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Maggie’s The Welding and Metalworking Thread
- Thread starter bogeybrown
- Start date
The Impala I posted about while ago got mated to the new frame.
All painted and ready
There were a lot of little parts like this fender mount I had to rebuild from what was salvageable
And my TJ had a lot done. It's back on the road again.
The spring buckets needed replaced so I relocated them to keep the springs from arking with the lift.
The skid plate mounts needed redone too.
And an old floor vent I fixed for a customer at work with a little weld n grind.
All painted and ready
There were a lot of little parts like this fender mount I had to rebuild from what was salvageable
And my TJ had a lot done. It's back on the road again.
The spring buckets needed replaced so I relocated them to keep the springs from arking with the lift.
The skid plate mounts needed redone too.
And an old floor vent I fixed for a customer at work with a little weld n grind.
Romeo, is it just me, or optical delusion, but that first pick makes the length of the body 'propeller'.
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As in looks twisted? It's probably the angle of the pic because she laid down on the frame proper
Looks a little cold maybe ? Could be technique. Little bit of undercut. 3/32 or 1/8 ? Coupon thickness ? Happens to me if I'm not careful. Really don't weld stick enough to keep my hand in it. Vertical uphill is more than doable. It's required most places.
I tested on pipe so I've never actually done a plate test with stick. But most of what I weld with stick is plate. Go figure lol. The tests I've seen were overhead uphill on a 45. All positions in one test.
Not bad.. If you would clamp / weld something out to your off side to rest your arm on your travel will become more consistent. If you want to challenge the kids set one up without the backing strip and have them run an open butt. Great to see someone spending time with the "Future Welders of America"...
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1/8 7018, 112 amps, 3/8 plate. These new fancey welders we have run way different than the older machines.
I have 13 students in this vertical stick class. 3 of them ran their test plate with a 6010 open root 7018 fill and cap. The other ran out of time to get the technique down so we ran backing plates.
We start pulse mig in the horizontal and overhead on Wednesday. The other 42 students I have this school year are wrapping up their OA welding and brazing class and we start MIG flat and vertical this week.
Wow... That is impressive.... What kind of school are you involved with ? Do your students run any flux core ?
Those 3 that ran open butt have "got it".... That is a natural talent.
I am a "Fan Boy" of the old Lincoln SA200's.... Especially the Short Hoods built prior to 1957. I have new Lincoln shop machines and they do run different. If your 3 super star students could ever run a gas drive, DC machine they would be spoiled for life.
I am employed by the local Community College as a full time welding faculty. We teach everything from OA welding and brazing, cutting. To GTAW in all positions on steel stainless and aluminum. Flux core metal core sub arc, stick all positions, intro to pipe courses, print reading, and fabrication.
We have 5 labs, 3 are embedded at local area highschools where we teach dual credit classes allowing them to use their time in high school to take credited welding courses. If you add everyone up it's around 600 students.
I teach at one of the highschools during the day and then College courses 3 nights a week and Saturday.
I have some kids that want to chase that life. They are pretty excited about it. It's nice to see a group of young people that want to do some actual work.
"That Life" is for a certain breed of craftsman.. A few things about it... Those big money, OT jobs don't pop up in your home town. A craftsman becomes a "Traveler" when he is not sleeping in his own bed at home. May be 100 miles from home or 2,000 miles from home. At that point you become a Road Hand. You can't dabble at it, you have to commit 100%... You must be a person who is squared away and keeps their ducks all in a tight row.... The better you get, the better you get. There is a big, long ladder to climb. 30 years ago, I had some college kids come out in the summer and be an "intern" with me. When I get an email from them they are now Senior Project Superintendents, CEO's and Engineers at the largest construction companies in the world (Bechtel, Kiewit, etc) and are running Billion $$$ projects. Building power plants, computer chip FABS, water, sewer, desalinization plants and more.. I choose to be a "Rig Welder" and started in the oil patch and refineries.
Time line photos... Start out as the welder and leave the trade as the field engineer drawing the plans.
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You have put a "Time Stamp" on yourself... LOL
I have set up brand new Rig Welding Trucks and mounted an SA200 on those trucks that were that were 40 years older than the truck and would still out live the truck.
Yup, see them running around here all the time. Brand new welding truck, old SA200. There is a reason for that, and it aint because they suck. Have a guy locally that all he does is rebuild them and his business is steady. He pimps some of them out with cool paint jobs, chrome, etc. They fly out of his place.
