The Welding Thread

[Narrowscopeofreality]

The quality and accuracy of advice in this thread has taken a dive..

[SierraDan]

Can you bring it back up then?

[CRUZAAMAD]

forget about the river shit..
don't put it on paper as well as I can speak it

its just all in the prep. the welding is the finishing touch.
the smoother the metal surface is the better the weld will be,.. was what I was trying to say.
no point having nicks in the plate and holes, and stuff when your going to weld over it.

kind of like a river, with deep holes where cod live and stuff..
water flows slower through the deep holes, or on the edge of a river.

the weld is the same, the smoother the surface it the better the weld will be, and not be uneven, as you travel at a constant speed, the weld pool solidifies and any variance in the surface will cause the weld to not be a smooth and consistent bead which is what its all about..

hope that cleared that up ?

or its like when you pour a concrete slab, you level the site first, to get a even thickness, as well as saving on concrete to buy..
hmm any better ?

[awill4x4]

My new toy I bought today.
350 amps of Tig welding awesomeness.
Cheers Andrew.

[CRUZAAMAD]

The quality and accuracy of advice in this thread has taken a dive..

like yourself, I applied to the "cereal box" school of tafe.. cert 3 in fabrication.. boilermaker..
but... they rejected me, soo I actually had to learn it the hard way.
got the trade papers to prove it.
also done a few weld tickets as well 1 1E 2 3 3E 4 5 AND 7.
ive also been extremely fortunate to do my apprenticeship under my boss, a weld inspector.
not only that ive also worked with another boss, and his weld inspector as well.
worked with both on the tools, mixture of onsite and in the shop..
Im pretty good mates with both, and really close friends with the later one.
we talk all the time about the trade, and welding and weld procedures and the general fabrication game.

I might not put it down on paper well, even near the leagues of shortq

[Frankenyota]

Looking at buying a new Lincoln 180 mig, which has also been recommended by a few people on this thread.
But i can also get a good deal on a 2nd hand BOC 170p, with a tweco torch for $450.
It has been used for gasless welding and is about 5 years old.
What do you guys think? Is the BOC a good buy or should i stick to buying a new Lincoln?

Great thread and welding pics, hopefully mine will look as good as some of these oneday.

Matt

[bru21]

I would go the UNIMIG 240 over those.
My one at work has been flawless and beaten on forever.
It uses Binzel accessories on the torch too, which is awesome for spares availability.

I have a migomag 260 at home and the UNIMIG has more features and probably a better welder at 1/3 of the cost.
Pre gas is the most important one that I miss on the mig o mag, as it helps make a spatter free start - especially important on thin sheet.

The digital numbers on the UNIMIG are fantastic, nothing shits me more on the mig o mag than when the dials move when the earth lead rolls against them. As it is a dial it is harder to get back to the setting you just tuned.

cheers bru

[sht50]

Has anyone got any input on the cigweld multi process units? Mainly the 250i. Looking at buying my first decent welder and require a bit of help from the experts. Budget is $2000

[AFeral]

Bru21 if you put a piece of small metal at the start of your weld, start welding on this this and then onto the job. Gets some heat into the weld and the sheild gas in place before getting onto the bit that matters. Just snap it off and when your done and touch up with the grinder.

sht50 boc are dong some good deals on 250amp migs at the moment $1300ish leaves you with change to but a good quality second hand caddy for tig and stick if you need it. If yor after a dual purpose machine the cigweld units are ok, i've used the 175amp and it was ok for the money.

Highest output single phase mig is made by WIA 270amp and just over 27volts output. Which is what I will be buying for home use, needs a 32amp single phase plug though.

[bru21]

Good tip with the scrap start.

I'm going to install pre gas to my mig o mag, itvwillnjust be a secondary relay and a timer.

Cheers bru

[AFeral]

Surpose i should post a few pictures of my stuff
Tig welding around my long arms

Socket weld on pipe walked the cup on this one too.

[sht50]

Just got a quote on the boc 275c which is smack on $1300 plus spool of wire and an cheapish auto darkening helmet. I really think the price alone has sold me on this.
Has any one actually used the boc range of gear?

[CRUZAAMAD]

Just got a quote on the boc 275c which is smack on $1300 plus spool of wire and an cheapish auto darkening helmet. I really think the price alone has sold me on this.
Has any one actually used the boc range of gear?

