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I have some pictures! Woo! These 2 images here are of a welding table I made about ~10 months ago. On the right you have an insulated stinger holder, on the left a hood/electrode holder, and right behind that you can see a stub holder. That is easily removable so it can be emptied. It's still a WIP. I need to finish the shelf for it. In the 2nd picture you'll see a piece of steel welded to the underside of the table. That is for a ground clamp so you can tack something to the table. At some point I plan to make a hole through that and bolt a 10 foot welding lead to it so I don't need a clamp.  Click here for the full 640x480 image.  Click here for the full 640x480 image. The next to pictures are of my tool box and cart I had at the rail car job (just got laid off). Pretty self explanatory. I wish I had made the handle extend further from the box to make it easier to move.  Click here for the full 640x480 image.  Click here for the full 640x480 image. This is a bucket I modified to bring into work. It acted as a combination electrode/stub/tool holder. I put 3 electrode holders on it so I could have 6011, 7018, and carbon electrodes at the same time, but separated from each other.  Click here for the full 640x480 image. Here's a picture of the combination hard hat/welding hood I used at work. It's a fibere-metal wood with a "speedy loop" system that allows you to easily remove the hood from the hard hat. Safety first!  Click here for the full 640x480 image. This is why I'm willing to pay $25-30 for a tape measure. The Fat Max Extreme can take a beating. This thing was exposed to welding spatter, torch slag, falling from the top of railcars, being thrown and beat around, and otherwise abused for 7 months. No other tape would have lasted that long.  Click here for the full 640x480 image. Here's a hitch receiver decoration my black smith buddy made. I gave him the idea, he drew it up, and transfered the design to some 3/16" plate. I cut it out with a torch for him, and then he cleaned it up welded it to some 2" square pipe, and painted it.  Click here for the full 640x480 image. This was my first welding machine. I ended up selling it to the buddy mentioned above, and then he ended up moving his blacksmith shop to my shop and so it wound back up in my garage. It's a Lincoln AC-225S, aka buzzbox, aka tombstone.  Click here for the full 480x640 image. This is the welding machine I bought after I had sold the tombstone. An Idealarc 250. Unlike the buzzbox, it can do DC, and has an "infinite" current control for precise amps adjustment.  Click here for the full 480x640 image. The next 2 pictures are of an engine driven welding machine I just purchased last week for $125. It needs to be cleaned up, painted, carburetor adjusted/cleaned, and some other engine maintenance, but I was able to get it started and run a few beads with it. You know it's funny... I prefer Miller, but I have 3 Lincoln machines in my garage right now.  Click here for the full 640x480 image.  Click here for the full 480x640 image. Here's my torch setup in the garage. I screwed a 2x4 to the wall, put in some hooks, and used some chain to make a cylinder rack. The cylinder on the left is Propylene which I use for oxygen cutting. I use a Victor ST2600FC torch for the cutting, which I didn't take a picture of yet. The middle cylinder is Acetylene, which I use only for welding and brazing. The cylinder on the right is Oxygen, and I put a Y adapter on the regulator so I don't have to change connections to use the 2 different torches. Tho, because the cutting and welding torches use different oxygen pressures, you can't use them simultaneously with this setup.  Click here for the full 640x480 image. AbsentMindedWelder fucked around with this message at 11:55 on Aug 2, 2009 |
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Aug 1, 2009 15:51
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I'm looking to have a pressure vessel fabricated. It's for vacuum use, which pretty much means it'll be a thick tube welded to a plate with an o-ring groove cut in the top with a thick lexan top and a quick-connect. I've heard that this can be fabbed for arond $250. I'm looking for around a 5 gallon capacity. I haven't gone through the calculations to figure out wall thickness yet, but I am still researching at this stage. My main question is how do I find a local machine shop to do this, just yellow pages/google it? My secondary question is how would I identify a good machine shop? I've worked with an excellent machine shop at GA tech in the past, but I haven't ever had to pay for the designs I came up with, so I don't know anything about this side of the process.
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Aug 4, 2009 20:37
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Check with the better business bureau, they might keep records on fabrication / machine shops. But yeah, yellow pages or google should find them for you just fine.
