arftist

Yep there is a lot to be said for inverters. For the shop only guy or gal they don't hold much apeal unless you want to save a lot of money on your electric bill. But for those who work in the feild it they are a godsend. I remember shipping a 500# synrowave to a jobsite, rigging it inside, having the sparky wire it up, having to move it around the building, all to install some aluminum handrails. These days, I can walk in with my 44# inverter that actualy welds BETTER than my 250 amp synchrowave, set it on a stair tread, plug it into any 220 oulet of thirty amps or better and melt aluminum all day. Or burn 7018 all day. Or if it is a huge job, I can bring my 350 amp, 66# inverter and run 1/16th wire out of a suitcase mig. Also available are TIG/stick machines that weigh 12#, run on 110 and are smaller than a toaster, with a shoulder strap you can climb a ladder and weld. Too useful to ignore at this point.

Yes, definitely confused. My 185 GTS has AC. My V-PRO-350 is DC only though, if that helps.

Dang Grant, are you sure your not related to Frosty? You look like you could be brothers.

No you can't make scrolls with it, just segments of an arc. A scroll is an ever increasing spiral. Like Charlotte said though, good buy. It may be possible to make dies out of thick plate, with which you could make scrolls.

This is the type of job that is worth farming out. An experienced hand with the right size bending rolls can do this much faster and cheaper and better than with a torch. If you do go the hand route though, don't bother filling the pipe with concrete. It is pointless.

Tungsten for aluminum welding with a transformer welder is not sharpened. Instead, the end is formed into a ball, by switching the machine to DC+ and quickly striking an arc. Sharp tungsten is used for all other metals which are welded with DC-.

My big old 300 amp miller with built in high frequency required 70 amps.

I have welded 3/4'' plate to 3'' pipe and also 1 1/4'' anodized pipe to 1/2'' plate with my 185 GTS. You may need preheat, and also using helium instead of argon gives about a 20% increase in heat.

Pinjas, from what I understand, you will mostly be welding new metal. If that is true, you certainly don't need square wave. The old millers and lincolns are bulletproof. $900 isn't too bad these days if it includes a torch, flowmeter, footpetal or thumb controll and ground clamp. Try the machine before you buy it. By the way, old dirty aluminum can also be welded without squarewave, it is just more difficult.

This may be true for certain poorly built examples, but a lot of us have built mechanical hammers with every bit as much performance, quality and durability as factory made hammers, if not more so. Please don't generalize about others and their creations/craftsmanship.

what an awesome buy on those stakes. They may as well have been free.

One thing about mechanical hammers versus air hammers is that mechanical hammers are much more energy eficient. I figure they use about sixty percent less energy than an air hammer. Additionaly, if you build your own hammer, you will always be able to repair it yourself. With an air hammer you must buy parts every few years. I know this doesn't answer your question, but it is an important consideration to some.

Most are an especialy low grade cast iron, but there could be wrought iron ones. The cast should have a noticable parting line and a finnish similar to sand.

So Jr., did you get any bids yet?

For welding aluminum, I use much less stickout, on the order of 1/2-1 diameter of the tungsten, but since the thread was about scratch start, I didn't mention that.

Candlepin bowling ball?

The thing is that high frequency start is not for aluminum. Aluminum needs continuous high frequency. It would be helpful to know what part of the country you are in. In my area right now there is a brand new still in the box Thermal Dynamics 185-GTS, which is an awesome welder and about half price.

Hi, The diameter of the cup and the diameter of the electrode determine the length of the stickout. With a big cup and big electrode, you can have more stickout. In general the tungsten should stickout about 1/2 the diameter of the cup or less.

The swing of a drill press is determined by measuring from the edge of the colunm to the center of the chuck. The depth capicity is known as the length of quill travel.

Bornze is stonger, but if a heim joint is sized correctly it will be strong enough.

You could use a link setup at the hammer end. I have not quite worked out the geometry yet, but it can be done. However, using two rod ends and a link between them will not work, since there is nothing stopping the link from just folding up against the spring, unless I an not understanding your design. If you had a solid mount on the spring and just a pivot on the hammer head, it might work if the link were long enough. You would have to cycle the hammer to see if it would run without binding. The one hammer I have seen done this way was over 100 years old and the pivot on top of the mast had a link to make up the lateral movement of the spring as it arcs through its radius. Straight springs make set up easier, but you can use curved ones. I would not use 40 year old springs though. Way too dangerous. Go to a spring shop, buy some leaves, not a whole pack, and have the spring guy straighten them with his press. If you do end up using rollers, the way to determine the distance between them is to move the hammer to its highest and lowest positions. The spring and both rollers should be in full contact with each other only at the extreme ends of the stroke. That makes setting the roller gap one of the last things to be done on a spring helve.

It is really best to not incorperate any hollow stock in your anvil. I would wait and weld The three blocks together. Put one of the two large blocks on top of the other and slide it lenthwise so it hangs off the end about four inches. Have this be the heel, and by all means, make a hardy hole. A pritchel hole does not replace a hardy hole in my book. Put a pritchel hole in also if you want. Then take the smaller block and stand it on edge. Cut a notch 4'' long and 2 1/2'' deep from the bottom, so it will sit on the shelf at the other end from the heel. I would hold this tight to one side, giving you a nice upsetting block on one side. Then shape your horn out of the thirteen inch length. Finaly, make some nice feet out of 1'' plate with bolt holes, so you can secure it well. Don't worry about heat treating it. That would be a massive undertaking. Offer to buy your boss a spool of wire, since you will use all of that to weld this thing together.Inner/outersheild would be nice, 1/16'' if you have it. If possible, try to arange the joints in such a way that you have as close to 100% weld as possible.

If you go the Acme thread rod route, use a coupling nut in the box. They are more than twice as long. If you have a lathe, bore out the screw box and cut down the O.D of the coupling nut .002" undersize and silver solder it in. It will never come out and look original.

Sure, you can tig weld it with a steel filler rod. You must get the base metal very, very clean though, or you will get bubbles in the weld. Normaly, I just use stainless tig wire, and don't worry about it, but the paint might not stick or something. I supose you could weld it with stainless, then prime with selfetching primer, before painting.

Anealing aluminum, Here are a few ways, using an acetelyne torch, light just the acetelyne. Coat the aluminum with a layer of carbon, then add oxy and heat till all the carbon burns off. Or rub with a pine stick. When the stick feels greasy it is hot enough. Or use a tempilstick (650F) or use a sharpie (brand of magic marker) or use an infrared thermometer. I use all the methods routinely, depending upon what is at hand. My first choice is always the acetelyne, since the torch is already in your hand anyhow, but I often use propane, so I need some other method to tell the temp. When I use my gasser to heat Al, I use the infrared gun, but must be very carefull.