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Good morning

...and gas welding was the only way to get in there...

My BIL owns an exhaust shop. I was renting a space within his warehouse so had occasion to see their procedures. For the longest time, they did nothing but gas welding (O/A) using unplated 70S. BIL thought the copper microplate affected the welds... :rolleyes: I got in there with a MM210 MIG and was letting his guy use it to weld brackets and hangers to mufflers and what not. Next thing you know they have themselves a couple little Lincoln MIGs out on the floor... ;)
 
My BIL owns an exhaust shop. I was renting a space within his warehouse so had occasion to see their procedures. For the longest time, they did nothing but gas welding (O/A) using unplated 70S. BIL thought the copper microplate affected the welds... :rolleyes: I got in there with a MM210 MIG and was letting his guy use it to weld brackets and hangers to mufflers and what not. Next thing you know they have themselves a couple little Lincoln MIGs out on the floor... ;)
Glad you were there to walk them through it. Some places and people think penetration is a football or porn term..B6DB3872-A021-4876-88BB-03B98F559391.png
 
I have been busy shopping online for a welding helmet and a welding cart and a few other things. And I came across this cart for only $140

0.4” thick too! I’ll bet it weighs a ton. But it only holds up 176 pounds?

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This thing is certainly made from 1 mm steel. Which is only 0.04” thick
 
634C16A6-3BFB-4155-9D73-59A20558D8EB.jpeg Lol. 3/8” steel construction would have used up the whole gvw on that thing. I modified a cheap hand truck to move mine around on. Not sure how big your bottle will be though..I thought the first use of any new machine was to build a cart for it?…lol heck with a shiny new one like that, I’d mount it in a nice lower kitchen cabinet unit mounted to a harbor freight 1000lb dolly..
 
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I thought the first use of any new machine was to build a cart for it?…lol

I used to feel that way but when you can pick one up for $45 from HF LINK, priorities change... ;) One thing I don't like about this one is that if you have a cover that hinges up--wire access in a MIG, for example--the edge of the tray gets in the way. I lifted mine with a piece of 1/2" ply and took care of the problem although wood should not be used in weld cart construction... :D

Home Depot has a Lincoln "Red Fierce" autodark helmet for $115 which isn't too bad--I have one. Probably going to give it to my son. My next helmet will be around $300... :rolleyes:

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Half of any welding I do is outside, and I have a gravel driveway, so I needed big tires to negotiate the steps in and out of the house,lol. My hand truck rig clears it all and is open on both sides,so no issue with the loading door. (I take the machine off and lay it on its side to change spools anyway, since it’s just got a bungee holding it onto the platform) I went with the hand truck because it is oriented to lay flat and my first project required me to bring the machine under the truck..0B6E34C5-03D0-43A9-A59D-6764DCAA035D.jpeg
 
I checked out the carts at Barnes Welding then bought one at Harbor Freight for $100 with coupon.
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It’s stronger than I thought it would be.
 
Argon + helmet = $400
Welder delivered =$875
Cart+supplies. =$145
More supplies. =$045
Total. $1465

I bought a regular helmet because I’m going to do pulse TIG welding, and pulse welding turns the electronic helmets on and off.
 
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Half of any welding I do is outside, and I have a gravel driveway, so I needed big tires to negotiate the steps in and out of the house,lol. My hand truck rig clears it all and is open on both sides,so no issue with the loading door. (I take the machine off and lay it on its side to change spools anyway, since it’s just got a bungee holding it onto the platform) I went with the hand truck because it is oriented to lay flat and my first project required me to bring the machine under the truck..View attachment 25922

For outdoor welding I typically use the torch although it is a problem to wheel those big bottles around on my big cart. Actually that’s what I’ve been using for every type of welding since that’s all I’ve had until now.

I wanna go grind some tungsten on my new diamond wheel And throw down a bead, but I’m just too tired to weld tonight. It’s 10 o’clock on the West Coast and I don’t feel like sticking myself in the hand with a hot tungsten.
 
Good morning Mossberg Owners.

Back when I first bought my receptacle for the 220 V welder circuit I also bought a plug, so it would be compatible with any welder by changing the plug.

Well I have looked and looked and looked and I simply cannot find the damn thing so I’m going to have to go buy another one. The upshot of this is that no welding has occurred yet.
 
Good morning Mossberg Owners.

