A place for anything to do with Welding.Post your MIG/TIG/Stick/Fluxed Cored Arc welds, ask questions and discuss sticking metals together.Previous: >>2894379
>>2932874Whats a good price for a used welder/good brands to look for (mig only)
>>2932985all depends what you want to do
Vulcan omnipro 220 welder guy from the last thread... Welding cart from filing cabinet has been fully fabricated, just need to find the time to properly paint the file cabinet orange and assemble the final time. Also ended up with another identical Vulcan omnipro 220 that popped up for sale locally barely used for $600. So now I will have to make yet another welding cart...
just a heads up roasties are getting into wekding. Prepare to have ypur little flame waving job recieve a paycut.
>>2933247I don't get paid to weld, but it sure does save me a lot of money. So send in the roasties, I don't care.
>>2932874Laser welding is the future of welding. All 'welders' will be replaced, poorfags need not apply
>>2933315sureok
>>2933315Basically only able to seriously compete with TIG for low deposition rate indoor welding. Arclets need not reply.
>>2933315All labor will be replaced by Gok-Tesla-Bot and you will be mulched in a wood chipper by the billionaires, fed to pigs
>>2933242Welding cart fully finished. Now I need to build another one for the other new welder... Used the stick process last night for the first time. Seems to run a nice bead. Overall very happy with how it welds.
dinosaur here, feel dirty posting a no electricity weld but check out these dimes. #1 Victor tip on my 315FC in the back yard. making a lil table to weld on. Only got oxyacetylene though, no idea how any of the other ways work.
>>2934641I did some oxy welding today too. Made a top for a little grain bin/hopper and oxy fuel welded some galvanized sheet metal to an angle iron frame. Used some leftover mig wire from changing out empty spools of welding wire.
>>2932874>be me>have too much clutter in the junk shed>no room or spare dollarinos for a lista cabinet >see ruskie yootoob guy show swingout drawer cabinet >feeblebrainponderssuchorbs.gif>cut/weld/grind for more hours than ill admit >net gain 492.8 cu in of crap storage space
>>2932874Building a truck camper and I plan to do MIG Aluminum. I've never welded before in my life and I honestly have no idea how it works. The extent of my understanding is "big, hot torch melts metal to other metal"How much should I spend on a basic beginner set up? How in over my head am I?
>>2935875>never welded>aluminum migthats like entering the olympic 100m dash when you havent ever walked around the block. basically a vertical learning curve. not impossible thoughwatch jody weldingtipsandtrickshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUpmiDL92V8or bob moffathttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aZN7iswgqMyoull easily have a $1k outlay to get going on aluminum unless you snag a complete setup used. primeweld is a good starting point with the 200a machine but youll be limited to under 1/4 material
>>2935850I'm more interested in that Unisaw in the back.
If I get a cheap Tig welder from Amazon how long would I need to practice to make some basic aluminium or stainless parts like a light fixture, maybe simple gps mounting bracket or a skid plate? It looks like a fun thing to learn but I’ll be doing it maybe 5-6 times a year for practical stuff so I don’t want to spend a thousand if that’s possible
>>2932874Will using shielding gas for flux core wire reduce welding splatter?
>>2935892Thanks for the channel rec, there's so much retarded slop on youtube it seems impossible to sift through
>>2932874previous owner bitched about it "tripping breakers."
>>2936099>shielding gas for flux coreno. gasless innershield wire needs oxygen to react with the alloying elements in the flux. shielding gas prevents the reaction and makes for a garbage welddual shield fluxcore is completely different stuff and you dont have a machine powerful enough to run it if youre asking this question co2 will run hardwire mig fantastic and is much cheaper than mixed gas. a 20lb beverage machine tank is perfect for little wirefeed machines
>>2932874https://warosu.org/diy/thread/2894379#p2895205it livesno variable foot control yet. running with an on/off pedal connect to the enable on the stepper drive at fixed speed from a pulse gen boardhf tig start didint make anything strange happen but its running on m18 batteries so no building ground connection
>>2936110Where's the rest of it? Also if it trips the breaker as soon as power is applied, that board has a fault most likely. If it only trips half way through a weld, then the breaker isn't big enough for the machines demand.
>>2937011no complaints on its functionality while i was pretending to be a pipefighter. its now well past paid off
>>2936111>co2 will run hardwire mig fantastic and is much cheaper than mixed gas. a 20lb beverage machine tank is perfect for little wirefeed machines.I adapted high pressure paintball cylinders to be even more portable since I've plenty of CO2 for welding and much more.The idea isn't new as Hobart had a portable battery-powered wire welder before batteries got good. I converted my Lincoln 120v to gas (per Youtube videos, do NOT waste money on the official kit), swapped polarity and have a pleasantly portable machine with a good arc.
>>2935875You should READ first on welding and metal boatbuilding forums to copy success because there is nothing left for anyone new to welding to invent. You can MIG with a shortened MIG gun (you can and I have shortened a damaged Tweco but that requires the specific (cheap) band clamp to fit inside the gun, not just any Oetiker clamp. A spool gun is handy but not required. >>2936102Visit forums, not Youtube except for technique videos. There is much you can only learn from reading in forums because every other online format is inherently shit and cannot be deshittified. Effective communication of details requires text. Euros can benefit from migwelding.uk. USians from Weldingweb and the Miller forums.
