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Chauncey, How much did it cost for you to build your bench and welding cart? I have been planning to build one of these, but I want to make mine disassemble able.
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Apr 19, 2011 05:00
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The shelf table top I got for free when they were gonna throw it away at work. The drawers are unused ultrasonic cleaning tanks that I got for free. I've spent about $120 for it altogether(on the metal) but the plate I wanna buy for the top will triple the number. Chauncey fucked around with this message at 05:35 on Apr 19, 2011 |
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Apr 19, 2011 05:27
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Well I got my first job welding Inconel today. Problem is that I've never welded the stuff before! So I spent a good 8 hours today at our union halls welding shop and practicing it. It's really weird to weld, its like a gummy stainless. You put your glob of metal down and blast the tig torch at it and it just sort of sits there for a while thinking about what to do. By the end of the day I put a really mint looking weld together and even had time to show my friend how to tig weld stainless. Hopefully I can get in a couple more coupons tomorrow before the weld test on Wednesday.
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Apr 19, 2011 05:59
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SmokeyXIII posted:Well I got my first job welding Inconel today. Problem is that I've never welded the stuff before! So I spent a good 8 hours today at our union halls welding shop and practicing it. It's really weird to weld, its like a gummy stainless. You put your glob of metal down and blast the tig torch at it and it just sort of sits there for a while thinking about what to do. By the end of the day I put a really mint looking weld together and even had time to show my friend how to tig weld stainless. Hopefully I can get in a couple more coupons tomorrow before the weld test on Wednesday. Can you, uh, take some extra coupons maybe? 
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Apr 19, 2011 07:05
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SmokeyXIII posted:Well I got my first job welding Inconel today. Problem is that I've never welded the stuff before! So I spent a good 8 hours today at our union halls welding shop and practicing it. It's really weird to weld, its like a gummy stainless. You put your glob of metal down and blast the tig torch at it and it just sort of sits there for a while thinking about what to do. By the end of the day I put a really mint looking weld together and even had time to show my friend how to tig weld stainless. Hopefully I can get in a couple more coupons tomorrow before the weld test on Wednesday. Smokey is a connoisseur of welding. The man exhibits a lust for knowledge with respect to his work that is unparalleled. An employer would be lucky to have him on board. When you gonna get nuclear certified smokey?
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Apr 19, 2011 14:11
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The Scientist posted:When you gonna get nuclear certified smokey? Probably when a job comes up for it and I realize I don't have it so I will just have to wing it like I'm doing with this inconel! The coupons though are just plain jane carbon steel so they're really not worth taking. It would be rediculously expensive to test people with inconel coupons, though it does happen from time to time. I really like the inconel stick it burns so much nicer than stainless stick does. Kind of like a mix of 7018 being smooth with 6010 spatteryness.
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Apr 19, 2011 15:44
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I know what you mean about 316 stainless rods. The stainless puddle traps so much heat. Oh god, and trying to weld that poo poo to carbon steel loving sucks. A friend of mine described welding inconel as "like trying to spread cold butter on toast." Kind of a pain in the rear end.
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Apr 20, 2011 02:54
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  The inspector looked at my weld and said "Well that's just to beautiful to cut apart and bend up, I'm just going to write you the ticket" lmao.
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Apr 20, 2011 20:50
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As someone with a Slavic surname, I can sympathize, but my god that examiner has an eye chart. It's pretty badass when an inspector/examiner tells you "Yup, you're obviously ahead of the curve. Let's dispense with the bullshit." and you're done, too.
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Apr 20, 2011 22:37
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I'm looking at making two railroad spike tomahawks. One like this: And another kind of in reverse. Imgur isn't letting me upload stuff from my computer, at the moment, and I had just made a very nice MSPaint of what I'm talking about, but the head of the spike would serve as a hammer portion on the back, and the tip would curve downwards towards the heel, and would be hammered into a knife shape. Has anyone done anything like this who can offer me advice? Also, what's the name of the tool used to put bigass holes in steel to put handles in axe heads? I need to get/jury rig one of those.
