Anything welding

SWEET !!

 

It’s pretty similar. I prefer my optrel headgear, but the hood just don’t last long enough.

 

Got a chance to test out the new hood today. Not my finest work but after being trapped in my bedroom for 14 days I was just excited to burn some rod, even if I did only have 5356.

 

That drill press is nearly as old as I am. I have actually used it to to bore out a bronze casting we did. The original 4" core was too small and should have been 4.5 "

We took a 4.5" masonry wheel and chucked it up in an arbor and bored out the casting. At one point I got tired of doing it by hand so I rigged up a gravity power feed using rope and gallon milk jug of water that was set up to keep the down preasure.

Took a long time but it worked and we did not have to recast the part. Which oddly enough was for a big wet belt sander we built. I have to get some pictures of that next time I am my dads place.

 

Wow, this is pretty neat, a tabletop waterjet. Can cut up to 13"x19" and costs a cool $8k.

https://www.wazer.com/

 

I looked into it but the downside is the speed is very very slow. I’m sure they’ll improve on it with time. Hopefully they make the bed size something more around 2x2.

 

I came across some videos, while looking at some DIY CNC plasma cutter stuff and came across these videos on waterjet cutters. It would be fairly easy to adapt this to a table and have the potential to do plasma and waterjet.

 

I still gotta master plasma cutting with a CNC table.

I gotta be honest, converting over to water jet is going to be waaaay down on my "to do" list.

 

Closer than me at this point lol... I am building tools to make the tools, that will allow me to make even more tools... so I can make money to buy more tools.

 

Made a little progress with my jaw bucket, which I cut on my CNC plasma table. I think the cut of a plasma is amazing! Just knock off the dross and the part looks like it was stamped out.

 

^^^ Man with a plan right there! ^^^

 

IT'S ALIVE...




This thing is going to be a beast.

 

We’ll see how long this holds. Drilled the ends, thin strip of 14 gauge as a backer, butt welded the whole length and added some 14 gauge “straps”. This is in a high stress area under the battery that can tend to crack with aggressive wheeling.

still not a fan of mig’ing the thin stuff but I am getting better.

 

Any suggestions for looking at a used welder? Found a Hobart 140 local for 400. Is the used market a safe bet or do we just stay with new welders?

 

I'm not afraid of them.

Anything short of dropped off a bridge will be fine.

I would hope they can at least let you turn it on, though.

 

I bought an old lincoln 180c with tank on craigslist for $400. Shit is a tank when it comes to doing work. My old tombstone stick welder was made in like 2003 I think, this welder was made in 2008 or so. Basically as long as you can run a bead on it before you buy so you know it's 100% operational you should be good. If anything the newer inverter welders have more issues than the older shit because computers and what not.

 

I have a life changer for you.

-2 Buckets , 5 gallon versions
-2 or 3 bottles of muriatic acid aka concrete cleaner
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Klean-Stri...S6mCaeHPo5-fIrIQU7UaAqirEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

In 1 bucket fill it halfway with water first. It is VERY important you do water first. Then fill other half with the muriatic acid.

DO NOT fill the bucket with the acid first and then add the water.

Alright now put your plasma cut parts in the solution with a hook. Powder coating S hooks work great. There’s all kinds of sizes on eBay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/264007960677

As soon as you put in your steel part into the solution it will start fizzing. Check back on it in like 10 minutes. The mill scale will be completely off, any rust AND plasma cutting dross will also fall off. You will have to experiment with the time you leave it in. This is for steel parts only.

Afterwards remove parts. In the 2nd bucket have it filled with all water and some baking soda. A small box or 2 will do. Dip your parts to rinse off the original solution. The baking soda will neutralize the acid. Just dip them and move them around don’t leave them in there. Air dry with compressed air.

I did this all the time when I had my plasma table. Saved lots of time on welding prep too.

 

Thankyou!

Anything to cut down on the amount of dust is a win. The grinding, even though it doesn't take long, does make a lot of dust.