John McPherson Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 Flux core is the reverse of stick welding, you want a 3/4 to 1" minimum stickout on the wire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeaverNZ Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 Yes John Stick out and arc length are differnt things arc length is related to arc voltage or in the case of a wire fed welder the wire speed, looking at the weld in hindsight it is probably the self shielded stuff. I much prefer the CO2 sheilded flux cored wire myself, much tougher weld i have always found the self shielded stuff brittle. The polarity of the self shielded stuff is often electrode neg as well Better not hijack his thread too much Cheers Beaver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted December 18, 2016 Author Share Posted December 18, 2016 11 hours ago, BeaverNZ said: Better not hijack his thread too much Cheers Beaver Oh, hijack away. This is how I learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted December 18, 2016 Author Share Posted December 18, 2016 I'm not sure what the current weight of this is, but this is with the base filled up with quite a lot of scrap. Shifting the chain down to the base to contain the rail anchors and pandrol clips was a very good move, as it lowered the center of gravity considerably. The total weight is probably around 80-100 lbs, but it is very, very stable. I will need to re-weld that crack, though. It's opened up a bit more, and there is now a slight step between the two pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted December 24, 2016 Author Share Posted December 24, 2016 Well, here's that flatter, all finished. It came out somewhat asymmetrical and I got some cold shuts that needed to get ground out, but otherwise I'm calling this a success. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Martin Posted May 30, 2017 Share Posted May 30, 2017 I've been wanting to make something similar to this for a while, and I have a few questions if you wouldn't mind. 1) How thick were the tie plates? I've never sen any thicker than 1/2" here. 2) Is the hole in the top plate smaller than the chamber beneath formed by the vertical plates? 3) That is a gap at the bottom between the two plates laying flat for cleaning out punched slugs, etc? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted May 30, 2017 Author Share Posted May 30, 2017 Hi, Andrew. Questions are always good. 14 minutes ago, Andrew Martin said: I've been wanting to make something similar to this for a while, and I have a few questions if you wouldn't mind. 1) How thick were the tie plates? I've never sen any thicker than 1/2" here. Tie plates taper across their width, to add a bit of an angle to the track. These were from the thickest part, about 3/4". 14 minutes ago, Andrew Martin said: 2) Is the hole in the top plate smaller than the chamber beneath formed by the vertical plates? No, but it should have been. If I were making this again, I would do it that way. 14 minutes ago, Andrew Martin said: 3) That is a gap at the bottom between the two plates laying flat for cleaning out punched slugs, etc? Yes, but again, I'd do it differently. As it stands, it's good for cleaning out slugs and scale, but it's hard to remove a stuck workpiece (which does happen sometimes. If I were making a new one, I would have the hole run all the way through, so that I could use a knockout bar from below if a workpiece got stuck. 14 minutes ago, Andrew Martin said: Thanks! You're welcome! And here's my take: if I were doing this again, I would get some heavy plate (1-1/2" to 2" thick) and either drill and drift a hole or weld some pieces on edge to create the hole, like this: The larger hole would be good for upsetting top tools (e.g., swages and flatters) and could take a reducing bushing to make bottom tools to fit my anvil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Martin Posted May 30, 2017 Share Posted May 30, 2017 2 hours ago, JHCC said: And here's my take: if I were doing this again, I would get some heavy plate (1-1/2" to 2" thick) and either drill and drift a hole or weld some pieces on edge to create the hole, like this Aha, that's a very good idea, I'll remember that when I next look through the drop bin at the steelyard. 2 hours ago, JHCC said: If I were making a new one, I would have the hole run all the way through, so that I could use a knockout bar from below if a workpiece got stuck. I never thought about things getting stuck! Thanks for mentioning that, could have led to a sticky situation.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted June 29, 2017 Author Share Posted June 29, 2017 Let me know how it works out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Millhand Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 Thanks a bunch for posting this JHHC, Im on a heavy plate hunt so i can build one myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted July 13, 2017 Author Share Posted July 13, 2017 Update: my son and I were upsetting a piece of stock (for a cold-cut hardy), when we experienced catastrophic failure. I guess I hadn't gotten as much penetration as I should have on those welds, eh? Not sure what we'll do with this. I do have an idea for another version, so I may just scrap this and go ahead with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 What was the carbon content of the materials used and did you do preheat post heat on it if it was an appreciable amount? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted July 13, 2017 Author Share Posted July 13, 2017 This was all track plate of an unknown grade, so somewhere between 0.15% and 0.85%. I think it's on the lower end, as I tried to harden a bit of the scrap, without success. I think part of the problem was that I didn't bevel the joints deeply enough, so grinding them smooth actually removed a substantial amount of the weld. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 I think the bigger part is best described by "Youth, Enthusiasm and a Sledge!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted July 13, 2017 Author Share Posted July 13, 2017 26 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said: "Youth, Enthusiasm and a Sledge!" "O Time, Strength, Cash, and Patience!" -- Herman Melville, Moby Dick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou L Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 Could welding have made it brittle? Sorry for your loss...but one of you got to feel like a real stud for a second there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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