Welding Tips and Tricks

I had intended to be able to contribute today, for the first time, to the "What I welded today, stick section!" postings. But fate intervened. After breakfast with my fellow members of the local amateur radio club, a monthly event we call "Hams and Eggs" , I headed with Bobcat 225 in tow to a friend's house to build a carport frame from used 2 3/8" oil field pipe.

I laid out the welding leads, hooked the gauges to the tanks, marked the pipe and cut the upset off the first end. I'd no sooner let off the cutting lever on that first cut, than I hear an ominous hissing sound emanating from my O2 regulator. Yep, diaphragm went paws up.

I mumbled a few bad words, broke down the torch setup, wound the welding leads back up...and we'll try again next weekend. Assuming the LWS can get my regulator fixed by then. Otherwise, I just might buy a new set of gauges so I've got spares.

Have you ever noticed that this kind of thing always happens when the job you're on is at a buddy's house...working for beer?

LDB

I used to tell friends that my services would cost about $1,500 per day - or they could buy the beer. Most of them paid the money .... it was cheaper!

Just a question: Did that Bobcat have a stick welder capability?
One more question: Did you "happen" to have the broken part to get the beer next weekend, too?

LOL!! Just joking!

Good luck!

Boomer63 wrote:I used to tell friends that my services would cost about $1,500 per day - or they could buy the beer. Most of them paid the money .... it was cheaper!

Just a question: Did that Bobcat have a stick welder capability?
One more question: Did you "happen" to have the broken part to get the beer next weekend, too?

LOL!! Just joking!

Good luck!

Yeah, the Bobcat is stick only. You can get a MIG feeder for it, and probably even hook up a TIG torch somehow, but mine's just stick.

I probably should carry some kind of broken part for times I want to get out of a "beer job" , but I haven't stick welded in so damn long that I'm starting to have withdrawal symptoms. This would have been my first time to stick weld since my hand surgery, and the cutting torch felt good enough in my hand that I was figuring I might even be able to run a decent bead with some 7018. So, I was actually disappointed that we didn't get to work today.

Maybe next week...

LDB

Can't think of a better excuse to buy a plasma to plug into the bobcat

MinnesotaDave wrote:Can't think of a better excuse to buy a plasma to plug into the bobcat

I'd stopped at the LWS on the way home from work yesterday (it's on the way as is my local gun shop...can make going home pretty expensive), and drooled over a Hypertherm Powermax 45. Have to figure out if my little 6 gallon air compressor will keep up with the plasma, 'cause I have no intention of toting the 20 gallon vertical around. Like most good things, I'l have to save up for it, but it's in the plans.

LDB

I too was all set up to stick weld some stainless angle yesterday and found out that somebody needed my 316 stick rod more than I did. To add insult to injury, they left one single rod in the can and put it back on the shelf. I too was looking forward to getting a little time in with the stick welder.

I always have a scratch start tig set up ready to go, so I welded it up with it, oh yeah, after I realized I hadn't swapped my leads back and re-sharpened my Tungsten.

You can set up a scratch start tig up on your Bobcat, they weld like a dream too. Torch with a valve and a regulator is all you need.

The part was just a stand to hold a waste water pump up off the bottom of the sump and couldn't be any less critical, I could have used treated lumber if I wanted to. The angle had been outside stacked with a pile of scrap carbon steel and had rust all over it. It was about 110* in the shop and I had no interest in cleaning it up to weld it with the tig. Funny thing is, I did everything that your not suppose to do and it turned out to be some of my best welds in a long time. I didn't clean the rust off, I had a fan blowing right beside me, I had gaps, I never even ground the edges off. The welds were a little dull but a few swipes with a wire brush and they were ready for Instagram. I should have took a couple of pictures of it before it made the plunge.

Len

Sounds like you've invented a new zero-labor weld prep protocol for stainless. Nicely done! Glad you at least got to finish your project.

Folks who use up your supplies and don't replace them should be severely punished. And leaving one lone rod in the can is punishable by hanging in some shops, I think.

I'll hold off on investing in a scratch-start TIG setup for the Bobcat until I actually learn to TIG on the AHP AlphaTIG I bought and have only had a chance to run three short beads (to use the term loosely) on. Nice to know it can be done though.

