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Xenothral posted:Disappointingly, I'm only able to find these two pictures of the chainmaille watch I made, so no build log or explanation of how mailling works just yet, but here are the pictures! (They are very large) I want to appreciate that you made something but I am just so distracted by my temptation to make fun of you.
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Sep 6, 2013 08:10
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I don't think any amount of leather care will extend the life of my boots. My current wings have about a year and a half of daily wear, working all the overtime I can, kneeling down to weld stuff, and crawling under poo poo and they really show it. The leather on my toes has completely worn away exposing my steel toes and my big toes have worn through the fabric between my steel toe and real toes. My last pair had 4 years of daily wear and no crawling around on them till my toes wore through to my steel toe.
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Sep 6, 2013 15:56
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fps_bill posted:I don't think any amount of leather care will extend the life of my boots. My current wings have about a year and a half of daily wear, working all the overtime I can, kneeling down to weld stuff, and crawling under poo poo and they really show it. Same here, 2-3 months in and the leather on the toes is already torn to poo poo. I'm thinking I may add a second layer of steel on the outside (with a rolled edge that extends further back than the inner layer to prevent fraying) so they last longer.
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Sep 6, 2013 17:01
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CarForumPoster posted:I want to appreciate that you made something but I am just so distracted by my temptation to make fun of you. I'm pretty amazed I finished anything to be honest, I'm bad at finishing projects that I start.
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Sep 6, 2013 20:44
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Xenothral posted:I'm pretty amazed I finished anything to be honest, I'm bad at finishing projects that I start. A few of us in the thread make chainmail from time to time, but it is by far more populated by welders, machinists, and backyard blacksmiths. Here are two bracelets I made as gifts yesterday. Both are stainless steel and EPDM rubber. The rubber links give the bracelets enough stretch that they don't need clasps.   The first one is too small for me, and the second one is too large, so neither fit me well. Good thing they aren't meant for me then!
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Sep 6, 2013 21:07
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armorer posted:A few of us in the thread make chainmail from time to time, but it is by far more populated by welders, machinists, and backyard blacksmiths. Here are two bracelets I made as gifts yesterday. Both are stainless steel and EPDM rubber. The rubber links give the bracelets enough stretch that they don't need clasps. Oh very nice! I've only ever done things with 4-in-1 linkings so far, and didn't even think about using the rubber rings for something like that. Do you make your own rings, or buy them from somewhere?
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Sep 6, 2013 21:30
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Xenothral posted:Oh very nice! I've only ever done things with 4-in-1 linkings so far, and didn't even think about using the rubber rings for something like that. I typically buy rings from The Ring Lord when I work in stainless steel or aluminum. (The rubber rings are from there as well). I do some stuff in silver and copper and other metals as well, in which case I make my own rings. I got started on this hobby almost 20 years ago, at which point I made my own rings exclusively because there wasn't really an internet as we know it, let alone online stores to buy premade links from. At the time I used galvanized steel electric fence wire, because it was cheap and the nearby hardware store sold quarter mile spools of it. If it is something you enjoyed working on, look around online for various weaves. Maille Artisans has a whole section of weaves and tutorials. You can pick a few that you like and figure out how they go together. If I can provide some feedback on your watch - In my experience if you try to mix chainmail with something newfangled, you end up with something that looks kind of odd. You essentially have a chainmail bracer there that you stitched a watch face onto, and so it looks a little bit rough around the edges. If you decide to restitch the buckles, you may want to stitch them under the chainmail rather than over top of it. The cut ends sticking out are a bit distracting. Don't let these guys put you off though. The first few things I made looked pretty terrible to be honest. armorer fucked around with this message at 21:42 on Sep 6, 2013 |
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Sep 6, 2013 21:40