>>2937335It would be easy to bolt a baseplate to the speed reducer for easy clamping to a tristand or in any vise. Rollout machines are so nice to have.
piggy backing off the omnipro 220 guy. I need a spool gun to repair my outboard but Ive yet to pull the trigger(pun intended) on the vulcan brand one at HB that like 250. Is there a cheaper alternative on amazon? I actually have so much time Ive thought about trying to 3d print one
>>2937032disassembled. i believe i found the fault. one of the diodes on the main input rectifier was blown. everything downstream appears to be fine (tested by applying my 30V bench supply to the dc terminals of the bridge rectifier.) replacement part on the way, $4.
I've been welding for about a year, and my company has a few positions open for inspection (they train you) and I think I have a decent chance. I was planning on going to inspection eventually anyways. Can't decide if I want to jump the shark and try for it before I'm all that good at welding or stay the course. Should be up for tig training soon but inspection would be a big pay bump.
I have this aluminum welding wire with this black gunk all over the spookl. >what is it?>Is the wire still usable/any hope of cleaning it? >how to prevent it in the future?
>>2938114its not worth the assache of fighting dirty wire for the lousy handful of bucks a clean new 1 lb spool costs
>>2938114Bin it. Aluminimum is extremely fussy on cleanliness and the welds with that wire will look like total shit. Prevent it in the future? Use the wire up quicker. Don't let it sit around for years inside the machine.
Did anyone ever try building his own welder from scratch? I was looking how to do a good TIG welder online and only found 1 thread that started in 2005 on some welder forum and went on until 2012 (good old phpbb2 forum). But of course all recommendation for parts and where to get them are 90% outdated now. Also power electronics progressed quite a bit in 20 years.I am not an expert in electronics or welding but not a complete amateur either. I technically could start fully from scratch with my desired output parameters in a SPICE simulation, tweak it, buy the parts and PCBs etc...But if anyone already has experience with that, I could save some time.>>2933315akshually its electron beam welding. Much more energetic and precise than lasers.
Last thread I talked about my old century welder that shit the bed and that is why I picked up the Vulcan from HF. Anyways one of you guys mentioned it was probably a bad diode. Finally had some time to tear into it again and looks like you were right. Ordered some new diodes and should be able to get er up and running again for cheap.
>>2938364why? you can scratch start on a $50 chink stick box. some of the $100 models will lift arc. the bottle of argon is going to cost more than the power supply
>>2938364im probably in the same electronics skill set as you (but not welding skills.) im repairing this >>2936110 and studying it at the same time. you would definitely need to know practical power electronics like the back of your hand just to get the bare basics running, since the core of it is basically a cc/cv switching power supply. things like transformer magnetics, how to wind something that can handle a few hundred amps on the secondary, snubbing, switching losses, rectification losses, thermals, and so on. adding in all of the features you would expect from a tig welder is also probably a big challenge.
>>2938364I tried to make a battery powered stick welder once. The voltage regulator was insufficient so the MCU kept resetting and the FETs blew up due to undervolting immediately.
Not a welder just visiting this thread. I have some very basic stainless stuff I want to weld together. I plan to get sheets (2mm) laser cut and just need to weld the some inside 90 deg corners. I did SMAW classes in school but it’s been 12 years and wasn’t stainless. Only thing I want to ask is if I get a smaw welder and practice for a few weeks is it achievable or should I go and find a welder guy? Hobby project, it is basically very big storage boxes, does not need millimetre precision
>>2938646>SMAW>2mm stainlessForget it. While you can get stainless rods and a skilled operator might be able to do it, the end result would still be total dog shit.
>>2938663I dunno, I welded these stainless bolts to these stainless fins using a stick welder and some 308 stainless rod. I think it was 11 or 12 gauge if I remember right. I'd think someone could do a decent job on 2mm/14 gauge with those rods and some experience.
>>2938408>whymostly for the sake of it. Curious to see if I can do it. And the type of welder I had in mind can definitely not be bought for 50-100$.More importantly, I wanted to use it as an extensible platform for all kinds of exotic features: Variable frequency, tightly controlled current/power, possibility to connect a Rasberry Pi Cam with OpenCV and an actuator holding the electrode.Essentially a CNC welding robot. The cam+openCV part would enable detection of imperfections during the welding and could cause the actuators to move back to the default and fix it, with adjusted parameters (example: assuming the weld is still red-hot, it would need a lot less power, otherwise a hole might be created.) >>2938415>core of it is basically a cc/cv switching power supplyI don't think those are that complicated. Unless welders need to super-tight power parameters that I am unaware of.> transformer magnetics, how to wind something ...I was hoping to do it fully semiconductor based, without the need for any "old school" wound transformers>switching losses, rectification losses, thermals,Thermals is in fact what I am most worried about. I can simulate it using FEM but high frequencies + high power can be very tricky and numerical simulations do not necessarily catch a 3ms 5000A spike that can nonetheless melt components.
>>2938990>I was hoping to do it fully semiconductor based, without the need for any "old school" wound transformersyou're misunderstanding me, or at least i hope you are. even inverter-based welders have a transformer. my pic shows an inverter-based welder, the transformer is the big yellow thing in the top center. of the photo. ive hacked together small smps as an amateur with very rough guesses and rules of thumb and it's challenging with lower power levels. when you're playing with multiple kilowatts of power and hundreds of amps you need to be very concerned with physical construction of the transformer (how to construct a secondary that can handle hundreds of amps), thermals (core losses, winding resistance losses), avoiding transformer saturation, etc.
