Thinking Of Getting Into Welding?

[CaveCreekRay]

For anyone thinking of getting into welding...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy5wRgNOIkE&feature=youtu.be

 

[hagrid]

I wonder if that guy has seen a dermatologist recently.

Too much exposed skin during his stick and MiG demonstrations.

 

[Yooper]

That old Lincoln tombstone welder brings back memories. Dad saved his money and bought one and that is what I learned to weld with!

 

[SidecarFlip]

Good video actually. I suspect he has a perpetual tan from the UV rays produced by his buzz box.

I started out gas welding when I was a teenager. Gas axe and coat hangers for filler rod dipped in Borax flux, Stuck a lot of stuff together back then including broken spring hangers and a few frames my buddy's broke.

The gas welding allowed me to advance into TIG because gas welding is 2 handed just like TIG welding. Difference is, you have to keep the filler rod in the gas envelope and there is a bit of finesse involved to get the 'stack of dimes' look and it's slow. I like TIG because for the most part it's low amperage. I've butt welded aluminum coke cans together and repaired broken tape measures for fun.

Having said that, a couple of the products my shop produces are in laser cut mild steel and basically production jobs so TIG don't work and neither does gas or conventional stick (SMAW) so we use pulsed MIG which is fast, produces a TIG like weld and has little post cleanup spatter and it's fast.

Stick welding (SMAW) has a lot of post cleanup spatter which is not desireable for production work where appearance is important.

I run every machine and every discipline but my roots are in gas welding.

Good down to earth video with the exception of the bare skin (something I've done as well and gotten a sunburn in the winter too.

My big use for SMAW is field work and hard surfacing. I do a bit of in field work on farm equipment in the summer. Farmers break stuff too. Put the Lincoln gas outfit in the truck and go weld. and I do a lot of hard rodding as out soil here is sandy loam and it eats ground engaging implements.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I wonder if that guy has seen a dermatologist recently.

Too much exposed skin during his stick and MiG demonstrations.

SMAW is the biggest producer of UV next to TIG. Mig makes some but nothing compared to the other 2. I production weld all the time with short sleeves in the summer. My shirts attest to that. Lots of holes.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I not so fondly remember one time long ago when I was under a car on jackstands, cutting off an exhaust system with the gas axe and I cut through a U clamp and the red hot end of the cut clamp dropped into my boot.

Smelled like steak cooking and hurt like hell. Still have a nice scar from that episode. After than I always had my pant legs over my boots instead of tucked inside. Got that boot off in about 2 seconds too.

Live and learn.

 

[Fordtech86]

I not so fondly remember one time long ago when I was under a car on jackstands, cutting off an exhaust system with the gas axe and I cut through a U clamp and the red hot end of the cut clamp dropped into my boot.

Smelled like steak cooking and hurt like hell. Still have a nice scar from that episode. After than I always had my pant legs over my boots instead of tucked inside. Got that boot off in about 2 seconds too.

Live and learn.

Wasn’t me but guy next to me at work was cutting an exhaust off with a torch, all of a sudden you hear a loud scream,torch goes flying and he bolts to the bathroom, I ran to cut the gas off on the torch. He emerges from the bathroom in pain,piece had burnt thru his pants and underwear and got stuck to a not so good spot. I’ve been lucky to not have that but have many scars from cutting,welding, and the memorable air hammer bit shattering and surgery to remove the pieces from my chest

 

[hope to float]

Well, I went from watching a welding link to the national log cutting championship, or something like that. Those guys were chopping logs in about 10 seconds that would take me at least an hour. Beasts.

 

[Missouribound]

After 30+ years I started welding again. You really don't need to spend too much to get started with an arc welder. My advice is simple. If you need it for small jobs, get a small inverter welder. They are lightweight and many are capable of operating on 120 or 240.
Regardless of what you buy the protective clothing is the key.
Get a auto darkening helmet.
Get a good pair of gloves.
Get a leather vest or apron.
Either get leather work shoes / boots or get protectors for your shoes.
I burned a hole through an old pair of gym shoes...through the sock and into my foot. That created a lot of pain and an excellent lesson.
And of course be aware of anything that could catch fire.

 

[Daren Todd]

I not so fondly remember one time long ago when I was under a car on jackstands, cutting off an exhaust system with the gas axe and I cut through a U clamp and the red hot end of the cut clamp dropped into my boot.

Smelled like steak cooking and hurt like hell. Still have a nice scar from that episode. After than I always had my pant legs over my boots instead of tucked inside. Got that boot off in about 2 seconds too.

Live and learn.

I was torching off a busted brace overhead. Also had the president of the company I worked for doing a tour of our shop at the same time. Had a hot piece of slag fall down my shirt and come to rest at my waist. On reflex I sucked in my stomach That was a big mistake. That piece of slag dropped into my boxers

President and my boss happened to be heading out to say hi to me when this happened. Just as they were coming out the door. They seen me jump, shut the torch down, drop the torch, then drop my pants and start shaking out my boxers

 

[SidecarFlip]

One good thing about red hot metal when it contacts your epidermis, it cauterizes as it burns. I have a heck of a divot in my ankle below the bone form my red hot metal experience. Never got infected. nothing. Just smelled like a steak when it cooked me. Hurt like hell for a while but back then I was younger and dumber.