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I do a lot of maille too, I work mostly with cuprous alloys- copper, jeweller's brass and nickel silver- and I wind and hand-cut my own rings from wire. I have a slitting saw and mandrel but I've never bothered to build a proper cutting rig. For commissions I buy the rings pre-cut sometimes, because tbh the machine saw-cuts are much neater and cleaner-closing than my own, especially with larger ring sizes. Lately I've been hulking out on the pliers and weaving 14 ga. stainless steel rings, normally I don't like stainless because saw-cuts are real difficult and wear the poo poo out of your tools but the Ring Lord half-flush pinch-cuts are pretty decent at closing up well and not being too, you know, pinchy in use. Ambrose Burnside fucked around with this message at 21:46 on Sep 6, 2013 |
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Sep 6, 2013 21:43
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If I were to do a chainmaille watch in euro 4-1 I'd probably approach it the way I did this bracelet- Insofar as I'd probably kludge together a 'prong setting' for the watch-face, to make it interface more elegantly with the band. but i forget people don't have the little things like "anvils" and "hard solder" and "drift punches" I take for granted, sooooo V  V
Ambrose Burnside fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Sep 6, 2013 |
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Sep 6, 2013 21:49
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I'm using the fencing wire right now for my projects since it's rather cheap and easy to wind, though cutting them with bolt cutters definitely leaves the openings pretty ragged a lot of the time. I'll certainly try out putting the buckles under the links when I reattach them, because looking at it now that definitely would look better. I think I need to get some better pliers though, since when I started out I for some reason thought it was a great idea to get some pliers with really fat heads on them... Would needlenose pliers be better enough to go find a set to work with?
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Sep 6, 2013 21:57
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I have chain-nose pliers (kind of like fatter broader needle-noses, and with rounded backs) which are the 'typical' weaving plier but tbh barely use them in favour of the pliers with the biggest, widest jaws. But that's because at this point my major concern is leaving the rings as clean and unmarked as possible (pliers with narrow faces mark rings more deeply), which isn't really on your radar yet. Any size of plier will work for Euro 4-1, really, it's very simple to weave and doesn't require any plier acrobatics or closures in tight places.
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Sep 6, 2013 22:05
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Xenothral posted:I think I need to get some better pliers though, since when I started out I for some reason thought it was a great idea to get some pliers with really fat heads on them... Would needlenose pliers be better enough to go find a set to work with? The short answer is that you will end up with a lot of pliers. If you look closely at the bracelets I linked, you will see tooth marks on some of the links. That's because I was lazy and used ordinary slip joint pliers with small teeth. When I am working on something I want to look really nice, I usually use a set of Wubbers flat nose pliers (I have them in a few different widths). They have no teeth, and as such don't really mark up the links. I have pretty much every other variety of pliers you might find in a hardware store as well, and use them too depending on what I'm making. Edit: I really wouldn't worry about pliers or cutting methods yet if I were you. Just make some different weaves, and see how the weaves look if you make the rings larger or smaller. One of the most useful things to pick up early on is how the ring's aspect ratio affects what you can make with it. Maille Artisans will list an aspect ratio (AR) or range of AR for different weaves. Once you sort of have a handle on that, then I would look into different ways of cutting rings (and the resulting effect). Over time you will accumulate pliers, but when you are working with galvanized steel as Ambrose says it really doesn't matter much. armorer fucked around with this message at 22:11 on Sep 6, 2013 |
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Sep 6, 2013 22:07
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Alright. Thanks for all the helpful input guys! I'll have to try out those rubber rings for some bracelets sometime.
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Sep 6, 2013 22:33
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The AR bit is really good advice- a lot of the more decorative weaves are sensitive to aspect ratio and the overall proportions of the rings involved. A simple weave like Helm Chain looks tight as hell at its minimum tolerances (small ring just fitting inside the big ring), but increase the gap between them by much at all, or increase the overall ARs by much, and it becomes really sloppy and loose-fitting and stops displaying the pattern well. With some weaves, just the difference in wire springiness will completely change the final chain's appearance- something weird and especially finicky like Jens Pind Linkage can look gorgeous in copper but be literally unweavable if the links were made of nickel silver wire of the same size and on the same mandrel. One of the biggest boosts to my decorative jewellery weaves, after a jeweller's saw and blades, was just getting a comprehensive set of mandrels from the Ring Lord. I think I picked up the... 2mm - 6 mm set from TRL, or something like that. It lets you adjust the ring sizes of any weave to get the most attractive possible combination of materials and ring gauge/size.
