What welding projects are you working on? Are you proud of something you built?
How about posting some pics so other welders can get some ideas?
Headache rack
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newschoppafowah
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I've been in a holding pattern waiting for a cut sheet from a supplier, so out of boredom I figured I'd throw up a rack to carry metal and maybe make my truck look more like the assault vehicle from the beginning of T2. :D

Anyway, it's got problems, but I've got solutions. Here she is.

I almost always buy stuff cut for TIG, because it's so much easier, and fitup is Screw a, but with MIG I'm cutting everything on a port a band with a homemade stand, so fitup's always a four letter word.I aim to take some specific bead shots and ask a few questions, maybe others out there stuck with a vertically mounted portaband could offer a pointer or two.

More later :D
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Sent from an earthen ditch outside Needles, CA using an awful lot of low voltage single strand wire.

It's a matter of flour and water and then there's the seasonings, which is a matter of salt and so forth and then you h-we interrupt this for the announc
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"Vertically mounted Porta-Band" is a contradiction in terms...

A Port-a-Band is a hand tool, capable of extremely accurate cuts in practiced hands. If yours is "fixed" and you're having trouble with accurate cuts, you either need a better blade or more patience while cutting. These things are capable of very high accuracy.

Steve S
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newschoppafowah
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If you'll hang on line for 5 minutes I'll cutcha a pic.
Sent from an earthen ditch outside Needles, CA using an awful lot of low voltage single strand wire.

It's a matter of flour and water and then there's the seasonings, which is a matter of salt and so forth and then you h-we interrupt this for the announc
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newschoppafowah
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xyz
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Sent from an earthen ditch outside Needles, CA using an awful lot of low voltage single strand wire.

It's a matter of flour and water and then there's the seasonings, which is a matter of salt and so forth and then you h-we interrupt this for the announc
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newschoppafowah
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Misused the term port a band I suppose.

Anyhoo

All is clear from here on out. :D
Sent from an earthen ditch outside Needles, CA using an awful lot of low voltage single strand wire.

It's a matter of flour and water and then there's the seasonings, which is a matter of salt and so forth and then you h-we interrupt this for the announc
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newschoppafowah,
I will say your rack is looking good! One suggestion is to move up to less TPI. This will allow you to cut the material faster and easier. I would guess your cut is slow as is and you are applying a fair amount of pressure, thus possibly bending your blade. Anyway just a thought. I am not sure off hand what TPI I use but I do very accurate work. I use it for two purposes. First when the job site does not allow sparks inside the facility and second when I need the portability (duh). Like Steve said in more "practiced hands" you will be able to achieve what you are looking for. Believe it or not you actually need to practice to make accurate cuts with one. Keep up the good work!
-Jonathan
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I agree... That looks like a 32 TPI blade. It's not practical for the cutting you're doing (slow, loads up fast, overheats). It's meant for fine work on thin material.

Your accuracy (and speed) will increase with a 14 TPI Bi-Metal. That's a good saw, and looks to be well-mounted. Don't "push" the material, let the saw do the work, and you'll be surprised how accurately that thing will cut.

Steve S
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BTW, newschoppafowah, I just digested your handle...

Are you a helicopter pilot? Or a traffic reporter?

Interesting monicker...

Steve S
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Hey,

Maybe a bigger "table' wou;d be in order, to aid material stability whilst cutting.

Mick
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newschoppafowah
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Thanks for the kind words and advice.

When I was done I did an autopsy and figured out what I did to screw myself up. Pics:

These are the blades. Only ones of the right size i can get at a brick and mortar. May be looking into getting a different TPI blade online.
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Sent from an earthen ditch outside Needles, CA using an awful lot of low voltage single strand wire.

It's a matter of flour and water and then there's the seasonings, which is a matter of salt and so forth and then you h-we interrupt this for the announc
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newschoppafowah
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Heres some angles I cut during the planning stage. As you can see, it turns out the angle I struggled with was in fact pretty nice and even. (The one on the bottom in this post)

Like any poor craftsman, I immediately descended into the blaming of my tools. :)
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Sent from an earthen ditch outside Needles, CA using an awful lot of low voltage single strand wire.

It's a matter of flour and water and then there's the seasonings, which is a matter of salt and so forth and then you h-we interrupt this for the announc
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newschoppafowah
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And here's where I screwed up and gave myself a big fat irritating triggercycling "I quit forever and I'm never coming back" gap.

I cut the angle at the green arrow first. Then I marked the angle at the blue arrow and cut it without checking. After all, I've never screwed up before right?

Something got crossed up and the only way to maintain all my dimensions was to stay married to the blue angle (which was tight, just incorrect RE: its relation to green angle and the bar green angle rides on. Hence, the gap dance.

Also, Mick, that aluminum stand is bolted to a big 4' by 4' table, just can't see it in my pics. If you notice that expanded metal, that rides just under the surface of the big table, so it's fairly sturdy. I'll take any excuse I can get though.

Steve, watch out for brake lights at the mini stack, and we got a couch in the number two lane of the 51-10 interchange.
Slow and go.
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Sent from an earthen ditch outside Needles, CA using an awful lot of low voltage single strand wire.

It's a matter of flour and water and then there's the seasonings, which is a matter of salt and so forth and then you h-we interrupt this for the announc
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All good mate.
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