Oh, Len, by the way...Welcome to the forum

LDB

I have no idea what they would have used the rods for, not a single person here other than me welds at all. We go through an inordinate amount of drill bits here too and I never see anything with new holes in it here, weird. Must of been some home project that required 9.5 lbs. of 316 3/32" rods, 14" long. Maybe tomato stakes or something. If they would have told me they used them I would have replaced them, not my money buying them.

Len
P.S. I'm new here, so thanks for the warm welcome.

Braehill wrote:I have no idea what they would have used the rods for...

Probably busted the flux off, bent them to hooks, and hung s#!t for spray-paint. 'Cause hunting down some mechanic wire is SOOO tedious. And of course they left one in the can, for a reason to leave the can, so they didn't risk getting called out immediately.

If you fine a pipe or conduit with some painted hooks hanging, test 'em with your magnet.



Steve S

Sad part is, I think I have the only 4 ex-Navy co-workers who don't paint anything and everything in sight. Like I said, if there's anything getting worked on around here, it's a home project.

One of them called me at 10 am yesterday and asked if he brought his boat in at lunchtime, if I would help him make a mount for a winch. I haven't seen him yet so I guess I can go ahead and eat my lunch. I'm getting too hungry to wait on him.

Len

Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

Went to Tractor Supply and didn't feel like spending a C-note for a new regulator, so I went to the shop at work and borrowed the O2 reg off the torch set there. Nobody's gonna be using it for a while because we're all too busy getting settled into our new planetarium system. So, we'll be back on the carport project tomorrow, and I may get to run a bead yet.

I'll take my regulator to the LWS on Monday and put it in for repair. All is well and Life is Good.

LDB

At no time in my life have I worked for beer. I get payed, or donate my services, and bring cider.

Bill Beauregard wrote:At no time in my life have I worked for beer. I get payed, or donate my services, and bring cider.

I've worked for beer a great many times, as an auto mechanic. My friend (with the three-bay garage) owned a "sketchy" strip club. I became friends with most of the dancers, and would do discount work for them. A front brake service might cost them $25 in parts, a twelve pack of beer, and your company, as I work.

I've learned a great deal about human nature from experiences like that.

Steve S

steve
bet you learned a thing or to about
holding on to a pole as well...lol
craig

Otto Nobedder wrote:

Bill Beauregard wrote:At no time in my life have I worked for beer. I get payed, or donate my services, and bring cider.

I've worked for beer a great many times, as an auto mechanic. My friend (with the three-bay garage) owned a "sketchy" strip club. I became friends with most of the dancers, and would do discount work for them. A front brake service might cost them $25 in parts, a twelve pack of beer, and your company, as I work.

I've learned a great deal about human nature from experiences like that.

Steve S

Yeah, that cheap people, especially relatives, will befriend you to get free work. I'm happy to do work for a close friend, I want it to be a real friend, not a parasite.

Willie

Bill Beauregard wrote: Yeah, that cheap people, especially relatives, will befriend you to get free work. I'm happy to do work for a close friend, I want it to be a real friend, not a parasite.

Willie

Very true.

For many years I had a sign hanging that said "Friends Welcome, Family by Appointment."

The guy I'm doing the carport caper for is a dear friend who I would help out no matter what. Whether he bought tasty beverages or not.

When I said "working for beer" in my earlier post, it was just to point out that gear (at least in my experience) breaks more often on unpaid jobs than on paid jobs.

LDB

Bill Beauregard wrote:

Otto Nobedder wrote:

Bill Beauregard wrote:At no time in my life have I worked for beer. I get payed, or donate my services, and bring cider.

I've worked for beer a great many times, as an auto mechanic. My friend (with the three-bay garage) owned a "sketchy" strip club. I became friends with most of the dancers, and would do discount work for them. A front brake service might cost them $25 in parts, a twelve pack of beer, and your company, as I work.

I've learned a great deal about human nature from experiences like that.

Steve S

Yeah, that cheap people, especially relatives, will befriend you to get free work. I'm happy to do work for a close friend, I want it to be a real friend, not a parasite.

Willie

Willie, you SERIOUSLY misunderstood me.

Each of these "strippers" were my friends. I knew their real names. I knew their boyfriends. I knew their babies.

I knew their struggles, and why they were stripping.

I'd do a $100 brake job for a twelve-pack of beer, because I was not going to take from some child's dinner.

Working for beer is not so dishonorable as you suggest.