Welding Tips and Tricks

Howdy folks, new member from New Hampshire.

I work in the Commercial/Industrial Boiler/Burner business. Currently in field service, but I have done several different jobs in the industry over the last 23 years. I don't do much welding for work, the vast majority of my welding time is at my home shop.

I have been welding for years, almost exclusively carbon/mild steel over MIG. I did a fair amount of stick welding years ago, but its been 15+ years since I've welded with SMAW. I graduated the welding program at the vocational high school I attended in the early 90's, but never pursued it beyond that. I did learn to TIG weld at school, but haven't touched a TIG torch since 1994.

I weld pretty regularly, repairing and modifying odds and ends for myself and others. I really enjoy welding, and can do a decent job once I get into the groove. That said, I am looking to kick it up a notch.

I researched the $hit out of TIG machines. I am by no means a cheap guy, and am more than willing to pay for good equipment. However, I was suffering from sticker shock when it came to pricing a full-featured TIG machine by the big brands (yes, I was looking at used). After much contemplation, and hours and hours and hours.....and hours of reading I decided to try one of the new AHP machines. I read several comments from blue and red users regarding thier experiance with this machine. Many were very impressed, and a bunch were asking what it would take to make their expensive brand named unit put out the welds the AHP was doing out of the box. I say that because my budget would have forced me to buy an older/less optioned blue or red machine without the nicer features and options. Again, I'm not a cheap tool buyer, or a fanboy of any kind. I just felt more than comfortable pulling the triger on this welder, and I can't wait till it's in my shop and ready to roll!

Now I have moved on to looking at welding tables. I like the Certiflat tables from weldtables.com. I found a nice heavy duty set of table legs and casters on CL local to me, and I think I'm going to pair that with a nice 3' x 4' PRO Top Kit from Certiflat. Anyone out there have any experiance with those tables/table tops?

Looking forward to hearing from you folks!

Welcome to the forum.

welcome

Picked up the leg set I mentioned above ($75). Cleaned it up, greased the casters, and gave it a good coat of paint.



The new top has shipped, and is on its way for next week. The legs are going to work out great, the top will be 36” off the floor.











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Good to see another member. Can't say much about tables, I build my own, but as far as the AHP, you will like it. I had to make the same choice, AHP suited my needs, and budget.

Thanks! I was prepared to build my own frame/legs for the table, but had always planned to buy a top of some kind. That set of legs with casters was a perfect fit (literally, it’s a 4’x3’ frame) so I grabbed it.

Can’t wait till my machine gets here....till then I’ll have fun building the top/table next week. I’ll be adding all my own hangers and storage on the table to make it as complete as possible.




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And it finally arrives, after a delay due to our latest snow storm.

I un-crated it, and was going to clamp it up in preparation of welding...unfortunately the 2” u-bolts aren’t big enough. To clamp it diagonally over the bar intersections you it needs 2 1/2” u-bolts.







I’ll be getting 2 1/2” u-bolts on Saturday and getting this baby welded up.




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You'll need more than u bolts. I used 1/2 aluminum bars instead.

So be it. I’ll use beefier cross bars if needed. I have watched several videos of folks assembling these tables with regular ubolts. If I find it’s not pulling in nice and tight then I won’t hesitate to make up some heavy bars to help it out! I definitely don’t want to mess it up....I spent the long dollar on this table top, not going to half-ass it now!


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Got it put together and finished. I love it!! And for the first time in years I ran out of wire on the MIG...lol. I just finished the table, and started building a bunch of DIY work clamps when the welder just stopped....no wire feed. Opened it up and no wire.

Anyway, it’s done. I’ll grab some flux core for it so I can finish up with the clamps.













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Looks good! This kind of table is best investment I've made in my shop.

Now build yourself a bunch of these clamps.

tungstendipper wrote:Looks good! This kind of table is best investment I've made in my shop.

Now build yourself a bunch of these clamps.

Already working on it!! I ran out of wire on the MIG while building clamps....lol. Just picked up a new spook of wire at HD. I’ll be finishing the clamps today.

What’s that “hold down” looking tool you have there? I assume it’s some sort of tool for holding your workpiece down against the table for good grounding...?


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It's called a Third Hand. See more in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbrrP0JVwNc

Howdy folks....

So the other night I was perusing CL and Letgo. I have been putting the feelers out for a horizontal band saw or cold-cut saw.

An hour or so into my digging and I found an add on Letgo for a “brown machine”. For those that don’t know, if you don’t title your add on Letgo the app/computer titles it for you based on it autonomously recognizing the object in the picture (use a picture of a grey 4 wheeler, it will title the add “Grey ATV“). Anyway, I come across the “brown machine” add, find it’s a Kalamazoo band saw! Do a little digging, sounds like it’s a solid unit. Guy was asking $500, said that he wanted it GONE. We settle on $300. I go up there today, it’s all there. I pay the man and load the thing up.

This thing is straight up Industrial Model (H9AW). It has the coolant system (works), which delivers to both blade guides, variable blade speed control (no need to move the belt), and hydraulic cut control (works). It is obvious that it has been sitting a bit, so I sprayed some things down with penetrant. With a little work I had all the moving parts moving nice a freely.

It could use a new blade, a new blade brush, and a good cleaning and lubricating. I’m not 100% sure I’m keeping it yet, it is way more saw than I need. At the very least I can clean it up nice and flip it....should be able to post a good profit on it. Or I’ll keep it and have a killer lifetime band saw.

Anyway, some pictures...















Now I’m looking for an IOM/parts/service manual to get this thing cleaned up and refurbed up right.




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For that price it will never be too much saw! Nice find.

Lol...yeah, I’m very happy with the deal. I just hope that it can find a nice spot to live that isn’t in the way. This thing is a hulking beast, and weighs about 900#...I don’t want to have to be moving around he shop much!


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So as fate would have it, an opportunity to pick up an L-TEC Heliarc 250HF popped up. Does anyone have experience with these machines? Thoughts? My Chinese machine hasn’t arrived yet, I could cancel that order if this was a solid machine.




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