If I understand correctly, a nice stick weld won't need chipping, so if your slagenator's light fails due to hard chipping, blame your welds, not the tool

Good luck with the sales!

Couple more nice ones...
Should add - my electric race bike is still locked securely in the shed... with a bigger lock.

Is that a kind of rod? I have been working with 1.6 mm a lot lately and I reckon I have a pretty good system now. It involves about 100 amps and 2.5 mm rods, but I weld for a bit and then stop, let it cool and then weld again. So far so good. Had a pretty shitty weekend - my wife's electric bike, my...

I had my first paying welding job today! Well, the job was for a friend, and the pay was a carton of grog, but still :) My welds actually looked really good - strong, concave and no blow holes. Only a couple of tiny inclusions too. I was welding 1.6 mm steel tube for the most part, and then welding ...

The way to tell if you square is out is to put it on a straight edge (edge of bench) and draw a line up the right angle blade. Then flip it over and check against this line, if its good, the line will be the same as your square, if its out the square will show an angled gap. Not accounting for the ...

Well today I built myself a Pythagorean triangle. The objective is to get a perfect right angle; one my store-bought squares will hopefully agree with. I just took some angle iron and measured 750 mm, 600 mm and 450 mm and cut them at the approximate angles (53/2, 36/2 and 90/2). I filed them down t...

Yes, thanks guys! I agree - Now I can see what a comfortable stance does versus a more awkward one. Or stick angle, or travel rate, or clean metal or all of these things. Earlier, there were so many things going on it was hard to track each one. It's like my friend telling me how to olly on a skateb...

Maybe not frame it and hang it, but here's a frame :) http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll53/jonescg/Secondframe001_zpse3306ac9.jpg http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll53/jonescg/Secondframe003_zpsae3b1a28.jpg http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll53/jonescg/Secondframe005_zps8da8c5bd.jpg http://i2...

Hi all, I think I have worked out my stick welding issues and have progressed to a stage where I can call myself "competent". Not the prettiest of welds, but given the welder has three settings (off, on and 13 settings of useless) I seem to have worked it out. I'm using 2.5 mm rods which a...

Thanks guys! I picked up some 2.5 mm rods from Osborne Park Welding Supplies. CIG weld Satincraft or something. Still 6013s though. I found no difference between them and the Bunnings brand stuff, but my technique has everything to do with it :lol: For little 25-30 mm welds, I cut the electrode in h...

:lol: One of a few certainties in life - death, taxes, and welders nitpicking other welders ;) Good news is, none of their frames have ever suffered a cracked weld in 24 years. Oh, and it was definitely TIG'd. It's infinitely better than anything I've seen done with a MIG. Oh well each to their own....

Hey Mick, Yes, WA is the mining/oil/gas/engineering centre of the world right now. And if you need 1000 of anything made you're in luck. But if you want a one-off you are a bit out of luck. Hence I need to learn how to weld myself. I might share a bit more of what I'm into. I am a devotee and evanga...

The 48 mm pipe was welded with 3.2 mm rods. I tried 2.5 mm rods and to be honest they felt exactly the same, although they had less of a propensity to blow holes. I'd say I will continue using the 2.5 mm rods on thin tube (even down to 1.6 mm wall thickness) but 3.2 mm rods for big stuff. I suspect ...

Thanks Steve - I must confess I'm not a complete newcomer to welding, but I am a newcomer to 'trying to do it properly this time'. I have built a welding bench from 6 mm steel so I can clamp stuff to it to hold it steady and in place. It also soaks some heat out of the weld. Welding big stuff is eas...

Hi everyone! My name is Chris and I am a welding novice. I like to design and build things, but where structural integrity is required I get someone else to do it for me. However, I want to change that. Starting with welding light steel, I would like to move to chromoly and maybe one day learn to TI...