Anything welding

Boss asked me to weld a couple pieces of aluminum together and I hadn’t used my spool gun in awhile and was a little nervous cuz I wanted it to come out nicely for him. I came home from work tonight and busted out the spool gun and practice on some 1/8” really quick and this was my first pass. I was pretty happy with the results



So then I had to weld some 1/4” hinges to some 1/4” C channel and then the other side of the hinge to some 3/8” flat bar





Pretty happy with it after not using the spool gun in months

 

Yes I know where Nazareth is I lived on Penn Dixie rd for years .

Took some classes at Schnecktech years ago time flies might have been 30 years ago.

Like I said talk to some of the Valley People in this field.

With the Economy going gang busters getting a job with no experience might happen pretty easy being fresh out of school when times are slow most don`t want to hand hold a person with no job experience in the field

It seems we all pay our dues one way or another not very often do you walk into a orbital Tig welding jobs without putting floors in garbage trucks and trailers

 

You aren't going to believe this but I live on Penn Dixie Rd currently! Lol. What the hell are the odds of that?!

Do you think that class at LCTI is a good idea or a waste of time only being 150 hrs? What is ASW D1.1 cert?

 

sounds to me you should skip the classes for now and just have Craig give you the basics.

 

i want to see some pics before you wire brush. Only for comparison. Your aluminum spool gun welds look exacty like mine. I like them alot.

 

Dam dude, give me some classes. I which I had the funds to jump into aluminum.

 

Here's a few updates to my cage and some beads. I got the structure lifted enough to be able to weld the underside. There was a couple spots where I could only get about 90% around and those areas will be gusseted.

 

Vertical, horizontal 2209 X-ray’d Vessel

 

316l 100% X-ray horz
20 something passes if I can remember correctly.

 

Looks.........expensive

 

Thanks man!! Most of that wire brush you see there was cleaning the area before hand, it only took 1 or 2 quick easy swipes to get the very little amount of soot that was there after I welded. I didn’t grab any pics before cleaning it. I will for sure next time for a comparison for you.

You’re not too far away from me. Whenever you’re over in my area you’re more than welcome to cruise by and play around with the spool gun for a bit!

I have a 24’ trailer full of gear that I rent out in my industry when I’m working on a show and when I was putting together the package I needed some 4’x4’ aluminum diffusion frames that pop into C stands or Combo stands to diffuse light on set and these frames are $75 a piece at the cheapest (at least that I could find). I needed 10 which was $750. So I said screw it and bought the material ($234) a spool gun for my Hobart ($200) and an Argon tank ($200) and made my own for $100 less total. Now I have the spool gun for anything aluminum that I need to do haha. These things that I made for my boss were a favor to him that took me about 30 mins and in return he bought me 2 5.0ah Dewalt batteries that I wanted haha. $120 worth of batteries

 

Since I’ve started moving all my tools from my former shop to the shop I’m putting together at home, I’ve been shopping for a millermatic 211 that I can take to the old shop when doing non stainless exhaust work, as I don’t have an exhaust bender at home. Loading the 252 up every time I go there has become a pita. I had a 211 lined up but the owner bailed. I ended up rolling the dice and picked up this migmax 215 with cart for cheap. I don’t have much hope for it, but it seemed like a fun experiment and will hopefully hold be over till I find the 211 I’m looking for. I don’t expect to use it on any customer work with the exception of aluminized exhaust work, but I do look forward to testing it out on some scrap plate.





Also for the SoCal guys, I know a few of you have been looking for a chop saw. This Milwaukee chop saw was included with the welder. I can’t stand chop saws. I’m gonna list it for sale locally for $100 if anyone’s interested.

 

AWS 1.1 Is a Structural Code .

Different companies kind of laugh at the AWS codes one week and swear they are the best thing since sliced bread the next day.

Take it for what it is worth

Passing a test for code is always a good thing no matter how simple .

I have no clue who is teaching class so I really can`t say How much you will get out of taking it .

We all have our school horror stories like you spend 2/3 of the time prepping materials 1/6 of the time in the class room 1/6 of the time is arc time.

If your wearing Safety glasses under your hood you should never hurt your eyes I have been welding since I worked on Noah`s Ark no clue how the story it was wood got started I will say it seems people with Blue Eyes have it harder then those of us with brown eyes

 

I watched a bunch of reviews that were favorable, downside is none of the people who made the videos were people I would defer to for welder advice as most of them were mediocre welders at best. The machine itself looks to be much better made than the red welders I owned half a dozen years ago. The consumables aren’t that high quality, but for welding up a fence around the house or some muffler tubing, it may be alright. The real gamble is how long will it work for. It was too late to run after I unloaded it last night. I’m gonna run a bead or two with it tonight.

 

I've had the migmax for about two years now, I'm a hobbyist though. Never had an issue. I'm interested to know the option of a professional welder. Keep us posted.

 

What's the model and where r u located?

 

Welded up some legs for a table my father is building. Thoughts/criticisms welcome.

 

If I remember correctly I’m probably a little too far from you. I’m located in Santa Clarita and work in Victorville during the week.



Model number is 6177-20

 

Well shit. Yeah I bit of a drive. Even victorville.