# welder show and tell



## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

What welder do you use to make stuff, and what stuff have you made with it?

a la show and tell...


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## PowerDubs (Jul 22, 2001)

If you weld, and live in jersey, and are bored.. I have all sorts of ideas for things you can build. 



I only *wish* I knew how to weld..


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## California Jay (Sep 1, 2004)

I've been using a Lincoln 175, no pulse, for 11 years. Works ok


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## quicka6 (Jan 26, 2010)

mad skills you have there bud.


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## nothing-leaves-stock (Mar 1, 2005)




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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

*NLS*

and what kind of welding equipment do you have over at nothing leaves stock?


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## nothing-leaves-stock (Mar 1, 2005)

miller 250 syncrowave 250 tig
miller 110 mig
snap on plasma cutter
coat hanger and torch


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## sdezego (Apr 23, 2004)

nothing-leaves-stock said:


> ....
> coat hanger and torch


, that's old skool right there. Been there :laugh:

I also have the Syncrowave 250, but have a SnapOn 140Mig.

Not showing any of my stuff after California Jay's pics


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## xblueinsanityx (Nov 20, 2005)

your not a real welder till you have welded with a coat hanger and a torch


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## California Jay (Sep 1, 2004)

sdezego said:


> Not showing any of my stuff after California Jay's pics


Dont be afraid to... I may have a few more hours seat time compared to others.. I'm sure people can consider that.


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## B4S (Apr 16, 2003)

I have a lincoln 140, and the stuff I make is best put under a car where it won't be seen .

I use it for myself, exhaust work, brackets, getting snapped off bolts out of their holes, etc.


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

*miller 110*

miller 110 = 110v welder, or 110 amps? and if its 110v, how many input amps does it need?


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

What welding process / welder do ya'll use for light guage steel and car bodywork?


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## B4S (Apr 16, 2003)

I used an old-school 110v Marquette MIG with .023" wire, then I upgraded . Worked great doing the resto work on my 82 Rabbit.


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

sorry for the Iphone pics..... they finally let me weld at work yesterday, so i snapped these for you guys.... Miller 350 squarewave....


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## Agtronic (May 14, 2001)

I'm using a Lincoln Precision 185. It works good, but I'm having trouble with the A/C. When trying to weld at 185A, it often cuts out and won't go past ~100A. I've used it A LOT though. It works great on DC.


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## maxcharger (May 29, 2009)

Lincoln square wave tig and i live in nj and am bored


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## kkkustom (Jun 5, 2007)

Miller syncrowave 180SD tig, Weldtec air cooled torch. I am going to be building a liquid cooling system for it and use a nice micro torch with it soon. 

Millermatic 180 MIG. Best MIG I ever used for under $1000. Autset works fine and I have yet to need to max it out, and I welded up some 3/8's stuff just fine. Will also go right down to sheet metal for body work like a champ. 

Miller 375 plasma. Cuts like butter, even 1/2" plate and rusty dirty frame rails are cake. 

BLUE FTW! 

I dont have many pics at all for some reason of my welding. lol I will have to see if any are online.


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## Byramtra (Dec 11, 2008)

personally I prefer ballingwire over coathangers.  As far as wilders goes my main welder is a WWII vintage shipyard welder (AC buzbox), we also have a high frequency box hooked up to it for tig welding aluminum. Other than a oxy/settling setup we have a newer Craftsman AC buzbox, and a newest welder a Hobart Handler 140 MIG welder (only set up with flux core.  ). We have built things from heavy duty trailers, to small delicate repairs. One of the things we did was build a reciever for my rabbit.
Travis


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

hitch for rabbit? trailers? pics!


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

*harbor freight gas welding outfit*

I'm considering getting my hands on this: harbor freight gas welding outfit

I can actually afford it, vs. a good mig


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## Byramtra (Dec 11, 2008)

Ill try to get some pics tomarrow. This is what I have for now:

 Well, maybe I just parked it in front of our trailer while we were camping.  But seriously, ill get some pics tomarrow.
Travis


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## Byramtra (Dec 11, 2008)

got a couple more pics for you:



My grampa built that trailer years ago, the box is 3' by 5.5', and the trailer is overbuilt. (as ushal with things we built.)


probably our most used welder, and its WWII vintage.  vintage ac buz box

How many of you know how to change the amperage on this welder? probably mostly just oldtimers. 


High frequency box for tig welding aluminum. (with aformentioned buz box)

Hobart Handler 140

latest project: rebuilding a free boat trailer to fit my boat. (and be roadworthy  )
Thats about all for now.
Travis


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

Byramtra said:


> Ill try to get some pics tomarrow. This is what I have for now:
> 
> Well, maybe I just parked it in front of our trailer while we were camping.  But seriously, ill get some pics tomarrow.
> Travis


can your rabbit actually tow that monster?

props on a unique piece of equipment.


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## misc.motorsports (Dec 2, 2006)

*my new rig*

my old rig. Airco 300 amp ac/dc welder. from the 70's and a freekin tank. My first tig welder and it payed for itself ten fold.


my new rig miller syncrowave 250 tig and miller 212 multivoltage mig. More expensive but the weld quality is second to non over the old machine.



down pipe for a vr6 turbo corrado. 


short runner for the same turbo corrado.


16v and aba short runners



A couple turbo manifolds.


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## Byramtra (Dec 11, 2008)

actually, ya, its just parked there. the tongue weght would be a problem. the biggest trailer I pulled was identicle to this one:
http://www.truckpaper.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?guid=&pcid=2000738726&etid=6&ohid=1611811&nh=0
It is really stout (ie heavy), so i only took it next door back to its owner. Nice work on the tube, and aluminum, I need to work on that myself.
Travis


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## Daskoupe (Oct 9, 2006)

cebora 250
150 amp

Works great on aluminum 
have problems getting pretty colors on my stainless.Tried a new glass line too








Only like 4 months in so..


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

Daskoupe said:


> cebora 250
> 150 amp
> 
> Works great on aluminum
> ...


whats one of those run?


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## Daskoupe (Oct 9, 2006)

through Matco alot kinda.But its only 50 bucks a week lol(and a credit builder)


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## J.Owen (May 31, 2001)

can anyone give me some input on this welder? Ive emailed the seller but no response yet. I thought maybe somewhere here could ID it from the pictures as to a brand/ possible model.


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

*my second thing welded*

maybe ill take pics of the exhaust bit I did, maybe I will save my embarrassment. well, I got this far (lousy camcorder pic):


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## EuroKid83 (Jan 26, 2005)

Miller Dynasty 350. Just got it, cool stuff to come...