>>2939003I just re-checked because your post made me think that I might have misunderstood something big about power electronics and their power capacity. But no, I think there is no need of an old-school wound transformer for a welder. At least not for a welder that does not blow out the fuses whenever it is plugged into a normal 3.5kW 250V retail outlet. I looked for "SST power limit" "power electronics drawbacks" and similar terms for this. Found some research articles and market overviews. TL;DR: SSTs can deliver 45kVA easily and can go to 100 kVA if one is willing to accept increased price. (5x or so).I worked for infinion 14 years ago and even back then they had transistors that were so massive, they had cooling channels milled straight through the silicon. (one single transistor was as big as a shoebox). I assume that these kinds of power electronics will not have any issue at all with a "mere" welder.
>>2938215>>2938124>bin itYou don't have to throw it out. There are lots of uses for aluminum wire that aren't welding. I agree on not using it for welding though.
>>2939089>I think there is no need of an old-school wound transformer for a welderYou are wrong. There is literally not a single inverter based welder in the world from any manufacturer that does not have a transformer of some kind isolating the input from the output. If your welders output voltage is directly referenced to the mains input voltage then, it fails every safety test relating to welding machines. You need a transformer. The higher the switching frequency, the smaller the transformer. I've held 500A planar welding transformers in my hand about the size of a cigarette packet.
>Mig stopped working>still feeds wire but won't arc at all
>>2939089"""solid state transformers""" still have transformers in them, it's just a gimmick name that exploits the difference between line frequency transformer vs medium/high frequency transformer. also, for whatever reason, i've never really heard of welders using any of the latest power electronics tips and tricks like active rectification, GaN/SiC transistors, etc.https://sci-hub.ru/10.1109/TPEL.2018.2835564
>>2939212What if I hook the gun up to my Arc welder and just use the MIG for wire feed
>>2939212make and model? >>2939217It will weld like dog shit, borderline un-usable.
>>2939210> There is literally not a single inverter based welder Yes, thats why I wanted to build one myself.>transformer of some kind isolating the input from the outputThis is in fact a very good point that I had not yet considered. Maybe that could be the reason why. Everything else, to me based on my current knowledge, is not a legit reason to keep a classical transformer. Sounds to me like tradition, nothing more. Like why trucks are still blocky and not aerodynamic. > it fails every safety test relating to welding machines. It cant fail the test if you never submit it to be tested, duh! 300IQ move.>>2939213>"""solid state transformers""" still have transformers in themYou seem to be correct in that aspect. I found 3 other papers on this topic from the wiki article on SST. Nonetheless I believe the mass of the coil can be negligible. Further, in the paper "Evaluation of MMCs for High-Power Low-Voltage DC-Applications in Combination with the Module LLC-Design"The abstract explicitly mentions arc-welding as an area of application for their SST, including proper insulation:>Therefore, each module is extended by an LLC resonant converter to adapt to the specific electrolyzers DC-voltage range of 142 - 220V and to provide galvanic isolation. going to anna's to see if I can get the full paper there, maybe this will shed more light on the whole situation
What kind of video camera would you recommend for a hobbyist to record their work, so they can get critique on the forums?
>>2939320>Everything else, to me based on my current knowledge, is not a legit reason to keep a classical transformer.Because it does everything you'd want cheaply and efficiently. You MUST have isolation from mains for safety. Even with the rest of the electronics used to modulate voltage/current, you almost certainly are going to have an easier time of doing so if it's not at mains voltage. A transformer helps with that. Some inductance built into the system helps keep the arc stable. A transformer can give you that for free.You seem to be under the impression that the transformer is somehow a big, costly, problematic part of an inverter welder. It's not. The rest of the assembly all but trivializes the transformer's cost.Have a look at pic related. It's a very small, Chinese-made inverter welder. Look at the size of the transformer. It's not that big. Yes, it's one of the bulkier components, but it's hardly 90% of the weight of the machine, the way it used to be with the old buzz boxes. How much smaller could you really make that enclosure even if you literally just deleted it and didn't have to add anything else? Would that tiny weight/cost/space savings really be worth it? Would it still be worth it after factoring in that you're definitely going to need much more expensive, high-performance semiconductors to make a truly transformerless design work? Do you even have any real alternative to achieve isolation?Moreover, do you even have an idea of what kind of topology you're going for? Or are you just throwing out "fully semiconductor based" as buzzword salad? To my (admittedly limited) knowledge, there are no truly transformerless power supplies that don't have severe drawbacks that are deal-breakers for something as big as a welder.
Not to pile on but>>2939320>classical transformerThe transformer in inverter welders pictured here >>2939364 is not a "classical transformer". It runs at much higher frequency which is how those things weigh like 2lbs instead of having to be carted around on wheels. You can see the ratio is like 2:3 whereas an old welder will be like 50:1 or something.The alternative you are proposing is probably something like a full bridge rectifier followed by a buck converter. A buck converter is made from a half bridge followed by an inductor and smoothing cap. And an inductor is basically a transformer with 1 wire instead of 2. You're not going to be saving much by replacing a big transformer with a big inductor, and it will be very dangerous given how many outlets are wired up backward in this country.
