Nice job. I also noticed a nice job on the S bends

The pic above is a nice looking tube weld. The OP photo is really not that far off from that with a little practice. I started out pulsing to learn, and then found I wasn't letting off the switch as I progressed. LOL. . .every time I get good passes going, the shop phone rings. . .and rings. . . .

Anything under 2", you don't end up having a lot of time for corrections so they do become difficult in the smaller sizes. The tube in the OP is not really that bad if this isn't your day job. I can take a weekend off and blow my first 3 welds of the Monday. There is a heck of a lot worse going...

I weld a lot of tubing. Otto's suggestion with the pedal is a good one. That's exactly how I do it when using a pedal. My machine is set up with both a pedal and momentary switch on the torch. If it is just a structural tube, use a chill pin to join them and leave a 3/16" gap(1/16th on thin wal...

Also built this wood boat for my sons and I. We are fishing fools. They wouldn't have traded video games for fishing with the "Old man".

Yes, my parents were depression-era. Dad did his first hitch in the Navy in '33. Both experienced the depression and WWII, so I grew up knowing how to work a garden, and can the results. I'm sure this shaped me, and I'm sure it shaped them in their willingness to buy the "science" toys I ...

I lifted this quote from the other thread so I don't drift it. Yes, my parents were depression-era. Dad did his first hitch in the Navy in '33. Both experienced the depression and WWII, so I grew up knowing how to work a garden, and can the results. I'm sure this shaped me, and I'm sure it shaped th...

That's awesome! The music was great too.

Same here. I actually resigned in May of 2012 and out of some bent of loyalty, decided I would get him through the season because there is no other me, at least as a solo entity. I do the design, the layout, the fab and the welding. There is a stipulation though. That I get to use the shop for my si...

You gotta make pretty good scratch working on stuff like that. My boss overestimates my abilities a lot. When I see that happening, I double my rate. He has taken some jobs I would have quit over. He forgets sometimes that it is just me there at the shop when "we" are to build or weld some...

The scary part is, This guy thinks he's a weldor because his beads look decent. He'll continue to get payed to make work for you. I'd be completely ashamed of myself. We all make mistakes but this was shameless. As a matter of fact, if it was my work, I would have insisted on fixing it free of char...

Steve, your background sounds much like mine. When I got out of welding school, I was doing both drywall and welding full time. Then when they found out I had been to welding school, they set me up welding staircases. Those were my first inspected welds. TIG'ng aluminum by day and stick welding and ...

I manually pulse with the foot pedal sometimes. It is like using the wawa pedal for a guitar and it has a wawa sound sort of. The light never goes out is the only difference. Floor (or almost) the pedal for the max amps and back off to around half amps as you move the torch. It buys you a little tim...

To be honest. I liked the idea of building go carts and mini bikes. I also liked the ones you selected and I could see me building things like that as well. If you have been a wood worker, you are ahead of the game for having an established mind's eye for layout procedures and measuring, of course. ...

Re-reading TamJeff's posts, I'm reminded of how many little quirks there are to metal working. We've all cut something too short, and had some smart-ass say, "get the pipe stretcher." That tool exists. In some atmospheric gas/liquified gas processes (and other industries, no doubt), coppe...

I am one who has learned and had proven to, time and time again, what my grandpappy always told me. "There is no such thing as a bargain." I'm sorry but, it's almost always the truth. With that said, I opt for older legacy tech that is used. I have two examples. One is my ABP that I bought...

Don't overlook other seemingly too simple solutions for bending tubing, especially if you have the capacity to heat it. In the case of the minibikes you show, much of that is aesthetic more than structural. I have bent 90 degrees to around a 4 or 6" radius in half inch tubing using a hip bender...

That's what I do every day just about is bend pipe and tubing, thin and thick. I even at times use the up sized dies for larger pipe sizes so that I can match radii with the smaller pipes where they are along side their larger counterparts. Imagine a pipe bent to a 90 degrees, without the walls of i...

Beautiful work TamJeff! Other Steve Thank you. I really try to be as good as the best. 9 out of 10 times, I give more than what they pay for just for having learned that it is just easier to do it right than it is trying to cut corners. Most welders can probably vouch for this. The bottom line ends...

:D TamJeff, for future reference, the male equvalent to "camel toe" is "Moose Knuckle". :lol: I hear you. Tyvek sucks any time of year. . . I am impressed with that type of work that you do. Just for finding the problem itself. Moose knuckle! LOL. . .I will have to remember that...

Hey very ,very nice work on the custom tubing work that is very slick. I hope to get to that level some day its difficult when your average work week is between 60 -70 hrs a week at your everyday job. It makes it a little harder to throw the hood down and try and get your head into a project at the...

Haha buddy! Guess the industrial cooler business isn't getting it done for ya! Dang. . . .your stuff must really suck! lol Can you imagine having a job as a spammer, that rates right up there with pedophiles, of things that are shady about the internet? It's amazing the things that people will do to...

I looked at your tanker project and that is definitely not your every day task. I was reading through it and the whole time I was thinking that I would be nuts by now having to do that. I have welded everything from fuel tanks to fart handles but never anything like that. I do get to reflange these ...

That's why I'm here. It's my trade as well, but I have always been a metal guy. Picked up my first torch at age 6, but didn't make it official until I was in my early 20's when I went to trade school. I had always been good at hand work, figured welding would be no different until 6010 nearly made a...

Thank you, Mike.