Yeah weve got one dont know what size but its single phase 15amp plug

the auto adjuster is annoying

i rather have a dial or a switch than a dash to use on adjustment

takes up more time to set the welder up
no troubles
havent had it flat out as its on a extension lead and keeps tripping out
soo turn it down somewhat

i dont like the strap on bottle setup
much rather the olde school chain
strap should be fine if not moving around much or staying in one spot
earth lead could be longer too

but not bad

mind you it depends on which boc store you go too
some are brilliant and know their STUFF

some are more useless than tits on a bull..
unless the bulks gay

they might set one up and test try buy
but thats unknown

every store has a welding bay in the showroom

[sht50]

Thanks for the heads up. It's just for use at home so moving around will be minimum. With the auto adjuster is it just annoying purely because of being a button type setup rather than dial. If so why?
Also being in mt isa there is no welding booth in the showroom and the guy behind the counter isn't very helpful.

[date]

Question re Hard Facing:
I have a mower with a single solid blade. The cutting edges get dulled off fairly quickly (I hit a few rocks etc at times - I try to avoid them but cannot).

I would like to weld a hard facing on the blade cutting edge only so that I can grind it to a point and then hopefully get a longer life. I am concerned about the hard facing breaking off. Up till now, I have rewelded the cutting edge with ordinary CIG general purpose electrodes, and they certainly last longer than the original plain cutting blade, but the CIG electrodes are still rather malleable and ductile. Has anyone done this mod and if so, what did they use?

[CRUZAAMAD]

Question re Hard Facing:
I have a mower with a single solid blade. The cutting edges get dulled off fairly quickly (I hit a few rocks etc at times - I try to avoid them but cannot).

I would like to weld a hard facing on the blade cutting edge only so that I can grind it to a point and then hopefully get a longer life. I am concerned about the hard facing breaking off. Up till now, I have rewelded the cutting edge with ordinary CIG general purpose electrodes, and they certainly last longer than the original plain cutting blade, but the CIG electrodes are still rather malleable and ductile. Has anyone done this mod and if so, what did they use?

Get some stainless ones made up

blades dont have a point
my cousin ground the blades on the slasher and stuffed it
your realy after a square edge to do all the work and last longer

hard facing isnt meant for high impact like mower blades but understand the reasoning behind it

its more for augers and stuff that brush past metal

welding the blades isnt a very safe practice
even if its only the edge

the whole point of hardfacing is to not grind
well take a while to grind it as well

best bet would get some stainless ones made up




The auto adjuster is just too slow to jump up the settings

dials are soo much quicker
easier to see as the little green light is hard to see during the day

[sht50]

How about the boc 175 multiprocessor. Looks like a good unit for 840 odd bucks.

[bru21]

My old man refaced his blades for 20 years on the same mower. Used 316 and welded along the edge.
It does throw them out of balance and is hard on the spindles though.

[uninformed]

Surpose i should post a few pictures of my stuff
Tig welding around my long arms

Socket weld on pipe walked the cup on this one too.

Nice work. What material are your long arms?

[AFeral]

The steel for the long arms is seamless and was a special order from a job that was not all used up. Approx 15id and 50od about $50 a meter. Sorry if the measurements are a bit vague I bought it ages ago before I got around to using it.
The bushes is the orginal chopped of and reused.

[uninformed]

The steel for the long arms is seamless and was a special order from a job that was not all used up. Approx 15id and 50od about $50 a meter. Sorry if the measurements are a bit vague I bought it ages ago before I got around to using it.
The bushes is the orginal chopped of and reused.

Thanks for that.

Sounds like hollow bar like:

http://www.buau.com.au/120.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

when you reused the bush end, did you rotate it to stay away from the old weld? Just wondering if TIG might not like to go over old mig????

[rockcrawler31]

when you reused the bush end, did you rotate it to stay away from the old weld? Just wondering if TIG might not like to go over old mig????

As much as i hate to admit it, i've used the TIG to wash over MIG welds that had some unsightly build up or lumpyness from tie-ins. It works ok in most instances as long as there's not any other contamination in there

[80's_delirious]

Just got a quote on the boc 275c which is smack on $1300 plus spool of wire and an cheapish auto darkening helmet. I really think the price alone has sold me on this.
Has any one actually used the boc range of gear?

do some googling for reviews on the auto-darkening helmet. Some cheapies are too slow or unreliable and you cop mini flashes regularly. I had one that wasn't worth bringing home, I'd end up with sore eyes and headache after a bit of welding.

it might be worth paying a little more to upgrade the helmet.

[bru21]

Grays has miller elite digital regularly for $189+15%+gst
Not too bad.
Think I paid $350 odd for my two on ebay from weldfabulous.
I love mine hence buying a second (home / work).