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Sep 6, 2013 22:48
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I finally got back up north to try blacksmithing again and I was actually able to get a fire going and shape some metal! I hot cut my first piece of rebar, flattened some and squared the piece off. I know it's nothing really but I'm having trouble controlling the hammer still on account of my muscles tiring too fast from lifting the hammer over and over. So I'll just work on that for a while. The best part was that my in-laws gave me an 80lb bag of coal for my birthday which is in a couple days.
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Sep 8, 2013 01:44
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iForge posted:Professional welders -- What boots do you wear? I don't know if they make them in your size, but I absolutely love my docs. I had a regular standard pair for almost 4 years and they took a good beating and are still in great shape. They endured plenty of slag, slugs in the soles, grinding rooms, etc. I just got an industrial pair. Steel toed, insulated. They are very comfortable and far more durable. I have had the opposite problem as you. Until I looked on Zappos it was hard to find a pair of work boots in a Women's 6 (aka a "men's" 4.5). Party hat, just keep at it. It will feel natural in a couple of weeks. From there you just keep building that muscle and stamina.
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Sep 8, 2013 07:14
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e:
Ambrose Burnside fucked around with this message at 16:06 on Sep 8, 2013 |
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Sep 8, 2013 15:51
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My dad is a recently-retired pipefitter. He swears by Wolverine boots. Just another data point since everyone else recommended red wings.
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Sep 8, 2013 22:53
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I was recommended this thread from an Ask/Tell post I made about considering welding. As a trade is it worth it ? How is the job security ? If I need to read all 150 pages of this thread I will.
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Sep 9, 2013 03:30
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Do you think it's interesting? Do you have any knowledge or experience? What makes you interested?
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Sep 9, 2013 04:02
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Anyone in Metro-Vancouver want a couple of abused and broken 36" crow bars? I'm under the impression they're some kind of medium-carbon steel that may very well be useful to aspiring blacksmiths. Bro Nerd Alpha posted:I was recommended this thread from an Ask/Tell post I made about considering welding. As a trade is it worth it ? How is the job security ? If I need to read all 150 pages of this thread I will. Once you have experience and structural/pipe certifications it's very secure because there's welding that by law cannot be done by anyone without them. If you don't have these certifications you can and will be replaced by the next cheapest meth-head who claims they can weld. If you have pipe certifications and you're ok with living in Fort McMurray (don't) then companies will throw a bags of money at you to weld. Structural or pipe welding closer to civilization doesn't pay as much, but it will be more than average.
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Sep 9, 2013 04:53
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hayden. posted:Do you think it's interesting? Do you have any knowledge or experience? What makes you interested? Definitely interesting. No experience but I like the idea of a craft, going "I made this". I need to learn a trade so I can pay the bills. College isn't for me, tried it once. I like a practical skill where I can see the results of my work, not intangibles like office related work. And truthfully it just looks cool as hell.
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Sep 9, 2013 18:50
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I'm kind of in the same position, although i have experience with metal, just, almost none of it beyond general workshop familiarity n metalworking knowledge/principles is applicable to career-type jobs. The general sentiment I've heard seems to be "just getting a diploma or taking a course isn't worth a ton in a lot of trades, have an employer lined up who will pay for your training or give you an apprenticeship upon completion" and idk how useful that is if you don't have the connections to make that happen as it stands. How do you get yourself into the position for that to be a possibility? Try to get a job sweeping up metal shavings or manning a buffing machine and ingratiate yourself with the bosses and snag opportunities to screw around on the press brakes and hydraulic presses, or something like that?
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Sep 9, 2013 19:07
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Bro Nerd Alpha posted:Definitely interesting. No experience but I like the idea of a craft, going "I made this". I need to learn a trade so I can pay the bills. College isn't for me, tried it once. I like a practical skill where I can see the results of my work, not intangibles like office related work. And truthfully it just looks cool as hell. Have you considered something like electrician, plumbing, or HVAC work? I think those are all decently to good paying trades that don't require degrees. There are threads for each too I think.
