I have a WP 20 on my ABP welder but no water cooler. I just run water from the spigot thru it to an external discharge. It doesn't use as much water as you would think. I catch mine in a basin and water my plants with it. For whatever I may use in water, it is at least partially cancelled out from n...

As per the cracking issue, and if it's in the middle of the gear case instead of an edge, if there is no issue with clearance, it is sometimes better to weld a band aid over the crack made from 11 gauge. Drill a crack stop hole at each end of the crack. It lessens the chance of further cracking, and...

I always have that same fear. If and when I start making a lot of these, I have templates that I will use to make sure that everything is square and welded together correctly. When I built the Takas bender, I had that same fear. But, I followed the directions to the letter. As you can see, it worke...

I keep a spray bottle with a dilute solution of dawn dish detergent and water and a roll of cheap paper towels. Spray it on, wipe it off. By dilute, I mean, not much more soap added to the water than one might use for checking leaks in tires. I also use common bar (Lever works great) soap as a lubri...

Awesome. Remember that photos are deceiving as well with things that are plumb, square or parallel. When I was building my boat, I set the stem, plumbed it and measured it and referenced it as many different ways possible, snapped a photo for my album, and as I was organizing the photos later that e...

If I rant here, it's likely tongue-in-cheek. Kind of like ripping on your buddies at work. I love what I do. At the very least, I am proud of it. Any of us who work at welding and then show up to hang out on a welding forum, really can't hate our jobs. Admittedly, I am thankful to even have a job in...

The other thing I enjoy about the older machines and pure tungsten, is the flashlight that remains after you stop. Especially with as many times as I often need to re-position and refocus. Also, the Dynasty doesn't have full time HF. It doesn't want to restart until after the post flow has counted d...

Nice job.

Being able to count the money for services rendered isn't half bad either. Same thing, really. . .you just have to find what you like to do outside of your job.

I've been fortunate having worked places that even if the work wasn't great, the coworkers were. That's half the battle.

Dog hair, dust bunnies, a cigarette cellophane or two and peanut shells. A rat had found a way in and enjoyed a rather large meal of peanuts inside my welding machine. Luckily it didn't gnaw any of the insulation off of the wires like they so often do.

The switch is a great option if you have to do a lot of spontaneous assembly. In my work, you often have to invent ways to clamp things in place on the fly. This can include string and tape or parts just balancing on clamps. Most times, an ideal position would be lost if having to consider the foot ...

It's a custom ladder for the front of a boat trailer. It fastens down to two I-beams where they come together. There is also a winch post it needs to clear and a trolling motor. It's so the owner can launch the boat single handed. So he can get into the boat from the front after the trailer is backe...

It's most likely just because of the way I have to weld. I am in and around a clusterfart of pipes most of the time. The owner at my shop bought them because he thought he could substitute them for 300 amp cables because of the cloth jackets keeping them from balooning out when they get overheated. ...

I think that steering looks ultimately appropriate. I personally like those little custom mods to projects. When I was looking at mini bikes online, that was what I noticed on some was the rather anemic steering setups. I saw some mini bikes with the Briggs (vanguard?) twins mounted on them. . .16hp...

I have tried different torches and they all become about the same once their specific novelties wear off. As far as the flex lines, I personally can't stand them for my type of work where I am walking around things a lot. They like to snag on the table legs when going around a corner and I am consta...

No cup holder? ;) Funny you should mention that. I was just griping about that the other day. Seems that in the last 10 years, I have had to design towers and such around cup holders. As if any of those rednecks put their beers down long enough to need one! I had to build a series of rear seats for...

I have welded a lot of that square tubing in aluminum. I use a WP-20 or equivalent. The welds are so short on those constructs that it really doesn't matter.

I can make the radius bigger than the dies by using multiple bend marks and partially bending each section and pro tools has a formula chart for this. From my experience, I can't make them smaller than the dies, at least not with a die that bends 90's or 180's. It seems as if it would have to be a h...

When I started working where I am at now, they had lenses on all the torches. In my type of work, it doesn't make much of a difference if at all. At least where welding around tight radii are concerned. The enlarged cup size has a cancelling effect with torch angle in my situation as I am often behi...

That's great that it is working for you as well as it is. Draw benders always work better than press benders. I always wonder why the ones with top mount hydraulics don't offset the ram relative to the dies instead of putting them inline. That is a common problem I often have to overcome. I end up h...

Yes, you hold the torch the same way and feed the trailing edge. It gives you a great view of the tungsten etc. I weld both left and right handed nearly equal amount of time. Imagine getting around pipes all day. There is no way I could do it all right handed. I would have to flip the work around an...

It was a gt so it has the bigger brakes in front and the drum brake technology in the rear accually works better than the aftermarket drag brakes. I may also have a chute if the car goes 140 mph range. The track Ill be test ing at has a long shut down area for issues lol. The fox body is my favorit...

not having a loud blast of music on your video intros.

I also noticed that I have my E-cig in the photos. I quit smoking regular cigarettes a year ago after 35 years. On days that are full of intense fab and welding, I break out the e-cig. I don't drink or anything else, really. Gotta do something in between. lol

BDoubleU wrote:Nice work, good description of bump welding ... It's an art! What kind of machine do you use?

Mostly; Miller synchrowave 250 at 250 amps, or a Miller Dynasty 300. The Dynasty in the photo above. Best machine I have ever welded aluminum with. . .Miller Aircrafter 330 SST.

Thank you BDoubleU.

Yes, it is anodized and that's how we get it delivered to us. I haven't seen anyone else that welds it quite like I do, really. There's probably 6 different ways that I use, dependent on the type of joint. I'll be more careful with these the closer I get to the toe. We don't remove the anodized. Th...