[noddybrian]

Hi - with our time differences I see some good replies have got in before me - so I'll not continue with the air quality issue - you have it sorted in your mind - just make up the best you can with what is available locally within budget ( I'd not realized where you live )- but I do have a solution to the torch swap issue - because your tig torch is a normal mono cable probably 3/8" BSP fitting on the machine the dinse connector beside it is wired in parallel & carries the same power ( normally for arc welding ) - so my idea is ( and will work on most imports ) by a cheap replacement solonoid valve off Ebay ( check coil volts ) connect air to the inlet side - on the outlet side get a 3/8" BSP bulkhead fitting - the plasma torch will screw on to this - get a large crimp lug that will go on the bulkhead fitting & secure with the back nut - to this connect a short piece of welding cable with a dinse plug & connect to machine power out - take the cover off the machine & locate solonoid valve - they will usually be connected with 1/4" spade terminals either on the valve or on the other end of the fly leads to the board - get 2piggy back connectors & use these to parallel a piece of thin 2core wire unto it - thread the wire out of the case through an air vent & connect to your new valve - both valves will work together without problem - just remember that there is around 100volts live on the body of the new valve so it needs putting in a small plastic box & fixing to the side of the machine using an existing screw or 2 - in use when plasma cutting connect torch switch plug - turn on air supply & turn off argon bottle - as the Tig torch will also be live screw in a button back cap both sides of the torch & this will seal against any argon loss as well - when Tig welding simply turn off air supply swap torch switch plug - turn argon on & remove dinse connector from plasma power supply so torch is not live - this sounds complicated with me trying to describe - but is very simple & low cost - it leaves no evidence the machine has been altered if it needs anything done under warranty - simply remove the 2core valve power lead & it's standard again - now the air cannot contaminate the Tig torch & you don't have to keep swapping the torch connection - air quality is now less important - all it effects is the life of the plasma consumables - but buying from Shop River they're not that expensive - hope you get the idea & it helps.

[Braehill]

I've been up since yesterday at 5pm and it's now 4pm where I'm at, but I'll do my best to explain my thinking concerning the J-T effect in this system.

Coming out of your compressor and going into the carbon vessel will cause an expansion and therefore a heat loss. Then we force it through a smaller outlet for a short distance where it picks up only a small amount of heat and then right back into the U-shaped chiller where it loses heat again. As it loses heat it will be dropping moisture out and since this is the largest expansion point, it will lose the most moisture here. Drier air takes less energy to compress so when we go back into the smaller outlet of this vessel we will pick up even less heat. Now we will expand again when we go into the vessel with the silica gel and further cool the air and again drop moisture and heat. It now will only pick up a very small amount of heat while it gets reduced down to our usable outlet size of 3/8, and again it will be drier and will take less energy (heat) to compress ".

So it's actually going through a series of J-T effects on it's way to your machine. It makes sense in my mind even if I don't have the mental capacity to explain it right now.

Len

[Trebor]

Hello!

@ Steve S - Yeah, got to much ideas, they just keep piling up, but never enough time or funds, working on many projects silmuntaniously and new ones just keep poping up... Right now, besides the job, and the welder I bought, Im restorating a small ( 2 person) fiberglass boat for my fishing trips, also make my own lures, folding knives too and am getting in to forging aswell, allready got the materials for a small propane forge and a piece of rail road track for an anvil, then theres woodworking - my first love as far as materials go, and restoring old bicycles and mopeds, plan on building pedal/electric powered trike when
my tig welding is perfected, could go on and on, but you get the point, Its never boring in my head.

And thank you for the compliment regarding my english. No, never studied abroad, hardly ever been abroad. Im the happiest in my workshop or out in the nature, hiking, cycling, fishing and hunting ( mushrooms also).

