[kermdawg]

The project at the mill is ongoing. I had one piece of strut to fasten. I have concluded that a fouled up MIG is easier to use vertical and overhead than a perfect stick machine.

Depends if your eyes are open or not. And what rod your using.

[Bill Beauregard]

7018-2 3/32 fastening uni strut (16? gauge) to painted over rusty steel 1/4-3/8". not only out of position most of the time, but in many cases I have to be a contortionist to get to it. With MIG, I offer the strut in place with my left hand, squeeze the trigger several times, in one of the first several squeezes the MIG (messed up Miller Matic 252) fires. it stutters several times a minute cutting out electrically momentarily, while the wire shivers out intermittently. The weld looks good up, overhead, or occasionally flat.
With stick I must find a way to clamp, it works best to grind, I drag the rod a few times down the joint until it arcs the first time. This is enough to burn back the rod into the flux like a frightened turtle. I smash it on something to break the flux, this makes it even harder to start. Once I get the rod tip hot, God is in his heaven, all is right with the world. Until the rod is consumed. Then I must start over.
80T AC+ is easier to start, but I need a longer arc to run, so it's not as easy to stack molten metal going vertical. A bad MIG is easier, a good MIG spoils me rotten.
Howard's Trailblazer is 400 feet away, where he fabricates. He says the features in a Trailblazer relieve the problem with sticking. We're both using my Bobcat, he's doing better than me, but his steel is thicker. Meanwhile there is a pro with a Lincoln Ranger doing very well, and a Hobart it looks like a Coleman 400 dollar generator, The chipping subcontractors are welding with a 251 that lives outdoors. They are plugged into cords totaling 125 feet. Yes it is possible to have too many workers! Throw in three fork lifts, a telehandler, a crane reaching over the fence from the parking lot, and 20 people, you've got chaos!

[MinnesotaDave]

Hey Bill - I hear you on getting spoiled by a mig. My miller 210 runs awesome and spoils me as often as possible

I mean sure, I've learned to tig fairly well now, and I could use a stick welder more often than I do...but why when the mig is just sitting there with a big spool of wire in it and I'm inside the shop anyway

Heck of it is I really like stick welding and tig is really cool - but mig is fast - which sometimes is the deciding factor...

[Bill Beauregard]

Yeah, I've considered taking mine to the project. Then I think of the cons of doing so. We haven't made it much over an hour without a shower. The job includes a large group of cave dwellers who don't flinch at ruining someone's tools. There's a limited number of outlets to plug in a welder, and electricians on the job are only me and my son. We got our hands full finishing in ten days. The boss erector drives a new Vette, wears a suit, and is an a$$ hole. Swinging a 500 LB part from a 20 foot strap with a telehandler 30 feet in the air he hit the step ladder my son was standing on. He laughed! He thought it was funny! Later I caught him with an old forklift trying to move my new 50' welder leads by setting the forks on them, and scuffing them across the concrete. I exploded! He responded that he thought they were his! After this exchange, I told the mill manager I would shoot him if he pi$$ed me off again. His job visits have been brief since.

[noddybrian]

Wow - that really does'nt sound like a good site to work on - I hope your making good money - it's not the answer - but at least when it's done you feel a bit better about the conditions - I'd wait till the end of the job & try to have a " private discussion " with that guy - just make sure there's no CCTV or any of his mates around !

[kermdawg]

Thats messed up dude. I woulda beat the crap outta him if he was doing that around me.

Money ain't everything dude...money aint everything...

[Otto Nobedder]

Reminds me of the Paul Thorn son, "A Great Day to Whup Somebody's Ass".

This line, in particular,
"So here I am out in the parking lot, just waitin' by his Corvette... Gonna give him a 'goodbye present' he never will forget..."

[donald]

Your posting of using "tubing" for a boat trailer got my attention fast. I own a box frame boat trailer and will never own one again. assuming your going to use it in salt water that is a problem. I have talks with two boat trailer manufactures and both have stop building with tubing. they only use channel then galvanized. the problem with tubing sooner or later water will inter the tube and rot out from the inside were you wont know it until its to late. i know you said galvanizing but it wont galvanize 100% on the inside of the welded tube and even if it did it will still have a short life. I have used gal. bolts on the bunks, and in the areas of close contact metal to metal the gal. has rusted through in one year or 10 uses. Using channel, its thicker, will give you the opportunity to wash off and if there is rust you can see it and take quick action to control it. So if you still chose to use tubing be sure to provide large drain holes at each low point. been there, done it. i might also add if you note my posting time, its 3:23 am . . . this tubing/rust issue is keeping my up late at night.

[Bill Beauregard]

Wow - that really does'nt sound like a good site to work on - I hope your making good money - it's not the answer - but at least when it's done you feel a bit better about the conditions - I'd wait till the end of the job & try to have a " private discussion " with that guy - just make sure there's no CCTV or any of his mates around !

He's gone now, with a little luck I,ll never see him again. These projects where managers who've never built anything. They equate over staffing with quick finish. Too many people mean it takes longer to finish. Like a big city, stresses are created when people don't have enough space. Throw into the mix a narcissist who is aware of others only in the sense of "What can they do for me? What can they do to me?" Maybe I'm crazier than I think, but when I say I'm going to find a clock tower, (or facsimile) with a good rifle, assuring them I'm not one of these incompetents with 3000 rounds, but only 4 people killed. Things seem to get a little better. This time trust fund boy disappeared.

[mcoe]

Reminds me of the Paul Thorn son, "A Great Day to Whup Somebody's Ass".

This line, in particular,
"So here I am out in the parking lot, just waitin' by his Corvette... Gonna give him a 'goodbye present' he never will forget..."

