Welders? Any welders on this site?

A sturdy one there isn't too much to go wrong with them .I have built a couple in the past .However I repaired a good many for others including two in the past few months .The first was a Chinese made deal somebody tinkered with that didn't know beans about hydraulics .Plus the Chinese are pizz poor welders .The second was just an 8 HP Briggs the carb got funky from sitting uncovered in the weather for ever .For the 16 bucks an aftermarket carb cost I don't even try to repair them .BTW I had replaced that engine maybe 10 years ago as somebody had bypassed the gov. and at speeds over 4,000-4,500 RPMS a flat head Briggs will shove a connecting rod right out the front of the engine block .
 
I've broken the pusher a couple of times. Always with elm. The splitter valve goes into relief way before the tractor, which is set at 3200. I didn't build the splitter. Can't imagine what would happen if it got the full psi. Actually, the swing pump is still at 2775, so that might help.
 
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WTH, a half cord a day two or 3 times a week .Doesn't take that long to get a winters supply .Speedy young men as yourself may get 5 cords a day for all I know .Good for you .

I have a friend with a small irrigated farm.

He dreams of owning machinery so large that he could be done farming for the year before lunch.

I have to laugh at him.
 
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  • #910
As you come to the end of the weld back up into the bead you just laid about a 1/4” before letting off of the trigger. It should leave a nice smooth termination to your weld.
 
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I’m not a teacher, teachers teach, but I can pass on what my first instructor’s method was and it helped me more than anything. I didn’t think so at the time and I hated it but it was a huge benefit for me. He started us on stick, 6010. Hated it with a passion. After a few months and countless bend tests on plate and pipe I understood what he was doing. Once you realize how to control your puddle, heat, rod angle, arc length and build some muscle memory with what I thought was impossible with that rod it made everything else easy to run. So about the best advice I would give anyone wanting to learn is to start with stick. That’s just my experience and opinion.
 
I guess I’ve passed on some of my experience, helped find it within themselves but they wanted to learn. I don’t have the patience to deal with flushing bullshit out of people’s heads. Teaching is a skill in itself.
 
Bodean, the too cold mig setting is used for writing your initials or signature somewhere on your project when you're done:) I'm attuned to the bacon sizzle sound as heard through ear plugs.

Dave, is that 1 year drying split sizing? When I'm nervous about enough dry time I split about that size. Elsewise a bit bigger for overnighters.
 
I got a chinese diesel parking heater recently, and took it apart to inspect the quality first. I found a partially cut through wire, and this casting flaw. Any chance I could help it out with some welding, if I choose to keep this thing? Think I could get away with a little tack welding without removing the screw or gasket? It looks like one of those graphite fiber and sheet metal gaskets like what some chainsaw mufflers use. The metal is likely silicon aluminum. My hope would be to make the best of whatever info you can provide to weld it without a normal welder. I have enough battery power of different voltages (if DC works with aluminum) that I could probably get it to work. Shielding gas is a problem. I don't know if a flux would help. I might be able to bottle up enough co2, if co2 works with aluminum, for a quick weld. I guess I could just JB weld it to help keep that piece from coming apart. I don't need perfection here, just something that will hold.

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You need 100% argon and high frequency AC for aluminum if that’s what it is. Test it in a spot where it doesn’t matter with a grinder, dull dark red short sparks for cast iron and longer brighter red sparks for cast steel if I remember right. No sparks from aluminum of course. If it was me and it’s new I’d return it. That thing looks like Chineseium.
 
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I would return it, if it's a new part. That thing is just plain ugly, and a poor casting.
 
You need 100% argon and high frequency AC for aluminum if that’s what it is. Test it in a spot where it doesn’t matter with a grinder, dull dark red short sparks for cast iron and longer brighter red sparks for cast steel if I remember right. No sparks from aluminum of course. If it was me and it’s new I’d return it. That thing looks like Chineseium.
Bummer. AS far as returning it I have another coming to see if it has the same defects. I got this knowing it would likely have defects, but none severe enough to make it not work, so I'm ready to fix it and use it if need be. No sense in messing around with however many returns it takes to get a good one. If it was a $1600 genuine one, then definitely, but it's less than $160.
 
As much as I despise epoxy and any form of “cold fusion” this stuff is pretty badass. You can use it straight out of the can in a paste or thin it down to liquid. I’ve used it to coat the inside of motorcycle gas tanks.

 
Looks good. They don't say much about the breaking strength, while JB often advertises it. I have used JB epoxy inside chainsaw engine ports.
 
I skimmed through this vid but just posting for the various welders on site who might find it interesting

 
I ran what's basically a newer version of one of those today. They got a dead wet arc that's more work when running 6010, but that's kinda what you want running 7018 or tig welding so they work fine enough. They run big rods like a boss, and since they're nice and big they have a smooth arc. The one we have at work is big enough to run another electric welder while you weld with it, so that's pretty handy on jobs where you need to set up 2 welders. I think it's got a 8 or 12k generator on it, so it's worth it just for that. I see myself picking up one of that size or bigger someday, you can get a ton of work done in a hurry with a big machine like that.


Would be an excellent machine for about anything, i would be tempted to get a suitcase wire feeder and run that as a mig machine. The suitcase feeders can mig weld on constant current, it doesn't do it cold really well but if you crank it up they work really well. A contractor i used to work for had them and we used them to great effect, on both carbon and stainless. With quick connects and a good long hose you can pretty much mig weld anywhere without too much hassle. We even built jib booms in the shop and hung them on that, only way to live. The ones we built extended 30 feet and were articulated in the middle, so you could cover a huge area.
 
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