Willing to hire part time or full time. Pretty flexible on scheduling. We primarily tig weld stainless frames and sheet metal and then grind faces to a grained finish. Typical materials are 304 and 316 ststl tubing and sheet metal 1/16" and 1/8" thick. The job could also include assembly a...

I'm aware of the rates out there. A large reason I live all the way over here! I'd wager my mortgage is closer to your cell bill than your electric bill :P I have many friends from your area who come to visit. When they find out what I paid for my land and home, they fall over dead. I have had to b...

I've used roller chain in a bind before. Bout as narrow a hinge you can get. Like heavy bike chain? 60 chain would be 3/4" ish wide, or a sturdier 100 chain is around 1" https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201116/3ba5631ebf029d99fdd368197662f456.jpg Something like this pic I googled, but t...

Yikes! you're paying nearly $200 for a cylinder of Argon? Sheesh, I pay less than $90 for a full sized bottle. I'd move if my business involved welding gas as a regular consumable. Lord Almighty... :o Fortunately, this is not a significant cost for what we're building.. We are not primarily a weldi...

A couple hinges like this might work:
https://www.mcmaster.com/1995A1/

You might need to make some blocks with tapped holes to mount them inside if you're trying to hide the hardware.

- dudley

Thanks! I'm doing my best 8-) Where are you in Silicon Valley? I'm curious which local welding store you use. I go to Madco/Praxair on Old Middlefield up in Mountain View, but they seem to be going downhill. I need to get gas soon and will continue using them. I was just there and was quoted $49.80...

I wasn’t worried about rigidity too much, I’ve got 6x40 flat bar which I’m going to put in a 200mm x 200mm grid under the top to brace it. The only reason I didn’t want 16mm holes is because on a 6mm top it will only bite a thread or two, but if I put pucks of bar stock under each hole it should be...

With only a 6mm top for the table you don't have much thickness to work with. The question that comes to my mind is what type of clamps are you hoping to use on the table? Just tapping holes in thinner plate like this wouldn't seem to work well in my opinion. https://weldtables.com/products/fbn-1-fa...

Thank you for taking the time to share, clearly the table I’ve purchased is poor quality finish which is a shame. Feel like the surface is going to be hard to maintain, oh well it is what it is. Might ask a machine shop what it would cost to sort it... Stronghand / buildpro in the states hasn’t com...

Compared to our buildpro table here at the shop that does seem rough. Our finish is coarse, but no chatter or skipping. It's definitely not very flat compared to decent surface grinding as shown by the shiny high spots after stoning.. but our table definitely seemed adequately flat for a welding fix...

All the previous posts give a really good account of the machining forums I'm aware of. Practical machinist is a wealth of knowledge and insight, but it's definitely not the friendliest place. I've spent a lot of time searching there but have only posted a handful of times as I usually found good in...

Step drills are great, they make round holes in thin material without a lot of effort. We usually buy Irwin cobalt step drills. They are pricey, but you can use them a very long time if you use a little coolant and don't burn them up with excessive rpms. Good for up to 1/8" material and you can...

I'll definitely look into Praxair, It doesn't make sense to keep overpaying for Argon when there are less expensive suppliers out there. They seem one of the better options around town, but I wouldn't place them on my favorite LWS to patronize, we just don't have too many options. I live in the Cup...

Those beads look very good for a beginner, I really don't think I need to critique anything besides that they look a bit cold, I like my ripple pattern to look fairly blended. What size filler rod are you using for padding? I was using both 1/16" and 3/32" and I don't recall which rod dia...

But admittedly I haven't shopped around. I'm sure I could find a cheaper gas supplier. dudley, Pretty well known that Airgas is the most expensive on the planet, but there are not a lot of options around these parts since the lease space and price of housing has pretty much pushed many business to ...

I'm in San Jose, near montague and trimble.. I usually go to Airgas, and honestly don't really shop around for better prices and such. It's more about keeping bottles of gas on hand to keep production going. For argon, last time I went.. It was $181.00 ea for 2x 250's, $195.00 for a 300 plus hazmat...

Poland308 wrote:Welcome! And nice upgrade.

Oscar wrote:Welcome. Nothing like a bad*!$ modern inverter TIG welder, eh?

DavidR8 wrote:Welcome to the forum!

Thanks for the welcome.. And yes, I'm super excited about my new toy.

Cheers!

Your lap joints look just fine. The trick is to keep the filler/puddle from taking off the top lip. Think about keeping your tungsten pointed at a 45* angle right into the root. Then add filler to increase the puddle size. Without filler, you’ll be melting the base metal/vertical side already, so f...

Thanks! I'm doing my best 8-) Where are you in Silicon Valley? I'm curious which local welding store you use. I go to Madco/Praxair on Old Middlefield up in Mountain View, but they seem to be going downhill. I need to get gas soon and will continue using them. I was just there and was quoted $49.80...

TraditionalToolworks wrote:Welcome! Looks like a good start!

Thanks!
I'm doing my best

Hello All, Novice tig welder here trying to gain some skill when I have time. I've been practicing today at my shop.. My only reference point for what to strive for is what I've watched in Jody's and other videos online and a practice session a while back with a welder I know. The lap joints are 3/1...

Hello All, Been a lurker here for a couple years, I run a small manufacturing business and cnc machine shop. I have employees who weld for our company part time when we have the work, but sometimes for small jobs it just makes sense to be skilled enough to do it myself. During slow/down times I've b...