Search found 145 matches
- by raticus
- Wed Jun 14, 2023 1:18 pm
- Forum: Tig Welding - Tig Welding Aluminum - Tig Welding Techniques - Aluminum Tig Welding
- Topic: What's So Hard About TIG Welding?
- Replies: 124
- Views: 33501
Re: What's So Hard About TIG Welding?
I think it's not that TIG is so hard, it just gives you an almost unlimited amount of control and more optiions, that can't just be learned quickly. Not that say, MIG welding properly is easy... it's just that it seems easy when a beginner learns MIG. Push the torch, drag the torch, one handed opera...
- by raticus
- Sun Jun 11, 2023 11:37 am
- Forum: Welding Forum General Shop Talk
- Topic: welding helmet recommendation request
- Replies: 5
- Views: 8584
Re: welding helmet recommendation request
I never needed glasses until I got into my 50's, and now into my late 60's my eyes are even worse (way worse)...and like said above, get a cheater lens, they work great, just snaps right into the inside of your helmet and viola', you can see, and they come in various strengths. The problem with a ch...
- by raticus
- Sun Jun 11, 2023 11:27 am
- Forum: Welding Forum General Shop Talk
- Topic: Oversize cheater lens
- Replies: 4
- Views: 9076
Re: Oversize cheater lens
I wanted to find one for my cheap, backup non-auto helmet as well (in case the batteries died or something on my Optrel Crystal 2.0 that I usually use, and i wear both glasses and use a strong cheater lens as well (hey, getting old sucks... ya gotta do what ya gotta do!)... but had no luck finding i...
- by raticus
- Sun Jun 11, 2023 11:16 am
- Forum: Welding Forum General Shop Talk
- Topic: When chemically removing millscale, do vinegar fumes rust steel in the vicinity like hydrochloric acid does?
- Replies: 7
- Views: 9921
Re: When chemically removing millscale, do vinegar fumes rust steel in the vicinity like hydrochloric acid does?
Update on my vinegar action... So while I was working, i used a 6 foot long 13 inch wide sheet of the same steel as a test piece to see how much fumes it would create in the 8 hours that I worked that day. I set up the sheet on a couple of cinderblocks in the middle of the shop, taped up the edges t...
- by raticus
- Tue Jun 06, 2023 12:35 pm
- Forum: Welding Forum General Shop Talk
- Topic: When chemically removing millscale, do vinegar fumes rust steel in the vicinity like hydrochloric acid does?
- Replies: 7
- Views: 9921
Re: When chemically removing millscale, do vinegar fumes rust steel in the vicinity like hydrochloric acid does?
If the shop is that big, I struggle to believe the potency of the fumes from vinegar would cause any damage to nearby metals. The shop isn't that big, it's about 50 x 15, and I'll be leaving the vinegar soaked table just a few feet from the cars... plus, it'll be sitting in the closed shop (no wind...
- by raticus
- Tue Jun 06, 2023 11:39 am
- Forum: Welding Forum General Shop Talk
- Topic: When chemically removing millscale, do vinegar fumes rust steel in the vicinity like hydrochloric acid does?
- Replies: 7
- Views: 9921
When chemically removing millscale, do vinegar fumes rust steel in the vicinity like hydrochloric acid does?
I've used vinegar many times to remove mill scale, it works great, low toxic risk, safe to use... but I've always soaked the steel parts outside in a large drip pan because even the vinegar fumes can be overpowering indoors, but I just built this big 6' x 3' welding table at this job that has no wel...
- by raticus
- Mon Jul 04, 2022 8:28 am
- Forum: Welding Forum General Shop Talk
- Topic: well I just learned something new today.....
- Replies: 12
- Views: 6987
Re: well I just learned something new today.....
just keep in mind that all your power sockets all join together at the fuse box. with high power tools you always want to use a lead per tool due to the voltage drop the lead causes. yeah everything is wired poorly in my rental house... looks like they've had multiple unlicensed 'electricians' wiri...
- by raticus
- Mon Jul 04, 2022 8:21 am
- Forum: Welding Forum General Shop Talk
- Topic: well I just learned something new today.....