>>2939364>You seem to be under the impression that the transformer is somehow a big, costly, problematic part of an inverter welder.It is not me who is under the impression. One of the replies to my first post was about transformers being super sensitive and very difficult to DIY. I then started argueing that SSTs have no wound transformers in them.My originaly idea was just to select an SST of apropriate power-dimensions (which, as I have been informed, does have a small wound transformer anyway) and focus on building the rest of the welder and its control systems around it, so to speak.This is my original post: >>2938364>have an idea of what kind of topology you're going for? Or are you just throwing out "fully semiconductor based" as buzzword salad?See above wrt. buzzword salad. I want to build the welder as an extensible platform that exposes as many parameters as possible to the user. Though "user" could also be a controller that adapts those parameters based on the input from an image/temperature/current sensor to create the most optimal weld.Most importantly, I want to find out if such a thing is possible at all, and if not, where the point of failure will be.>>2939384You too, see my original post: >>2938364
>>2939384>a full bridge rectifier followed by a buck converterMany Miller machines e.g. Dynasty, Maxstar, etc, use this technology already. They can run on anything from 110v, 240v, 380v, 415v single/three phase due to their buck/boost circuitry. This keeps the DC bus at a constant 600(?)ish volts DC IIRC. If you've ever used a Dynasty you might notice they sound like a box of crickets because of this.
>>2939435>I then started argueing that SSTs have no wound transformers in them.they have wound transformers as per my post here >>2939213. all isolated topologies will use a transformer, there is no way around this. you can't have "high power" isolation without a transformer. "solid state transformer" is usually in the context of mains power transmission transformers, where it's 50/60 hz iron core transformer (traditional pole/pad mount transformer) vs. medium frequency 10 khz or whatever ferrite transformer (much more compact) """"transformerless"""" designs. welders are 50/60 hz iron core transformer (like pic related, lincoln tombstone welder) or high frequency inverter based like >>2936110. i haven't scoped the gate drive but if i had to guess it's probably running at a minimum of 20 khz to be outside the range of human hearing. you aren't really gaining anything by looking at transformerless power transmission designs because the latter use switching frequencies on the same order of magnitude as existing welder designs.>>2939443also usually the isolated topology follows the buck/boost stage, not the other way around. sometimes they will do power factor correction on the buck/boost stage as well.
>>2939461You essentially repeated the post you made a few days ago. Again, the whole thing only started because someone argued that winding coils was somehow rocket surgery. The original point was to build a DIY welding platform from scratch, and if anyone had already tried to do so and/or could point me to good resources on that topic.
>>2939463i haven't seen any attempts at a professional finished product. but this is fun to watch.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CELYqo7KfQ
>>2939443Well anything called an "inverter welder" is going to have something like a buck converter in it. I assume they use some variation of a flyback circuit like is used in all manner of mains powered DC devices. It's basically the same circuit as a buck converter except you use a transformer instead of an inductor and as a result you get isolation. There is no real reason not to do it this way which is why trying to do it without a transformer is a dumb idea. It's not any simpler circuit but way more dangerous. >>2939463It's just a high current power supply. There is lots of information about building power supplies on the internet. But, you better get your math right because something will blow up very fast if you don't.
>>2939505i think two switch forward and half bridge are the most popular topologies for inverter welders. flyback is usually much, much lower power levels (100W or less.)also important to consider the failure mode of isolated transformer vs non-isolated buck. the former fails short circuit and you get 0V output voltage because the primary side transistor will instantly blow up or trip a breaker.the latter fails short circuit and you have anywhere from 170VDC (120VAC) to 850VDC (600VAC 3 phase) across your welder's output terminals with the only current limit being a circuit breaker.
>>2939461I have a bigass transformer from an old Lincoln engine driven welder that shit the bed. It's in my copper scrap bin. Should I pull it and a couple other transformers out of there? I've kinda been thinking about keeping them, but am not that electric savvy and they'll probably just end up being clutter... But you know damn well as soon as I do scrap them I'll immediately find a need for one.
>>2939522id keep them. maybe you use them, maybe not. but copper isn't getting any cheaper, especially with possibility of copper tariffs.
>>2939218Nevermind I figured it outMain power cable to the Mig gun has somehow lost continuity under the insulation even though it has no visible signs of damage
>>2932874Has anyone used two Ecoflow Pro Delta batteries to create a 50 amp with a hub? I have two, a hub, and a welder, but I haven't tried it yet.
>>2939461>minimum of 20 khz to be outside the range of human hearing50 khz is pretty common on welders.
>>2939610Oh, Lincoln then? This gun is very good at doing exactly as you describe.
>>2939505>It's just a high current power supply. There is lots of information about building power supplies on the internet. But, you better get your math right because something will blow up very fast if you don't.True, which is why I intend to run some PSPICE simulations to avoid making really dumb errors. I was wondering if someone had already tried something like that to also avoid the not so dumb errors. Subtle oopsies that are caught only at the prototyping stage.
>>2939626I suggest contacting their tech support first to find out what happens inside their batteries during the short circuit that is welding.
I'm going to buy a cheap wire feed welder and teach myself how to weld so I can make tube frame karts.
>>2941352
Hey guys I bought an all American Pressure Cooker for my fungi and this piece of shit popped the conduction plate on its 7th use. Yeah, I used lots of water. The thing is, I live in fucking Argentina and there's no way im getting a refund or warranty.The base is cataloged as a "Stainless Steel Clad Base" and the Pressure canner is made out of aluminum. I want to weld it back together (Dont know shit about this subject), but I dont know if its a good idea or I'll end up doing cosplay of a drone strike zone. Toughts?
>>2941517Welding won't help in this situation. You really need heat shrinking to pull the thin SS back down onto the alu pot. Looks like that spot copped too much direct heat at one point which is why it is now deformed.