But I have been to the US once. Stayed there for three months with my relatives that moved there after ww2, Visited New York city, Cleveland, and Florida. Its a shame I dont remember much since I was only five years old. But belive it or not the memory that stuck the most was of New York and its colosal buildings (not the disneyland surprisingly) and the twin towers I can still see clearley, its a shame what happened... You can imagine that for a child those things are prety much supernatural.
But that was when I first learned english (young brain learns fast) And never stoped since. English is today what latin was once, so to get any kind of usefull information you pretty much have to know the language. A lot of times I even think in english, I can understand it by hearing or reading pretty good also speaking is not a problem only spelling gives me a hard time, thats why Im slow with responses like this, Have to google words for correct spelling and Im sure I still misspell a lot.

Hope one day I save up enough money to come visit US again, what I would like to see more than anything are those giant redwood sequoias, I love trees, and I really whish I could meet one of those giants up close an personal, they just blow my mind, the fact that they are a living organism of such size and age, its just impressive to me.

And I have to ask, when you say, from what I know of Slovenia... What do you know? Im surprised that you even know it exists, no disrespect meant here, its just that it is an obscure country and even a lot of europeans dont know it exists. So you are an exception rather then the rule regarding this.

@ noddybrian - Hi man, thanks for the instructions, had to read it like five times, but got it eventually, it is (or at least sounds) simple now, I will definetly give it a go, if not now, some time down the road for sure. Have saved your post on my computer for future references. Thank you.

@ Len - I have read the wiki article on the J-T effect, and I get the basic idea... learn something new every day.
And your explanation makes perfect sense, so even if your mental capacity was running low it was still spot on, I guess thats a good thing, cant say that for myself. Thank you.

On another note, just got my first grey economy tig job today. An acquaintance came by asking me to repair a small gassoline tank. Guess the word got out I bought a Tig inverter, I wonder however that happened The holder was originally fastened to it with rivets, but it started leaking. So I have removed the rivets and the holder and now Im gonna fill them holes and weld the holder back on. Its a thin steel sheet, only 0.5mm (0.019 inch) and the holes are 5mm (0.19inch) in diameter, so I tried it first on some scrap metal of the same thicknes and it went surprisinglly well... So the machine is allready paying for itself ... well,not really, its just a couple of beers worth, but anyway, Im quite happy about it, mostly that Im considered a welder by others (non welders that is), if not by myself jet, I wont consider myself one until I weld like Jody, perfection is the goal...

Ok, Thank you for all the help so far & hope I can count on you down the road aswell.

And my name is Robert by the way, or Trebor, if spelled backwards, just didnt want to be Robert 5683 or whatever, on the forum.

Have a nice day, or a good night, whichever fits the bill.

[Otto Nobedder]

Robert,

Geography was always a strong subject for me, and is the context I tend to put world events in, so I knew Slovenia's location, and in broad strokes, it's origin. May have to look at the details, now, as I'm curious by nature and it doesn't take much to pique my interest.

I will confess to a quick internet search about languages spoken there before posting about your English skills... You make a great comparison between English and Latin as the primary language of transmitting knowledge.

As for your first TIG job, many of us have done a small job like that over beers.

There are several discussions here about welding on fuel tanks safely, so if you've not done it before, it may be worth reading one or two to make sure you're not overlooking something.

Steve S

[GreinTime]

I actually just wrote a paper on the Bosnian Americans, and touched on Slovenians in the paper as well. One of my managers is/was a Bosnian Serb (he was out of the country before the Bosnian Civil War and the whole mess at Sarajevo) and we were talking about all the other countries and locales around Bosnia-Herzegovina. Quite interesting. Unfortunately, the period at which Yugoslavia dissolved was one of the areas I touched on the least (only problem with writing a 4 page cited paper in 2 hours before class). I find the history of the area fascinating though, and always peppering Tika (Full name: Tihomir Ilic Tika) with questions about the old country!

[Trebor]

Hello!

Well the tiny fuel tank job is half done. Yesterday I welded the holes where rivets used to be and then I told the owner to fill it up and check for leaks before I weld the holder back on... As for safety, Im somewhat ashamed to say, I dont practise it as strictley or as often as it would be wise. Dont even know why that is, because I am aware of the possible reprocations, and they can be severe. My best guess is Im just too lazy to go grab those glasess or whatever. Will have to work on that.