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Sep 9, 2013 20:11
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I seem to recall someone here making a custom maker's mark for another goon? I am thinking about getting a mark made and looking into what my options are.
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Sep 11, 2013 14:58
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Does anyone have any pattern transfer tips? My "physically glue printout onto metal and cut through it" method is: crap. I gave the acetone/copier method a whirl- used an old scrap of photocopied paper (no idea what printer/toner's involved, in other words, which does matter) and acetone on some degreased nickel silver sheet. Wet the surface, placed the paper, brushed the back with more acetone, and burnished the lettering onto the metal while holding the paper still. Came out... ehhhhhnnnn. Looks okay at the right angle-  but head-on in the light, not so much.  Aside from all the other variables at play, apparently there are two types of laser/copier toner- a graphite-based toner and a plastic-based one- and the graphite toners transfer very poorly no matter what. And toners differ in effectiveness of transfer from manufacturer to manufacturer and even between printer models. 'Cause I have no idea where the paper I tested it with came from, I can't be sure if I'll see drastic improvements or not once I start trying printouts from different known printers. Ambrose Burnside fucked around with this message at 01:38 on Sep 12, 2013 |
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Sep 12, 2013 01:33
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I saw someone doing toner transfer for galvanic etching. He found it worked best if he laser printed on glossy supermarket weekly flier type paper, then used an iron on the hottest setting for a couple minutes before finishing with a hard rubber roller to transfer.
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Sep 12, 2013 01:53
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I don't own a laser printer so using different paper is pretty much out, unfortunately. I've read good things about printing to waxed parchment paper too, probably for the same "toner won't adhere to the paper properly" reasons. And apparently heat toner transfer hits a brick wall when you try ironing onto copper or thick metal or anything else that'll suck up all the heat a household iron can throw at it, but I'll cross bridge if I ever get to it, I guess.
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Sep 12, 2013 02:13
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I have a Brother laser printer, and pretty much can't use it for toner transfer. I have tried different papers, different irons, and a roller, but the toner transfers very poorly, if at all. Reading online about it, it looks like Brother printers use a toner that simply doesn't transfer well. I may end up buying a cheap, preferably used second laser printer just for etching projects.
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Sep 12, 2013 02:21
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armorer posted:I have a Brother laser printer, and pretty much can't use it for toner transfer. I have tried different papers, different irons, and a roller, but the toner transfers very poorly, if at all. Reading online about it, it looks like Brother printers use a toner that simply doesn't transfer well. I may end up buying a cheap, preferably used second laser printer just for etching projects. You could always try a refurbished toner cart, we have a local place here that will pick up empty carts and sell refilled ones to my work. Maybe they use a different brand of toner than what comes in the OEM Brother carts. Cartridge World, looks like they're a national franchise. http://www.cartridgeworld.com/home.aspx
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Sep 12, 2013 03:57
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When I etched circuit boards, I used that clear plastic printer paper and an iron. It worked quite well, but like Ambrose said, heat is likely an issue with thicker copper transfer. Could you put the metal on a hot plate or heating pad to help with the temperature? When I do my lapidary work, in order to put the stones on dopping sticks to shape them, I have to heat the stone as well as the wax or else it doesn't adhere. If you are a good artist you could draw the design on with acrylic marker.
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Sep 12, 2013 11:40
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I could try a non OEM toner, but the printer sees fairly heavy regular use and I'd rather not compromise its printing capability just so I can do the occasional etch. For reference I am etching some custom PCBs, and also some sheet copper or silver. It is possible to get a transfer but you have to pre-heat the metal appreciably. Folks seems to have the best luck making several passes through modified laminators. I also heard about pressing it with the iron while it is sitting on a cast iron pan. I will probably try the latter of those two options, and if that doesn't work then look into the photo-emulsion type resists.
