Pinjas

I often heat aluminum with propane, I don't entirely know what you folks mean by 'not changing color'. When I heat up a piece it gets to a glowing red. I was using a piece of aluminum the other day to cut the housing around 2 gauge wire. It was glowing red, orange, and what I found to be really weird is sometimes when I use a new piece it sparks like a sparkler. It's fun to watch.

I am not assuming fire doesn't get that hot, I am assuming that thanks to aluminum's extremely high thermal conductivity the heat will be absorbed and dissipated very quickly. Maybe I will just scrap the idea, the more I think about it the more I feel that it might need to be made out of even thicker than 1/4th inch aluminum. I just had an interesting idea.

I am going to get a 1/4th inch place and hit it with some propane, if I can get serious warping going on or even melting, then I will know that it is a bad design.

Hello,

I thought some here might be interested in something I am working on, it's still just the drawing phase but I have a few really interesting ideas that I haven't really seen else where, well maybe one of them I have.

The general thought here is that instead of making a wood burning fireplace out of a mild steel, make it out of aluminum. Aluminum, in my mind, would expel heat -much- better than mild steal. Which is the general idea of a fire place. Some fire places put a metal chain over the door, that might put out heat well, but it still seems far less efficient than what I have in mind.

The idea is to make everything about of 1/8 inch thick aluminum except the top which would be made out of 1/4 inch thick. Heat rises, I am sure much of the heat absorbed would be concentrated on the top, the extra thickness would avoid major warping and allow the fire place to excel in heat exhaust.

I also believe that placing something of a compartment for water on the top would be wise, some people place a kettle, but kettles can be spilled and I don't love the idea of splashing boiling hot water upon my feet or pets.

My last idea, and one that I think is fantastic, is adding a hole on the bottom of a fireplace making a sort of tube sticking downward. The tube's hole is covered with a removable lid of some sort. This can be used in one of two ways. The first way is to attach a hose to the tube that is connected to a suck vac. Once turned on and the tube opened you can clean out the fire place in a hurry with a little sweeping, even with just a bit of newspaper.

The other method is a hose. Most basements have a nice big drain some place, just place the tube above the hole and fill the fire place with some water, open the tube and the cleaning can commence.

The only part I am not completely certain about is the location of the smoke exit. Anyone think it matters if it is place on the top or rear? I imagine placing it at the rear might allow the heat more time to be exposed to the metal.

This brings me to a good point I imagine. I was thinking of buying a air tool that has multiple uses. Imagine it being able to spin the angle grinder, then you set it down on something and it works as a bench grinder, then it can be a drill and so on. Think it exists or is possible? The idea is that it would be cheaper to have one really nice tool that does most of what I need instead of 2-6 tools.

O.K., first of all, your machine is not dirty compared to those pictured.
Second, a professional welder mechanic doing something is one thing.
third, 6010 certainly didn't think it was needed anymore than I do. I have welding machines older than I am that have never been washed, just blown out and run fine, year after year, but do what you want, it is your machine.

How would I clean an older TIG welder? - Page 2 - WeldingWeb

I got a miller 330 a/bp, sounds like the same thing as what dragon has. It weighs 1000 lbs and was a horrible trouble getting into my garage but it's there. It came with a foot pedal, water cooler, water cooled torch (wp-18), clamp or ground, plug and a small amount of consumables. I also paid a little extra for his runner wheels, I sure hope it never falls off of that thing, yikes.

I haven't got it setup yet though, which is a bit of a bummer, it's a work in progress. I setup a sub panel in my garage, I ran 3 thwn-2 #2 gauge copper wire and 1 #6 gauge copper wire from the main panel to the sub. Right now I am trying to get a neutral lug nut adapter rated for 100 to 125 amps. The part seems to be tough to find, which is shocking because they sell QO breaker boxes at places like menards in large quantities. I feel pretty comfortable with running 70 amps to the sub box for now. In the worst case scenario, I will trip the breaker every once in a great while. I doubt it will happen though.

