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Couple quick questions


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I just picked up an old century welder, tri star ac/dc 230 is what is called. 

Okay, one question, actually. 

Actually it's not really a question, more of a "aI thinking this through correctly?"  

If I were to take and weld a couple sticks of steel together and then heat then up. The weld should hold, right? Enough that I could reshape it a bit and clean it up? 

or I have to save the welding for last? 

I tried to Google this question and only found forge welding info. And I'm running on 3 hours of sleep, long work weekend, so please forgive me if my question is silly. 

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Your question isn't silly. I am not a weldor (one of the manuals I read difrentiated "welder" as the machine and "weldor" as the person) by any stretch but y eperiance is that a properly prepaired and executed weld with the aproriate filler (rod, wire etc) is as forgible as the parent material. Now some of the special stuff (hardfacing etc) not so much. 

So forging a bit/jaw and hinge/pivot for a set of tongs and electro/gas welding on the reighns, then forging down the weld to blend/descise the weld is doable. 

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Think of the electric welder as a hot melt glue gun for steel. Do not be afraid to use the welder when needed for the many projects you will have.

Always clean the metal to bare metal and try to make full penetration welds, and the best weld you can make every time. DO NOT walk under any weld YOU make. There are too many things that can ans will go wrong causing the weld to fail. Non-structural welds are fine, but when structural welds or life and limb are involved, hire a professional and check his certifications.

Make friends with the local welding supply store. They can set you up with the proper rod (filler), gloves, hood, and other materials. They carry books, and usually have personal knowledge on welding that you need, as well as advice on how to make your project a success. If you want some quick knowledge, take a class at the welding supply store or check into classes at the local VO-Tech school. Again, DO NOT walk under any weld YOU make.

Lincoln Electric, Miller, Hobart and others have web sites with tons of information available in PDF and other formats. Pack a lunch and a cold drink,

Edited by Glenn
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If I were to take and weld a couple sticks of steel together and then heat then up. The weld should hold, right? Enough that I could reshape it a bit and clean it up? 

or I have to save the welding for last? . 

 

Depends on what you are doing and how good your weld is and what sort of prep you did for the weld. If the weld is solid, you should be able to reshape the material no problem. However I've seen questionable welds break under forging. Often these weren't really "welds" but heavy tacks that lacked good prep or good fusion into the base material.

 

Keep in mind many times we don't do full penetration welds where you grind out the piece all the way and fill from the bottom up 100% with weld material. If you only weld the top, you end up with a gap, like a cold shunt buried inside the material. If forged hot enough, this gap might close and forge weld to the material, but if not, there's a chance that as you forge down the material, that gap could cause a crack. I often can see this when welding up multiple bars for doing twists, then forging down the end of the twist where the welds were to say form a loop on the end of a poker etc. When I do this sort of thing I try to get as much weld down where I'm going to be forging it to a point as possible to eliminate as much of the gap as possible, and forge the end down as hot as I can, maybe with a bit of flux to help forge weld any gaps closed.

 

Post up picts of your welds, and I'll be happy to help you improve. Post up clear picts, rod type and size you are using and machine settings. Many new guys don't run hot enough when trying to weld and you don't get good fusion into the base material. This is where you will have issues and have cracks start.

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To follow on with the above comments.

20 years ago I had an order for a number of fire place tools.  The stock that I had was 5/8 round bar salvaged from some industrial equipment.  I found it very difficult to forge weld.  I resorted to making all the welds with a buddy's stick welder.   After heating and drawing and refining under a power hammer none of the twenty four welds broke or caused any problem.  The result was a satisfied customer, and an immense saving of time.

 

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So, update here : I went to fleet farm and made myself am extension cord. My garage wasn't wired for anything that takes more power than a garage door opener and a light.... I'm surprised that I can run the lights with the grinder on. 

I had to made some adaptations. Lots of reading on that particular problem... My dryer outlet is thy closest 230... Actually, it's the only 230. Which is a 4 prong outlet. The welder has an old 3 prong... Looks like an oversized plug.  So I got the ends and a 50 foot cord. Hooked it all together and plugged it in. 

I only tapped the welder a couple times to make sure it worked, and it does. I only tested the DC setting, which goes up to 140 amps. 

This welder also had an up to 180 and up to 230 amp setting. One days low voltage, high amps. The other days high voltage, low amps, both ac. I'll test those tomorrow. 

I've been up since 3 this morning, so I'm feeling ready for bed. 

Also, my phone is on the fritz, so pictures will be after I get this thing replaced or fixed. 

Thank you all for the very helpful replies! 

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Okay... New phone, so I can take pictures now. 

I got an auto darkening helmet... Man that thing is cool. 

Then I was playing around with scraps top learn how this thing worked. I took a scrap of pipe and tacked a giant washer thing to it... It's ugly, but I hit it with a 3 pound hammer a few times and it won't budge. 

AndI took a bunch of short scraps and welded them together, then pounded them flat ish.... Was racing the sun.  I needed somewhere to put my welder cord that wasn't all over the floor. 

The welds on the scraps moved very nicely when they got hot. 

 

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Again with the forbidden!

 

That orange stuff shown is not good for an extension cord. Romex uses solid wires and they will work harden and crack under repeated coiling/ uncoiling. You want to use "cord" like 10-3 SO or SOOW that uses stranded wires to make your extension cord.

Edited by DSW
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Think of it as packing a parachute. Getting it into the bag is fine, but getting it to deploy properly as it comes out of the bag is very important as you start your decent. Half way to the ground you will wished you consulted a professional rigger.

I am not an electrician but safety says to make it right. If that means scrapping what you have now, then scrap it from this project and find a use for the cord somewhere else. The money you pay a certified electrician will be well worth the knowledge he can provide.

Edited by Glenn
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I had a much longer reply written last night but I couldn't get it to post with the Forbidden beast...

Romex is designed to be used in walls.  It's also numbered a bit different as it is done by number of conductors plus a ground, so 10-2 romex is 2 conductor with ground, while 10-3 SOOW would be 3 wire cord used to make an extension cord. What you did is a common mistake made by those that don't understand wiring.

 

Many will simply buy  a 50' 10-3 extension cord, and replace the ends. The other option would be to simply buy regular cord and replace the romex you are using. I have certainly seen romex run stapled on 2x4 walls / ceilings of a garage as a semipermenant installation. It's not code, as the romex isn't protected either in a wall, or conduit/chase, but it's not being coiled/uncoiled and won't run the risk of work hardening and a short, though it could be physically damaged.  I certainly wouldn't recommend using it like you are doing.

 

When in doubt it's always best to hire or at least consult with an electrician. However many simple electrical projects are not beyond the skills on most people who are fairly handy, as long as they understand what needs to be done to stay safe. Note that in some locations work not done by an electrician can cause you not to be covered by your insurance in the event of an issue.

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where I live our power systems are very different to yours, so I have no intention of telling you how or how not to, But....... when it comes to electricity it's safer playing with snakes if you don't have a clue.

Think about looking up some of the old 'how to' stuff by popular mechanics they really give you great info in an easy to understand way, once you get the grasp of it you will be surprised as to just how much you can do.

With regards to the heat and beat of welds, try to get 6013 rods rather than 7018 theoretically not as strong a weld but much more 'forgiving' and certainly more 'malleable'

Go for it! Rods and scrap is cheap and the knowledge and experience gained is "PRICELESS ":D

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