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Apr 20, 2011 23:22
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Backyard Blacksmith posted:I'm looking at making two railroad spike tomahawks. One like this: I'm working on a few at the moment This and this I drew the point first, then split it for the hole/eye or whatever its called. I just made myself a chisel out of another rail spike. After that I flattened out the blade section. I didn't pay attention at the time and ended up with a blade that looks like the one you linked, when I wanted to bring the bottom to a point. Also pay attention to where you split it. I split mine where it was physically balanced, but now with a handle in it it looks a bit funny. Thats is probably because railroad spikes make small tomahawk heads anyway, and the handle I made was about a full size hammer handle. And you're thinking of a drift? Thats what I used after I hot slit the hole. I had a circular drift at my work place that I used. But the thing I learned with that is I should have slit myself a larger hole. I split about 1.5 inches, and to get what I thought was an acceptable sized hole for a homemade handle, I ended up with some pretty thin side walls. Its still strong, but I don't know how strong. So the longer the split you make, the thicker you can keep the walls of your hole. Also, someone pointed out that you can turn a circular hole into an oval by smashing it a bit. I maintain I left it circular on purpose.
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Apr 21, 2011 02:18
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It seems like rail-road spikes would be exceedingly soft, doesn't it?
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Apr 21, 2011 04:01
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SmokeyXIII posted:
Congratulations, one step closer to a nuclear welder certification too
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Apr 21, 2011 04:43
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The Scientist posted:It seems like rail-road spikes would be exceedingly soft, doesn't it? They're not super soft, they're still medium-carbon steel. Good enough for hacking duty and bashing stuff, just don't expect an edge to last long or anything.
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Apr 21, 2011 07:53
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Someone tell me about this nuclear qualification everyone keeps speaking of. In Alberta we dont have any nuclear jobs so it's never come up for me. I looked it up on google and read about guys who dive into nuclear reactors and do welds on the reactor while it is running. Is this what you are talking about? Because I will literally never ever do this. Mom raised me better than to play with electricity under water never mind under water inside a nuclear reactor.
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Apr 21, 2011 19:11
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Well I don't know a whole lot about it, but I'm pretty sure that a majority of nuclear welders don't have to do it underwater. Surely Canada has at least 1 nuclear vessel, right? What I presume it entails is probably similar to a steam fitter, except that every weld has to stand up to incredible scrutiny, using the best imaging and QA technology that exists. Also there are probably slightly different circumstances that arise from the welds and pipes they're on being made out of special metals to withstand the radioactivity in addition to what a normal steam fitter would be dealing with. Like I said I really don't know much about it. Only reason I mentioned it is 'cause it seems like the only welding challenge you have yet to surmount thus far.
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Apr 22, 2011 06:31
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I mean you've used thoriated tig electrodes, right? Its like a tiny baby step up from that. 
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Apr 22, 2011 06:33
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The Scientist posted:Well I don't know a whole lot about it, but I'm pretty sure that a majority of nuclear welders don't have to do it underwater. Surely Canada has at least 1 nuclear vessel, right? What I presume it entails is probably similar to a steam fitter, except that every weld has to stand up to incredible scrutiny, using the best imaging and QA technology that exists. Also there are probably slightly different circumstances that arise from the welds and pipes they're on being made out of special metals to withstand the radioactivity in addition to what a normal steam fitter would be dealing with. Like I said I really don't know much about it. Only reason I mentioned it is 'cause it seems like the only welding challenge you have yet to surmount thus far. I've always been confused about what exactly a steam fitter does. Can anyone explain it to my dumb rear end?
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Apr 22, 2011 06:53
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The Scientist posted:I mean you've used thoriated tig electrodes, right? Its like a tiny baby step up from that. Haha yeah there are 18 nuclear plants up here. Just none close at all. I know I've done joints with 100% xray sour severe code I wonder how that compares. BigLove posted:I've always been confused about what exactly a steam fitter does. Can anyone explain it to my dumb rear end? The short answer is that they're industrial plumbers. They do all the piping for gas plants, chemical plants, power plants, refineries etc. they deal with big pipe and high pressure. The longer answer is probably a few pages back. They also set up my joints for me!
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Apr 22, 2011 07:51
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SmokeyXIII posted:Haha yeah there are 18 nuclear plants up here. Just none close at all. I know I've done joints with 100% xray sour severe code I wonder how that compares. The tar sands people keep saying that they're going to build a nuclear plant up there to generate the steam they need cheaply, without burning natural gas for it. I loving wish they would just do that already and quit dicking around with it. Might be handy to be certified in it now, then you can say you've had it for x years whenever they get around to it. Also, congrats on you certification man, I forgot to say that earlier. 