This first time the tank was dry, but i still tried to ignite whatever was left inside to burn it off prior to welding. Nothing ignited so I proceeded to weld with the tank plug/cap (dont know the exact term) removed. I cant fill it with water and weld, unless the cap was on and then the tank would be completely closed, which could be bad, right. From what i read best thing to do is purge it with Argon but then I would have to charge more than Im comfortable with. I also read that filling it with dry sand is an option, I guess I could try that.

As for Slovenia, perhaps you heard of Pipistrel or Akrapovic companies and their products, they are the best at what they do on a world scale. Pipistrel is producing one of the best ultralight airplanes that money can buy and Akrapovic is among the best (arguably even the best) motorcycle and car exhaust systems manufacturer in the world.

But just FYI, I was very dissapointed when I learned how much is the company paying their workers who tig weld these exhauts, which are made from SS ( the standard, cheaper ones, though none are cheap) or Ti ( the top line) and will set you back as much as a professional tig ac/dc inverter from companys such as Fronius, Kemppi or Lorch, these are considered the best of the best here in Europe, if you are in US then read Miller, lincoln I guess. The prices are similar.

And so, how much does a welder welding these high end products here in Slovenia earns you ask... Well, shamefully little if you ask me, especially for a company that is well of and is making ever larger profits each year... But you be the judge... They get around 6 usd per hour.

You can make 3 to 4 times as much just a few kilometers across the border in Austria or Germany... For a mag job that is, not Tig on Ti and SS, where highest quality is demanded. Even a cleaning lady in Austria makes more than a highly skilled tig welder in Slovenia.

I am impressed with with the firm and the products they make, and was hoping to get a job there, but now Im more inclined to go work abroad, its a shame how little they value their workers. Hope it bites them on the ass.

And one would think that in a country with such low wages the living is cheap, well, one would be wrong, Life is no cheaper here than lets say in Austria or Germany on many levels its actually more expensive. For instance the Inverter I bought, I ordered it from Germany, because even with the postage costs it is still 200eur (267usd) cheaper than here in Slovenia, and while in Germany you get a 5 year warranty... in slovenia you get 2 years... but they offer you to buy 2 more if you like. They are just too friendly for me.
Oh, and gassoline is like twice as expensive as in the US, the tig finger even more so. Wanted to buy one but it would set me back around 50usd, thats how much i payed for my mask, its not speedglass, but still. Now Im looking into a diy solution, because that thing really seems super usefull.

In the not so distant past we had many more wrold renowned companies like the two above, but with the help of our parasitic goverments they were all sucked dry and left for dead. Theres a documentary on YT about our busses and trucks which a company called TAM used to produce until 1995 or so. They are still in service in Sybiria, all are more than 15 years old, many have over 1.200.000 km on the clock with just regular maintinence, mind you, these macines are in service in Sybiria, that says something about the quality...And the companies like Gazprom would still like to buy them, but even though the demand is still present the company is long gone, why, no one with a drop of common sense could understand. The same story is happening with ELAN the company who invented the carving skies and was always in the cutting edge of skies technology, they also used to be a big producer of high quality motor boats and sail boats... is now ruind despite its exellence and as far as I know it is for sale, for cheap, so if you have some money, go buy it, Im sure they will give you a discount as well. They are cleaning house. They are selling our only airport and (ship) port aswell. Extraordinary strategic thinkink.

Our by far biggest natural resource is wood (forests) The industry used to employ over 70.000 workers, that si more than half of the currently unemployed people in my country. So surley the goverment is doing everything to start this industry back up... nope, we are selling the logs to Austria for cheap and buying back the halfproducts like boards and stuff for 5 to 10 times the price for a cubic meter. We dont even make our own wood pellets (fuel for heating), no, why do that when we can import oil and gass... All we do it seems is watch trees grow and then chop them down, but Im sure foregin companies would come and chop them down them selves if we lowered the prices some more.

And the company Pipistrel went ahead and moved their new factory construction just across the border in to Italy, because in their home land -"Slovenistan" it takes up to 5 years to get all the paper work done before you can even stick a shovel in the ground, but in Italy they are allready building the coplex which will employ over 200 workers, and was originally planned to be located in Slovenia. And such is the wisdom of our leadership.

