Welding Tips and Tricks

I have been playing around with a sheet metal brake on some 16 gauge diamond tread aluminum building everything from toolboxes to dog boxes. Thought I'd share.

Well those turned out nice. What did you use to cut the sheet?

Milwaukee cordless metal cutting circular saw and I cut the corners with a vertical bandsaw.

That dog box is really cool. Nice work! Ever lit that wood floor on fire?

exnailpounder wrote:That dog box is really cool. Nice work! Ever lit that wood floor on fire?

It only smokes for about 3 seconds then it goes out. I actually caught on fire the other day and burnt my shirt off of me.

mcoe wrote:

exnailpounder wrote:That dog box is really cool. Nice work! Ever lit that wood floor on fire?

It only smokes for about 3 seconds then it goes out. I actually caught on fire the other day and burnt my shirt off of me.

I lit a shop rag soaked in carb cleaner on my bench the other day. I could smell it burning and I knew what was happening but the weld looked really good so I didn't want to stop

exnailpounder wrote:

mcoe wrote:

exnailpounder wrote:That dog box is really cool. Nice work! Ever lit that wood floor on fire?

It only smokes for about 3 seconds then it goes out. I actually caught on fire the other day and burnt my shirt off of me.

I lit a shop rag soaked in carb cleaner on my bench the other day. I could smell it burning and I knew what was happening but the weld looked really good so I didn't want to stop

I was overhead aluminum tig welding and got right to the end and I nipped the filler rod and it dropped on my shouldsr and put me up in flames.

Ouch! How bad were the burns? I wear my FR shirt when I overhead or climb into something. And I know people that complain how much a paper cut hurts We are a bunch of strange people aren't we?

3 second degree burns the size of a nickel. I finished the rest of the welds then doctored it lol

mcoe wrote:3 second degree burns the size of a nickel. I finished the rest of the welds then doctored it lol

ATTA BOY!

I'd rather have a welding burn than a paper cut any day. The paper cut, I'll forget until the parts cleaner hits it...

Steve S

Fun fact-if you are oxy fuelwelding and aren't wearing sleeves, be careful don't roll the filler wire onto your arm.

Or if you are using an abrasive chop saw and want to protect a lathe behind it from sparks don't use a cotton welding shirt-it lights up fast with all the Sparks.

Farmwelding wrote:Fun fact-if you are oxy fuelwelding and aren't wearing sleeves, be careful don't roll the filler wire onto your arm.

Or if you are using an abrasive chop saw and want to protect a lathe behind it from sparks don't use a cotton welding shirt-it lights up fast with all the Sparks.

Whatcha the opening at the cuff of a button up shirt, I was tigging a long bead and I slid my arm up on the piece and found that opening when I ran it across the bead lol

mcoe wrote:

Farmwelding wrote:Fun fact-if you are oxy fuelwelding and aren't wearing sleeves, be careful don't roll the filler wire onto your arm.

Or if you are using an abrasive chop saw and want to protect a lathe behind it from sparks don't use a cotton welding shirt-it lights up fast with all the Sparks.

Whatcha the opening at the cuff of a button up shirt, I was tigging a long bead and I slid my arm up on the piece and found that opening when I ran it across the bead lol

You know the definition of insanity is doing something repeatedly and expecting different results. I guess burning ourselves over and over again makes us all insane. You'd think we'd figure out that metal is usually hot and sharp and the tools that cut them are sharp and the tools that cut them and weld them produce a lot of heat.

Otto Nobedder wrote:I'd rather have a welding burn than a paper cut any day. The paper cut, I'll forget until the parts cleaner hits it...

Steve S

My hands get dried out and the skin sometimes cracks near my nails and same thing...don't even notice til I soak a rag with acetone.....then I notice!

Really nice looking projects,I love diamond plate,square tube and angle,it's just alot of fun to work with,just built my first couple of projects with the stuff,they turned out great,I cut the plate with plasma and a straight edge,but I have wondered about the saws,I wouldn't mind trying one out,you ever bend any of the square tube,I made a bender that works pretty good,anyhow great looking builds