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Apr 22, 2011 09:23
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I took a shop tour of a facility that does mainly nuclear work for the Navy and some for commercial. You have to qualify your welds for every new job and each different position. They would weld 6 foot dia. 2" wall stainless pipes about 10 feet long to each other to make it longer. They had a ton of manual welders and also automated setups. They are mainly making the casks that spent fuel rods go into right now. A very impressive garbage can indeed. I also saw a completed steam generator while there. They have a building with I believe the 2nd or 3rd most powerful x-ray in the world. The walls are 2 feet thick concrete or something ridiculous. But you need a powerful x-ray to see if weld penetration is good on something 2 inches thick! In the older part of the building, the floor is 2x4 timbers stood on end! Chauncey fucked around with this message at 17:02 on Apr 22, 2011 |
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Apr 22, 2011 16:56
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SmokeyXIII posted:Haha yeah there are 18 nuclear plants up here. Just none close at all. I know I've done joints with 100% xray sour severe code I wonder how that compares. Smokey are you part of the United Association union? (steamfitters, plumbers, sprinklerfitters, and pipe fitters?) There were a ton of guys in UA that went around on the "nuke cycle" working nuclear plant shutdowns. They tested on a 6g schd. 40 uphill open root 2" 316 stainless tig test and the same only on 4" sched 60 carbon steel with stick. I never heard of people testing for inconel for nuclear. What kind of work are you doing with inconel?
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Apr 23, 2011 16:47
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duck hunt posted:Smokey are you part of the United Association union? (steamfitters, plumbers, sprinklerfitters, and pipe fitters?) There were a ton of guys in UA that went around on the "nuke cycle" working nuclear plant shutdowns. I am! I'm going to a oil refinery. I believe I'm going to be stuffed into some awful boiler and be forced to use one of those awful leather bag welding helmets and still expect xray quality welds. I can totally pass those tests for sure! I do them for the Alberta shut down circuit. We bounce around from refinery to refinery fixing things up along the way. I usually do 5 or 6 jobs a year.
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Apr 23, 2011 17:28
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Try #1 at making charcoal. I spent all yesterday morning chopping wood and tending a 55 gallon drum full of burning hickory. When it was mostly reduced to glowing embers, and I could break a 'log' with the fire-poker, I capped it with a steel sheet weighted down with rocks. Then, late last night, my dad took the steel off to check it out, and didn't put the weights back on. This morning I wake up to an inch or two of hot ashes. 
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Apr 23, 2011 20:43
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Ambrose Burnside posted:Try #1 at making charcoal. I spent all yesterday morning chopping wood and tending a 55 gallon drum full of burning hickory. When it was mostly reduced to glowing embers, and I could break a 'log' with the fire-poker, I capped it with a steel sheet weighted down with rocks. that really sucks! Also, your dad could have been seriously hurt!!!! Taking the lid off while there are still hot embers inside and introducing oxygen is a good way to create a wood gas explosion!
