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I Forge Iron

Joe H

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    Chattanooga
  1. We send out poles and beams for our signs to be galvanized every now and then, if the customer requests it. It's really pretty inexpensive, quite a bit less expensive having those same items powdercoated. It IS a real pain in the rear though. If you decide to go that route you will need to consult with the galvanizer beforehand. Nothing can be sealed airtight, you will need holes at least 1" diameter at several specific locations. If anything is sealed it will burst from expansion from the heat, and the holes need to be large so the zinc can drain out quickly. You end up having to be creative figuring out ways to cover the holes. Also any tapped holes, or welded on nuts will have to be re-tapped after galvanizing, this has been a real pain for me in the past.
  2. It's not the heat, it's the hydrogen that makes the steel brittle. It's called hydrogen embrittlement. Moisture can cause it in any welding process.
  3. No, it will be fine. Actually the MIG tip will be qute cold while the forge is in operation, from the expansion of the propane. I have even seen frost on mine.
  4. You do realize that everything electric in a vehicle is connected to a common "ground", which is all the metal in the vehicle. The only thing you are isolating by disconnecting the battery is the battery.
  5. Give me a good explanation of how unhooking a battery cable can help. Blowing up batteries? That's from sparking near a battery, nothing to do with the welding current. You do need to use some common sense. Hooking up a work clamp on the front bumper and welding on the rear of the vehicle is just plain silly and begging for trouble. If your work clamp is near where you are working, and well connected, you will never have any trouble. Electricity doesn't just go roaming around aimlessly. It will take the path of least resistance back to your work clamp every time, with no interest in your battery or electronics. I've spent quite a bit of time welding on vehicles with my TIG, using HF/HV start. If anything were going to cause problems that would.
  6. Disconnecting the battery cables will have absolutely no effect on anything, think about it for a minute. This is a myth. I've welded on plenty of vehicles with no trouble. Lots of guys with welding rigs use thier trucks for welding tables on a regular basis. Glenn, there is nothing to worry about. I've personally welded ON electric motor cases, the only worry is from too much heat getting to the wiring. We use cranes pretty much every day installing our signs. Use the crane to postion the part, weld it in place.
  7. I build customs signs, and we use adhesives alot for certain things where welding isn't the best option. One thing I have learned is that gluing steel to aluminum works ok for indoor applications. If it's going to be outside it will fail. Aluminum to aluminum, or steel to steel will last indefinately, but dissimilar metals just do not work. The reason is different coefficiants of thermal expansion. One metal expands/contracts more than the other, and it is only a matter of time before the glue is ripped apart. I have actually done experiments with many different adhesives in attempts to find one that will work. What I have done is glue some Al to another piece of Al, a piece of steel to a piece of steel, and some Al to some steel. I'd put all 3 pieces in the sun for awhile, then toss them in the freezer overnight. It usually only takes one of these cycles before you can break the aluminum and steel apart by hand, even though the similar metals are strong as ever. We spent many thousands of dollars in warranty service work before this sank in good. Now, gluing aluminum to steel is near the top of our list of no-no's. Silver solder would likely be a good choice for you if a mechanical means of attachment is out.
  8. In general this isn't really an issue when welding mild steel. The base metal, nor the filler metal have enough carbon to harden appreciably. The slag does chip off much more easily after the weld has cooled though. The weld shrinks as it cools, and the slag doesn't. With a good weld and a rod like a 6013, 7018, or 7014 the slag will curl up like a scorpions tail and fall off by itself as the weld cools.
  9. Steve, isn't it true that a circuit can be derated, per code, when it's a dedicated circuit for a low-duty cycle appliance like a welder? I use a 10 gauge 100' extension cord with my TIG sometimes. Drawing as much as 50 amps, but in short spurts with breaks in between. The welder has a 20% duty cycle at max output, so it's only even possible to draw 50 amps for 2 minutes out of every 10. 2 minutes of arc time out of 10 doesn't sound like much, but I've NEVER had the welder shut off due to duty cycle. I've checked the cord after doing alot of welding and it has never even been warm.
  10. So it has no potential as a grinder... Doesn't mean it couldn't be perfect for something else.
  11. The only time I've seen molds made from aluminum they were for fishing tackle. My dad used to make and sell alot of custom jig, spinnerbait, and buzzbait molds. His were aluminum, and sometimes brass. In some cases he would machine the mold out of a billet, other cases he would make a pattern from bondo, or fiberglass resin, and then use the pattern to sandcast the actual mold from aluminum. If I misunderstood, and you want to make molds to cast aluminum then the place to start is with reading everything you can dig up about sandcasting.
  12. The very first line in that youtube video says it all. "(whatever his name was) shows off his hot new invention". BS! These things have literally been around longer than I have. Yes, you can make a torch that runs off of water (and LOTS of electricity). Is it a very useful torch? Nope. That's why you only see them on the internet.
  13. Short answer : not really. Not that they don't work, jewelers have been using them for years. They are impractical for anything other than brazing small objects. Also, the moisture from burning hydrogen will cause hydrogen embrittlement when welding. You can't cut with them either, not without a tank of oxygen from the LWS at least. It takes a large excess of oxygen to do any cutting, the HHO systems only produce enough for a nuetral flame. There is alot of hype around these things lately. In reality they are only useful for very specific applications. You are much better off with O2 and acetylene, or even propane. :)
  14. I don't know about cost, we aren't that kind of shop. We are a custom sign shop WWW.victorysign.com . The laser is used for our fabrication purposes. We have done a couple of cutting jobs for people though. Hey Mooseridge! Nice to see a local fellow here. 4 1/4" thick?? Our laser couldn't even scratch that. I've never seen thicker than 1/2" cut on it.
  15. There may be a machine that would do that, but I've never seen one. Lasers/waterjets are pretty much for sheet/plate only. It could be done pretty easily with a handheld plasma torch.
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