Welders: Masters Of Manning Machines That Make Metal Melty

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May 10th, 2014 at 1:05:50 AM permalink
beachbumbabs
Member since: Sep 3, 2013
Threads: 6
Posts: 1600
Quote: Face
Not just cheaper because of gas, cheaper because of the machine. A MIG with the same quality and voltage as my $300 stick runs about $1,800. Of course, you could just buy used. I had a guy try to unload one on me for $800. Had I not blown $2k on my car, I'd have snapped it right up.

I can't stop thinking, either. You see my car trailer in my Racing thread? That ain't nothing but boxed tube and diamond plate. All simple angles, all simple joints. The tongue, axles and fenders can be acquired at Tractor Supply easily enough. And new? That simple, bare bones trailer goes for $2,100. I could slap one together in a week no problem, even faster if I took the time to make up a jig for it.

I'm to the point I can wait to break something, just so I can weld it back up. Fortunately, racing starts in 5 days, so I should have lots to make whole again =)


I dated a welder about 20 years ago for a couple of years. He was also a skydiver for hire; 6-6 Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Thanksgiving Turkey; would parachute into the park with goodies. Mmmm....good memories!

Hey, Face; remember that goPro rig I drew up for you? Now that you can weld, you can put that rig together in a snap! What a cool skill.
Never doubt a small group of concerned citizens can change the world; it's the only thing ever has
June 10th, 2014 at 9:44:12 PM permalink
Face
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 61
Posts: 3941
Quote: Face

I'm to the point I can wait to break something, just so I can weld it back up. Fortunately, racing starts in 5 days, so I should have lots to make whole again =)


Oh man ><

With Paco's math assistance, I went to try to get some camber in my race car. 3 hours of struggling with 25 years of corrosion later, I had the lower control arms pulled off the car. Since several parts connect to it, I had to cut at the very end, right before the bung where the knuckle connects. Did a little measuring, mentally envisioned how it was going to go together, foresaw issues that may crop up, made adjustments... and then started cutting.

The funny part was that while cutting I actually set my shirt on fire. Like, on fire. It wasn't until I stopped cutting and noticed it was still bright that I realized I was on fire. It burned a 3" hole into my shirt at the stomach, and I have no idea how I didn't feel it. Anyways...

I cut out the chunk to make the left shorter, and saved the chunk to make the right longer. I got both arms and the chunk all beveled and ready to go for tomorrow.

But now, I can't help but ask myself "wtf are you doing?!" I don't know what kind of steel this LCA is. I wasn't even sure it was steel until I removed it and felt the weight. My palate is not yet refined enough to be able to taste and identify it like I can with automotive fluids =p My 7018 rods are a year old and have been stored in an open box outside, as I obviously have no oven to keep them in. I dunno the carbon content of the steel, dunno how much moisture the flux has absorbed, and really ain't that versed in stick, yet I have to stick these few small pieces together efficiently.

And this ain't no dumb canoe cart. It's a control arm for a freaking race car. I'm gonna pile 2,000lbs into a corner at 75mph, and the only thing keeping my safety and my lifelong dream from piling into a concrete wall will be my uneducated weld.

If I manage it, I'll have camber.



If I blow it, I'll have a disaster (and a hell of a crash)



To the gods of SMAW we pray.
Be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it.
June 10th, 2014 at 10:40:57 PM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
You crazy welders, always setting yourselves ablaze.
That's why all the hot chicks love ya..
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
June 11th, 2014 at 2:25:13 AM permalink
Fleastiff
Member since: Oct 27, 2012
Threads: 62
Posts: 7831
Quote: Evenbob
You crazy welders, always setting yourselves ablaze.
Crazy welders are a necessity. One young guy and three young girls sailing in a boat one step up from derelict were out of food, out of water and out of money. Two days later just as they were making landfall, their chainplate broke and the forestay started flopping about. Despite their poverty, they found a welder on the island who did a new chain plate for them.
June 11th, 2014 at 11:21:12 AM permalink
Face
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 61
Posts: 3941
Quote: Evenbob
You crazy welders, always setting yourselves ablaze.
That's why all the hot chicks love ya..