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Apr 23, 2011 22:23
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So let me preface this by saying that I have never had so much trouble with such a simple concept in my entire life...... I built a smaller gas forge than my usual with the hopes of attaining two goals. Saving on fuel and being able to get to forge welding temperatures, as my other forge seems to be unable to do. SO! I talked with a blacksmith friend of mine, showed him my forge, and he told me that I have TOO MUCH mass in insulation and refractory for that size burner and thus the whole forge is not able to get hot enough to weld because the refractory works as a heat sink. Crazy, I know..... On to the new forge... I took a 1 gallon paint can and put about 2 inches of Kaowool ceramic blanket around the inside. Upon his recommendation, I then coated the inside with a thick layer of furnace cement. These are the same materials that he used in making his forge that he makes damascus in. Everything is hippy dippy until I complete the burner and go to fire the forge...  The loving furnace cement bubbled up like a sonofabitch. This forge sat in front of the dehumidifier for 4 days and then I had it overtop of a lit candle for atleast an hour to try to remove any remaining moisture, and it all heated up pretty good so I assumed that it was cured.... The inside was smooth and uniform before I fired it, so you know! I am so pissed right now... I guess first thing will be to pop all the blisters, re-coat with an ultra thin layer, then bake the moisture out with a heat lamp for a day or so before firing. If that doesn't work, I will figure something else out. iForge fucked around with this message at 09:17 on Apr 24, 2011 |
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Apr 24, 2011 03:41
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The Scientist posted:... Surely Canada has at least 1 nuclear vessel, right? ... We do not in fact have atomic submarines and we definitely don't have any ships big enough to warrant atomic power! I think there is one privately owned one inside a mall somewhere. Edit: correction from below. I guess I must have glossed the diesel/electric part in my mind because it makes the whole purchase even more sad. Linux Assassin fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Apr 26, 2011 |
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Apr 25, 2011 06:42
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Linux Assassin posted:We do in fact have 3 (two functioning, one caught fire and needs repairs) atomic submarines! I think there is also one privately owned one inside a mall somewhere. Our submarines are all diesel electric. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upholder/Victoria_class_submarine (this type caught fire) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberon_class_submarine (this type is ancient and is being / are replaced with the above) We have no nuclear powered ships or submarines that I'm aware of. We do have plenty of nuclear power plants, which do have pressure wessels. _____/ 
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Apr 25, 2011 10:01
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So I Built My First Forge. Turned out surprisingly capable for a hole in the ground, and for something I built and then broke down in a day. Cameraphone takes goddamn tiny pictures, but ehhhnnn V  V It's a very simple charcoal forge. The bowl is just dirt and charcoal-dust/ashes built up over a steel plate I drilled holes in. Below that was a trench that ran to the wee blower unit (the only fancy thing I had access to), which I later covered with birchbark and buried. The 'tuyere plate' ended up being too small, and the fire began 'leaking' around the edges and burning unevenly, but other than that it worked just fine. I don't think I could have welded in it unless I fixed the leaky tuyere and built the bowl up more to get a deeper fire, but other than that it worked just fine.  I hammered out this vaguely spooney-gougey thing from a bit of scrap angle iron, mostly to demonstrate that the thing works. I'll probably take the corners off, do some interesting twisting with the handle and turn it into my fluxing spoon.
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Apr 25, 2011 22:01
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Cool man. Are you using that vice as an anvil? Let me know how it holds up. I have the same one I think, and it's pretty good, but the screws that hold the jaw's teeth in place have vanished and I can't find replacements anywhere.
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Apr 25, 2011 23:30
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Cross posting this from the welding/metal fabrication thread in AI for a bit more exposure. Can you mig weld with aluminum without a spool gun? And is there Flux cored aluminum wire? The reason I ask is, at work we've got some old aluminum poo poo that could be reused if we can weld it back up, but I seem to have it in my head that because Al is so soft etc, you need a spool gun, and I don't think there is flux core aluminum wire. Plus it would be a good excuse for me to convince my boss to get a Mig welder. Hes asked me a few times if we could fix these things with a little mig, say a Lincoln 140 or 180, but I've been telling him you need gas and a spool gun. Which obviously adds to the cost of everything.
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Apr 25, 2011 23:57
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5" Powerfist machinist's vice. And yeah, it's my current anvil- that, and this heavy-rear end steel brick I found (you can juuust see it in the upper-left corner of the second image). My hammer's already dinged the anvil-face up a bit, but I'm dumb and didn't bother filing down the sharp edges on the hammer/peen-faces.
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Apr 25, 2011 23:59
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scapulataf posted:Cross posting this from the welding/metal fabrication thread in AI for a bit more exposure. Yeah you need the spoolgun, it won't feed through 8' of gun hose without tangling.
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Apr 26, 2011 00:12
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Sponge! posted:Yeah you need the spoolgun, it won't feed through 8' of gun hose without tangling. Thanks, I just wanted to clear that up. Since we're on the subject, I know I've seen aluminum Arc welding rods, Aside from keeping the heat down, because I know aluminum melts at a lower temp, would you or anyone else reading this that knows recomment thicker rods for welding thin (probably like 1/16") aluminum? My reasoning being that a thicker rod will deposit more metal down to hopefully keep burn throughs to a minumim. Though in my experience, using thicker rods for steel is that you need to keep the amps higher for them to burn good. These welds don't need to be perfect, or high strength.