That noise I could spot anywhere. So distinctive. Absolutely love to weld with them.
I've rebuilt many. Here is my "Go To" team for the SA200's.
Home | Bills Welder Repair
www.billswelderrepair.com
OK this brings up a question: have you guys seen shortages in rods? I had to bow my head and go to a Tractor Supply last weekend and buy rods since my go-to shop was closed - no 6011 in any size, few 7018 in stock. I just settled with some 6013 which was fine for my application, but was pretty bummed to see that the shortage is hitting there too.
My TC has 6010, 6011 and 7018 around mid October. I don’t really use anything else so I didn’t look to see what else was or wasn’t there.
My local HD has a fuck ton of Lincoln rods, in the same, and my local ace had 6011, but no traeger big game rub. Admittedly I was so pissed about the traeger rub I didn’t look at any more of the welding stuff and left.
I think that is fantastic.
Me, I am likely your worst nightmare.....a farmer welder. I can stick metal together and it will not come back apart but it is not going to be pretty, or likely done the "right" way.
I started working on body work on a car and I learned I have no idea what the hell I was doing. At least now I am not blowing holes in metal......as often.
Other issue is remembering to turn off the gas, I always forget that, hung a sign on the shop door. TURN OFF THE GAS DUMB SHIT.
Have a few friends that were rig welders on the Alaska pipeline all retired now and stove up from working in the cold conditions. Put myself through college as a welder and manage large commercial and healthcare projects as a PM,. The education I received in the field has been invaluable for my career. Still enjoy welding and in my shop most evenings and weekends working on projects.
We buy rods and wire
I tell my students all the time that is way more than putting a machine in a truck. You jabe no know what your doing. When they leave me they "should" be able to set a machine and run a fillet weld any any position. "Should" be able to pass a d1.1 test plate with little to no practice. But they don't know how to build things. I try to have them go work somewhere they can learn the finer points of fit up, print reading, and all of the things that go into a job before you strike an arc. We can only get through so much about life in the time they are with us. But we do our best to get em as far as we can.
We get rod and wire A pallet at a time. Havnt heard of any issues. Material is another story. Couldnt get stainless for a while. Certain sheet steel has gone through the roof on price. All in all I think we have been ok. Have some amazing industry partners with our program that help out if called upon.
I tell my students all the time that is way more than putting a machine in a truck. You jabe no know what your doing. When they leave me they "should" be able to set a machine and run a fillet weld any any position. "Should" be able to pass a d1.1 test plate with little to no practice. But they don't know how to build things. I try to have them go work somewhere they can learn the finer points of fit up, print reading, and all of the things that go into a job before you strike an arc. We can only get through so much about life in the time they are with us. But we do our best to get em as far as we can.
I've got a 48 in my shop that needs to be restored. Going to be a complete teardown and rebuild.
Frame was shot so I built a completely new frame. Then I decided I wanted to chop it and built a chopped frame. Then I was over it and wanted to sell it all and only ended up selling the chopped frame. I'll get around to it one day.
I really wish i knew how to weld. I would do a ton of fab work on cars. Particularly turbo manifolds. Seeing a well welded manifold is a work of art.
I weld something and it's so beautiful, I look at it and think "Did I really do that?"
Then sixty seconds later and six inches away, I weld something that's so ugly I look at and think "Did I really do that?"
Driving home last night I thought "Is the truck getting louder?" Then moments later there was no doubt about it. What went was some unobtainable aftermarket piece (well, I could get it in a whole kit for $400)
So cobbling that back together will be this week's welding task. I used to watch some Yootoobe videos but I never learned much. "Coupons? Test beads? Show me welding awful shit to worse shit, that's the work I do!"
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- Nov 3, 2010
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Buy one and start playing with it. Take a class at the local CC if you can swing the time.
I collected the SA200's all over the West and restored most but used some for parts. I tried to steer away from those that did not have a ring gear on the flywheel since an electric starter is a great option. Stayed away those with the hexagon main armature housing since Lincoln started using some aluminum in those models (Green Light series).. Everything else was fair game. The short hoods had 4 ranges and the long hoods have 5 ranges so there are benefits to both of them.
Today, Lincoln is having the main armatures made in China. I hear it looks like a 10 year old wrapped the wires. The pipeline welders are buying a new machine and having Bill's rewind and bake the main armatures before they take it to the field.