The part of the song where he talks about the toilet paper being gone reminds me of the first time my boss chewed me out. I worked for an oil service company where we swabbed wells, fractured wells and just kept the drillers drilling. One job was to keep toilet paper in the porta johns at the rig. Well I get a call from my boss chewing me up one side and down the other because there was no toilet paper. Needless to say I had to drive an our to the rig to bring my boss toilet paper.

[Otto Nobedder]

Reminds me of the Paul Thorn son, "A Great Day to Whup Somebody's Ass".

This line, in particular,
"So here I am out in the parking lot, just waitin' by his Corvette... Gonna give him a 'goodbye present' he never will forget..."

The part of the song where he talks about the toilet paper being gone reminds me of the first time my boss chewed me out. I worked for an oil service company where we swabbed wells, fractured wells and just kept the drillers drilling. One job was to keep toilet paper in the porta johns at the rig. Well I get a call from my boss chewing me up one side and down the other because there was no toilet paper. Needless to say I had to drive an our to the rig to bring my boss toilet paper.

Port-o-let rule #1...

Check the paper BEFORE you sit!

Steve S

[Bill Beauregard]

Port-o-let rule #1...

Check the paper BEFORE you sit!

Steve S
My port-a-john rule is #1 find a tree, #2 hold it. A blue hut can be no better than the lowest life to use it.

[Otto Nobedder]

Port-o-let rule #1...

Check the paper BEFORE you sit!

Steve S
My port-a-john rule is #1 find a tree, #2 hold it. A blue hut can be no better than the lowest life to use it.

Sometimes, "Hold it" is not an option... I carry my own paper.

[mcoe]

I told him that he should have used his socks since he always has extra in his truck

[Superiorwelding]

Man are we off topic You know some countries use the left...I'll leave it at that.

Port-o-let rule #2...make a pad in the water with toilet paper to avoid blow back.
-Jonathan

[Braehill]

My favorite quote from a port-o-let wall, "I don't see how you guys can sit in here and smoke, I can barely eat this sandwich". Too funny.

Len

[mcoe]

Porta rule no.3 don't use if you can't trust the people you work with. There was one guy we couldn't stand so we pushed it over with a dozer. Other times we swing the bucket of the hoe over and block the door. It was some fun crap!

[kermdawg]

All good advice. Ive had to rip off one of my sleeves before because I didn't check for paper...had to rip off the other one just so I didnt look like an idiot.

Hey I got an idea...lets play a game? Whats the strangest/wierdest thing you've ever found in a portajohn?

I'll go first-Used needle. That was scary.

[mcoe]

A tampon on an all male location

[GreinTime]

You know flipping a portajohn over in front of the wrong people can be a federal offense right guys?

--Sam

[Otto Nobedder]

Funniest thing I ever saw, was turd-truck day at ADM Clinton, IA. They were flying down the portolets from the 132', when one door-wire failed (it was windy). The door came open, and the john started to helicopter, very fast and unstable, and began slinging bits of blue/white/brown in all directions.



Steve S

[kermdawg]

One day the foreman at the job I was on went to the portajohn and came back bright white. He said he opened the door(it was first thing in the morning) and found a bum sleeping in there! Scared the living daylights outta him!

[Observe and Adapt]

I have made many repairs and fabricated many tables, carts and jigs using both E6013 and E7018 and it's more of a matter of purpose and technique as to rod choice. I'm in Ontario and we use E6013 (or farm rod) for fixing tractors and heavy equipment that sees a lot of use because it punches through the rust and slag and has a bigger gouge for deep, fine penetration. I find that E7018 is more ideal new material and is more esthetically pleasing. Now anytime I'm welding on framework that is holding loads overhead or needs the tensile strength I'll use E7018. Maybe because the guys in the labs with the white coats and clip boards did all sorts of testing and determined the ductile, tensile, torsion, and shear strength of all our rods and where and when to use them. It's like vicegrips on a nut. They will suffice in a pinch, but that tool is engineered for another application.

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[Observe and Adapt]

The shockload on a trailer will be hard on the welds but with the correct supports and layout the force will be distributed evenly. With proper prep and welds both rods will meet and exceed safety standards. Now if your just laying out some square tubing and laying some angle iron for corners and tossing a two ton boat on it doing 90 on the freeway your nuts and better be some kind of magic weldor or the tin man's brother or type of rods will be irrelevant.

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[Bill Beauregard]

I have made many repairs and fabricated many tables, carts and jigs using both E6013 and E7018 and it's more of a matter of purpose and technique as to rod choice. I'm in Ontario and we use E6013 (or farm rod) for fixing tractors and heavy equipment that sees a lot of use because it punches through the rust and slag and has a bigger gouge for deep, fine penetration. I find that E7018 is more ideal new material and is more esthetically pleasing. Now anytime I'm welding on framework that is holding loads overhead or needs the tensile strength I'll use E7018. Maybe because the guys in the labs with the white coats and clip boards did all sorts of testing and determined the ductile, tensile, torsion, and shear strength of all our rods and where and when to use them. It's like vicegrips on a nut. They will suffice in a pinch, but that tool is engineered for another application.

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For the most part I'd have said your endorsement of 6013 is one I'd give to 7018. While it ain't MIG, its shortcoming is the unpleasant way it starts a rod. I'm told it is partly my equipment. I've not yet tried it with the Dynasty,(no stinger). That aside, it is a near perfect rod, burns through paint, galvanized, and rust. Bonds with workpiece with a strength that gives value to its ductility, relieving stress that might crack other filler. Low hydrogen is a PITA to store, but is a valuable property in weld deposit.