We have a bicycle!! 0405171842.jpg Only have one front axle as these purchased parts are 416 stainless and required a redesign as I won't weld such a part due to stress and material. Sure, it could be done but the part is designed and purchased so use it as intended. I did one steering knuckle and i...

Chedda!
Yes, that is a Ryobi grinder. I bought it because HD wouldn't cut 20 foot rebar and I had a charged One battery in the truck. One less cord on the bench.

Almost done. Need to remove a slight warp and then complete the rear triangle. Too much work even with every weekend a three day (work 4-10s on W2 ).

Will post pictures once capable.

Another view of that 1" OD 0.120" wall 4130.. Three tubes intersect here and this is a tube gusset .

Ever have an "oh CRAP" moment? Yep, scratched cornea. All better now. Bends and copes done, just down to fitting, tacking and welding. Great news is new hole saws at correct speed do a wonderful job at cope miters in the drill press with Harbor Freight tube notcher. 1600 RPM on a 1" M...

Hum.... I don't know that i would weld without gloves, as i have gotten bad burns with gloves (dual shield flux core....). How do the UV light affects your hands? So i shouldn't worry about getting a gas lens kit (whatever that is, though i hear Jody marketing them all the time)? thanks, Mike The U...

Phosphoric acid will passivate since it only dissolves the iron, leaving chromium. On magnet test, 300 series stainless becomes slightly magnetic with cold work. Test mid sheet and folded corners with a powerful neo magnet. I have some stainless spoons that are only magnetic on the spoon, handles ar...

How does this mystery metal drill/grind or spark? Without XRF PMI, ferrous metal ID by grinding sparks is subjective yet informative. If sparks end in a poof like a big firework, welding is going to be difficult. Drill press with a known good bit..cast iron makes tiny chips or powder. No ductility.S...

Ductile or nodular iron? Cast steel IS weldable, welds are just cast metal without a mold. Filler metals are much higher quality than most casting alloys. I know CF8 castings and CF8M (304 and 316 stainless resp) are repaired with similar filler as the primary differences are in silicon which adds f...

Robots are the coming thing....learning how to program,repair and maintain them are the jobs of the future. Future? I work with them. Dumb little blobs of tech that get confused at the drop of spit. But they sure beat having to manually perform tasks. Oh, scars are earned. Hopefully you learn too. ...

Soak the stone in ammonia to remove the aluminum. Old slivers of bar soap work great to keep the aluminum from loading too bad. Better than wax even. Works on burrs too. Soap is a salt of fatty acids and sodium so it is aggressive to aluminum plus it has a higher melting point.

Certainly..I've been meaning to check electrode density on my lab scale and see how close to the known density of pure W they are..of course this would be comparing same types of differing brands. This all started when one of my sons expressed interest in having a solid lump of tungsten and he found...

For safety, transformer machines are isolated from utility so that line(s), neutral and ground are not shared with either the electrode or work. Nothing like an autotransformer or Variac. Inverter machines are the same. In fact they also use transformers only instead of being heavy 60Hz things, they...

What I've learned is snapping can induce fractures that pop the electrode at the worst time.. Like on 100% RT welds. Tungsten electrodes are made from tungsten powder that has been sintered into rod that has nearly the density of elemental tungsten. While it seems a solid, it behaves more like a cer...

Just had a real eureka moment. The tubes are magnetic from final draw. I've made a tube furnace to normalize the material. Not only removes strong residual magnetism but makes bending easier.

There have been issues with spring back after removal of the Woods metal filling but another tripthrough the bender fixes it. Out of plane issues are tweaked on the work bench via brute force..slip some 3/4" PVC over the end and use a long tube over that to cold set both bends in plane. This ro...

Since Jody admitted buying from this chain. .Harbor Freight :) Yes, their roll bender. The dies were all wrong but a guy in of all places, Bend OR, makes custom dies for it. This is a three roll with only the top roll turned by a two foot diameter wheel, the bottom two are on bearings. In addition, ...

Another reason I have a Dremel with diamond wheel. It works well for 1/16" electrode sharpening plus cuts them cleanly with the rim. This is their twist lock holder plus the disk. To cut, I score a groove all around and this makes for clean cuts. Since it is only used on electrodes, no contamin...

The 5 year hydo test has three outcomes, scrap, safe for indicated pressure and plus. The test involves measuring deformation of the cylinder under pressure and then measuring the yield volume after pressure is relieved. Plus means 10% overfill pressure is allowed. My rudimentary gouges show 2500 ps...

One other thing..these tubes (4130 a normalized) are highly magnetic. When deburring, all the swarf stays on the end. Will this pose a problem? If so, I can degauss with an alternating current in a coil of wire..a contraption I made to get my bicycle chain cleaner as the Polar power meter uses a str...

Since 90% of my welding is 1/16" or 0.040" electrode, I use a diamond wheel in my Dremel :shock:. Yes, that is how I roll. Also use it on 3/32" but that takes time. The Dremel packs easily plus it gets into corners like no other tool. And no oil contamination like with an air die grin...

Most diesel engine oil is excellent for air cooled engines. Pick a grade with the right viscosity and use it. $12.73 a gallon is a no brainer.

The switch will arc. Won't last long. Remote machines have both switch and potentiometer so as the control is turned off, the current goes to a minimum. Inverter machines use IGBT (a type of transistor or electronic switch) so arcing isn't an issue. Yes, they get hot. Breaking the workpiece connecti...

Here is a crude drawing of frame subassy. Also welded would be steering knuckle- kingpins and minor attachment points. Here is the roll hoop. I made plywood templates for bends to preserve sanity. They worked great in bending.

I am not worthy of his praise..forgive me for I am but an unclean welding dilettante.

I have lots of scrap to practice with as the bending is done and only the copes on bent sections need to be done. The students got the straights coped by the machine shop on the milling machine using end mills.