What do you guys think? I have a 100 amp breaker and a 70 amp breaker, right now I have the 70 amp breaker in the sub panel and the 100 amp breaker to feed the sub. To me, this sounds logical and fine as the sub panel breaker would trip long before anything else would. Which would you put in the main?

I don't know if I should start another thread for this idea else where or not but I am also working on making my own air compressor. I have read a few places about this and many suggest cleaning out TIG welders with compressed air. I plan to do that but I also plan to use a pressure washer, someone on another forum suggested the idea on the basis that he does that all the time.

The inside of the TIG is covered in a sticky black soot. It was suggested that I spray it down with compressed air, then hose it out with a pressure washer, add some degreaser and then pressure wash again. After the pressure washing is done, hit it some more with some compressed air and then for good measure, leave it for a day with a few box fans on it to dry. This sounds like a fairly good idea to me. It was recommended that caution be used on much of the inside of the TIG, using too much pressure from the pressure washer could really mess things up, so I plan on using a gentle touch.

As any welder would agree, grinders are an essential tool on a welders belt. Personally, I think I would prefer to use air tools, at least for the hand grinder. There are several tools that use air rather than electricity. The positive in my mind is longevity. Electric run tools often burn out and break after a few months of use. I have no personal experience but I imagine that any air tool will outlast electric tools almost 100% of the time.

The problem I come onto is that store bought air compressors usually don't have the CFM output I need, in fact, that most need, at least at the prices I'd like to pay : D. Any thoughts on how I should go about building a nice air compressor, I imagine 5-15 CFM being good for just about anyone.

I am sure a small to large propane tank would be good, electric motor, I am not sure about the compressor and all that though.

To do the job by code, the main will need to be larger, which means it will need larger wire to feed it. To do it other than by code is something you would need to do yourself. There are many work arounds, some of which are dangerous no matter what, and some are ok as long as certain conditions are met. The reason for the code requirements is so that the circuitry is as bulletproof as possible for *anything* .

I have done my own work arounds, as have many here, I am not an electrician but I have a friend who is that I can call whenever. I worked beside him for a while and he taught me some basics, then I took a residential wiring and code class at the Vo Tech.

I say this because you are running into what we all do, we can get some cool old industrial equipment to play with, but it requires industrial power that our residences aren't set up for. So which way do you go from here? Hire an electrician? ka ching!! String extension cords? "Smoke on the water..." Learn enough to do a work around? Time bandit. Pass this up and buy a machine that will fit what you have? my head usually is ready to pop by this point.

You will unlikely be running this thing flat out, as others have pointed out. You could run it off of a 50 amp breaker. Perhaps a small subpanel primarily for the welder, but you can run some 110 circuits as well. That MAY be within code as well as your budget. That is where I call my friend and see if he sees any holes in my plan.

If you decide your actions on this on purpose, proactively, you will save yourself a lot of agonizing in the future.

You are correct on the power requirements. The amperage is directly related to the output, as well as incoming voltage. If the welder is set on half of the rated output it won't be pulling 100 amps, but more around 50. Likewise if it is wired to a 480 vs 220 outlet. The 480 will draw half the amps of a 220 circuit. Make sure of the input voltage, and phase. My Miller MP65E MIG/stick is a 3 phase unit. You also want to check your voltage at the house. My Linde UCC 305 TIG has taps that you switch for the incoming voltage IE; 208/220-240/440-480. A welder is nothing more than a fancy transformer.

One thing to consider is if you ever need to replace something. The newer welders with digital readouts,touchpads, etc are nice, but electronics can be expensive to replace as well as be more fragile than say a needle type voltmeter. Open the welder up and look at the insides, are they filthy, any appearance of overheating,, etc? Is the faceplate still readable, or has it been used so much that it is worn off? Try it out, listen for a loud fan that may be going out, coolant pump that is rough sounding, foot pedal works, try each heat range, and ramp the amps from top to bottom to check for a toasted spot in the rheostat. If the seller wants to rush you , or is hesitant to let you try it, be leery of why. If it cannot be run due to no power available ask to take it to a local welding supplier to try it out, or have them look at it.

