Welding/Fab General Discussion

By Irondragon That site is just a short list (rods I use most), this one I have bookmarked and is more in depth. Forgot to mention the color dots on the end of the rods. As far as putting them in an oven, it won't hurt them and some say they should always be dried and stored in moisture proof containers. https://weldguru.com/welding-electrode/ http://w4zt.com/welding/stickrods.html

By Irondragon from another thread I have this chart saved, shade 11 will be a little light according to it. Most of my welding is at 175 amps or lower and I've found for me the chart is a little to dark so I set the hood at a number lower. That chart came from the Miller Welding web site, lots of good info there.

I want to cut oval holes in the top and bottom channel rails for my pickets to go into. I usually plug weld them inside the channel so it will be hidden. The holes are 1/2" and the angle is shallow enough that I cannot drill two side by side holes to create the oval. I am thinking about trying to drill at the proper angle with an end mill in my drill press. The cutting will be straight down and I will not be doing any side cutting but the end mill corner will contact the metal at an angle and I am not sure how that will go. Any alternatives or suggestions? Thanks,

Hi Folks I'm artist in residence in the South Lough Neagh Wetlands Northern Ireland. As Part of my residency I need to put together a wee booklet on the History all the way up to present times of Irish Blacksmithing, I could do with a few links and references can anyone help? thanks Eamonn Higgins www.eamonnhiggins.com www.galleries-online.co.uk/eamonnhiggins myspace.com/eamonnhiggins

I have been heading to goodwill and other thrift stores on occasion. Let me tell you the amount of silverware I have bought for scrap art projects. Anyway I saw a golf bag caddy and got to thinking. I have to carry my welding gas bottle up and down a hill to get filled or unloaded. So for around $15. I purchased this one. Even has a strap that will secure the bottle/tank. If this helps one person it is worth sharing.

Good morning, all. I hope life is being gentle with everyone. I run the metal shop of a makerspace and a member has purchased/installed a CNC plasma cutting table. We need to come up with a way to shield the flash from the rest of the shop, and I'd like to make something like this that someone came up for a CNC laser cutter. Any reason why this wouldn't work on a plasma cutter? Thanks

Hello all. I hope everything is well with you and yours. DC electronics is something I don't understand well, and hope I can learn a bit more from you folks that are smarter than me. About 3 weeks ago our Lincoln 3350 showed low bat and wouldn't darken. I changed out the battery with a new one, and no luck. Repeated with a new battery and no luck. As some may remember, I run a metal shop at a makerspace so I thought the helmet had finally died. Looked at a replacement cartridge but at $400+, I could by 6 Yeswelders which we've had good luck with so far. It sat on my desk for a couple of weeks, not wanting to throw it out, but finally decided to do it yesterda…

Update: so far, so good. Unfortunately, I cracked the casting at the back corner, but I’m thinking about possible repairs once I’ve finished the cleanup.

I just fabricated a we80lding cart (or "trolley" if you prefer) for my new TIG welder. I gave my old AC/DC TIG setup to a contractor friend who helps me out on occasion. I had about 60 feet of steel angle that was originally intended for a project that never materialized, and I had half a dozen swivel casters left over from when I built a dock some years ago, so I didn’t have to buy much stuff to build this. It would have been easier to fabricate from square tubing, but I wanted to use what I had on hand and save a few bucks. My little shop area is so crowded that I needed as much maneuverability as possible for the cart, and using four swivel casters makes it very maneuv…

Removable and transportable frame for hoist hi, for a farmer friend of mine I need to make a frame to hook a winch to transport disassembled on the tractor trailer. like the swing portal measures 8 feet high about 2.50 meters, 8 feet wide must pass through with the tractor trailer and on it hook the winch and lift the weights, maximum capacity 500 kg thanks. any suggestions. the stand must be supported on the ground without wheels. it should be light, easy to handle and easy to transport and assemble what materials do you recommend I use? thanks http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e327/ice4me/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20141025_151138_zpsoyhv…

I'm hoping to add photos of some map drawers to the "It followed me home" thread. My plan is to use them for tooling as I make myself sets of punches, chisels etc. However, map drawers are quite large and about the only space they will likely fit in my 6m x 4m shed is where I was going to build a welding table. Now, I'm not any kind of welding expert. I won't have lots of clamps and fixtures or precision drilled/cut holes for said fixtures to mount in. I mainly just need a reasonably large, flat, solid space for laying out, tacking and welding. TLDR: Can I get away with putting a large plate top over a set of map drawers, to weld on, without causing any sig…

I would like to attach/weld a 3/4-1 ball on the end of some A36 that's 3/8 stock. Would ball bearing work with a wire welder? I'm not an experienced welder and use a wire flux core machine that is rated for 1/4 inch metal. Is this pie in the sky and what is the alternate? Are mild steel round balls available? I did look around with no answers found.