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## Angular (Mar 12, 2002)

What, no Chinese welders off eBay??  

On a more serious note... beautiful welds, Jay! :thumbup: I hope some day I can learn to weld like that. 

He didn't post pics in this thread but [email protected] does awesome fabrication and welding too. I just love TIG welded stainless.


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## yellowrocco87 (Oct 4, 2006)

At home i have a miller Diversion 180 tig. havn't done a whole lot with it yet since my gas company sold me a contaminated bottle again :banghead:

at work we have a miller syncrowave 200 tig, Miller Millermatic 212 multivoltage mig, Miller Millermatic 135 mig, Miller Passport mig (SS wire welder), Miller Plasma Cutter.

heres some things i have built










First roll cage i ever built. Chromoly

















and one of me welding in one of many odd positions while building a cage :laugh:


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## dubnick32 (Jan 15, 2009)

*Local 597*

I use a Miller Dynasty DX.


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

you all are some skilled welders. how about the efforts of some newbies, and their newly purchased welders? bonus points for $100 welders


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## yellowrocco87 (Oct 4, 2006)

^^

i like that idea man. no one should be afraid to post there welds up here as its the only way you will ever better yourself.

heres one of my more recent ones with the miller diversion 180 Chromoly subframe for a mk3 GTI 









this welder works great for its price and portability. incredible quite when welding on DC and tolerable while welding on AC. I would recommend it to anyone


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## J.Owen (May 31, 2001)

cabrlicious said:


> rs? bonus points for $100 welders


Find me a $100 welder and i'll post up pictures all day long


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## yellowrocco87 (Oct 4, 2006)

J.Owen said:


> Find me a $100 welder and i'll post up pictures all day long


harbor freight has one that goes on sale all the time lol


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## Byramtra (Dec 11, 2008)

Here you go a $100 welder...








Travis


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## Eganx (Apr 30, 2004)

Byramtra said:


> Here you go a $100 welder...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


HA.....is that how ya'll roll in Oroville

j/k I used to live out that way....


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## kkkustom (Jun 5, 2007)

yellowrocco87 said:


> ^^
> 
> i like that idea man. no one should be afraid to post there welds up here as its the only way you will ever better yourself.
> 
> ...


Little help on that weld. More heat and thicker filler rod to give it a larger bead. Also focus the arc like you did mostly on the tube, but wave it up to the edge of the flat stock for a sec, then dab filler, focus on the tube, wave up, dab,.... the weld you have there only penetrated that flat plate a c-hair it looks like.


Also I like the diversion too for a beginner tigg'r. i used my 180 syncrowave for a few years, then tried a diversion a buddy got. inverter was so much easier; arc focus was much better, and it kept a pointed tungsten much better, and even on aluminum it stayed sharp for a while! If you accidentally wack the tungsten in the puddle, it sort of "blows" the tungsten clean (into your work so its not very good for it) so you can keep going 9 times out of ten before needing to resharpen.

turn it on, choose polarity and heat... weld. doesn't get any easier than that. As soon as i used that diversion my syncrowave was in craigslist and I bought a Thermal Arc Arcmaster 185 a week later!


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## yellowrocco87 (Oct 4, 2006)

yea i should have walked the cup while welding that but since i am building braces on the underside i wasn't to crazy worried about it.

I weld with a syncrowave 200 every day at work. i bought the diversion simply because it was the best bang for the buck i looked at the dynasty but for what i use tig for it didn't seam like something i really needed at the time. maybe in another year or so.

This was welded on 80-90 amps thats what the guy who taught me to build roll cages told me to weld chromoly with. This would be the first time i've used such a large plate though and i only had some smaller filler rod otherwise i would have used the bigger stuff i usually have.

thanks for the input though :beer:


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

Hey how much does that diversion 180 run?


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## yellowrocco87 (Oct 4, 2006)

MKIGTITDI said:


> Hey how much does that diversion 180 run?


anywhere from 1800-2000 i believe


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

Hers fit up with a millermatic 140 running a spool gun.(made with a portaban, file, eyeballed.. and hammer..LOL)








And weldout with a syncowave 250.








and finally in the car

__
Image uploading. Refresh page to view


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## kkkustom (Jun 5, 2007)

yellowrocco87 said:


> anywhere from 1800-2000 i believe





MKIGTITDI said:


> Hey how much does that diversion 180 run?


NO WAY. thats dynasty prices. 


the 165 diversion can be found for around $1200 or less. I found used ones for $600 on craigslist here and there.


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## yellowrocco87 (Oct 4, 2006)

kkkustom said:


> NO WAY. thats dynasty prices.
> 
> 
> the 165 diversion can be found for around $1200 or less. I found used ones for $600 on craigslist here and there.


In what world are you living? the Dynasty is a $3000 welder for the 200DX machine :screwy:

the 165 can be had for so cheap because its not a digital interface set-up and doesn't come with a foot pedal and a few other options. The 180 is anywhere between 1800-2000 just like i said look it up


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## kkkustom (Jun 5, 2007)

AEB custom intake manifold with 75MM cable tb for my drag car.

















































SBC water pump relocation inlet/outlet relocation. (coulda just bought a camero one but this was free)











Water/air IC system:














1998 ford ranger custom body dropped floor, custom frame and cantilever 6 link setup:









































































































Coolant expansion tank... 3 more tanks like that for the power steering, washer rez, and oil catch will be done in a few days.


















































Thats it for now :laugh: as always I work for cheap, pm me if you need something.


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## yellowrocco87 (Oct 4, 2006)

one question on the intake manifold. What made you make the top section out of two pieces as opposed to one? and why did you feel the need to weld the interior as well?

other than that stuff looks great :beer:


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## kkkustom (Jun 5, 2007)

yellowrocco87 said:


> one question on the intake manifold. What made you make the top section out of two pieces as opposed to one? and why did you feel the need to weld the interior as well?
> 
> other than that stuff looks great :beer:


I cut the plenum in half so I could get in there with a die grinder to port match the runner entrances, and radius them in smooth. A lot of builders just make a plenum floor with the round ins, then weld the other C shape that's left to the plenum along the bottom edges. Which is what i will be doing instead because its a lot easier to jig into the mill like that! I also wanted to taper the plenum down in the back after runner 2 so all I needed to do was cut a a horizontal pie cut off each side, and a pie cut vertical on the back piece to match it all back up nice to weld.