Which is really not surprising since the head of one of the largest political parties in slovenia and a former premier is currently leading his party from prison where he is doing time for corruption and tax evasion, but he is also allowed to go to work in the parlament, because our laws do not strictliy prohibit a convicted criminal to even run the cuntry if he was elected, luckily he wasnt since his party didnt win, but he was running the elections from prison as well, and is reciveing his tax funded paycheks while majority of folks is struggling to make ends meet.

But we have some smart investements aswell, like, they spent billions of eur on a third block of a thermal power plant which is located near an almost emptied out coal mine... but thats not an issue for our masterminds, theyll just import the coal from China once we run out of our own.

Sorry for all the bitcin and complaining, I am just in a bitchin mood right now. But dont get me wrong, Im gratefull that I am where I am. Its a beutiful country, and its small size is a plus at times. You can be skiing high in the Alps one minute and a minute later you can be tanning your ass on the adriatic sea coast... well, not in a minute, its more like 1 - 2 hour drive, but I gues for US standards thats peanuts.

And I realize Im better off than most of the human population, not only am I not dying of hunger or cold, or lack of medical care or thirst or ebola or missiles, but I get to play with many cool toys, like a tig inverter...and I have a bad feeling about that fact when I watch the suffering of people around the globe and it saddens me beyond words that we as a species have learned nothing... In this stage of our history and development we really could allready realize on a global scale that we all belong to one species and we could be done with borders and trully become a global species working together towards common goals, like survival on the long run which in my minde incorporates preservation of our planet and space exploration and one day collonisation. But instead we are happily slaughtering eachother and in the mean time destroying the only life sustaing habitat we have and likley will ever have and all in the name of religion, be it one of money and profits or the one of various ilussionary creators of the universe and alike, to me its all the same one huge world wide psychosis which could lead, given our ever advancing technologies to the saddest end ever, a speices, not commiting suicide, but just whipping themselves out of existance, by pure stupidity... which is, I heard, unlike the univerese, ifinite, sadly the man was likley spot on with this statement. I suspect its gonna take another bloodbath in the form of ww3 to either whipe us out or bring us to our senses if we survive our self induced hell. And Im afraid that I will live to see that sad day.

And here I am complaining again, better go play with some molten metal... I wish you a nice day.

PS: just curious, what are you studying GreenTime ?

[rick9345]

gasoline engine,exhaust CO
garden hose
= purge gas for small fuel tank
I leave hooked up and flowing while welding
works outside or well ventilated shop

[Braehill]

Robert,
I'll answer for him (he's my son), GreinTime studies High Performance Motorsports at the University of Northwest Ohio.

Len

[GreinTime]

I'm going to school to build race cars! Seriously though To achieve their Associates Degree, you must take general education credits (in their mind it makes you more well-rounded) and Cultural Diversity is one of the classes I am currently taking. We had to write a paper on a cultural group in America, and like I said my shop manager is a Bosnian Serb and I find the history of the Balkan Peninsula fascinating! So it was a natural choice to choose Bosnian Americans as the subject of the paper.

As it turns out, I got a 92% on the paper, and had I properly cited the sources (not clearly explained in the rubric but whatever) I would have received a 98%. Once again, the only problem with writing multi page papers 2 hours before they are due is that you don't have time to ask the teacher a question without looking like a lazy asshole

And in response to your gripes about your government, I also find it fascinating to hear from people from other countries what their take on their own government is, which is part of the reason why I like working at a truck still. During any given night, I could have 10 drivers from 8 different countries from all over the world that found their way to America to drive a truck! So I normally end up talking with them about their own country for quite a while. Last night for instance I had a driver from Latvia and another from Somalia!

[Trebor]

Hello!

GreinTime, sorry about misspelling your nick name, probably done it before to, only today have I realized it says grein and not green, must be geting dyslectic or something.

Congratulations on your paper score, guess some people just function better under stress... I now I do, waiting till the last minute and then just going at it with a vengeance is the way to go if you require a hefty dose of motivation to get you rollin.