Burn scars are in. I think I read that in Maxim XD
Quote: Fleastiff
Crazy welders are a necessity. One young guy and three young girls sailing in a boat one step up from derelict were out of food, out of water and out of money. Two days later just as they were making landfall, their chainplate broke and the forestay started flopping about. Despite their poverty, they found a welder on the island who did a new chain plate for them.


If I could go back, I'd pursue it as a career. It's a lot like construction in that it's dangerous and dirty and physically exhausting, but you get so caught up in the project you don't notice any of it. Plus when you're done, you can step back, see the results, and say "I did that". It feels good =)

Plus it's recession resistant. The field doesn't matter. Everyone needs a welder. But that fact means travel and constant relocation. I'm in that position of having to choose family or wealth, and that choice is obvious
Be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it.
June 11th, 2014 at 11:24:41 AM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Quote: Face


If I could go back, I'd pursue it as a career. It's a lot like construction in that it's dangerous and dirty and physically exhausting, but you get so caught up in the project you don't notice any of it. Plus when you're done, you can step back, see the results, and say "I did that". It feels good =)


Pursue it now, learn to weld or inspect pipelines. Talking six figures. Need a rig and a truck, though. Real truck, not a little half ton. Six figures and some guys get to rest for half that time still getting paid.
The President is a fink.
June 11th, 2014 at 11:35:40 AM permalink
Face
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 61
Posts: 3941
I am done. Right now, I am very pleased with the results. I really put extra time in for prep, since my ass is on the line with this little project.

I didn't get any pitting to speak of, and had so little spatter I actually did the first quarter of the job sleeveless and in shorts =p I did end up changing eventually because I wanted to focus on a good weld, and it's hard to do so while dancing the Charleston.

The "easy one", the one sans chunk, was gorgeous. I'm not sure I could lay a better bead with a MIG. This isn't the finished product, obviously. I did fill in those voids and brought it up to the width of the arm.



The chunk one was a lot more interesting, trying to keep the X, Y, and Z all straight and at the appropriate angles. It's not like I could use a C clamp on this, and of course, I have no help. But a little bit of ugly here and a little bit of gross there turned into an epic finished product.







So one way or the other, I'm happy. It's all done, I don't have any pit or void worries, and I got the exact thing I was looking for. They're currently cooling so I can toss them on the car. If it works and I get camber, I'll be really happy. If I hit the track and my wheels don't fall off, well, that'll beat all =)

Be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it.
June 11th, 2014 at 1:04:09 PM permalink
Fleastiff
Member since: Oct 27, 2012
Threads: 62
Posts: 7831
Quote: Face
If I could go back, I'd pursue it as a career.
Ain't never too late. Marine welders are often in demand. Some welder/party-boat combinations exist in the tropics but that can be a cash-tight economy. Its a great skill to have in a rural area.

Unfortunately, one welder after spending several years partying in the tropics headed home and he took only first timers with him.
Transiting the North Atlantic you do not want to be asleep at night with a first timer being the only person awake. Not a good idea.
June 11th, 2014 at 1:20:00 PM permalink
Fleastiff
Member since: Oct 27, 2012
Threads: 62
Posts: 7831
Quote: Face
I'm in that position of having to choose family or wealth, and that choice is obvious
Yes, it is. Choose wealth!!
June 11th, 2014 at 5:45:12 PM permalink
Face
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 61
Posts: 3941
Quote: Fleastiff
Yes, it is. Choose wealth!!


I am. I don't know the exact dollar value of raising a kid to be a proper man, but it's gotta be more than I'll ever see in a paycheck.

Well, this project went exactly as it went in my head without a single hiccup. Once it cooled it took but a half hour to put it all back together. I have camber =D



Negative on the right, positive on the left, and both will only increase in degree as the suspension loads and unloads in the corners. I have half a mind to load it up and go practice tomorrow, just to see what I did =)

I'm certainly within the rules. If I had to do it again, I would have went slightly more extreme. But now that everything has been broken apart, I could probably re-do this job in about 5 hours. I'll give it a whirl, check the tires, and go from there.

Ahhh. Feels good =)
Be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it.
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