The inside was welded for a little extra security in strength. The outside was beveled properly, and it was all preheated evenly in an oven to 400 deg prior to welding, on my 185Amp tig, with only 20% cleaning so a lot more heat went into the weld than back to the torch... plenty of penetration, but the inside I just mostly fusion welded the seems flat-ish and used very little filler. And when you look inside you don't see a bunch of ugly seems inside.


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

This guy http://www.rcdon.com/html/gr-5a_turboshaft_engine.html builds tubroshaft and turbojet engines. what does he do it with? 





rcdon.om FAQ said:


> Q: What kind of welder do you use?
> 
> A: I have a Lincoln Weld Pack 100 MIG welder. I use .035 Innershield flux core wire in my welder because I am too lazy to fill an argon/co2 tank :0) This welding setup has served me well for almost nine years! You can buy this same welder at the Home Depot.


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## WestfarmRacing (Dec 2, 2010)

cabrlicious said:


> This guy http://www.rcdon.com/html/gr-5a_turboshaft_engine.html builds tubroshaft and turbojet engines. what does he do it with?


We also built one. We really havent done anything with it yet. We just built it because we could


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## psychobandito (Sep 10, 2009)

Miller Invision 456P.

I also use a Syncrowave 250 for all my tig work, no current pictures.


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## CDJetta (May 11, 2004)

I'm going to build a turbine engine one of these days with used turbo. I've been eyeing ebay for a cheap generator turbo or a cheap semi engine turbo. Something that is big so I can maybe strap it to the back of a go cart and actually get some thrust.


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## PeOpLeG60T (Jul 5, 2004)

i have a quick question about the Diversion 165 , it says the max thickness for alum is 3/16" , what does this stands for ? what if i wanna weld a 3/8" TB flange to a 1/8" thick plenum ? 

or it stands for 3/16" max penetration or something? or just does not put out enough heat to weld thicker plate ? im on the hunt for a used TIG welder on a 1k$ budget


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## psychobandito (Sep 10, 2009)

it means max thickness is 3/16. 3/8 needs about 29 volts.


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## PeOpLeG60T (Jul 5, 2004)

so , in order to weld an intake manifold with this machine , all the parts must be 3/16" or less in order to weld ?


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## Eganx (Apr 30, 2004)

I'm not eduacted on how they spec out welding machines.......but you should be able to weld more than 3/16 with that machine with a few tips/tricks with prep and preheat


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

PeOpLeG60T said:


> i have a quick question about the Diversion 165 , it says the max thickness for alum is 3/16" , what does this stands for ? what if i wanna weld a 3/8" TB flange to a 1/8" thick plenum ?
> 
> or it stands for 3/16" max penetration or something? or just does not put out enough heat to weld thicker plate ? im on the hunt for a used TIG welder on a 1k$ budget


 
It will weld thicker metal... but your gonna over heat it real quick... You might get 6" of weld then have to stop for 5 mins.... If its me im getting no less then a 180 machine.... I over heat my 225 2 or 3 times on a big project, then i have to wait for it to cool down, i hate it!


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## IMAN973 (Jun 1, 2006)

I have a 165 and it usually has enough amps to get the job done. When using rmr intake stock, which is 1/4 inch, I had to preheat everything. But once you get going it melts like butter. I just hate the torch that it comes with. I ordered a different one and now I find my welds to be more consistant. But all in all for 1000 dollars with a foot pedal, I couldn't pass it up.


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## bmxdarcy (Mar 7, 2006)

i'm curious about the rear of this cage, any tie-ins to the rear strut towers?


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## yellowrocco87 (Oct 4, 2006)

bmxdarcy said:


> i'm curious about the rear of this cage, any tie-ins to the rear strut towers?


no theres no tie-ins to the rear strut towers. That isn't needed being that these rear bars tie into the OEM frame of the car that sits right behind the tail lights. We built the cage to utilize full interior being the car is raced in a street car class.


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## AHKustomz (Apr 1, 2005)

kkkustom said:


> AEB custom intake manifold with 75MM cable tb for my drag car.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


loving the ranger bro how come no stock floor bd im building a 97 dak with a irs rite now


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## yellowrocco87 (Oct 4, 2006)

AHKustomz said:


> loving the ranger bro how come no stock floor bd im building a 97 dak with a irs rite now


kill yourself for quoting all of those pictures......geezes christ


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## CDJetta (May 11, 2004)

Agreed. Please don't quote other people's post with the pictures. It just makes it that much more annoying to go through the thread.


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

Im going to agree with everybody above. But i think this should be a rule of courtesy on all threads.


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...a=X&ei=BsmbTbX2IsKW0QG9__HJAg&ved=0CBsQ9QEwAQ 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Virginia_(SSN-774)_bravo_sea_trials.jpg

Both of these are what I build using Esab equipment some of which is older than most of you here. Looking at some of the tig skills here if anyone wants to get involved in building either of these let me know.


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## yellowrocco87 (Oct 4, 2006)

big65 said:


> http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...a=X&ei=BsmbTbX2IsKW0QG9__HJAg&ved=0CBsQ9QEwAQ
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Virginia_(SSN-774)_bravo_sea_trials.jpg
> 
> Both of these are what I build using Esab equipment some of which is older than most of you here. Looking at some of the tig skills here if anyone wants to get involved in building either of these let me know.


where in the world do they build those things? i'm sure the pay is intense too. where do i sign up :laugh:


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

Wheres the job at and how much is the pay? Im game!!


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## AHKustomz (Apr 1, 2005)

god my bad on the pics wasnt sure how to reply with one pic


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## blksabbath (Jun 28, 2001)

> you all are some skilled welders. how about the efforts of some newbies, and their newly purchased welders? bonus points for $100 welders


I bought a refurbished Clarke 90E stick welder for $18 from ToolMall.com. Shipping was like $15. Couldn't pass it up. So far I've welded new handles on my friends wok.:beer:


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

The company is located in Newport News Virginia about 2.5 hours south of DC. http://www.huntingtoningalls.com/

Pay is dependent on what skills you have and how well you can sell yourself in your interview. Benefits are pretty decent for the typical stuff but then there's an apprenticeship school for blue and white collar work from welding to engineering as well as free night classes for things like GED on up. Job types range from blaster, painter, electrician, marine electrician, marine chemist, tack welder, ship fitter, pipe welder, structural welder, sheet metal, mechanic, refueler, equipment operator of all types, power plant, firefighter, all sorts of office and clerical, engineering, design, medical staff, ect ect ect. I started at the beginning of the year close to $20hr and I'm being bumped up $1.25hr next week now that I have passed three tests. There is a yearly pay raise but you can also go up by getting qualifications as well and there are some guys here that make over 100k a year that are not white collar.