>>2941579Do you think that some High Temperature epoxy would help?
how's it lookin fellas, am I ready for my AWS exam
>>2943331slow down. drag steadily
>>2943340I think I had the shade too high on my helmet and could barely see the puddle. Didn't realize until later
>>2943388Somewhat related but I'm learning too and after spending a week practicing TIG welding, coming back to MIG felt like switching from a pipette to a water gun. The puddle looks huge and having the luxury to stabilize the torch using the other hand is like being on easy mode.
Started a tig class. It's literally a sewing machine
>>2943461I really like TIG so far. The progress is very slow but it's rewarding. After a week of practice I still have troubles moving the puddle consistently without leaving little holes and keeping my tungsten from getting all dirty.
>>2943481Imagine your practicing cursive, making little loops for Ls and Ps.
>>2943611I should try that yes, it worked well for MIG. What also really helped me making progress is when I learned to heat the welding area before trying to apply filler metal.
https://www.amazon.com/FEMEROL-Welding-Portable-Inverter-Synergic/dp/B0F1K4G6R7I'm trying to weld two tubes together, butt to butt with one overlapping part of the other like pic rel, and one is made out of 4140 and the other is mild steel due to it being the only material available in the specific sizeI have 0 experience welding but I know somebody who does (but their welder no longer works so I need to buy a new one)what I understand is that I have to heat up the 4140 section (I have a gas forge or a propane torch available to use, am open to rigging something up if the soot would be an issue)and it can't warp or anything, I'm hoping it wont be an issue anyways since the mild steel tube is 3mm thick and the 4140 tube is significantly thicker but i can never be too safe>just hire somebody to do itit's for a gun receiver, not illegal to do myself or with a friend, I just can't pay somebody to do it for meif its impossible to do with the mild steel tube just tell me, but it would mean a loss of $240 worth of machined metal
>>2943974will you have a tig welder? does it need to color match when blued?312 stainless is the most forgiving filler for mismatched material like that but wont bluepreheat doesnt need to be forge hot or anything. a few hundred degrees with a weed burner would be fine. tig weld with 4xxx matched filler or 7018 with the flux beat off
>>2944373the welder i'm looking at buying is the one in the link, it says it can do tig welding but i'm not sure how good it will be at that since its primarily a stick welder>color matchi dont mind if the color tones are slightly off from eachother, but i dont know if i want a silver ring between the trunnion and the receiver
>>2944381>120v welderits doable but gonna suck if its your 1st rodeoyou want 3/32 70xx rod going around a small diameter round is tricky to keep the rod angle so you should burn about 8lbs of rod around a 1" waterpipe for practice until you are better than just comfortable
>>2944383I can afford a 240v machine its just a matter of connecting it somehow, those are the outlets washing and dryer machines use right?also unfortunately for me, my friend who I thought knew how to weld apparently only knows the basics from doing it a little a few years ago, so I'll have to learn myself
>>2944386a dual voltage machine will definitely be more capable. you dont need and obnoxious heavy extension cord for a little welder. you can hack the end off a 12ga cord and put a dryer plug on itstart with a fresh pack of better than the cheapest shit rod. hobart runs fine but the slag is hard to chip. lincoln is the gold standard if you can set up the job so you can turn it as you weld itll be easiest its all about practice time. do a bunch of butt joints on pipe to learn how it will pull when you tack it and how shit wraps when you weld around and stop halfway
>>2944389i had a bit of a realization, would brazing work? the way this receiver is designed is that the bolt that travels inside of it absorbs most of the recoil and is slowed down by a strong spring, so really the connection only has to be as strong as if they were threaded together, as theres a cap at the end of it taking that same amount of force
>>2944390or maybe a few tack welds and brazing? I'll need to get a welder anyways but the other welds on the gun are just a few tack welds that should be easy to learn
Can anyone explain me what the fuck is going on? I am trying to stick weld EMT conduit, 3/4 or 20 mm idk, thin wall, 1.1 - 1.25 mm at most6011, a mean bastard of a rod that burns hole in 4 mm steel like nothing, I was able to tack weld this shit. 6013, glorified solder rod, kept burning holes, no matter what amerage I try, not to mention that slag was really annoying to deal with. Neither is good weld but with 6011 at least I got something remotely looking like a weld. 6013 I got slag and holes. Fucking why? What am I doing wrong? All rods are 3/32 and all are tack welds, because well, u can't run continuous bead on this thin of a metal
>>2941517Clamp it down and center punch aluminium.Welding isn't an option. Brazing maybe, but idk which rod will stick to SS and alu
>>2933315Laser welding existed for 40 or 60 years you dumb fuck. Sure boxes got smaller, but they are still more shekels than shitty inverter, and they struggle with thick stuff.
>>2944423>stick weld>thin wall, 1.1 - 1.25 mm>all tack weldsThis all sounds like a fucking awful time anon, might be time to re-think your strategy and choose a different welding process.
>>2944453Yes, but I am poor. If i had tig or mig... Still, I can't wrap my head why 6011 works better than 6013.
>got the bay with the welder that refuses to start an arc properly without stuttering today
>>2944459From experience the issue with that is typically bad gas glow. Gotta replace parts that are probably clogged.
