Anything welding

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQN_yz-4Hhg

 

Delivered on TIG Friday

 

my semi-permanent-temporary trailer ball adapter broke all the screws off lugging the trailer around the yard. partly my problem, as i got lazy and stopped tightening them all the way with a screwdriver-- i was hoping to keep the screws finger tight so i could easily swap between functions. but the slop from finger tight screws added extra stress.


i spent the morning working on revision 2.




more slop than the original design, which was why i went with the original screw fastening style to eliminate the slop in the first version.
but after using/breaking it, i've since realized that a 1/2" of movement is nothing in the scheme of things for something like this. so went with a double-sheer pin style and some scrap c-channel.

if this breaks, it means my trailer weight is crazy, which will be an entirely different set of problems, but also not unexpected given the level of effort i'm putting into it. but i do have a concept design for a $400 motorized jack foot plate adapter worked out in my head... cheaper and nicer than the official $600 Trailer Valet, but of course, vevor's already come out with a $300 alternative.
https://www.amazon.com/VEVOR-Electric-Trailer-Capacity-Adjustable/dp/B0C283VLT9/

 

For some reason I thought you couldn't. What are some metals that are very difficult if not impossible to weld?

 

Ah man, Jody is the man to answer that question.

I have read about alloys that require different fillers to complete to specs. I don’t recall the alloys, but that’s damn trick.

 

I was brain storming your idea, and thought of McMaster Carr. A clevis pin would be a good choice? Or modify a hitch pin to be able to lock in place.

 

honestly, i avoid mcmaster. because it always leads me down rabbit holes far larger than my wallet. i'm never working on only one project, which means that once i find an oddball solution to one problem, i start trying to solve other pending problems, and suddenly i've got a cart with $9,000 of hardware in it. same with digikey. seems i can't leave either of those sites for less than $500.


for instance, i also just picked up a 10 pound welding spool--because i'm blowing through 2 pound spools far too fast right now, and am brainstorming ideas for a mounting system on my welding cart, and adapting my current welder to accept it. it's a mount that needs to introduce a variable amount of friction to prevent the spool from bird-nesting, but also pull near-effortlessly-smooth because i don't think my welder wire feed has the balls for a spool that size... the simple/obvious answer here is to upgrade my welder, but that has some non-obvious downsides in terms of re-wiring the entire garage, which is a hiccup away from just building a new garage, and project scope creep on a new garage project means i need bezos kind of money to see it all through...

and i've also got one of the mini-tool boxes right next to it-- being that harbor freights roller-bearing-equipped drawers are unobtanium, as well as don't even offer a lower 4-drawer unit, it's on my project list to start digging into finding full-extension drawer slides that i can adapt to the mini tool box space constraints. i want a nice one for use at work for all the knick-knacks i've got taking up an entire toolbox drawer that would be better served holding real tools.



there's still plenty of improvement possible in the new hand truck design, but the major improvement point is that the pins aren't a primary structural component anymore as they were with the original iteration, and the steel additions carry about 75% of the load, with the pins themselves carrying the last bit of the load, but only in specific side-loading and twisting orientations. the steel additions limit how much sheer load is placed onto the pins, so given the pins are 5/16", it should work decently. and it used scraps and pins i had laying around, instead of buying additional stuff (pins were a bulk purchase from B&G discount, part of an idea for removable trailer fenders that aren't looking as workable as i thought).

the difficulty in it is that i still use the hand truck as a hand truck, and am unwilling to modify it to making a dedicated trailer dolly

the hitch pin/clevis might need to be worked in later on if these pins start bending--indicating my figuring on load carrying are incorrect, but i'm really hoping that's far enough down the road that i'll have time to build the power jack unit by that time, and it'll work better. the larger goal here is that i'm eventually planning on a towable camper purchase, and i'll need a 'yard dog' for that unit as well. but i'm also starting to consider a 4x4 ATV for screwing around, yard dog, and snow plowing...

 

Get the clevis pins at your local hardware store.

I use McMaster’s site to quickly find what I need. Well thought out.

 

They have the world’s best catalog and site. I miss using their book!

 

Hear hear, we just had ours re-wired, but thankfully we finally did it. The homeowners before us didn’t wire it correctly. Sketchy garage, never cared for it. Now I’m ready to improve it. I now have a 240v outlet for the Eastwood TIG200, however, that leads me to have to change the 240v breaker in the rear near my saw shop. That has 2-30 amp breakers which helped power the Eastwood machine. Now with the CK Worldwide MT200, I was told it draws 38 amps, so CKW recommends a 50 amp breaker.

Thankfully the plug is near the box. So I have to open it and find out what gauge wire leads to the 240v outlet. I’m not an electrician, so I might have to get the Moreno’s who wired the garage back here.

 

I charge my lithiums on it in case one pops- I tested it out on the stove with high flame and it worked without doing anything except turning red underneath. I don’t know how well it weathers though.

 

did they stop sending out the catalogs completely? last I knew you had to order multi thousand dollars a year then the catalog would just show up. the last one I was gifted is #118

 

Why? You can search on their website via multiple parameters, plus they store all of your prior purchases so you never have to look for something twice.

I dont miss JC whitney catalogues either.

 

Can't use the website as a kid booster seat.

 

I always preferred books, especially for the times where I know what I need, but everyone else in the industry calls it something else.

 

6061 is today’s material to fab. This metal is bad ass

 

I forgot to mention what I like the most about McMaster-Carr, and that is what seems like an infinite amount of choices for drill bit sizes. Bits you won’t find at your local hardware store EVER that will make or break your game. I used them quite a bit when I was building saws.

 

Oh, I love their website, and their app, but sometimes it is just fun to flip pages and see all the stuff you never knew existed! +1 on the booster. McMaster's secret is they almost never offer two of the exact same product. The only place I find brand-names is in the adhesive section.

Funny: having the catalog was such a thing, folks would write their name across the pages so folks wouldn't steal 'em. But then someone discovered the unknown utility of the disk sander. Then we all had to start putting our name on our 'secret page.' lol!

 

McMaster-Carr are great about having just the right size thingamajig you need. What I don't like are there shipping costs. Order a pack of 1/4" roll pins. Probably weights 1/3oz, will fit in a small envelope, and cost less than a $1 to mail to you. It might cost you a $1.5 for the roll pins, but they will charge you $10.95 for shipping.

It really has to be something no one else has to get me to order from them.

 

You could check out belmetric, local place that I know also ships. Great selection and same day pickup.

Not sure about shipping prices but it doesnt seem hard to beat mcmasters

https://belmetric.com/