I won't lie, its a dirty job and dangerous but the money is very good and gets better and then there's the pride in being part of building these incredible ships and a part of history for each one that sets sail. I'll answer what questions I can for those interested and will let everyone know now that there is a 10 year across the board background check by the company plus medical history to include any xrays, hospital stays, short and long term treatments and then there's the security clearance that I can't talk about but is done by the feds because of what your working on and around from designs to nuclear fuel.


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

So say im a master fabricator/wlder would they be willing to start me out close to 30/hr? heres a couple of pictures of some bigger things ive fit. well alls i have anymore is this of a tankermans house i made that was roughly 15't*12'*12'. Thats not even the biggest things ive worked on. had some pics of psylo's i built but dont have pictures.(another top secret clause on that one.) Oh and a picture of something i made back in high school.


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

I can't say what they would start you out at but I would hazzard that it would not be far from what your asking about. Even though you have welding skills and experience they will still send you through the welding school facility to see how well you can weld which if your good then you should be able to move through there pretty quickly and may be able to get put into the apprenticeship school when you get hired. There are two ladies that I am in the school with right now who are also going to the apprenticeship school as well because they also have met 4 of the 8 requirements to get into the school. 

Figuratively speaking there are welders in the yard that are making over 100k a year and these are so far as I know pipe welders working on piping in the subs and in the carrier so if you want to get to that you may have to be willing to take a little less than the $30hr your wanting but like I said there are some good benefits and perks that come with the job. Oh yea did I mention that I'm within 20 minutes of the ocean front and that there are some nice women that come to the beach?


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

Oh well i can literally fit and weld anything together from cast iron with a torch to aluminum inconel titanium and nickel with TIG, and everything in between. i generally let my welding speak for itself though. I used to weld Santa cruz and cervelos bikes as well before they all went to carbon fiber frames.


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## DMVDUB (Jan 11, 2010)

I know this isn't the classifieds ( I already have it there.) but here's something for you guys:

I've got this welder that's just way more welder than I need so I'm trying to sell it. Only has around 3 rolls trough it and only a few hours of use.

SNAP-ON MM140SL $2500.00 OBO
(comes with full tank, 30lb roll, and self tinting helmet)

Description from: http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....&group_ID=1736


Description: 
140 amp output @ 100% duty cycle, 120VAC, 50 Hz/60 Hz. Use for continuous, spot, or stitch welding using .023" through .035" wire. Welds up to 1/4" in a single pass. For use in auto body collision repair, automotive repair shops, maintenance and manufacturing applications and custom fabrication shops where voltage input is limited to 120V. Highest duty cycle 120V MIG welder available. Includes cylinder rack, MIG torch with 10' cable, 15' feeder cable and 20' power input cable. Offers spot and stitch weld capabilities. Two-year warranty (except MIG torch).

Footnote: 
Warranty does not include Cable or Torch

Additional Description: 
Snap-on Muscle MIG welders weld continuous, spot or stitch all ferrous (steel, stainless steel) metals. Detachable feeder provides increased maneuverability and extended reach. Thin ferrous metals as well as copper can be welded with the optional TIG accessory kit. Each model is spool gun ready for welding aluminum with optional accessory. Each welder includes a flowmeter-regulator and parts kit. See SS2943 brochure for additonal information.


Additional Features: 
Compare our welders. Common welders have 30% Duty Cycles, which means you can only weld three minutes out of ten at full load amperage setting. Snap-on welders feature 100% Duty Cycle – weld ten minutes out of ten at full load amperage setting. There Is A Difference™.











PM me you're offers! $2500.00 OBO (comes with accessories)


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## bmxdarcy (Mar 7, 2006)




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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

bmxdarcy said:


>


 Not bad on the tig work there, I'd like to see the dimes a bit closer on the bottom plug there but still good work.


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

MKIGTITDI said:


> Oh well i can literally fit and weld anything together from cast iron with a torch to aluminum inconel titanium and nickel with TIG, and everything in between. i generally let my welding speak for itself though. I used to weld Santa cruz and cervelos bikes as well before they all went to carbon fiber frames.


Welding here will be anything from small detail work to filling in inch thick high strength low alloy steel, zero flaw stainless pipe as well as zero flaw structural welds on various sub sections, carbon arcing the back side of a root to fill it with metal, welding mild steel up to titanium. 

There are safety rules on top of safety rules here and for good reason and generally everyone works with a partner. There are three shifts and overtime is available and there are certifications and training you can take to raise your pay.

http://pilotonline.com/ local paper for the area if you are interested in getting an idea about whats going on here. Keep in mind that this is a heavily military area with more bases within an hours drive than summer little league baseball camp and its also a tourist area as well. A significant portion of the population is also from outside of the country from area's like Guam and Russia and other area's to a lesser degree so that along with the military presence means there are allot of bad drivers on the local roads.


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## bmxdarcy (Mar 7, 2006)

big65 said:


> Not bad on the tig work there, I'd like to see the dimes a bit closer on the bottom plug there but still good work.


the plug on the radiator? not mine, it's a Mishimoto rad and it's low quality welds. I'm still learning but I know our production department at work does better than theirs. 

this stuff you do out in VA seems interesting and well paid, might be something for me down the road...


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

bmxdarcy said:


> the plug on the radiator? not mine, it's a Mishimoto rad and it's low quality welds. I'm still learning but I know our production department at work does better than theirs.
> 
> this stuff you do out in VA seems interesting and well paid, might be something for me down the road...


Wouldn't hurt to put feelers out now if your interested, right now the company is really hiring to try and get production moving and they have had problems finding qualified sub contractors who can run a simple overhead T joint bead on mild steel. 9 out of 10 washout on the first 2 beads.


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## xblueinsanityx (Nov 20, 2005)




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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

I want to see some flux core pictures


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## CDJetta (May 11, 2004)

Ewww. Flux core


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

CDJetta said:


> Ewww. Flux core


to this I say look at the post of mine earlier in this thread about a guy building home made turboshaft engines with a flux core welder. Flux core may not be a favorite but it certainly works in the right hands.


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

my loaner mig ran out of wire last night just when I got set up to tack something together. hah figures. I'd like to know what are the good brands of wire... I want to try to make it as easy as possible, since before my welds came out pretty inconsistent. The funny thing was, I'd make a nice bead, and then a terrible one without changing settings on the welder... don't get it.