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Aug 4, 2009 20:47
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I'm assuming you don't if you are asking the internet this question, but the first thing I'd do is ask any local contacts you know may have need similar work done about their experiences with the local shops. If that isn't an option you won't have much of a choice but to use the yellow pages and google to find the business and start asking for quotes. In addition to giving them the measured drawings of what you are making, you'll also want to explain the metrics you'll use to determine if the quality of the finished product is suitable for your application. You don't want any confusion when you pick up the product because there's' something your forgot to mention and then they laugh at you and tell you to pay the bill or they will use your vacuum chamber on your head. Without having used a shop before, or knowing someone who has, there's not much you can use to determine how "good" a shop is. The bottom line is can they make X product to X standards, within X time, under X budget?
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Aug 4, 2009 20:56
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That's what I thought, but I just wanted to make sure there wasn't a better way.
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Aug 5, 2009 17:20
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What sort of pressures are you looking at and is there going to be anything corrosive involved in it? Cause you always have the option to use a compressed gas cylinder if you can find one big enough. I had a 5' tall 1.5' wide acetylene cylinder sitting in my shop out on the beach for the longest time. Don't have it any more or i would offer it up for use.
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Aug 5, 2009 17:34
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It's a vacuum degassing chamber for resin and silicone casting, I have an old scientific vacuum pump that should pull to the 10-100 mTorr range, which converts to 14.7 psi. It's not a particularly high vacuum, I just need to pull more than 29 mmHg, which is a medium vacuum. The good thing about vacuum chambers is that you can't pull more than a perfect vacuum, so the exterior atm pressure is the only variable. And since my garage isn't in the clouds or under the sea I'm not doing major engineering here. I'm still doing the math, so I might be wrong about that pressure conversion.
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Aug 5, 2009 18:07
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Hit the junkyards, I'd be looking for any pressure vessel of decent size. Farmer I used to know let me raid his scrap pile, had about 1/2 dozen spent O2 cylinders from his welding. Also look into welding supply companies that lease out cylinders, if all you're looking at is 15psi an old o2 or acetylene cylinder may do the trick. Worth a shot. P.S. Never did find a decent pressure chamber that looks interesting for my espresso machine.
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Aug 5, 2009 20:59
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I made an airplane: 
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Aug 10, 2009 17:32
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Wow! that looks amazing. If I had a big oak desk I would love to put that on it.
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Aug 11, 2009 00:19
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Brekelefuw posted:Wow! that looks amazing. If I had a big oak desk I would love to put that on it. Thanks! It's got an 18" wingspan, if that gives you any indication of how much room it'd take up on a desk. It's pretty impressive up close. I think I might add a door and some windows to give it some extra detail, just for fun. The client paid me a rather large bag of cash for it, so I want to make it as nice as possible.
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Aug 11, 2009 00:20
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So I have some random questions for you guys. Is there a good oxy acetylene starter kit that you guys would reccomend? Brands we should buy/avoid? My buddy and I are looking at starting to make custom steel bicycle frames and need somthing that isnt a total piece of poo poo. Our hope is if we can get good enough/get enough interest to actually turn it into a side bussiness. So we would like somthign that will last us for a while.
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Aug 11, 2009 23:30
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I just finished my latest project at work, and figured I'd show it off. I work in a glassblowing shop, and we needed a glass crusher to handle all the recycled glass we use. Rather than buy a 2000 dollar crusher, I built one!  Click here for the full 1200x1600 image. Front shot, with my fancy paintjob. I like streamliner airplanes / trains.  Click here for the full 1200x1600 image. Back shot! The hopper and shaft unbolt for service / cleaning.  Click here for the full 1200x1600 image. Looking down into the hopper. The center shaft rotates, and the blades attached to it crush bottles against the outside teeth. It's built out of angle iron, an old metal drum, some sheet metal for the hopper, some half inch plate cut into square stock for the teeth, square stock for the crusher shaft, and torch cut blades. It's powered by an old cement mixer motor. You just put a barrel underneath, throw in a boxful of glass (it can handle glass up to the hopper) and the thing just chews through bottles. Comes out in nice small chunks, perfect for throwing in the furnace. I should have taken pictures of my mig welds, I was so proud of them. I really should get a video of it destroying bottles.