I have a 110 , 100amp stick welder. It has a bad ground clamp. I've done replaces the electrode holder. Could I use a standard c- clamp? Or do I need to buy a proper clamp?

I have a question for some of you experienced welders out there. I was told that hairspray does a good job at keeping MIG splatter from sticking in the nozzle or to stock. Obviously you'd have to wait for it to dry, but I was curious if anyone else had ever heard this or if I need to get the other leg pulled to even them out.

I do really appreciate the people here to help or get help. You guys have had lots of subtle ideas i wouldnt have considered but theyre really good ideas .thanks. Weve gotta go somewhere and cable is difficult. When i referred to success i got 2 knives, and 5 pieces of cable joined about 1" out of 12-18" that internet peoople have told me looks unwelded. Those are successes. And 1" is enough for success. Different than alot but thats ok. The failures have been 12-18" and i didnt get 1". Hence just asking for help on internet. Also my successful knives were made from 1.25" and popped up in a series of failures. I can be really honest. I taught myself this stuff and strugg…

I've got a bottle for my mig welder - 75/25 argon/co2. For the little bit I use the mig welder, I usually just use fluxcore. I want to teach myself tig, and my tig regulator fits onto this tank - but I have read that tig likes 100% argon. I have also read argon/helium mixes are good for both mig and tig. When one gets a tank refilled, can the tank be refilled differently than what it was previously? Can I use this 75/25 tank for straight argon? What's a price I can expect to pay?

clarification diagonal beams chevron i beams hi, sorry for the bizarre and bizarre question, could some kind user with notions of engineering and physics kindly explain the chevron beams, in Italy I think they are the diagonals or the arrows or braces, I think they are used to strengthen the portals or the connection between the column and the crossbar to avoid that the angle closes, to reduce the light the span of the bridges am I right? are coupled by welded plates right? on wikipedia or other search engines I have not found any feedback, thanks and sorry for the bizarre and bizarre question, thanks again greetings.

I originally posted this on Facebook in the Blacksmith for Beginners site looking for information on this heavy steel table. Someone took offense to the post and deleted it. SO: Who on here knows anything about Type Setting tables (turtle Tables)? I originally bought this table in horribly rusted shape from a picker thinking i could use it as a welding table. Upon further investigation and cleaning this thing is really NICE! I figured out searching the ole interweb that this is an Industrial turtle table, used for transporting type set pages from setting table to printing press. Weight 300 lbs, 24 x 30 x 1.25 inch top, 36 inch height. Top is machined to …

I have some 2.5mm Corten sheet and i was wondering can I gas weld it? I could cut some strip off and use that as filler rod ?

I am a very accomplished MIG 'booger' welder, looks like I used boogers to stick the steel together. But I make things and they stay stuck together. My cardiologist dropped a jewel in my lap yesterday, said he wanted to implant a pacemaker. Until yesterday I knew nothing about pacemakers, so off to Google I went...Mayo and Johns Hopkins have some info about welding and pacemakers, but not a whole lot. A few other sites come up with a few comments about amps and twisting leads. On the bright side I can still gas weld...I guess that assumes I could gas weld before the pacemaker... Anyone on here have a pacemaker and do MIG welding, if so what are your experiences …

Does anyone know a trick I use to get an Oxy-Acetylene rosebud to work on an Oxy-Propane set-up? Thanks

“Changes have been made to the design described in this post. Please refer to a later post below for an update.” I haven't posted here on IFI for quite some time, as I've been absolutely swamped with other projects and tasks like major home restoration work, property issues, a big archaeology excavation project, and other things that I won't bore everyone with. I'm finally getting back to the process of setting up a new workshop at home on a limited budget, and I'm making decent progress, although trying to fit all of my equipment into a relatively small space and still have enough room to work is pretty challenging. I decided to start posting a few of the things tha…

Just curious, when using magnets to hold something in place, my welder kinda spatters when tacking the pieces in place. When I remove the magnets it welds fine . Anyone else have this problem?

Weld Right - Sifbronze No. 1 Brazing Welding Rods 1.6mm x 20 Rods No matter what I try to braze, using mapp gas, my brass rods just refuse to melt. They get to a bright yellow almost white hot and then just crumble and fall apart.

Hey y’all, it’s February and smoking an grilling season is right around the corner! I’m tired of messing around with junk from the box stores and I’ve got a lot ive material laying around so I was curious if any of y’all have built bbq smokers? I got some 16” water pipe that’s 1/4” walled, I’d like to build a heavy duty smoker out of, i was wondering what size fire box and chimney pipe I need for a 16”x36” cooking chamber? I have enough 16” pipe laying around that I could make the fire box out of it but if square fire boxes work better I have 12”x12” square pipe that’s 3/8” walled, id appreciate any an all feed back!