All of my welders other than a Lincoln 110v SP100 were purchased used at auctions. With some careful purchases I got a great 350 amp TIG for $250, and a 650 amp MIG for $900. I added a new torch and foot pedal to the TIG for under $300. The MIG came with about $600 worth of silicon bronze , aluminum, and flux core wire to boot.I did a lot of aluminum as well as magnesium in my shop without a squarewave, and never had a problem. The worst items to weld were transmission, and VW cases due to being oil soaked castings. Anything heavy was done with the MIG,and spray arced - 5/8" aluminum plate welded to form a cap on 1" thick walled aluminum tube for labeling machine drums used in the wineries. Using 1/16 wire I had to be careful of blowing through the 5/8 plate with the finger sized beads that were being laid down.

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.

I have been wondering about sharpening electrodes, it seemed like something important whenever mentioned. Dynaflux Quality Welding Products this looks like a good idea, do you agree? Thanks for the explanation for square wave.

The miller 300 a/bp seems to come with everything I would need, although I don't know if it has casters. I think I might go take a look at it this weekend. Do you think I should just get that TIG or try and get something for a similar price that has square wave?

Hello,

I have read a fair number of posts on this forum and there seems to be more than a few individuals who have a large amount of TIG/welding knowledge. It seems there is a tremendous price difference between TIG's that have square wave and those that don't. At least the way I seem to understand it. It sounds like square wave is just an evolution of the AC idea. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Is this feature essential and amazing for welding? I am looking to welding aluminum at the moment. I am trying to find a sort of list of TIG's that have square wave, on my own research I have found that the lincoln square wave has it and the esab 252 and 352 have it. Miller seems to use something different or at least calls it something different.

I am in need of some knowledge. Someone has offered me a Miller 330 a/bp, it is old and extremely heavy, it doesn't have anything 'advanced' outside of AC. This TIG is 900 dollars, which is within my 1,500 or so price limit. Should I get this TIG? Or should I try and find something within my price limit that will have square wave or maybe something better than the miller 330?

Thanks a bunch!

I live around st. paul, Minnesota.

I have definitely been scouring ebay. As mentioned, what you want has to be close enough to pick up, shipping 500 pounds or more to your door step can be a pretty hefty expense.

I have been thinking more on it and the idea of getting an older TIG an adding to it sounds like a fantastic route. Many folks say their older TIG's are huge beasts that will last seemingly forever.

I did a bit of quick searching online for machinery auctions. I don't really know how this is found. Maybe you know of a large listing BIGGUNDOCTOR? I found a listing on craigslist about an hour away http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/tls/1313384958.html that has the same welder you do, but it's much more than 250. Think haggling with him could work? : D

Thanks for all the responses guys.

Hah, yeah, I have definitely looked into the miller diversion series. They look real nice and the brand seems very reliable. My greatest concern is that 'bang for your buck' aspect. I see the high frequency box as well, it is an interesting idea, though I don't think it is worth as much as they want.

I recently found a video of a guy who was essentially emulating pulse with the foot pedal. This has really blown my mind in terms of TIG welding. I am trying to keep this all very simple and easy for myself and sometimes all of the knobs and switches on TIG's seem like a maze.

At the moment I am considering a very different route. I have found that vehicle alternators put out 100% duty cycle 3 phase current, all they need to do this is an electric motor that can turn a belt at 6000 or so RPM's. This isn't my own original idea, all I thought was to google "how to make a tig welder". Because really, all welding is is generating heat to melt stuff. I know that is an over simplification, no need to bark that one to me. I am still doing a lot of the research on the topic but if anyone is interested a few sources are High-Frequency Start Box www.pulse-jets.com • View topic - Homemade TIG Welder
I am still open to the idea of purchasing a large, older, used TIG device and adding on a high frequency box and doing the rest with a torch and a foot pedal, but learning this idea sounds like a very close match. Right now though, the idea sounds most appealing to purchase the larger older TIG.