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Aug 12, 2009 00:07
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Nice work you got there again Jovial.Backno posted:So I have some random questions for you guys. Is there a good oxy acetylene starter kit that you guys would reccomend? Brands we should buy/avoid? Backno posted:My buddy and I are looking at starting to make custom steel bicycle frames and need somthing that isnt a total piece of poo poo. Our hope is if we can get good enough/get enough interest to actually turn it into a side bussiness. So we would like somthign that will last us for a while. If the only thing you will ever make are bicycle frames made from standard carbon steel, then a small 110V MIG welder (not flux core) will suit your needs well. If you plan to do some crazy cool poo poo in metals like aluminum either get a TIG welder or get a MIG welder that is capable of using a spool gun. Edit: If you want to weld stainless or aluminum, DON'T EVEN THINK about getting a 110V machine, you'll need 220. Money Walrus posted:I just finished my latest project at work, and figured I'd show it off. Good poo poo! AbsentMindedWelder fucked around with this message at 02:19 on Aug 12, 2009 |
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Aug 12, 2009 00:27
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dv6speed posted:Nice work you got there again Jovial. we plan to do steel frames only so we will only be brazing 
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Aug 12, 2009 09:46
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Backno posted:we plan to do steel frames only so we will only be brazing If you are doing steel frames only, why are you brazing instead of welding?
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Aug 12, 2009 12:16
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It's much easier to weld rather than braze. Generally you only braze if you're joining 2 dissimilar metals.
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Aug 12, 2009 16:54
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I actually do cromoly steel bike frames by brazing with lugs and silver brazing stock, and its not terribly difficult. I, however, am trying to segue into making full-stainless bike frames my niche, and was wondering what special considerations I need to take into account when brazing stainless steels with lugs, aside from special brazing stocks and fluxes.
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Aug 12, 2009 23:36
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If I were making stainless frames, I would learn to TIG and then leave it bare metal. Maybe a give it light polish. Save a bundle on paint. No rear end-ugly golden braze joints. But that's just me.
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Aug 12, 2009 23:53
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Man, it's been a long time since I've made anything. Been awfully distracted with my tractor. So when I was camping, my boss's husband liked this iron poker I had with me. I wish I could say that I made it, but I hadn't, I bought it years ago, and it was actually one of the reasons I took up smithing. He asked if I could make one, and I agreed. The handle was easy enough.  Then I tried a forge weld for the pointy bit.  It held for a while.  But then it broke, because I don't know what I'm doing. So I cheated like crazy and arc welded it up.  It's awfully amateurish, but I chalk that up to being really out of practice. I'll throw it in the forge this weekend to pit the surface again where I was grinding it, clean it up, and paint it with high heat paint.
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Aug 13, 2009 04:19
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Oz Fox posted:I actually do cromoly steel bike frames by brazing with lugs and silver brazing stock, and its not terribly difficult. I, however, am trying to segue into making full-stainless bike frames my niche, and was wondering what special considerations I need to take into account when brazing stainless steels with lugs, aside from special brazing stocks and fluxes. No special considerations, other then perhaps needing a little more heat then you are used to. Honestly, I haven't done much work with stainless so I can't be of much more help to you. What is it with these bike guys brazing instead of welding? I'm quite curious. AbsentMindedWelder fucked around with this message at 04:27 on Aug 13, 2009 |
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Aug 13, 2009 04:25
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dv6speed posted:No special considerations, other then perhaps needing a little more heat then you are used to. Honestly, I haven't done much work with stainless so I can't be of much more help to you.  This is only from what I have read so I am not 100% if it true but brazing causes alot lets heat damage to the joints, making them stronger.edit: there is also a more old school feel to it because its a way they used to put bikes together Backno fucked around with this message at 08:23 on Aug 13, 2009 |
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Aug 13, 2009 07:54
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Backno posted:
I'm no welding engineer, or metallurgist, but I do know a welded joint, if done properly, will be stronger then brazing. In many instances, even tho you are not melting the base metal with brazing, you will actually put more BTU's of heat into the metal with the torch flame for brazing then an arc for welding. Think about it, the arc instantly melts the metal getting the job done. Where as with a torch on a brazing (or welding) operation you have to spend a good amount of time heating the metal up to the appropriate temperature in order to melt the braze alloy. The bigger problem that heat causes is distortion of the weldment from the metal cooling at different rates since the entire piece is not the same temperature. I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm going to guess the bike builders back in the day started using O/A brazing for their bikes frames due to the limitation of O/A flame welding with fillet welds, and the lack of technological advancement (and large capital outlay) with the MIG and TIG processes at the time. Speaking of bicycles, I may get commissioned here soon to start working on a very custom bicycle project for someone. Can anyone recommend me some good websites about bike building?