Youre going to be a race car builder then, yeah, that makes more sense I thaught youre studying social sciences of some sort and are also into welding, not that its an immposible proposition, its just less likley, I think... We dont have quite so specalised school programs here, but it sure sounds fascinating, and I wish you all the best with your studies.

I also cheked out the UNOH website, and what I like in particulare is that there is 70% hands on practical learning time. That sounds great to me, because theoretical stuff is just plain boring as hell... Its needed for sure, but its boring.
And man do you have some strict rules and regulations over there, around here is wild west compared to that. I would probbably end up in a lot of trouble in no time at all...

And as for you hearing a lot of opinions of people from around the world on their governments, I have to ask, am I in a minority or majority regarding ranting about vs complimenting ones government ? I kind a suspect Im in a majority, but am not sure... Also, which government is getting the most praise from what youve gathered so far?

Oh, and also, what does grein mean, Ive googled it and all i found was that it is a verb (Scottish, obsolete) to desire fervently, or a measurment unit for weighing diamonds, also a municipality in Austria...

Len, if you dont mind me asking, is your son following his fathers footsteps careerwise? Or in other words what is it that you do, obviously theres welding involved...

O.K. I realize this questions are of topic, and if they are in any way to intrusive or annoying, feel free to ignore them, Im just curious by nature.

Rick9345 - Thank you for the advice, that sounds very dooable.

I wish you all a nice day.

[Braehill]

Robert,
Our Surname is Greiner and my family had a trucking company while I was growing up and that required some welding and now I use it in plant maintenance, I'm a Hydrogen plant Operator/Repairman. I learned to weld with a Oxy/Act torch when I was 5 years old and have had a interest in it ever since. I do as much hobby welding as I do on the job. I just love building things, no matter what the media, metal, lumber, whatever.

Len

[GreinTime]

Don't worry about being intrusive man. Questions about family are a nice reprieve from the normal repertoire I get at work. The name is a nickname that I got from a neighbor when we were younger, and I just kind of use it as my online identity for lack of a better term.

In regards to our chosen career paths, my dad got me to fall in love (and hate... bitter bitter hatred sometimes) with cars at an early age. I used to want to work on something to prove myself to him, and then I ended up working on things to prove something to myself. They are an integral part of our relationship, and he did not truly see me as a friend/equal until I had shown that I could work on them without him and be trusted to not mess anything up. He worked on trucks, and I try to avoid them like the plague, even though I work at a truck stop sometimes it can't be helped though. Like him, I sometimes question turning my hobby into a career, but at the end of the day I'm good at it, and more importantly I enjoy it. He's just older and makes more money than I do...... for now!

In regards to the minority/majority, you are definitely in the majority. Most people don't leave the homeland to come to America because they love their government! Seriously though, most people, Americans especially, have problems with their government be it their policies or actions. Tika said that his brother who lives in Slovenia says the same thing about the government that you do!

[Otto Nobedder]

Robert,
Our Surname is Greiner ....

Len

Is that Penna. Dutch, in origin? Seems to have that German ring to it.

Steve S

[GreinTime]

From what I remember of family history the ancestors were German Merchant Marines waaaay back when

[Braehill]

@ Steve,
Not really Pennsylvania Dutch, but I have family that settled in and around Lancaster though. It's German in origin but not really sure what it's meaning is. I'm Scotch-Irish and German on both sides so that translates to drunkin coalminers or mill Hunkies with a constant argument going on that nobody involved remembers what it's about. But they worked hard, spoke their mind, would give anybody anything they had, which wasn't much. Poor Sam has the same ethnic mix on his mother's side too, he didn't stand a chance.

Len

[Otto Nobedder]

@Len,

My dad's side was Pa. Dutch, been here since 1766, and mom's side was Scottish, been here since 1757, so I get the comments...

Dad's side had a military tradition, and mom's side took the pioneer route.

Steve S

[nick.k]

Hello Trebor
Sorry for butting in here..
I'm thinking of buying the same welder from Stahlwerk. You have had it a few months now judging by the post dates. Are you happy with it? Everything working?
Would appreciate your feedback
Thanks
Nick