- Replies: 12
- Views: 6987
- by raticus
- Mon Jul 04, 2022 8:19 am
- Forum: Welding Forum General Shop Talk
- Topic: well I just learned something new today.....
- Replies: 12
- Views: 6987
Re: well I just learned something new today.....
i'll have to go find the video on it. its to do with the cheap led power supplies. something like the reduction in voltages causes an increase in current allowed through to the led's, which makes them run hotter and shorter lifespan. yeah, it was a cheap HomeDepot Chinese LED shoplight, so it's no ...
- by raticus
- Mon Jul 04, 2022 8:18 am
- Forum: Welding Forum General Shop Talk
- Topic: well I just learned something new today.....
- Replies: 12
- Views: 6987
Re: well I just learned something new today.....
That's why I have a separate welding circuit in my shop. On site I'll plug my power source into a separate circuit to my other devices also. Hi freq and current spiking can play silly buggers at times. that's a good idea... my house is a rental, and the wiring is a nightmare hodgepodge of circuits ...
- by raticus
- Mon Jul 04, 2022 8:16 am
- Forum: Welding Forum General Shop Talk
- Topic: well I just learned something new today.....
- Replies: 12
- Views: 6987
- by raticus
- Tue Jun 07, 2022 2:23 pm
- Forum: Welding Forum General Shop Talk
- Topic: well I just learned something new today.....
- Replies: 12
- Views: 6987
well I just learned something new today.....
If you drag your TIG box out to the race car in the garage to just throw two little tacks on your new steering column you're fabricating, so you can bring it back in to bench weld it, and just plug your box into the extension chord that also has an LED flood light plugged into it as well... you can ...
- by raticus
- Fri Apr 15, 2022 9:46 am
- Forum: Welding Forum General Shop Talk
- Topic: Favorite Gloves?
- Replies: 16
- Views: 5079
Re: Favorite Gloves?
cheap ones! Tillman all the way for me (or equivalent)... Deerskin ones are nice but they're all fine. Never had any luck with fancy expensive gloves, they cost 2 or 3 times as much as the TIllman's, and don't last nearly as long.. so what's the point? Yeah, they're nice looking and look cool, but I...
- by raticus
- Fri Apr 15, 2022 9:39 am
- Forum: Welding Forum General Shop Talk
- Topic: weld spatter on helmet lens
- Replies: 7
- Views: 3326
Re: weld spatter on helmet lens
holy crap... yeah, like said above... where's your outer lens???? Oh man, I destroyed my Speedglas awhile back doing that accidentally... I worked in a shop where 95% of my work was TIG, on a bench... no overhead even. Then I got this big project, building these big mild steel structures in the shop...
- by raticus
- Fri Apr 15, 2022 9:23 am
- Forum: Welding Forum General Shop Talk
- Topic: Anyone tried these on mill scale?
- Replies: 8
- Views: 3104
Re: Anyone tried these on mill scale?
generally a shop won't let you do this for millscale, just no time for it... but for my own side jobs at home, if I can't get my hands on cold rolled sheet and I'm forced to buy hot roll (re: mill scale sheets), I soak them in vinegar for 24 hours first. Any supermarket sells cheap vinegar by the ga...
- by raticus
- Fri Apr 15, 2022 9:07 am
- Forum: Welding Forum General Shop Talk
- Topic: TIGing 18 Guage Stainless
- Replies: 9
- Views: 2854
Re: TIGing 18 Guage Stainless
I spent several years working in a sheet metal shop where the majority of what we did was thin stainless sheet (lots of kitchen stuff)... I guess this is a moot point as you're asking how to work with gaps in your work, that you have no choice, but yeah... why on earth are there gaps? That's a big n...
- by raticus
- Fri Apr 15, 2022 8:37 am
- Forum: Welding Forum General Shop Talk
- Topic: TIG welding galvanized plated steel
- Replies: 5
- Views: 1517
Re: TIG welding galvanized plated steel
I've found silicon bronze filler rod is great for TIG on galvanized. It's not as strong of course, not for a part that is going to be repeatedly stressed, but it's surprisingly strong, and welds nicely right through it. I've accidentally welded a ton of electrical boxes that we made just for explosi...
