larrynjr

I'll try that method John and see if that helps me, it should. An auto darkening helmet will be further down the road. Thanks for the links Dr Dean, that Engloid does some incredible work. I can really see now what you were talking about with the smoothness of the welds. Without changing careers I doubt I'll ever get to that quality of welding but with some effort I hope to get to at least serviceable and safe, with a bit more smoothness than I can now. I'm off to the welding store now to see what I can afford and then the steel yard to pick up more scraps to weld and beat on.

Great looking work benches. They have metal vices on the ends, that should count for something. Looks like we almost neighbors! I'm over near Yakima so St. Helens is only a few hours.

I'll need to wait a bit before I try it with Oxy/Acet. My cheap regulator(s) that I bought don't work anymore so now I need to buy some good ones. For Oxy/Acet welding do you use the same rods as if I was stick welding?

One thing I didn't anticipate was how hard it is to see through the glass of the welding helmet. Until the arc starts, it was almost impossible to see where I wanted to start welding. I ended up moving outside for some direct sunlight to help me be able to see.

Thanks Jose and Dr Dean, I appreciate the critique that's why I posted the pictures to get just that. I know I need lots of practice and getting helpful info from the great people here is,................ well,..................helpful!

I received my replacement MIG gun from N.T.'s the other day and today I installed it and tried my hand at welding. The first pieces I tried were these 2 pieces of cut off tongs. My second attempt was a RR spike to one of the bus brake drums, that held on a downward hammering but broke off on a sideways strike. The 3rd and last of the day was 2 pieces of 1" x 1/4". First I welded right down the seam of the join, then I flipped it over and ran a bead back and forth, perpendicular to the seam. I used flux core wire for all the welds. I can tell this is going to take some practice!

Welcome to IFI Mark, this is a great resource, browse the back posts, check out the blueprints and be sure to post with or without pictures of your new projects, accomplishments, etc!

that's a great hook! much better than my first, 2nd, 20th............. keep up the monster heats!

any idea what grade of steel it is?

Ok, now I get it! Thanks

what is the pattern made of that you need to have new ones made each time? I would have thought the patterns to be reusable.

at this point N.T. has that size sander belts, I ordered extra when I ordered the grinder. UPS picked up the grinder last night when they dropped off more of my order. For now I can live without the grinder, I have a grinder now and a smaller 1"x30" belt sander. My hand held band saw should arrive tonight, hopefully that will be in good shape!

Thank you all for your input, I plan on following Thomas's advice. The Ag teacher has agreed to show me how to weld both stick and mig, next month after he clears all the wood out of the shop. My point wasn't to question Thomas's advice but just to get more info on the whole process. Like most of us here, once I get a little info I have to keep scratching at it, trying to find out more! I kick myself now, I took basic metal shop in HS and hammered out a cold chisel but stopped there and didn't take the advanced metal to learn welding. DOH!!!

I called N.T.'s today and they are cross shipping a replacement gun assembly and have provided a prepaid return label for UPS. There are 26 reviews of this product on N.T's website and average 4.5 stars out of 5 possible. From inexperienced like myself to very experienced everyone had good things to say about this welder. So far the service response has been good from them. The grinder was a shipping problem so UPS is handling it.

Thanks HW, what was discussed in the blacksmithing folder, "it followed me home" http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/followed-me-home-51/index70.html was that MIG should not be used in this application as it would / could get a "cold lap" What I'm wondering is if welding each side of the triangle would prevent or make worse any cold lapping tendenances. Being the complete welding novice that I am, I'm just trying to understand as much as I can before I start messing with things best left unmessed.

This is a spill over from the "it followed me home" thread concerning using MIG to weld A) larger pieces the hydraulic piston I want to use for my treadle. I'm, not trying to beat a dead horse, just hoping for more info as to how MIG capabilities and drawbacks. Using my high quality drawing as reference. If I weld around the base and also weld both sides of the triangle supports. Plus I plan on having 2 horizontal supports from the rear pivot upright connecting to the anvil post. Is it a good or bad idea to weld both sides of a piece like this?

I just got my MIG welder from Northern tools today. I was in the process of assembling it and one of the "ground leads"?? broke off. Looks like a poor soldering job. I plan on calling N.T. tomorrow to see what they will do about it. I'm thinking that if they want me to return it, I'll probably just resolder it myself. Also the bench grinder w/2" belt sander arrived with a broken grinding wheel. Kind of disappointing after waiting so long to get this stuff.