>>2944456emt is zinc galvanized and plasticcoated inside. the zinc and plastic boils and burns causing gas pockets and making a garbage weld. 6011 has more alloying shit to digest the trashgrind to bright metal before welding if you want better results
>>2944512idk, zinc plating is really thin. Still doesn't make sense why would 6013 fall through, while 6011 wont
>>2932874Starting a trade program at my local community college in a week, main focus is welding but it includes some manual machining and other fab-related stuff. I used to work at a race shop that built rollcages, did chassis repair/reinforcement, etc. so I've been around MIG and TIG welding and assisted a bunch, but I've never actually run a torch. Any suggestions/advice, or stuff I'm probably gonna want that won't be supplied by the school/will be inadequate? Sounds like PPE is on us, already planning on buying once and crying once with a decent helmet and gloves but not sure what else I'm gonna want.
Howdy and apologies, this isn't exactly a welding question but I didn't want to create a new thread for this and this seemed like it might have been the best spot. I have a bunch of galvanized steel circular punch outs from your standard electrical boxes and I wanted to turn them custom coins for personal use by etching a design into them. An engraving tool didn't quite work so I suggested chemical engraving. I've tried both white vinegar and metiaric acid solutions with a 9volt setup but neither manage to get actual depth, just discoloration in the pattern I've put down.Is there a better chemical to use, or should I get a car battery to up the voltage?Alternatively: what's the feasibility (and if feasible best method) to melt them down to pour? I've seen a sand\clay mold method I think I can replicate if I can get the metal molten.
>>2936071>If I get a cheap Tig welder from Amazon how long would I need to practice to make some basic aluminium or stainless parts like a light fixture, maybe simple gps mounting bracket or a skid plate?Took me half a 20L argon bottle to figure out my 300 bucks HitBox from ebay. At least for steel. Aluminium seems a lot more difficult because it conducts heat a lot better.>It looks like a fun thing to learn but I’ll be doing it maybe 5-6 times a year for practical stuff so I don’t want to spend a thousand if that’s possibleI spend like 700-800 total. I use it a few times a year on small projects, repair jobs, etc. I regret not getting one earlier.Idk what Argon costs where you live, but that's most of the running cost. The welding rods cost basically nothing, the electrodes last forever, and the consumables like gas lenses and such are 20 bucks for 50 piece sets so whatever.I weld with like 7 liters a minute, so a 20 Liter bottle @ 200 atmospheres is enough for 9 and a half hours of welding ... cheap hobby to sustain desu, but a bitch to get into. So do it early and not in 10 years so you have 10 more years of welding to enjoy.You need to be willing to learn some stuff, but there's 9001 good videos on youtube teaching you all about it so it's not exactly hard to do. Issue with tig is, a lot of stuff needs to be set up right, otherwise it doesn't work. Dirty part, dirty rod, gas leak, electrode sticks out too much = no good.The upside is, if you can weld it SOMEHOW, then tig can do it. Any material, any part thickness, no problem. You can even braze with it.I would recommend an AC/DC one with high frequency start. Be aware all the combo ones that also have plasma cutting and mig and whatever typically for some reason do not have AC, so no aluminium possible. At least the cheap ones.Plasma cutters are cheap, and dirty, and require air to hook up, so better buy a cheap standalone one if you want that.
Practicing for flat stainless flux but I don’t understand the heat thing. I’ve heard two berry different things. One is that the stainless turning dark purple causes it to go brittle and it will just crumble during a bend test. The other is that the only thing heat does to stainless is cause the chromium to oxidize which will mean it looses its corrosion resistance, but won’t affect destructive testing
>>2945761what does the wps spec for interpass temperature?
>>2945784I think its just anything not exceeding 350 C
>>2945784>>2945800Wait sorry. 175 Celsius, 350 Fahrenheit
Last day before the big test
>>2932874Hey everyone, there's a good chance I'll get hired at a salt factory and they asked me if I know how to oxy weld so I said yeah on a bluff. I tig everything all time, sometimes use smaw but never worked with oxy acetylene torches but heard it's similar. How hard is it gonna be to pick up and how do I bullshit my way through it so they don't find out I don't know shit?
>>2946741Forgot to say it's in a maintenance workshop and I don't really know what kind of stuff they'll be fixing, I assume pipes and chutes or that sort of shit if it makes a difference
>>2946741>>2946743did you apply through a time machine? oa welding really only makes sense for repair on cast iron anymore and thats a tough skill to learnthat place sounds like a shitshow stick in a rut. hell the price of 1 bottle of acetylene these days would buy a little mig box that would run circles around melting coathangers together
>>2945761>>2946382Update: I failed
>>2946781wut happen?
Fuck I knew I'd have to get my own PPE but the amount of other shit I was required to buy for welding classes was pretty shocking. I just hope the machining classes I'm starting tomorrow don't also require this much shit.
>>2946877Nice gear bro > I just hope the machining classes I'm starting tomorrow don't also require this much shit. Only if they expect you to bring your own lathe
>>2946753Well I'm not paying for gas so it's not that I care about the prices, and I don't really know why they'd use oxy when they have all other arc welders available. Maybe because there's tons of dirty stuff so it gets burned up easier, no clue. This is gonna sound dumb but yeah I've heard that OA is very similar to tig but I'm asking how similar is it really and how much of it should I be able to do with my experience
>>2946891>Only if they expect you to bring your own lathekek yeah. In terms of dollars though it might add up fast if they expect us to get our own decent calipers and dial indicators and stuff though.