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Aug 13, 2009 12:18
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As a general rule, is it necessary to have an oxy-acetylene torch to braze brass, or will I do OK with a decent propane or "MAPP" torch? I haven't got around to buying an oxy-acetylene setup yet, but I suppose this would be as good an excuse as any. I'm having trouble finding good information on the approximate temperature needed for brazing brass. FYI, this is fairly small stock that I'm talking about...no thicker than 1/16" and it's flat stock about the width of a pencil. I'm putting together an internal framework for a model that will have curved outside surfaces, and I plan to attach the shell (which will be plastic) to the brass frame with screws. The plastic is flexible enough that it will conform...we're not talking about an extreme curve here. Since I'm building this model from scratch, though, it just seemed to most practical way.
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Aug 14, 2009 14:25
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PTM, With stock that small an O/A torch is way overkill. A standard propane torch will do you up just fine. MAPP (which is being phased out for propylene) is OK too, as well as air-acetylene. Oz Fox, One other consideration when doing any hot work to stainless is to clean up any oxides, dirt, etc. created by the welding, brazing, whatever process. If you don't clean that nasty poo poo up right away, the stainless steel will quickly lose it's "stainless" properties. AbsentMindedWelder fucked around with this message at 14:59 on Aug 14, 2009 |
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Aug 14, 2009 14:51
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This is a really interesting thread. Lost it for a while, then found it again. I got inspired to do some digital pixel bashing based on metalwork. Since we're in CC now, I thought I'd post it as a homage to you metal guys.  There is a larger version here: http://elron-cupboard.deviantart.com/art/Metalsmith-133317947 The Download button links to an 8000 x 5680 8.9mb version
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Aug 15, 2009 00:09
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geno1173, Thanks for posting that, I like it!
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Aug 15, 2009 00:45
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That's fantastic, thanks for sharing.
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Aug 15, 2009 01:27
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geno1173 posted:This will be going on the wall of my next shop
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Aug 15, 2009 01:58
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Thanks guys, glad the target demographic liked it. Blacksmith, when you get your shop set up, PM me if you want a personalized one done. I can come up with a nameplate at the bottom that should fit in. Thanks for not making fun of the grille work.
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Aug 15, 2009 04:39
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geno1173 posted:Thanks guys, glad the target demographic liked it. This thing is freaking awesome. I might have to PM you later. Gotta make myself look "officially somewhat certified".
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Aug 15, 2009 08:32
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I cleaned and painted (with high heat enamel) my terrible poker. 
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Aug 16, 2009 04:28
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Slung Blade posted:I cleaned and painted (with high heat enamel) my terrible poker. It's looking pretty good, but you don't have time for this. Get on with the tractor.
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Aug 16, 2009 09:53
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http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/drh/tls/1325218184.html This lathe is for sale and I really want it. Alas, I have to buy a suit because I have shrunk and my suit did not shrink with me.
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Aug 16, 2009 15:04
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I got a little $5 butane torch at Harbor Freight yesterday (it's on sale this week at my store), and have been having fun ineffectually melting solder onto things and heating cartridge brass to crush with a tackhammer, but it's not really hot enough to do much of anything properly. It is decent enough for what it is, unlike the pencil torch ($1 with coupon in this week's ad), which is a leaky, difficult-to-adjust piece of poo poo. I noticed that Home Depot has the standard propane BernzOmatic for $17. Would that be enough for light-duty brazing and hobbyist melting of metals, or is it only good for plumbing? Should I instead save my pennies and get an oxyacetylene rig? I think my grandmother still has a couple of torch heads of grandpa's that I could I don't even know what I'd do with a proper torch. I just like fire. Fortunately the wife is even more of a pyromaniac than I am, so this is one tool purchase I won't have to justify. *Just kidding. Grandmother lets us kids take any of grandpa's tools we want as long as we promise to take care of them and pass them on to our kids. Edit: Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure there's an anvil in grandpa's shop somewhere ... Also, I built a forge out of an old charcoal grill once when I was 15, but never got around to building a fire in it. By the time I got a blower and a bit of railroad track to use as an anvil, the forge had been invaded by a nest of wasps. I could not rid it of the infestation via the obvious method (  ) because the lid was closed and it didn't have any charcoal in it. And yet somehow I never thought to drip some gasoline in through the vent-hole and apply a model rocket igniter/trigger-box ... Man, I was a stupid kid.
