Jimw3326

I would suggest you go with .025 hard wire and do a cost benefit analysis between the CO2 and mix. If the machine is set up correctly, there's little to no spatter.

Back in the day when I had my fab shop, 35+, my sales price was determined by my material costs. it worked out that my costs were 5%. I doubt that would be a good number now but I'm sure there's a good balance somewhere.

I'll apply a little thought practice to this. With a forced air, it would be more akin to a jet engine and wouldn't need the same level of back pressure as a NA engine which needs the back pressure to burn effectively/efficiently. I haven't studied Mikey' latest design to see how much it relates to a jet engine (maybe a scram jet) but I would think it could benefit from a bit of back pressure. JMHO

There's a lot more to the decision to consider. What are your main welding conditions? What are your intentions for use (light gauge, heavy metal, clean or rusty steel...)? Do you have the amperage available to run heavy metal?

With the 140 you're going to pretty much be limited to gauge metal if you run it a lot with Innershield or GMAW. If you use Dual shield you can get to heavier metal and better welds as it penetrates even more than GMAW. If you pre-heat the metal to 150+ you can go even heavier. 

As far as which gas to use, CO2 gives the most bang for the buck but some say the spatter is worse. It also is better at covering the weld in light breezy conditions than mix. I get about 3-4 spools of .045 Ultracore C71 / CO2 bottle compared to 1+ of .045 Ultracore M71 85/15% mix. YRMV.

There's a ton of variables between gasses and wire not to mention each individual welder, both man and machine.

12 hours ago, Arthur210 said:

Do you have a picture of your mark, Jim? I don't want to infringe if they are too close to differentiate. (But it sounds lile they are different enough not to.)

They are different enough. I haven't made a stamp yet and mostly use it at work to identify work I have done with soapstone. I just thought it was neat they were so close.

8 hours ago, Arthur210 said:

Hadn't had the chance to spend time in the shop since September. No forging today, but I was able to make my touchmark. Mostly used an angle grinder with a thin cutting disc, with a little filing work to finish it up. Took me much less time than I expected!

That's real similar to what I use. For my initials JAW the bar on the left and right have a leg and the triangle is hollow.

The store shelves were bare 3 weeks ago.

No kidding, FNG's. I'll take partial blame for being a little slow to order, but it took them 5 days to get around to shipping it.

Wellllll, I was planning on rebuilding it this week. Seems the kastolite got stuck in a snow bank in Ohio.

Thomas, it's great you were able to get home before the holiday. Did you manage to get to the shop?

My daughter has worked for a couple of the hospice outfits in ABQ. Pm me who you're looking at and I'll get you an inside review. They all have good and bad but some of the bad is administrative other is more patient centric.

Many decades ago I was using a cup wheel on a 7 1/2" angle grinder on rusty floor plate. It was elevated at about belly height. I was well aware of the direction of spin and edges. What I wasn't aware of was the suction from the wheel. It sucked up my t-shirt and wrapped my arms in a knot. It looked like a dozen cats did a burn out my belly. No major injuries thank God.

I think I'm about to enter this phase!

Wellll..... In my defense, I made it about 7 years ago before reading up on the latest and greatest. I now have in my anxious hands some long taper tips to replace those, they're 1.25" nose to thread 1.75 OAL. Also, I'm going to try to modify the intake to get a little more swirl going on. I'll post up some pics when I get there. I'll be off work for 10 days coming up and I hope to have the forge completely rebuilt by the new year.

Frosty, If you look at the head of the bolt, SAE will have bars denoting the grade, metric has numbers.

Mikey, It's a Lincoln 350A. tip I modified. It was .045 tip (.050 maybe) that I welded the end and re-drilled to .032. Then I threaded the back to 5/16-24 to thread into the 3/8 brass tube that I threaded. The exposed tip is about .5 and overall is .8.

The pic posted here is of my first one, second one uses a brass tube and is much cleaner.

I'll be trying to put a layer of kastolite over it.

I'd be wary of used oil, a lot of it is synthetic which is designed not to burn.

I thought about building my own but by the time I added up everything it was a small amount to pay extra for a tried and true base that would be at my door before I could collect the parts.

The expense is the motor, which I had a compressor motor already, and variable control. I opted to go the belt and pulley route to keep the cost down. One of these days I'll upgrade it.

I don't necessarily like to reinvent the wheel, just modify it. It ended up costing about 750 and was running 5 days after ordering.

Second try at damascus. Ladder pattern.

I pulled this off a steel supplier.80CRV2-Heat-Treat-7-20.pdf

Good to see you're back on, sad to hear of the prognosis.

I would have enjoyed meeting you since we're so close, maybe I still can.

5 hours ago, Mikey98118 said:

Well, confusion is a permanent state for some, but since we are supposed to be helping, we must put away our Bugs Bunny hats and keep a straight face (darn it).

Wellllll..... Not necessarily! I'm enjoying the banter.

No worries mate, dunce cap has my name on it.

14 hours ago, Frosty said:

You got the inlet bevels backwards, you want them to act like an entrance ramp so air will enter more smoothly. 

Frosty The Lucky.

The bevels are on the inside. It might be a little hard to see in the pic, but being a pilot, I do understand air flow a little.

Great info, thanks. The existing retention tubes were placed where the flame looked best then welded. I can't tell exactly how long it was since it eroded away.

The inlets are beveled but I'm not sure about the angle.