>>2946892>OA is very similar to tigI only did OA for a few weeks way back in the pre-trade course. From what I remember it is a lot more violent than tig. You have to get a large area of metal glowing red before a puddle will start. The finished weld looks like dog shit compared to tig. There's different sizes of torch tips which can be important. There's 2 or 3 different kinds of flames you can have on the torch depending on the ratio of fuel to oxygen..."carburising flame" is the only one I remember the name of. Different flames for different jobs.
>>2946913Carburizing, oxidizing and neutral flame, you weld with neutral and cut with oxydizing, I don't think carburizing is used for anything, that's the one that smokes a lot
>>2946874I stopped at the mark and whipped away to make a creator to pick it back up for the stop start, but the tail of it was too close to end of the plate. I didn’t even get to finish
>>2946892OA is easy to self-teach and inexpensive for home shop use.It's great for thin metal which is why jewelers and auto body restorers use it often. Ability to torch bend and do the many tasks suited to OA is quite convenient. OA did all the aircraft welding before TIG was invented in the WWII era. You can use OA to flame straighten metal, locally shrink it etc then weld when ready. Watch videos for how to adjust your flame for a given task. Plumbers heat dam putty is fine for gas welding where heat needs to be localised.Weldingweb has a decent OA section. Do some reading and play with small tips first, like 0 or 00 doing autogenous sheet metal welding without filler. The classic Oxwelder's Handbook (no edition later than 1939, it's plentiful and cheap online) is a great reference from the era when OA was king. I collect OA torches large and small to use (quality US-made torches easily last a century like my Oxweld W-1). They're like firearms in that ergonomics can differ greatly so what best suits one welder may piss off another. I buy used industrial gas cylinders then exchange them for full ones. I've nitrogen (for HVAC), oxygen, CO2, MIG mix and argon. I never run out and can leave one for hydro testing without inconvenience. This is all for personal use and quite handy.Goggles = shit. I like many others use a Shade 3 or 5 Jackson style face shield which ventilate nicely and protect your whole face.>>2946877The gear is well worth it in both cases. Welding and machining are a fine combination useful for life. BTW volunteering is a great way to get more machine time and many US vo-techs hire from within. I took welding and machining using the G.I. Bill, Lottery money etc after retiring to up my personal game, volunteered to help build more welding booths and fixed manual lathes, then worked for my CC for a while for fun and toy money. School schedules are sweet and many welders teach when they want to spend a year or more off the road.
>>2946960fthats a shitty way to blow $250live to test another day
>>2946994Not a bad idea about the volunteering thing. I might be able to do a work study lab tech kinda thing and make some money with it too, I know they've got a position open right now but I think you need more experience first. I'd definitely be down to consider teaching at the college too in the longer term, though it's not the top of my list. I'm also taking a CAD/design class this semester too and I'm gonna try to fit some CNC and 3D print classes in later on so I'll have the full suite of skills to offer, with longer term plans to open my own shop or maybe find a boomer who needs a protege to pass one down too when he retires in another 10 years or whatever. Incidentally turns out the machining class isn't crazy on tools btw, I just need to get a decent caliper, which is actually cheaper than the textbook lol. I'll have to get a bunch more next semester though.
>>2946994Thanks for the advice man, I'm gonna take a look at the handbook and weldingweb Unfortunately I don't have an oxy rig at home so I can't practice but at least I'll be doing less mistakes when I get to work
>>2947074You should really have a caliper even if you don't do machining work, it's an incredibly useful tool for when you're buying parts or improvising stuff at home and they're not expensive, the cheap ones measure just as fine as the expensive ones, just don't use them as a hammer or a scraping tool
>>2947098Yeah, I got interested in this whole thing through working alongside fabricators at an old job (I'm older and this is a career change thing for me) so I know how useful they are. I actually have one of the cheapo Harbor Freight digital ones but the instructor specifically told us we can't use those, apparently a lot of the grading in the machining class is based on accuracy so a sketchy caliper is a big liability. The official recommendation is the entry-level Mitutoyo that's like $120 and I'll probably just get that.
>>2947142I know this isn't /emt/ but an old fasioned, "manual" vernier scale caliper is still perfectly good enough measuring to +/- .001". Not everything needs to be digital. My favorite combo is locking my manual vernier to whatever I need and then bumping the slide on the combination square to that setting. Gets a very accurate scribe mark and is better than using the vernier itself to scribe a line (blasphemy) Dial calipers are a close second. Mitutoyo for both.
>>2947074Bro it takes years to get good at CAD, machining, welding, even if you specialize and only do one of those things for years.I wouldn't let anyone touch my CNC with a short machining class lmao you're just gonna crash it.
>>2947142I have a dozen cheap chinese digital calipers kicking around, some 20 years old, and they all measure perfectly fine. Boomer fudd desu.>>2947406If I see someone fumbling around with an analogue caliper I instantly stop taking him seriously. You can actually measure down to .002" with them but bro aint nobody got time for that. Digital is fast and they're dirt cheap.
>>2947406I get that but we were explicitly told to get digital calipers and the example given is the entry-level 6" Mitutoyo. This was after being told in class about the accuracy of both vernier and dial calipers too, and actually having an exercise where we messed around with them, so it's not like the instructor doesn't know. Digital is just a lot less prone to user error so it's one less thing to worry about.>>2947453Similar story with the cheap Chinese ones. We were straight up told not to buy them. >>2947452Oh yeah, I get that, especially with a CNC mill or lathe, but I think at least understanding enough to do basic shit with a CNC plasma or waterjet is very valuable for a fabricator (and bear in mind that, while not a competent fabricator myself, I've worked alongside and assisted them so I'm not completely clueless about the realities of the job and industry) and if nothing else I think it'll look good on a resume that I went out of my way to pursue extra skills and also puts me in a better place to pursue my own business that I'm thinking about down the line. (Prototyping with a sideline in custom motorcycles.)
