Great to have you! Am or was? Retired or are things just slow? (If you don't mind me asking...)

Great piece of work. Nothing better than to see a need for a new tool for a specific purpose and to be able to build it yourself with the the end result being a task accomplished !

An example of the value of practice: I have been coming in to work on Saturdays on my own time and doing nothing but practicing TIG. I'm not officially a "welder" at my job, but have been training and helping out the metal shop. They see me burning rods and laying beads on aluminum for hou...

+1 on the Optrel. I have been trying other guys hoods at work. Lincoln, Miller, Arc One, Radnor (basically the spectrum from basic to premium) and they all have auto - darkening lenses. They have varying degrees of shading and colors, but none have the degree of optical clarity that the Optrel has. ...

Ok, so today I was doing the opposite end of the spectrum and found that there are different methods. Was cleaning up corner welds on stainless steel and used different grits and no lube. Also used the tool to finish the "grain" of the steel (which I thought was pretty cool). With the diff...

The last is what I started with and the first was the end result.

I have only done aluminum and used a grinder with a disc 60grit and a d/a 6"with 80grit and Boelube on both and then a heavy-duty 6" sander with 100 grit lubed as well. This was the result:

So being new to the world of metal, I would like to find out more about the "finishing" process of grinding the welds smooth so the piece can be painted. Are the processes the same for all metals or do you use different techniques for different types of metal?
Just wondering.

I'm new to this welding thing but yesterday I got my first lesson in how important it is to know what you have in your hand. So, I'm TIGing along, practicing with aluminum using 3/32 filler rods and 3/16 aluminum plate. Go to make a lap joint and just grab another rod and proceed to get all kinds of...

Thanks for the info. I'm quite lucky in that I am able to practice with company equipment and an (almost) unlimited amount of scrap. We have "volunteer Saturday" and I am able to get practice with various settings, techniques, etc. They have been very helpful in getting me pointed in the r...

At work we have a tent set up with plywood floors and o.s.b. walls to handle overflow welding work. They coated the whole interior of the structure with fire retardant and have had no issues with grinding, MIG and stick welding. They just applied it with a hand pump sprayer, let it dry and went to t...

Hey guys, just a quick introduction. I'm a journeyman woodworker with 27 years experience that has had the opportunity to learn (from scratch) a new skill at my job. We do custom commercial jobs that require millwork and metal fabrication in the same shop. While I am still in the millwork side, I'm ...