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## Fast Bumpers (Oct 1, 2002)

Here's some typical stuff we work on.









Name that process...







:beer:


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## Taiden (Sep 27, 2010)

I can't even tell what's going on, so I'm going to say sub-arc.


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

Fast Bumpers said:


> Here's some typical stuff we work on.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It is indeed sub-arc. do you work at nw pipe?


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## Taiden (Sep 27, 2010)

I don't. I'm just a wannabe welder. I have a miller maxstar 150 stl that I mess around on with TIG. Love stick, hate mig, love TIG but I suck at it.

I really hope that some day I can shadow someone while they build a set of headers / turbo manifold. :thumbup:


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

Not you bud i was refering to fast bumpers


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## Taiden (Sep 27, 2010)

:beer:


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

Heres some welding that i did outside of a costco with a 125 hd flux core welder, grinder and a chope saw...


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

so I gotta ask again, can anyone recommend a brand of welding wire to get? I don't want to buy cheap-o wire that's going to add to the difficulty of learning how to mig weld.

amen to shadowing a pro building headers / intake manis etc. If there's anybody in NJ who runs a machine shop / custom car fabricator who needs someone to keep things tidy and maybe do some Mastercam drawings... I do have an associate degree in Mechanical Engineering Tech, just gotta put myself out there. :beer:

Can we get some close ups of your flux core mig welds on those beefy orange storage racks?


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

Yeah and ill get some of the extended beems i made for our pharmacy separtment. I also have a couple of pictures of a smaller project and ill have a couple here soon of my $100 flux core welder from oak harbor freight.


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## blackvento36 (Mar 17, 2003)

cabrlicious said:


> my loaner mig ran out of wire last night just when I got set up to tack something together. hah figures. I'd like to know what are the good brands of wire... I want to try to make it as easy as possible, since before my welds came out pretty inconsistent. The funny thing was, I'd make a nice bead, and then a terrible one without changing settings on the welder... don't get it.


You might be exceeding the machines duty cycle. Lower powered machines need to cool off longer before they will weld again at the same amperage. If I understand it right, a machine with a 20% duty cycle @ whatever amperage your welding at will weld for 2 minutes and need to cool for 8.


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

blackvento36 said:


> You might be exceeding the machines duty cycle. Lower powered machines need to cool off longer before they will weld again at the same amperage. If I understand it right, a machine with a 20% duty cycle @ whatever amperage your welding at will weld for 2 minutes and need to cool for 8.


I don't think I was taxing the machine, since I've only been welding dinky stuff, but the welder is dinky itself so its entirely possible. I gotta look up its specs. But eh, still, any recommendations on what brands to buy / stay away from for wire? lol not one reply on that


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## Taiden (Sep 27, 2010)

just buy wire and burn it! head over to your local welding shop they will point you in the right direction :thumbup:


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## blackvento36 (Mar 17, 2003)

cabrlicious said:


> I don't think I was taxing the machine, since I've only been welding dinky stuff, but the welder is dinky itself so its entirely possible. I gotta look up its specs. But eh, still, any recommendations on what brands to buy / stay away from for wire? lol not one reply on that


Well what exactly is the problem? If your beads are looking taller and not as uniform as they were the first time, then you're definitely hitting the duty cycle. You preheated the base metal with the first bead you laid, so it should be easier to melt with the second. If it's not your machine just isn't putting out the same amount of heat. 120v MIG machines are pretty lousy with the duty cycle, most people buy bigger machines to weld the same stuff, they can just do it longer.

If you're blowing holes or warping the metal on thinner stuff it's because it's too hot from the last bead. You need to move around to a cooler spot, lay shorter beads or wait for it to cool. 

AFAIC, wire is wire. All it is is a strand of metal. You specify the alloy, any brand should conform to those specifications. Flux core may actually differ brand to brand since there's a little more to it, but if your running flux cored you should expect to be making boogers anyway. Actually the machine seems to play a big roll with FC too. I can throw a spool in one machine and get nice flat beads with low spatter, and a different manchine will just make a big mess. Just make sure you change the polarity if running FC.


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## kkkustom (Jun 5, 2007)

wire isnt wire. Farm migg'ers might not feel, hear, see the difference but a pro will.

Purity of metal, cleanliness of the spool. Age and how it was stored. Heck a welder buddy of mine was having issues with his mig at work, sputtering and popping here and there then it would be fine, then start back up... and all kinds of crap. Fought with settings, changed gas tanks, tips, spool tension, roller tension... nothing seemed to be working.

Then he though you know this is a lot like when someone changes the wire to a thinner gauge and doesn't change the feed tip on the torch. so when it started acting up again he shut the machine off and stripped out a few feet of wire. put it through a new tip and noticed it was way too loose. pulled another 20 feet of wire and tested the fit in the same tip, and it was fine.

Turned out the spool of wire was apart of a recalled group of spools from Lincoln for having inconsistent wire gauges.


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

Huh ive never ran into that problem fortunately. when was this recall? that would have pissed me off.


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## blackvento36 (Mar 17, 2003)

kkkustom said:


> wire isnt wire. Farm migg'ers might not feel, hear, see the difference but a pro will.
> 
> Purity of metal, cleanliness of the spool. Age and how it was stored. Heck a welder buddy of mine was having issues with his mig at work, sputtering and popping here and there then it would be fine, then start back up... and all kinds of crap. Fought with settings, changed gas tanks, tips, spool tension, roller tension... nothing seemed to be working.
> 
> ...


But now you're talking about dirty and defective wire, which really has nothing to do with what I said. The guy was asking about brands. I'm sure he's not looking to buy a spool that's been sitting unwrapped in somebodys garage for 3 years.


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

blackvento36 said:


> ...I'm sure he's not looking to buy a spool that's been sitting unwrapped in somebodys garage for 3 years.


you know for what it's worth the wire that was in the machine might have been three years old and the machine does live in a garage hah. It's raining all week... not prime welding weather. I wish I had a garage myself.


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## blackvento36 (Mar 17, 2003)

PeOpLeG60T said:


> i have a quick question about the Diversion 165 , it says the max thickness for alum is 3/16" , what does this stands for ? what if i wanna weld a 3/8" TB flange to a 1/8" thick plenum ?
> 
> or it stands for 3/16" max penetration or something? or just does not put out enough heat to weld thicker plate ? im on the hunt for a used TIG welder on a 1k$ budget


The thickness rating is what the welder penetrate in 1 pass. If you're welding 1/8" to 3/8" you're pretty much welding 1/8" since you're not looking to penetrate any further than that. If you need to weld something thicker than 3/16" you can weld from both sides or bevel it deeper and run root and filler passes. Sometimes you weld things that are thicker that don't need full penetration, in that case it's fine to use a smaller machine. Preheating will stretch the machine a little bit too.


