage I visited lots of friends in school there.

 

I'd start searching KSL, lots of good welders pop up on there. Look for Lincoln, Miller or Hobart (Both Miller and Hobart are owned by ITW). Probably even find one with a full tank like I did.

 

The real question is if y’all have a good 25-35k for tools what welder and accoutrements would you end up with?

Not that everyone needs a lot to get started, but finding out what those who have been at it for years say is worth it and not, even with a big budget, you’ll find pretty quick which tools are worth it to spend more and which are fine going the cheap route.

Ask around your local shops if you have any, and if they’re willing, and they can show you in person what all you’ll need. Helps to see for me anyway.

 

I bought a Lincoln 140 off my buddy a few months ago, and up until then have never welded before. I don't know shit, other than it's really nice to be able to stick stuff together when I need to. I'm making a portable work station out of the back of my truck and needed a table at a specific height, so I made this guy. Folding legs have gas struts to open close, still need to figure out a top, probably some hardwood or melamine. Originally wanted all metal construction, but for how thick the steel would have to be to support any weight it'd weigh too much and cost a fortune. I made the hinges with precut tabs and 1" spacers, and nylock nuts

 

I learned to weld on the Lincoln 225. And a few years back I picked up one cheap from Craigslist because it needed a new cooling fan.

They are easy to work on and not much to them inside. Just a big multi tap transformer a switch an a cooling fan

 

Picked up a new clamp for the welding table.

Got a feeling this is going to be one of those why did I wait so so long to get items..

 

A great friend upgraded to a stick/tig setup and gifted me his AC-225 he bought new in 1977. Still works like new.

 

Few pics from this weeks work. Glad I still remember how to tig… somewhat

 

Not the greatest pics but I got to play with my tube notcher some more today. I honestly don’t know why I ever bothered attempting to notch by hand when this is so much easier.

I added a hi lift mount to my buddies bed bars using some carriage bolts. The square on 1/2” carriage bolts fits perfectly in the hi lift holes, keeping it from shifting around. He’s going to replace the nuts with some wing nuts from McMaster carr.

The other option was to weld the bolts right to the bed bars, but they weren’t spaced correctly. I could have made some little tabs that hung off the bars but this is more elegant in my opinion.

 

Humble brag lol!

Those welds look frickin great man! Nice work

 

I just threw all my shit out into the street, and ran over it............twice. Thanks....
LMAO
Nice work man.
Zim

 

Much appreciated!

Hundreds of hours of hood time, messing up, and learning from those mistakes. Thanks for a kind words. Now back to more welding

 

Finished my table. Now I'm making a frame that will bolt onto my camper shell on a pivot/hinge so I can store it on the ceiling of my canopy. I'd really like to learn to tig aluminum cause this would be so much better about half the weight

 

Uhm, you can see a doctor, but from here, it's all about you admitting you've picked up an addiction and how you want to proceed with the rest of your life. Sticking metal together, seeing the bright lights, hearing the sizzle, yeah, it's an addiction and the sooner you face it, well, you can start down the road to recovery.

That Lincoln 140 was just a gateway drug. See how you're already craving TIG.

 

The 140 does tig! I just need to get a torch, pedal, and tank of argon

Edit: upon further review, it does dc tig not ac so I guess I'll be learning stainless first instead

 

made a a bit of progress on the the 2x72 belt grinder I am putting together. The belt tracking hinge section, was not going as well as I wanted so I will remake that later today, and hopefully get it tacked up before I return to work.

I ended up picking up a new chop saw to make the cuts. the 14" Abrasive From Ironton. First use, and it has me wondering when did they start making chops saw so shitty? this thing struggled to cut 2" x 3/16" square tube even with the (claimed) 6 1/2 Horse motor which I doubt being a 120v machine. My first saw that is still at my dad's place that I bought back some 30 years ago. used to chew threw steel like it was butter. I don't think I EVER had it bog down and trip a breaker and 3/16 to 1/2" thick steel was cut all the time, since it was cheap and available due to living next to a factory that made rock crushers and screeners. A bit of reading reviews and there was a fair bit of chatter around the factory blade it came with not being all that great. so I picked up a Diablo blade, since I need to located the box of spare blades I have. The new blade helped a fair bit, along with rotating the square tube to a diamond position, to keep the cross section as thin as possible.

 

YouTube until your eyes hurt.
Practice until you think you've practiced enough, then practice even more.
This welder has payed itself at least 20 times by now. Your wallet is the limit as far as machine goes. You'll need tools and consumable. Keep that in mind...

 

The tool arm for the flat platen is nearly done. I need to pick up a piece of flat stock for the platen itself. And the hardware to mount it.



I recut the tracking pivot, turned out much better the 2nd time around. I still have a bit of drilling and tapping to do on that piece.

I really need to dig the window unit out and get some AC going in the garage. Make it a bit more comfortable to work out there.

 

Love my Vulcan migmax