Back when I first bought my receptacle for the 220 V welder circuit I also bought a plug, so it would be compatible with any welder by changing the plug.

Well I have looked and looked and looked and I simply cannot find the damn thing so I’m going to have to go buy another one. The upshot of this is that no welding has occurred yet.
Lol, it’s right there behind the dryer…lol
 
Today I bought a plug and an outlet, and some wire, and I made a heavy extension cord for the welder. I also spent some time cleaning up the boatyard.

I finally set up something for my first test weld, and decided I needed a break first. I sat down to have a cup of tea, and look at my email . . . the clock says 9:36pm, so I am about pooped.

There may be no welding tonight. It'll look bad anyhow, and I'll just blame it on the late hour,

And that's just a lame excuse, if I foolishly decide to pick up the torch at this hour.
 
I wanna go grind some tungsten on my new diamond wheel And throw down a bead, but I’m just too tired to weld tonight. It’s 10 o’clock on the West Coast and I don’t feel like sticking myself in the hand with a hot tungsten.

To sharpen my tungstens, I chuck them up in a cordless drill, speed set on low. Then I run the tip at about a 30^ angle lengthwise on a running belt sander while pressing slightly on the W (PTofE ;) ) with a gloved hand and the drill turning slowly. The tungstens are brittle so be careful you don't snap them.

Pure W will have a green stripe on the end and doesn't need to be sharpened--it will ball up as soon as you start welding and is only suitable for Al and maybe Mg? The balled end may not work well with some of the fancier settings such as pulse and/or more than 60Hz AC frequency at which point you would use a W alloyed with radioactive elements :eek: such as Th or Ce.

The charts were pulled from the pdfs I linked earlier. Not all colors are standardized as I have W2%Ce that have an orange stripe. I also have purple from Radnor, I forget what % of what they are. Note you will need different diameter Ws depending on the current output/thickness of metal being welded. Too small a W and it will melt into the weld--not good. Too large a W and it will be very hard starting/maintaining the arc, even with hi-freq start. You will also need to get collets/bodies the diameter of the W being used. And note your #17 torch can take accys for #18 and #26 torches but NOT #9 or #20...

You may also find certain flavors of W work better with different metals--trial and error... Nothing beats arc time for learning. :)

PS: when tired I seldom burn myself with the W but more likely "stir the puddle" with it. :D This can cause it to become contaminated and the tip will need to be broken off (hammer on the edge of a vise) and resharpened. PM me and I'll see if I can send you an ass't of Ws to get you started...

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I thought I stumbled onto a foreign language site by mistake. :sarcasm:

Good Morning, Mossies.
Lol I read that whole thing and looked back at pics of Cadd’s new toy and realized I would forget what I went to the garage for, half way through the set up routine. When I weld stuff, it’s usually brackets and stuff with dissimilar metals, of different thickness and states of cleanliness. I wish him all the best with the new machine, and Bobster is so far past wishes and luck in this regard, he is just a point of envy now…lol
 
Thought for the Day

Interesting to read this strategy written decades ago and compare it with what's happening today not only in the U.S. but several other countries around the world,

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Thank you @Bobster. That’s a very kind offer, but you won’t need to bother.

I did buy some extra supplies for the torch including different diameters & types of electrode, collet and bodies for them, and some different gas cups.

The truth is that all of the stuff is very inexpensive here. I bought 10 CK electrodes (red) for 30 bucks. I can get Chinese electrodes even cheaper.

I haven’t figured out everything about the set up, but I sat down and tried to DC pulse weld some mild steel with various results.

This is a 20 gauge steel strap folded over, and I welded the edges together. I didn’t clean all the paint off before I folded it, unfortunately. It’s lumpy, and I dunked the electrode and made a crater.

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This is the other side of the same strap.
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Bits of a Volkswagen floor. This is the stuff I’ll actually be welding on.
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Closer. . .
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I’m not sure if that crater is from porosity from contamination in the original lap, Or if I stuck my tungsten in the steel.

This was my second weld on the steel strap and I turned the amperage up too much. I was welding along fine and then I came to that hole and suddenly the bottom dropped out.

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Anyhow, it’s amazing how tiny you can turn the arc down and still get it to work. So far I am very happy with this new machine and I’m sure I will get lots of practice with it in the near future.

Also I’m gonna go chisel that metal apart later, and see how strong my welding is.
 
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