Shame to have to do that to a brand new machine but I believe it. All I've ever done is single hand work so all I work with is rentals. Broke out in 2013 and there were still quite a few 300D's in the rental fleets. Most plant work now days is all tig, for sure on beads, so I never cared for the 3D's. Hard on tungsten.
The Lincoln vantage series was fairly new then and a lot of the old timers didn't care for them at all. Said they fluctuated too much. With my level of experience at that time I couldn't tell what they were talking about.
Fast forward to today and the vantages are all you see in the rental fleets. The diesel ranger 305's are getting popular but they suck bad. Really high speed small displacement diesels in them and they're always having problems.
I'm a Lincoln guy through and through but the new miller 300R pro is a bad dude! Runs lo hy like a dream and you have the ability to fine tune the arc sensitivity on the lift arc tig function. Really handy when your welding alloys. Most times when you get it set right you don't even have to grind your stop on the cap. They're slick.
Talking to some of the mechanics in the rental business and they all say no miller's after 2018 lol. 14-18 if you want a miller. Board problems in all the new machines. 2k to fix them most time.
They all give the vantages high marks though. They say they rarely do more than normal service and oil changes on them.
It's just hard to beat the old machines though for pure stick rod action. I burned some 5P+ with a 60's vintage red face that a friend of mine bought and the difference in the way those machines run that rod vs the new machines was wild. I immediately realized what the old timers were talking about. So smooth.
Yep, I was in Louisiana and they would not allow the gasoline equipment out on the off shore platforms to there were lots of Lincoln 400 amp diesels floating around also... I liked that infinite adjustment on both dials but they were too heavy to mount on a rig truck.
Taking AC current and running it through rectifiers just never really cleaned up the power. Those straight DC machines had what I called "Push"... You could push that rod down on heavy plate and it would never stick and a 3/16" rod would burn in half at the rod holder... They would lay down a bead to die for when running the 7024 Jet Rods in a flat position. Some fab shops would get big bore pipe in a positioer and roll them out with Jet Rods... And then came submerged arc.
I would love to implement some kind of job shadow or co op into our welding program to get these kids some time around the "real world" they come through our program with the best of everything and a well lit climate controlled shop. Then they go get jobs and step back in time 15 or more years and it's hot as hell or colder then penguin nuts.
If you not looking to the future your falling behind. So who knows what our program will look like when I retire in 36 years.....
If you not looking to the future your falling behind. So who knows what our program will look like when I retire in 36 years.....
I agree. Part of the challenge is "Government Rules and Regulations". At the local grocery store the part time high school kids can't climb the ladder to stock shelves and they can't even throw boxes into the compactor, much less hit the start button...
This is our Apprentice Program. It is no cake walk. Depending on the state they are in, their home could be 40 miles from the jobsite and school could be another 40 miles in another direction. Been many a night an apprentice had to sleep in his car in order to cover all the bases. This is a 5 year commitment... A UA Journeyman knocks down a good wage / benefit package. Neither the contractor or the Instructors put up with a hand dragging in 10 minutes late or missing work. The flip side is if we don't work we don't get paid.
Become an Apprentice - United Association
Become an Apprentice In 1936, The United Association’s joint apprenticeship program was the first nationally registered program recognized by the Department of Labor in the United States. Over the many decades since, UA training has evolved into a sophisticated and comprehensive program of...
ua.org
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The new sae-300 are supposed to have the infinite coarse side also.
Had an sae-500 show up on the job once. Huge two door turbocharged sucker! I hadn't been welding six months. I was terrified of it lol. Another welder showed me how to set it up to tig off of and that was it, I was in love. Loved the infinite adjustment on the coarse side.
The new sae-300 are supposed to have the infinite coarse side also.
That and a bitchen welded exhaust system, mainly a titanium full system does it for me.
Especially when it gets a few heat cycles and turns colors it does not get anymore bad ass than that.
I ordered the same handle on my still saw, but when I went to try and get a case for the saw, good luck.
I still is sitting with ought a case, lol.
Yeah it's not going in the case anymore lol. I gave my dad the normal size big stihl dawgs for his 441 when I put the wcs 3 points on mine. His saw won't fit in the case with them either. Those cases are barely big enough for the saw.
Edit to add, I just went back and looked at the pic you were talking about. That's V1 of my home made wrap. This is V2
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Funny thing... I struggled with geometry and trigonometry in school.... In the trade I used those two every day... Looking back, if my teachers would have given me a bucket of fittings and an assignment to run them in a confined area (level, plumb and square) it would have all sunk in...