First welds either. Machine was set up wrong on the first few passes (was in remote setting mode and ignoring the settings on the machine itself even though the remote wasn't even hooked up) and obviously got a hell of a lot easier after that was fixed.
>>2947856Other side. Think I'm starting to get the hang of it.
>>2947456>it's not like the instructor doesn't know. Tbh he sounds like a self important kinda guy who wants to desperately spit facts and thus makes them up.I've used fancy ass swiss and japanese digital calipers and dirt cheap chink ones and the difference is small.Don't get me wrong, the fancy ones measure 0.01 to 0.02mm more precise than the cheap ones, and when you need that, you should use a good one, but 99% of the time i use a cheap one and i break them on occasion, and guess what, i grab a new one and don't cry. The fancy one lives in the drawer and after every single use goes back into it's precious protective box, the dirt cheap ones are littered through the shop like candy.In a shop class where you're supposed to do "things properly" for really critical measurements you should fetch micrometers anyways.>Digital is just a lot less prone to user error so it's one less thing to worry about.Yeah right. Wait until it skips registering because it got dirty with metal dust, or the battery voltage is low and you shoved it too fast, or you fucked up the zero.Every time i measure something i habitually swipe the measuring surface with my fingers to remove dust and dirt and feel for a burr on the tip, then push it together to make sure it reads zero, and i push it rapidly to see if it will skip, and then I measure.Digitals are more prone to produce error than analogue ones, because they are more complex. The analogue ones are hunks of steel. I guess you can missread the scale if you're really green but ... digitals are way more of a trap.
>>2947453>You can actually measure down to .002" with them Skill issue.
>>2947453>Boomer fudd desu.Cheap chinese calipers suck, they may measure fine ( I wouldn't trust them to do actual machining) but they usually crap out in short time. I have to buy 30 of them or so every semester for students and usually about 10% stop working or have some issue with them. >>2947456>MitutoyoIf you're going to be machining as a profession, get the Mitutoyos, if you have to actually relyon them everyday, you're going to find the chinese stuff will not hold up to daily use, they're fine for home and occasional use.
>>2947939>Cheap chinese calipers suck, they usually crap out in short time. I have to buy 30 of them or so every semester for students and usually about 10% stop working or have some issue with them.I got easily 20 or 30 in my shop, the only broken ones are from mechanical impact.> you're going to find the chinese stuff will not hold up to daily use, they're fine for home and occasional use.Do you even know how these work? They measure a magnetic field, contactless, and the single chip that does all the work is capped in epoxy. There simply isn't anything to break.The two failure modes is mechanically damaging the display, or ingress of magnetic dust. And they're easy to clean desu.You're just spreading more boomer fudd. Are you his retard teacher?
>>2947923^Facts, all of it. Verniers are the most rugged, dial second, digital a distant third because electronics don't last nearly as long. Digital readouts on indicators are also ergonomically inferior to dial when visualizing runout (like when truing multi-piece crankshafts before welding the crankpins to prevent shift, or flame-straightening round bar.Keith Rucker is worth a watch:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNuSh8ZMKIo
>>2947923Honestly the whole thing is moot to me. Instructor wants to see Mitutoyos, I'll get the Mitutoyos. I learned a long time ago to pick my battles and it's not worth being the smartass trying to prove him wrong and giving somebody with the power to pass or fail me a reason to have a grudge. I can get a student discount on them so at least that takes some of the sting out too.
>>2948080Yup. I use dial indicators pretty much exclusively in the shop. Have verniers with me in the glove box of my vehicles for accurate field measurements. I do have a couple digital calipers that stay in their boxes unless I need to convert from metric to standard and visa-versa repeatedly. The batteries are almost always an issue. I even pull the batteries to store them, and they're still dead half the time...
How do I go about getting the smallest possible weld on a relatively thick metal (6mm or 1/4" in freedom units)? Stick or MIG? Thinner or thicker rod/wire? Crank more amps or just enough to actually fuse things?
>>2948115MIG with 0.6mm/.024" hard wire, with gas. You'll also need the right feed rollers, torch liner and contact tip which are all very important. It's hard to get consistent wire feed because it's so thin. You can run a bead at 40 amps with this stuff.
>>2948123Got it, thanks.Do I really need a different liner specifically for 0.6? My machine says it can do 0.6 just with the right tip and roller.
>>2948154Try it on clean scrap before welding your workpiece. That's the wise way to set your welding machine. If you get too much birdnesting etc then a new Teflon lined liner is preferable for small wire, but steel wire is pretty tolerant. BTW I don't swap liners unless I need to because one is kinked or rusty from sitting in someone else's shop. It's much more convenient to buy an aftermarket MIG gun that fits my welder or feeder. When I buy a replacement gun I buy those which use Tweco-style consumables which are plentiful and cheap. Most of the reason for different tip and nozzle requirements is vendor lock. If curious read about different MIG gun back ends and adapters. I buy consumables and guns etc online and buy gas and some filler at my local welding supply. I mostly run CO2 for general steel work, saving MIG mix for thin stock, but since CO2 runs a bit hotter it's popular for small welding machines.