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## blackvento36 (Mar 17, 2003)

cabrlicious said:


> you know for what it's worth the wire that was in the machine might have been three years old and the machine does live in a garage hah. It's raining all week... not prime welding weather. I wish I had a garage myself.


In that case you should probably pop the spool out and get a new one, wire is cheap. All I'm saying is that when you go to the welding supply don't stress yourself out whether to get the Lincoln or Hobart wire (or whatever else)


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

cabrlicious said:


> my loaner mig ran out of wire last night just when I got set up to tack something together. hah figures. I'd like to know what are the good brands of wire... I want to try to make it as easy as possible, since before my welds came out pretty inconsistent. The funny thing was, I'd make a nice bead, and then a terrible one without changing settings on the welder... don't get it.


I'll see what we use at work tomorrow but the stuff runs real smooth though I am using 1/16 71t1hyn.

Generally a good bead then a bad one comes down to operator error and with fluxcore you really have to stay on top of your travel and work angles otherwise you'll get a ****ty bead. Temp and wire speed is critical to specially when doing vertical with an open root and working with thin material. Myself I'd rather go back to running stainless stick than work any more with fluxcore but its not my decision.

Try http://www.weldingweb.com for advice and tips, its been indispensable to me in dealing with many welding issues ranging through smaw to mig to fluxcore to tig and from mild steel to stainless to aluminum.


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

yeah I gather most of the inconsistency is probably coming right from me, though I do try and do it as repeatably as possible. And I am going to buy new wire because i ran out hah


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

being able to consistantly weld time after time take alot of pracice and experience. ive gotten to the point with tig welding that i can fall asleep and still end up with a nice bead...At the cost of burnt fingers a rude awakening and being written up for ruining a frame....Like i said experience and practice are key.


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

cabrlicious said:


> yeah I gather most of the inconsistency is probably coming right from me, though I do try and do it as repeatably as possible. And I am going to buy new wire because i ran out hah


The wire we use at work is ESAB military grade fluxcore .035 / .045 / 1/16 diameter wire with the largest running $150 a roll in bulk which is generally 2 to a box 12 boxes to a layer 8 layers on a pallet.

Which ever arm is not dominate should be used to support the dominate arm as it holds the mig gun. In my instance I use my left to support my right and my left arm always rests on a solid surface or my leg for stability. Doing this will add stability to your bead as you weld along the line which takes some worry off your shoulders so you can focus on maintaining a consistent travel speed and the correct work angle. 

Another thing you can do is to practice without welding by taking a dowel rod about a foot and half in length and about the diameter of a pencil and hold it like you would a mig gun and follow a line on the wall or table for about a foot. This will allow you to see at what point in your travel path you start to change travel / work angles and your travel speed. The length of the rod will also allow you to see how much natural shake you have in your upper body and allow you to focus on getting it under control.

A trick you can do to work on your travel speed is to get a hobby airbrush kit along with some food dyes and water. Put some water into the bottle and pour in a few drops of food dye, use a medium spray tip and then spray a path along a line on some white paper. The width of the pattern from the spray will change with your travel speed and give you something to work with on controlling that for greater consistency and the water and food dyes are biodegradable and cheap.


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## Taiden (Sep 27, 2010)

big65, do you have any tips for practicing TIG? :thumbup:


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

well got some wire from the depot. Same exact wire that was in the welder, which itself probably came from home depot.

I'm trying to learn technique a bit before welding up my mk2 recaro seat frames for my mk3. If it wasn't structural I'd already be done, but, I'm not trusting my own ass to crummy welds.

So some questions ... I keep getting porous welds. Not all of them, but most of the time. I'm starting to wonder if somehow my gas is contaminated, but that sounds silly. Surely its just my set up. What is the more likely culprit: wrong gas flow rate or not clean enough metal? I've been grinding down to fresh metal, isn't that all you need? 

So aside from that I've been trying to get a feel for pushing the pool around and what wire speed and amperage to use. I really feel like if I had a fancier welder with more than 4 positions for amperage I'd have an easier time. Maybe that's just newbie moaning. I got a great looking bead on a butt weld but even that one wasn't penetrating deep enough. 

Next time I go out there I'm gonna go to town on the ground clamp and the mig nozzle again. I bought some nozzle jelly since it tends to gunk up. The fact that theres that much crap shooting off the weld makes me think I haven't prepped enough somehow, but I fail to see how. Next day I do some more practice I'm gonna write down what I did and take pictures so I can remember more clearly between sessions and also be specific when asking for help.


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

Turn that welder up to it's highest setting, and typically with those little ones I find my wire speed way slower then the little chart tells you it needs to be at. This will help with your splatter... Also like you said make sure your ground is touching bare metal, some times it helps if your ground is directly on the piece your working, not hooked to a table then going through your piece, not sure wich way you have it. Keep up the practice!


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

Cleanliness is godliness as well yes you sdaid that you ground to base metal but make sure theres no contaminents. Also you said your using nozzle jelly. make sure all the excess of that is burned off the nozzle before you go to weld. that will make you weld pourous. take the welder to a piece of scrap for a couple of seconds. pictures will make a big difference post em up here and im sure youll get more help that way.


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## blackvento36 (Mar 17, 2003)

yeah, it's oil and dirt that usually cause porous welds. As it burns it creates another gas inside your shielding gas pocket


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

blackvento36 said:


> yeah, it's oil and dirt that usually cause porous welds. As it burns it creates another gas inside your shielding gas pocket


now that I think about it I didn't clean my work surface. I need a little welding table. Anybody got like a 2x2 chunk of 1/4" or a little thinner plate they want to donate? That way I could just put it inside and not have to worry about mother nature.


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## Taiden (Sep 27, 2010)

As long as you aren't welding directly to your surface to hold things in place, you can just cover your workplace with sheet metal. Get a 1" thick 4x8 sheet of ply and throw a 4x8 sheet of sheet metal (not galvi) on top and you'll be good.


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

Dude i did a ton of welding on stacks of pallets as a work bench.


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

I'm actually working on tig pipe at the moment to refresh myself before going to aluminum tig. Give me a day and I'll post my tips for tiging with the newer digital machines and the older machines for mild steel.