Same here. Always struggled with text book math in school and wasn't until I applied it to a practical problem did it make sense. Trig, geometry and calculus was mind numbing and barely got through my required classes but once viewed as a useful tool instead of a concept it all came together. Wife who has an MS in child development (very beneficial for me LOL) believes I have Discalculia which I had to look it up to see what it was. Frankly I think I am alot more screwed up than what I read
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Currently taking Trig in college. I'm an aerospace machinist. Calculate taper every day. Took the asvab in high school. Lowest was 86th percentile. Had a few 99's.Same here. Always struggled with text book math in school and wasn't until I applied it to a practical problem did it make sense. Trig, geometry and calculus was mind numbing and barely got through my required classes but once viewed as a useful tool instead of a concept it all came together. Wife who has an MS in child development (very beneficial for me LOL) believes I have Discalculia which I had to look it up to see what it was. Frankly I think I am alot more screwed up than what I read
The way they teach Trig is crap. Especially when it is taught by a pure math teacher. Teacher thinks it's fun to figure out the most convoluted stuff. Doesn't care about the answer. Loves the process.
Basically zero applications. Or the applications in the book make no bloody sense in the real world.
Example. Pilot is flying above 2 signs that are 5 miles apart. He is above and between both signs. Takes an azimuth to both at the same time (one through the plane). What is the pilots elevation?
The worst part is when they say no calculator. And all the crap they want you to memorize? There's charts for all of that bloody stuff. Also Wolfram Alpha exists. Or if you really need to figure out something stick it into CAD.
Can you tell I'm annoyed at school?
Just as important, if you want a relationship, it takes a special kind of person "to be there" for you. Ex didn't mind, she exploited it, current woman freaked out when I quit my job to go work on a pipeline in WV a few years ago.
Tore the crap out my trailer while hauling my ATV into the Gila a couple of weeks ago on a Elk hunt. Didn't have a tag myself but was helping two of my friends who had muzzle loading tags. All the rain this year washed out the arroyos which caused the trailer to drag while going through them. Needles to say it was a rough SOB resulting in the A frame jack bent back up under the frame tearing the mount and ripping out bolts. Tail lights were drug off and generally the trailer was in need some attention so last weekend and this morning spent putting it back together.
Cut out the damaged A frame section and welded in 3/16" plate. Welded the Jack mount to 1/4" plate and bolted to trailer frame. New LED tail lights installed up higher housed in 11 ga shrouds and Swing sidewind jack installed. Hopefully it will make it a little more mountain proof.
Cut out the damaged A frame section and welded in 3/16" plate. Welded the Jack mount to 1/4" plate and bolted to trailer frame. New LED tail lights installed up higher housed in 11 ga shrouds and Swing sidewind jack installed. Hopefully it will make it a little more mountain proof.
Looks good... You might consider a skid pan under it so you don't lose an axle... LOL.. I like the weld on bracket with the option of 4 holes. I have one with two holes in it (horizontal), that some idiot put on... Drilll 2 more holes is on my to do list.
Put a little bungee around the jack handle or it'll be the first thing to get bent.
Custom front sight milled from a blank… going on my 1911 commander project.
Having a mill never gets old!!!
Sirhr
Having a mill never gets old!!!
Sirhr
The project… Caspian frame and slide. Carbon, not SS. Going to get engraved and silver plated. Furniture, pins and screws will be royal blue Colt-style… right now just have cheap blackening on them from factory. Grips are camel bone. Totally awesome material! I lapped and fitted the slide myself and it is glass smooth.
I got it “running” last weekend. But needed a better front sight.
Sirhr
I got it “running” last weekend. But needed a better front sight.
Sirhr
Dovetail centered and then Soft-soldered in place. As this gun is getting silver-plated the tiny solder lines will disappear under plating.
After hand-filing and then block sanding, the whole frame top was bead blasted back to a solid matte finish and given a light steel wool burnish.
Basically now ready to go to engraving!
You can just see the dovetail line. The trick is not dishing, rounding or gouging the slide!!
Top image. Nicely blended and totally solid with no lines to give away the dovetail location after finishing and engraving.
Sirhr
After hand-filing and then block sanding, the whole frame top was bead blasted back to a solid matte finish and given a light steel wool burnish.
Basically now ready to go to engraving!
You can just see the dovetail line. The trick is not dishing, rounding or gouging the slide!!
Top image. Nicely blended and totally solid with no lines to give away the dovetail location after finishing and engraving.
Sirhr
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