adding text on Monday

text coming tomorrow

Because life is never enough of a challenge... The tube was a piece of flat 18 ga. SS that was formed into a 'C' by a computerized sheet metal brake. I then formed from a 'C' to an 'O' using clamps, a tape measure, a plastic hammer, a large bench vice, and a bit of determination and patience and fus...

The fit up on this was terrible. I wasn't involved in fabrication. The used a jigsaw/ saber saw. For crying out loud, guys, just run down to the local hardware store -- no shortage of them here -- and pick up a hole saw! This was jagged and there was a gap that got as wide as 1/8". Material is1...

Snuck this past the error 500 gremlin -- I think. I'm sure I welded this horizontally and repositioned it to weld the seam that's now on top before taking the pic. I would like to have more pictures but I was trying to beat the clock and taking a lot of pictures in that case would not be a good look...

All stainless is prone to rust if you weld it and create “sugaring”. Sanitary piping is all 316 and must be fully purged, autogenous mostly. If you even think about welding it without a purge, you will fail every inspection. a lot of sanitary pipe is 304, it depends on the industry. you can often b...

All stainless is prone to rust if you weld it and create “sugaring”. Sanitary piping is all 316 and must be fully purged, autogenous mostly. If you even think about welding it without a purge, you will fail every inspection. a lot of sanitary pipe is 304, it depends on the industry. you can often b...

The sugaring is all inside, so it would only be visible if you were a bird (I doubt they care) or a drone. From the outside, as long as it isn't leaking or visibly rust from 40 feet, it should actually be OK. I'll try to load a couple more pictures -- getting a few 500 errors lately.

Getting a good fit up on this was more time consuming and painstaking than it looks. [edit] Looking at it later, I should point out that i added tacks later and dollied the seam with a plastic hammer to take out the gaps visible in this photo. Otherwise, forget about fuse welding .0478" stainle...

They totally sprung this on me. It was due at the site by the time they got me the parts. I finished welding it, turned around and it was gone. Unless I can get someone to passivate it on a building several stories above the ground, I guess we're screwed in 2 years (sigh). I actually used a #5 cup b...

Brace yourselves. I hope nobody is turned into a pillar of salt by viewing my welds...
I thought I had more pictures but there was a big hurry to get these out of the door. I'll start off light, with the tacks.

I have 2 absolute horror stories of welding aluminum that is way too thick for the available amperage, but I'll save those for a different thread.

A "most brutal welding jobs" thread.

The sides were 1/16" thk aluminum. This was mostly fusion welding without wire except for when needed to fill small gaps.
No purging and no way to use chill plates due to the shape.

Fortunately, this is a rain gutter and not sanitary piping. I'd still like to do a better job of it. My concern is for the structural integrity and the visual look. I'll post pictures when I get home (I'm at work) if I don't get a "page unavailable" situation.

That's good to know. I had been welding almost strictly aluminum for about a year and a half and I was recently called upon to weld a couple of SS gutters for a commercial building. 18ga. There was no time for research and little time for practice. It's mostly fusion, no purging, just chill blocks. ...

Getting these pieces to fit up was @#$% difficult.

I'm pretty handy with a band saw.

At work, sometimes I'm busy and sometimes I'm not. Sometimes I make things out of scrap metal that the company doesn't ask me to make. They know about this and they don't discourage it -- it's great practice and they know I always come through for them at all critical times. I traced a Telecaster bo...

That looks like a good solution. For me, the hardest thing is clamping something that is curved. Clamps want to slide off.
I had to make a jig for this job:

We use orbital sanders. If there is heavy excess, I remove that with an angle grinder. Then I use an orbital sander, starting with a course grit and finishing with fine grit. From experience, 120 grit is fine enough for aluminum panels to be sent out to be anodized. We use wire wheels for stainless....

it will make the weld weaker but that may be perfectly fine. i've seen kitchen sinks done like that, weld it on the inside so they can grind the sugar off the outside where they can get to it easily. rust is totally different. bare stainless actually rusts because you expose the iron in the stainle...

TIG can control heat better than MIG, but it takes a lot of practice to get that kind of control.

I have a most unusual job. I work at a company that makes custom architectural work. Until about a year and a half ago, there wasn't any welding being done here. The addition of TIG welding to other manufacturing processes has given the company an edge over competitors who are doing essentially the ...