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Apr 26, 2011 00:18
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scapulataf posted:Thanks, I just wanted to clear that up. Since we're on the subject, I know I've seen aluminum Arc welding rods, Aside from keeping the heat down, because I know aluminum melts at a lower temp, would you or anyone else reading this that knows recomment thicker rods for welding thin (probably like 1/16") aluminum? My reasoning being that a thicker rod will deposit more metal down to hopefully keep burn throughs to a minumim. Though in my experience, using thicker rods for steel is that you need to keep the amps higher for them to burn good. These welds don't need to be perfect, or high strength. What are you trying to weld? Unless those are moderate thick plates of aluminum I don't think you can do it with stick welding at all (I know I've never been able to weld anything thinner then 14 gauge sheets with my arc welder and that's working with steel; thus while it may be possible I know I would not be able to do it), in the event that it is even possible I believe aluminum requires a DC arc instead of AC (most of the cheaper 'buzzboxes' use an AC output). If your JUST trying to horribly fuse aluminum to aluminum with no regard for appearance, strength, or quality you might instead consider a brazing agent and a torch, there are actually some quite good solders out there that will braze aluminum to aluminum with almost the same strength as an aluminum=aluminum weld.
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Apr 26, 2011 00:59
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Linux Assassin posted:What are you trying to weld? Unless those are moderate thick plates of aluminum I don't think you can do it with stick welding at all (I know I've never been able to weld anything thinner then 14 gauge sheets with my arc welder and that's working with steel; thus while it may be possible I know I would not be able to do it), in the event that it is even possible I believe aluminum requires a DC arc instead of AC (most of the cheaper 'buzzboxes' use an AC output). Its a small diameter ~6" aluminum casting that is used to protect monitoring wells in areas of pedestrian and vehicle traffic. The top consists of a thicker casting that is machined to hold a lid which is bolted in place, and underneath that, there is a "skirt" which is just a thin piece of sheet aluminum tack welded together to form a tube. The tube is then tacked to the casting which holds the lid. These aren't the ones, but they look similar. http://www.wellcover.com/cgi-bin/catalog.cgi?ProductInfo+25198718129 E: The stick welder I've got will do both AC and DC
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Apr 26, 2011 01:27
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There are no flux cored aluminum wires. All MIG aluminum welding is done with 100% argon shield. So make sure that when you hook up you spool gun that you are not using 75/25 Ar/CO2 or anything like that. I've seen people do this and it makes a huge disgusting mess. You can MIG aluminum without a spoolgun if you have the money to buy a push pull feeder. And if you have that kind of money you can also just get a TIG welder and TIG weld it like a boss. :smugface: duck hunt fucked around with this message at 01:58 on Apr 26, 2011 |
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Apr 26, 2011 01:50
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scapulataf posted:Without going in to tons of detail, its called a "flushmount casing". Are you already a good welder? If you are, you can possibly use your stick welder, aluminum rods, and some practice to weld those things, assuming that the plates you want to build the skirt out of are thicker then 14 gauge, if you are not a good welder, look for some silver/aluminum solder and get a torch. If you just want to convince your boss that a MIG is required in your shop then twist this information to say that MIG+spoolgun is the only reliable way to fuse thin aluminum together (but be aware there will be a learning curve, you won't immediately get even decent welds of aluminum to aluminum).
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Apr 26, 2011 19:54
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Even though aluminum melts at a lower temp., you have to put a LOT more heat into the work to get it to melt because aluminum is such a good conductor of heat. Therefore, you will use MORE amps to weld aluminum than you would for steel of the same thickness. It is also important to keep moving when welding aluminum. If you dwell on a spot too long trying to get it to melt together, you'll blow a hole right through the part.
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Apr 26, 2011 22:09
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To the one guy, I'm a decent welder, but not great at it. I can usually make good welds in most positions except overhead. Other guy. I'd love to get a Tig welder, but I'd probably get too busy doing my own poo poo that my boss would fire me, and the push/pull thing sounds like it would be pretty pricey. And last guy I thought that might be aproblem, melting aluminum being easy, but actually welding it another thing altogether. To all of you, thanks for the prompt replies.
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Apr 26, 2011 22:53
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