I like to wear Tillman Tig Gloves no matter what kind of welding I'm doing. Tillman's for me are very comfortable. No TIG finger either. I'm not that sensitive to heat when I'm running TIG.

All Lincoln equipment here with the exception of the pulsed MIG, that is an ESAB I'm partial to Lincoln in as much as I grew up in Euclid, Ohio, not far from Lincoln Electric.

 

[CaveCreekRay]

I was all happy with my Lincoln 180 MIG. Then, one day I was walking through Home Depot and they had the main aisle loaded with markdown stuff. One of the items was a brand new unboxed AC tombstone and they were asking $210 for it! All the parts were there. I run in for a couple quick items and leave my wife in the car. When I wheel out, I have a welder... Wife didn't say hardly a word except, "That looks heavy!"

Did I marry good or what?

Got to weld up the cart for it. Then I want to try my hand at stick.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I was all happy with my Lincoln 180 MIG. Then, one day I was walking through Home Depot and they had the main aisle loaded with markdown stuff. One of the items was a brand new unboxed AC tombstone and they were asking $210 for it! All the parts were there. I run in for a couple quick items and leave my wife in the car. When I wheel out, I have a welder... Wife didn't say hardly a word except, "That looks heavy!"

Did I marry good or what?

Got to weld up the cart for it. Then I want to try my hand at stick.

The other thing a buzz box is good for is thawing pipes and enticing fishing worms to come out of the ground. Really went up in price. Think I paid less that 150 bucks for mine (that I gave to my BIL years ago.

 

[D2Cat]

I was all happy with my Lincoln 180 MIG. Then, one day I was walking through Home Depot and they had the main aisle loaded with markdown stuff. One of the items was a brand new unboxed AC tombstone and they were asking $210 for it! All the parts were there. I run in for a couple quick items and leave my wife in the car. When I wheel out, I have a welder... Wife didn't say hardly a word except, "That looks heavy!"

Did I marry good or what?

Got to weld up the cart for it. Then I want to try my hand at stick.

Ray, I recon you did marry a keeper! Didn't you say she was a cost analyst specialist? Man, you got off easy!!

I've got an old Buzz box I bought years ago for $75 from an individual at a garage sale. It has copper windings and will weld rod people tell me it can't do!

 

[CaveCreekRay]

Len,

Yeah, those thing ain't light. I could barely lift mine into a cart and then get it out. That is why it's been sitting, waiting for a nice cart. Loads of copper inside!

I actually have a remote welding job and want to try to run it off my generator 220v tap. I need to tack two hinge bearing reinforcements to an existing gate hinge in my back yard. I have some small rod and hope I can get enough arc to weld it together. Should work with a 30 amp 220 source. Wheeling that piggy to the job is gonna be a challenge as the gate is about 600 feet from where the welder sits in my shop. The generator is easy to move with the tow frame I made. All the time and effort to move the equipment in place and get it hooked up and running. It should take two minutes to actually weld.

A weather-ravaged gate in AZ... Soon to be totally overhauled.

The hinge bearing is ovaled out. I want to weld on the galvanized tube to the two hinge locations to beef the hinges up. Then, I'll cut down the threads on the gate hinge and make it look better. I thought about cutting the existing mounts off, and welding new ones on with the bearings already on them. I think tacking on the heavy tube to the existing mount will be easier. I only need to get a couple good tacks and it will be secure.

 

[D2Cat]

My buzz box has a couple of 1x4's attached to the bottom at the front and back with some roller wheels like on the bottom of an office chair. One eventually shattered and I replaced them with some metal caster wheels like these. https://www.harborfreight.com/3-in-rubber-light-duty-swivel-caster-with-brake-61855.html

The thing rolls around quite easily.

You could just put the welder and generator in the loader bucket with a couple of straps to secure it and go to work!!

I've moved my mig with argon/CO2 bottle that way.

 

[Lil Foot]

One of my nieghbors has a huge tombstone (about 1 1/2 times the usual size) that he bought at an estate sale for $40. I'd guess it's from the '40s. He has used it once or twice, and I used it just playing around while he clamped some parts together. It was the smoothest welder I've ever used. We took the back off and it is all copper; huge wire, huge conductors, huge copper bolts. I've tried to get him to sell it, but he's not going for it, no matter what I offer.

 

[D2Cat]

A suggestion for your gate hinge sleeves. Find a heavy washer that you can get to fit the dia. of the hinge pin real close. May have to use a die grinder to enlarge the hole in a hardware purchased washer.

Then grind the opposite sides of the washer with a flat spot that fits in between the gussets where the wallered out hole is. This would allow you to be sure the gate is swinging the way you want it before you weld the piece on the bottom. It would actually hold the gate, but not heavy enough to last very long. Then the sleeve on the bottom reinforces the whole thing.

 

[CaveCreekRay]

I figured I'd get some good ideas...

I was gonna use a bolt to hold the hinge part in place while I weld it. There is plenty of adjustment on the hinges. As long as the gate swings closed parallel to the jamb on the handle side. You are right, I will have to relieve some material to get the piece to fit snug for welding.

I actually have my welder on one of the small size Harbor Freight wooden furniture movers for now. That would get it into my bucket... Then I have to roll it 30 feet to the gate.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

You might be alot better off using a mig off of a generator, than a big arc welder, those tombstone units take a lot of amps to run.