- by raticus
- Fri Apr 15, 2022 8:24 am
- Forum: Welding Forum General Shop Talk
- Topic: I had so many subject line possibilities for this, but I'll just stop while I'm ahead... :D
- Replies: 4
- Views: 3757
I had so many subject line possibilities for this, but I'll just stop while I'm ahead... :D
don't look like any of the ugly ass welders I've ever worked with...
- 278256273_292099359754589_7538799146217838591_n.jpg (68.67 KiB) Viewed 3757 times
- by raticus
- Fri Mar 18, 2022 9:44 pm
- Forum: Welding Projects - Welding project Ideas - Welding project plans
- Topic: this is what happens when you have too much free time... my little bottle rack for my truck
- Replies: 10
- Views: 14018
Re: this is what happens when you have too much free time... my little bottle rack for my truck
Suggestion, make a hinged half lid low enough to cover the valves Capture.PNGand use cam over latches on the side(s) to secure it. Capture1.PNG You even get fancy and throw on a gas strut on either side. Capture2.PNG hmm a lid, that's a pretty good idea... but I might not have enough room under my ...
- by raticus
- Fri Mar 18, 2022 9:33 pm
- Forum: Welding Projects - Welding project Ideas - Welding project plans
- Topic: this is what happens when you have too much free time... my little bottle rack for my truck
- Replies: 10
- Views: 14018
- by raticus
- Fri Mar 18, 2022 9:32 pm
- Forum: Welding Projects - Welding project Ideas - Welding project plans
- Topic: this is what happens when you have too much free time... my little bottle rack for my truck
- Replies: 10
- Views: 14018
Re: this is what happens when you have too much free time... my little bottle rack for my truck
ha, nah I was just using the bottle for the photo, only had two other welding bottles (didn't feel like disconnecting my 3rd bottle)... I have the correct bracket for the nitrous in the trunk of my '66 Biscayne.
- by raticus
- Fri Feb 18, 2022 5:28 pm
- Forum: Welding Projects - Welding project Ideas - Welding project plans
- Topic: this is what happens when you have too much free time... my little bottle rack for my truck
- Replies: 10
- Views: 14018
Re: this is what happens when you have too much free time... my little bottle rack for my truck
Transporting bottles with compressed gas and unprotected valves is certainly a recipe for danger. You should at a minimum, create a retaining strap since those pony bottles do not have thread-on caps. Most welding gases are inert, but the hazard of them being launched by valve damage is very, very ...
- by raticus
- Fri Feb 18, 2022 2:24 pm
- Forum: Welding Projects - Welding project Ideas - Welding project plans
- Topic: this is what happens when you have too much free time... my little bottle rack for my truck
- Replies: 10
- Views: 14018
this is what happens when you have too much free time... my little bottle rack for my truck
Wanted a safer way to transport my little 40cf bottles when I run to get them refilled or when going on side welding jobs, instead of throwing them in my back seat ready to kill me if I ever get in a wreck.... or just throwing them loosely in a milk crate in the back of my 2010 Raptor. Looked online...
- by raticus
- Sun Sep 19, 2021 12:07 pm
- Forum: Product Reviews
- Topic: Miller Maxstar 161 STH board issues?
- Replies: 1
- Views: 9261
Miller Maxstar 161 STH board issues?
Have had my eye on the little portable Miller Maxstar 161, have heard nothing but great things about the Maxstar series going back years. I always wanted a little stick welder like this one, that I can just grab to do some small mobile job somewhere. I especially like it as it comes in a combination...
- by raticus
- Sun Sep 19, 2021 11:55 am
- Forum: Product Reviews
- Topic: Low THD, Inverter safe, portable gas generator to run my AC TIG and MIG?
- Replies: 12
- Views: 17524
Re: Low THD, Inverter safe, portable gas generator to run my AC TIG and MIG?
thanks for the help everyone... but I ended up dropping the whole, trying to find a generator to (safely) power a welder as well as trying to find one that is relatively quiet... I especially dropped the idea after having yet another freak storm and power outage and wishing I had bought sOMeThInG. S...
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