cami

I've borrowed auto-darkening helmets from co-workers on a couple of occasions and have to say they're amazing but I can't bring myself to spend more than $30CDN for a helmet. Also....It rains a lot where I live and I wouldn't have the intestinal fortitude to take an expensive, auto-darkening helmet into the field. It's another thing to consider when buying one, right? BTW: on a rainy day you can put your shaded lens into the mask part of the helmet and just put a clear lens in the flip-up part to use as a visor. Welding in the rain will still be terrible, but you'll see a little better. Anyway.....One place I think they would be great is if you had to do a lot of tacking in a production shop. You could tack things together in a hurry without having to lift your lens to move between tack locations.....for those jobs where your worth is measured in how many pounds of wire/rod you lay in a day.

It's a great process to learn. If you ever have to pick up a TIG torch you'll have very few troubles if you can already do OFW. I haven't welded with it in a personal or commercial setting in years and years but brazing or braze welding jobs pop up sometimes. Can you take a course where you are? My learning experience with OFW was being given a torch, a few pointers, and getting to it...but my boss was paying for the time and the gas....Some formal instruction later on really opened my eyes. OA isn't necessarily for the small stuff by the way....I have an Air Liquide #9 tip that can get a puddle the size of a quarter going. The filler rods disappear very quickly, and should the tip backfire you get one heck of a shower. The heat input to the work with OA is bad enough but this was insane...haven't used that tip since I was introduced to arc welding.

In my experience, suckback is a fact of life and adequate root reinforcement is the remedy. If your root goes in flush, then it'll be a mess after your next pass. If your root is good and heavy it should turn out fine. How much reinforcement are you allowed? 3/32" for the root and up to 1/8" for the cap has been acceptable for any test I've done, so stuff it in there!

Just clean the high spots and leave the rust and crud in the markings. There is enough contrast if you have good light where you work.

I've used a waster plate, which is to clamp a piece of mild steel on top of the cast iron and cut through both. Same concept as Thomas' suggestion but with the added aggravation associated with stack cutting. At work we had a pile of 2 inch thick cast iron drain grates that needed to be narrowed an inch (about 40 feet of cut) which we sent off to our metal supplier to cut as they have the biggest, baddest plasma cutter around these parts. When in doubt, farm it out!

I work as a welder/fabricator (but only certified as a welder) in Nanaimo and like to play blacksmith when time permits. I have not had a shop of my own for a few years now so I have to use my boss's shop after hours if I want to get anything done....which isn't much lately. I know you guys like photos, but I have nothing to offer right now.....so I pour over the forums/galleries without contributing anything....does that make me some kind of sick voyeur? Anyway.....My wife found iforgeiron.com and signed me up. If I prove myself to be sociable online I might be allowed on a "play date" with one of her friend's husbands.... Seriously...This is an impressive site and I look forward to participating.