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Sep 12, 2013 13:15
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I made this today. My brother is getting married this weekend, and I wanted to make him something interesting as a wedding present. A few weeks ago, I asked him what he wanted. He (very drunkenly) said a sword. I (also more than slightly drunk) agreed. In the cold, hard light of soberiety the next morning, I thought "Why not? It should be interesting". I've made knives before, but never anything this big. I started off with a 1m x 40mm x 4mm length of spring steel, menaced it with an angle grinder for a while, and finished it off with a linishing grinder (think of it as a bench-mounted belt sander). The guard is a piece of heavy duty mild steel decking plate with the tread ground off, and the pommel is an old victorian doorknob. I need to spend some time with it on the buffing wheel tomorrow, and perhaps add some sheet lead to the hilt to shift the centre of gravity a bit further down, before wrapping the hilt in red paracord.
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Sep 12, 2013 18:29
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I'm taking my second blacksmithing class and so far like it a lot more than my first one. The instructor lets us learn by making mistakes which is nice. Working with a charcoal forge is fun but seemingly also a bit slower to heat stuff. Been a while since my first one so I'm only doing so-so. Here's the hook we just finished. Going to make a wood gouge next from some 1084.
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Sep 12, 2013 21:48
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Very nice looking first hook. Now see if you can make 100 more just like it and you'll be on your way.
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Sep 14, 2013 07:16
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Bro Nerd Alpha posted:I was recommended this thread from an Ask/Tell post I made about considering welding. As a trade is it worth it ? How is the job security ? If I need to read all 150 pages of this thread I will. Job security is kinda bad unless you're really good or are very specialized (which usually requires being really good). It's really up and down though, some times it'll be busy as hell and places will ask you for 20+ hours of OT a week, some times it'll be dead a poo poo. There are more options if you're willing to travel. Where do you live, by the way? Do you have any more specific questions? 'Is it worth it?' is really hard to answer. What are you good at? What do you like doing? How are you with math and blueprints? Do you have allergies or breathing problems? Do you care about getting dirty? What makes you interested in welding instead of another trade (besides looking cool)? There are a lot of things that go in to picking a trade, and it seems like you still have a lot of research to do.
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Sep 14, 2013 08:58
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It's really important to know where you live to judge where the market is at for your area. If you live in Alberta then absolutely go for it, if you live in Florida then I have no idea. Things to keep in mind though, it gives you cancer, and burns you every day, and you will get poo poo in your eyes that might need to be drilled out at the hospital, and you will work in some ungodly heat (50°C+ wearing leathers) and some awful positions only fit for a contortionist. What everyone says about certifications is absolutely correct. Once you have them you will be making bank, but before that it's going to be very feast and famine. Also there are a lot of mean guys and they will cuss at you when you make a mistake so you need to consider that.
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Sep 14, 2013 16:50
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Try to get into aerospace welding, or better yet some kind of machine(laser/friction stir/whatever) welding. Those guys have it good.
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Sep 15, 2013 07:53
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Bro Nerd Alpha posted:I was recommended this thread from an Ask/Tell post I made about considering welding. As a trade is it worth it ? How is the job security ? If I need to read all 150 pages of this thread I will. Welding can be a great money-making skill to obtain. However, the money is in really specialized fields such as off-shore or aerospace like oxbrain said. It's seriously dirty, lovely and physically challenging work. Pretty toxic poo poo too. You'll probably have to face less humiliation and challenges if you enlist the Marine Corps. Job security for a skilled weldor is pretty good, if you keep up with your certificates, and that's not easy or cheap. Bonus is that your life expectancy will be pretty low due to all the toxic poo poo you'll inhale no matter of precautions and the best gear available.
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Sep 15, 2013 14:53
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Last time I brought "metalworking careers" up in here people talked about fabrication work, which interests me a lot more than straight welding. Advancement not being strictly dictated by tickets/certifications sounds pretty great, too. otoh one of the apparent downsides at this point is, aside from the basic welding aspects that you can take a course in or self-teach, it sounds real hard to get any experience with any commercial-scale machinery. Nobody's gonna be impressed by me getting wicked good with teeny press brakes and drill presses in my garage.
Ambrose Burnside fucked around with this message at 16:58 on Sep 15, 2013 |
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Sep 15, 2013 16:56
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