Hey,

I have been shopping for a while for TIG's. On the advice of a few on this forum, the best choice for welding aluminum are TIG's. Luckily there is a great amount of knowledge on TIG's and I think I have a decent understanding of the device and ideas around it.

What I seem to need is a TIG that can do AC (alternating current) at HF (high frequency) with at least around 200 amps allowing my duty cycle to be acceptable for what I am going to be doing.

Here comes the sort of sticky part, I am on a budget. I have around 1,500 to spend. I have been scowering craigslist, ebay, and the rest of the web but I haven't had any luck. I am hoping for a guiding light towards something that matches my criteria. I have seen the chinese TIG's, I am an American and I believe in freedom. I don't support slavery so I am not interested in TIG's sold by companies like everlast.

Thank you!

what do you want to make ???:confused::confused:

Fabricating is the cheapest simplest way to build most things. Casting is good if you want a lot of the exact same thing. but to build a casting mold, work out all the bugs in your design and to build the provisions to actually be able to cast your metal is both labourous and expensive compared to the relativly cheap tools needed to cut form and weld aluminum (or steel) by hand.

If you think brazing is difficult, wait till you try casting.

Hello,

I have been doing a bit of brazing on my own, it seems it is difficult and such. I am wondering if over all, it would be superior to cast aluminum rather than purchase it in sheets, cut and weld them together. Most of what I have learned says a very loud yes. But perhaps the pros and cons could be weighed differently by someone with experience in these ideas.
I know that right now I am paying some where between 2.50 to 5 dollars a pound for aluminum (most of what I have purchased are drop pieces), but I bet I could get it far cheaper or even free from other sources like recycling places and such. I found some where on this website some design for a really great kiln of some sort, I think it was for using old motor oil. I have gallons of old motor oil and plenty of propane as well. I lack the kiln and the knowledge on making a cast or mold. I can't imagine the method of making a box of some sort using the casting method but I am sure it's been done a ton of times already.

Thanks!

You guys mention a tig, - Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices would this be a suitable tig? I am not planning on welding metal that is very thick, probably nothing thicker than 1/16th of an inch for most of my applications.

Hello,

I have more than a few prototypes on my sketch lab that I want to put into real world environments and that means making them out of something. Right now the cheapest option sounds like aluminum, which is great for prototyping. I am looking into methods for welding aluminum together, at one point I was considering getting a Tig machine but the cost doesn't seem to justify it and I felt there was a better choice for putting copper or aluminum together. So I started looking around and then I recently discovered this website.
This forum has a lot of fantastic information that I find to be very useful. I am learning a bit about green sand and lost foam casting. I am still pretty lost on these two ideas, all I can find are how they are different from each other. It seems as though that green sand is something you mix with clay or something else, the green sand is what you really need because it is able to withstand very high temperatures. I am not sure about it all so any resources would be much appreciated concerning casting methods that are nice and cheap.

The welding portion seems to have a lot of options, far more than the few casting options I am looking at right now. I see tigs, migs and torches of sorts. The most affordable option I see right now is a 'mapp torch'. I guess you melt some other kind of melt to a corner between aluminum or something like that. I don't entirely grasp how welding works but I know I want to learn and this place seems to have more than a few welding vets that are willing to lend there knowledge and advice.

I am glad I saw this video, a lesson worth learning from second hand experience.

I do hope nothing terrible happens to your son.

Hello,

I am a technician, inventor, business man, worker, employer, person, lover, and always free. I am 24 years old and I live a bit outside the 'twin cities' of MN (over the boarder in WI). About 40 minutes east of st. paul.

I have many passions and creating things is one of them. I have been working on getting the ball rolling on a few inventions for a bit now and I have decided to take matters into my own two hands. I seek the knowledge of putting pieces of metal together.

I hope to leave you all with more knowledge than when I found you.