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

In all honesty ive found the old syncowave three phase welders out preform any of the newer digital welders in preformance for time after time consistancy but its all preference. Plus i didnt work with many shops that had too many of them on the floor so ive only worked with them a handful of times so i may be a bit biased.


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

MKIGTITDI said:


> Dude i did a ton of welding on stacks of pallets as a work bench.


good way to start a bbq.

Oil, grease, dirt, paint, rust, most cleaners, water, you name it it can cause porosity and if your using fluxcore wire and your pushing the bead you could end up with slag causing it due to the bead cooling before you get through it. Flux is more fluid than regular mig so you generally have to move faster but with those little buzz boxes you have to go slower due to the low output and the size of the wire. Use acetone to clean the area to be welded and let dry, make sure that you have good gas flow and little to no drafts coming through that will disrupt the shielding gas from the bottle and from the fluxcore itself as this will cause porosity. A higher voltage will ease the spatter and a lower wire speed will help as well even with vertical though not much there.


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

MKIGTITDI said:


> In all honesty ive found the old syncowave three phase welders out preform any of the newer digital welders in preformance for time after time consistancy but its all preference. Plus i didnt work with many shops that had too many of them on the floor so ive only worked with them a handful of times so i may be a bit biased.


Loves me a miller xmt setup for mig tig and smaw ac/dc 300 amp %100 duty cycle with water cooler for the tig and it all sits on one cart.....just gives me shivers thinking back on it.


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

With tig I like the modern rigs such as this http://www.millerwelds.com/products/multiprocess/xmt_350/ with a water cooler for the tig box. The set up is nice and mobile and doesn't take up much space and with the option of a foot pedal or thumb wheel variable controls it makes tig work a dream along with the digital display and the various control options.

That being said I am currently using a 40 year old Linde power box with a remote control box and an amp box with high frequency start and %100 duty cycle and %100 output based on the settings. The trigger is a rubber encased unit that can be located anywhere on the air cooled torch that you want to use for your thumb or fingers. With air cooled torches you have to stop after a few filler rods worth of bead and let the torch cool otherwise it will damage the torch and melt the parts of it that are rubber and plastic. 

Regardless of what type of machine your using you have to have a steady hand more so than with other welding processes because tig is really unforgiving of a shaky hand or to fast or slow of travel speed and to slow or quick on adding the filler metal. If your doing pipe you can allow yourself a little push or pull of +/- 5 - 10 degree's but no more as to much push will push the puddle to far ahead overheating the weldmont and pushing it to far back can cause it the bead to lump up.

Use a shield with a shade 10 - 11 lense and uninsulated long leather gloves, the gloves will make it easier to manipulate the torch and feed the filler rod into the puddle and the lense will be about the shade you need. Really make sure you watch your angles specially if you have an application where your not using filler metal because it is more easy to undercut and to blow through specially on thing material. Always make sure the weldmont is cleaned of any contaminates when ever your sharpening your tungsten use a dedicated sharpening wheel to avoid contamination from other metals such as if you have a dual bench grinder use one wheel solely for sharpening your tungsten if your working on stainless steal. For cleaning weldmonts you can use acetone but you have to let it air dry before any welding. 

Speaking of stainless you have to watch your temp and travel speed otherwise you could end up burning the bead and surrounding material resulting in a blackened appearance and a weakened material prone to failure. Ideally you want a nice honey wheat colored bead though the coloring can range to a rose gold color and some blue green color but shoot for the honey wheat or rose gold color.

Ok wife is talking to me and I lost my train of thought but always remember that slow and steady wins the race, never get in a hurry or you'll regret it and always keep what your working on clean clean clean.


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

big65 said:


> good way to start a bbq.


Eh i live my life dangerously. plus it was only a little 125 flux core so not much in the form of sparks that would actualyy start a pallet on fire. I must say on the whole digital set ups ive always prefered analog machines. Guess i get more of a feel for them. Plus ive seen many younger (should say newer) welders that use the digital settings religously and never fully learn how to properly set up a welder. I love the old linde machines for power sources. ive ran many of mile of various type of welds using those. as well as the older lincoln 1000 amp power sources. those more so for sub arc and the 600 for dual shield. Never really used the thumb controls on tig actually ive maybe used it a handful of times. Ive been spoiled with the foot pedal.


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

I love the foot pedal to with the variable control so I can tailor the heat to the location within the bead, this high frequency to full on to high frequency nonsense bothers me and the air cooled torch is another thing I dont care for considering that I can't take the heat past 6 without risking melting the red rubber sleeve.


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

Ive never worked with an air cooled torch either. altough i have popped quiet a few power lines on water cooled torches...Makes for a wet work area.


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

5" sch 40 y I made today.... 1/2" flange..... 245amps flat footed all the way around, double pass on the flange.
Welder= Miller Dynasty 350


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

nice bead pattern


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

nubVR said:


> 5" sch 40 y I made today.... 1/2" flange..... 245amps flat footed all the way around, double pass on the flange.
> Welder= Miller Dynasty 350


How many years of practice yield such immaculate results?

I noticed a silly steel tchotchke today at my friends house. It was a fisherman welded from bits of nuts, bolts, wire, and real thin sheet. I thought it was tacky as art but really cool that the guy was able to weld huge thick nuts to thin wire, and such. Just imagining the process of making it is what impressed me.


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

Metal art is cool stuff.... when ever im at a farmers market or anything like that, im always checking out metal work people are selling!

ive been welding for 10 years..... for the last 5 though, i do alot of baby sitting and less welding.... i only weld maybe an 1hour or 2 a week at work... then practice in my garage after work


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

nubVR said:


> ive been welding for 10 years..... for the last 5 though, i do alot of baby sitting and less welding.... i only weld maybe an 1hour or 2 a week at work


Im right there with you on that brother.


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## bmxdarcy (Mar 7, 2006)

is that 5356 or 4047 rod? 

I'm impartial to the miller/lincoln debate but those dynasty's are really sweet machines.


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

Owning a Lincoln at home, and using millers at work..... Miller weld quality is better..... Never once had a failure with the lincold though, so I can't knock it. I used 3/32 5356


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## bmxdarcy (Mar 7, 2006)

I hear a lot of people say that about millers. We use lincolns at work and evidently they are 10+ years old no failures! There is certainly something to be said for their quality. 

Our work is a bit more cosmetic and rarely do we anodize so we run the 4043 rod. I like that the 4043 rod doesn't frost the puddles, it's also very predictable.