Chillbro Baggins fucked around with this message at 06:43 on Aug 21, 2009 |
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Aug 21, 2009 06:34
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Bad Angus! Bad!
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Well, if by "metals" you mean lead and tin, yeah, you can melt those with the little torch. If you want to be able to soften up more common and useful metals, get a medium sized coffee can, drill a hole in the side to stick the torch into, and put some high heat ceramic insulating blanket inside the can. Propane does get hot enough to weld with, but most pieces of steel will just conduct the heat away faster than the torch can provide it. Putting it in an insulated (but still ventilated) container will let you retain more heat. Or you have to hold it in the fire for loving forever. But as is, yeah, it's pretty well only good for soldering copper pipe and such.
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Aug 21, 2009 06:41
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Slung Blade posted:If you want to be able to soften up more common and useful metals, get a medium sized coffee can, drill a hole in the side to stick the torch into, and put some high heat ceramic insulating blanket inside the can. Also, I read your tractor thread in its entirety this morning. You're awesome. I've always wanted a tractor (and by "always" I mean "since I shot an antique tractor show/pulling competition three months ago").
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Aug 21, 2009 06:53
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This fella beat you to it. http://www.zoellerforge.com/coffee.html  Please make one and post it here, I'd really like to see someone make one of these. And thanks man, please post those tractor show pictures in my thread, I'd love to see them if you have them hosted somewhere.
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Aug 21, 2009 06:58
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You want to play with fire? Well then, go take a look at this guy's site. Read everything. http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com/ I'm gonna ramble for a bit and touch on a few subjects, most of these I've done or been party to. -Copper ore is fun to do, if anyone here wants to know how to refine copper from ore I'll do a post on it later. -Now, if you want to setup a forge, I can make some suggestions. I'm a big fan of "pit" forges, I've built dozens of em, all i need to make em work is a hole in the ground, clay or metal pipe, and a brake rotor or drum. Everyone looks at me like I'm crazy when I tell them that the hole in my backyard can reach temps up to 3k degrees. -Then again I'm lucky enough to have good Carolina clay soil up here, it works aces when you mix it as 70/30 with wood ash as very cheap refractory. That reminds me, anyone want me to give a couple of recipes for things to hold hot stuff. (molds for lost wax casting, other refractory materials on the cheap, and the like). The kitty litter forge is another winner, add silica or playground sand in a 50/50 mix and add water till you can work it into the form you wish. Feller over on anvilfire.com did one of these and it works beautifully. 50/50 plaster of paris and silica sand for lost wax casting molds. If you are worried about bubbles on your form and don't want to spend the 40-100$ on a vibrating table, buy a vibrator, aka dildo, from Spencers or any adult novelty store. Does the trick and you'll probably only spend 5-20$ and might make your girlfriend very confused in the process. Lets see...... Making your own charcoal for smithing. This is another good thing to know, charcoal, unlike coal, doesn't scale you work as much, easier to forge weld with too. Granted propane is nice and helpful, but charcoal smells better. -Dig a firepit, - build a bonfire -get it going good and hot -bury the bonfire with dirt. -stick a pipe in the bottom side of it. -leave it for at least 24hrs (you can also cook a pig while making charcoal, which gives you double the awesome). -Take the dirt off and you've got charcoal. I am aware that there are more efficient means to make charcoal, but this one is cheap, quick, and reasonably easy. OK, i'm done with my first cup of coffee, I'm gonna quit rambling and go make a chair.
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Aug 22, 2009 13:20
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Screw the chair. Tell me about copper ore.
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Aug 22, 2009 16:11
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