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

4043 welds very clean, i dont like how soft it is compared to 5356. I usually only use 4043 on cast, and anything under 1/8th". 
I should take a picture of some of the miller power sources we have at work, i wanna say we have 30-35 from the 60's-70's. Still runnin strong..... Not real ideal on power, i tried telling my company they could cut the power bill in half, and get half of the new machines payed for from government programs and stuff, but there kinda hard headed! Ill get a pic up next week


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## kkkustom (Jun 5, 2007)

some simple control arms for a RWD Honda DelSol project. 1.5" .120 wall DOM, QA1 tube adapters and rod ends. The adapters are welded to some 1.25" .90 wall first, then the 1.25" slides inside the 1.5" dom... because nobody makes a tube adapter for smaller hiems and larger tubing.




















the ones tacked are fixed at 13.25" and the customer said he didn't want them ever moving and asked that they be tacked. I cant fully weld them because the PTFE liner would melt. at least this way if need be they can grind the tiny tack out and replace the rod ends still. Now that I looked at it, I should have just put the jamb nut on them, adjusted them and tacked the jamb nut. :banghead: ohh well customer is always right.


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

I finally got the bulk of my spring cleaning done so outside for some welding practice, and naturally I continued to have the penetration problem like I've had all along. This time I took plenty of pics, seeing as how I found my camera while cleaning :laugh: 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/madrush/sets/72157626739518619/


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## kkkustom (Jun 5, 2007)

I have used that same little machine on a bunch of stuff when my miller's weren't around. its a good machine for exactly the stuff you are trying to do. 

first thing i notice is the brown **** everywhere after the welds. And it looks like the metal is damn clean (for mig). What kind of gas are you using? 75/25 mixed? is it old gas, is it coming from a GOOD dealer (I fought with aluminum tig issues for a while and it turns out they gave me a **** bottle of argon). The gauge pic doesn't do me any good as to what the tip flow is. pull the trigger and let some wire come out for a few secs and set the gauge for the flow when its running. when you get off the trigger the solenoid closes and the needle will go up a lot and sit as XX. Also are you pushing or pulling when you weld? Take the cup off the torch and make sure the little ports for the argon flow arent blocked. If you use tip spray they will clog up all the time. if you aren't using spray they can get spatter seized on them and block the gas flow. Also check to see if your gas lines from the tank, through the machine and out the gun aren't leaking, sucking in oxygen somewhere spitting it out at the weld puddle. the brown poopy soot all over is a sign of poor gas coverage. 

make sure the right tip is screwed into the body, and its not protruding past the gas nozzle, or too far inside the nozzle. I had someone do that on me once at the shop. Swapped out the tip from one machine to another like a retard, even though it screwed in the gun, it was way to long and the nozzle wasnt shielding the weld puddle. took me a few mins to figure that one out too. 


And dont weld in a tornado outside. ANY draft, wind or even an over head fan will blow the shielding gas away in a heart beat. 


Are you plugging the machine DIRECTLY into the wall? not on a mile long thin ass extension cord. Even though the thing is set to D max voltage, the amperage might not be behind the outlet to power the machine properly. If its directly in the wall, have someone test the outlet to make sure the electricity is clean and strong. Been there too, fought with a machine at a location that had piss poor commercial power. bring the machine to my shop on the same settings and it was night and day different. If you need an extension cord, better get a friggen heavy duty one! 


Lastly has this machine ever been running flux core, and maybe later converted to gas? maybe a used machine and the prior owner had it set up for that. If so the ground and gun cables might be backwards! check those. 


on to setting the machine up, mig voltage/wirespeed is all by ear...at least that's how I do it. You want it to sound like frying bacon in a hot pan, steady crisp crackling. If it sounds like pops and farts, and lots of big spatter pieces all over, keep adjusting!


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

Yeah it looks like somethings going on with your gas. also try backing off your wire speed a bit.


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## Taiden (Sep 27, 2010)

Man... I can't stand flux core... :facepalm: 

That's just me though. Give me a stick welder over flux core any day. Get that baby on the bottle and dont look back.


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## sugmag (Aug 6, 2002)

First time, long time. I just picked up a welder, it's a Mig from Eastwood, 135. It will be used for mostly sheetmetal and exhaust. Today was literaly my first time ever welding. It is set-up for .030 flux wire and I was welding on 1/8th angle and 16 guage exhaust pipe. 
Comments are welcome.


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

kkkustom said:


> I have used that same little machine on a bunch of stuff when my miller's weren't around. its a good machine for exactly the stuff you are trying to do.
> 
> first thing i notice is the brown **** everywhere after the welds. And it looks like the metal is damn clean (for mig). What kind of gas are you using? 75/25 mixed? is it old gas, is it coming from a GOOD dealer (I fought with aluminum tig issues for a while and it turns out they gave me a **** bottle of argon). The gauge pic doesn't do me any good as to what the tip flow is. pull the trigger and let some wire come out for a few secs and set the gauge for the flow when its running. when you get off the trigger the solenoid closes and the needle will go up a lot and sit as XX. Also are you pushing or pulling when you weld? Take the cup off the torch and make sure the little ports for the argon flow arent blocked. If you use tip spray they will clog up all the time. if you aren't using spray they can get spatter seized on them and block the gas flow. Also check to see if your gas lines from the tank, through the machine and out the gun aren't leaking, sucking in oxygen somewhere spitting it out at the weld puddle. the brown poopy soot all over is a sign of poor gas coverage.
> 
> ...


 yeah I forgot to ask about the brown ****... its driving me mad. The gas is 75/25... if camping tomorrow is bust (hope not) I'm gonna go to the gas place first thing and get it refilled with fresh stuff. It's definitely old. I've tried push, I've tried pull, I've also just not even tried any kind of technique in frustration. The little ports where the gas should come out seem to be kind of tight against the thing (wound wire?) that the mig wire rides in, but they weren't fouled with dirt or otherwise clogged. I haven't been using the tip jelly because it made no measurable difference on the outcome. 

What's the proper place for the end of the tip to sit, flush with the nozzle? If so, that's basically where I have it. I might just put a fresh tip on for ****s and giggles. 

Amperage is a great question. I forgot how crummy the wiring is in my house.. to check, what I'm going to do is plug it into an outlet that is running on literally one foot of wire from the panel. Where I've been using the welder is outside on my patio plugged into an outdoor outlet that runs underground that my dad installed a few years back. He's not a chuckle head or anything but whatever else that's on the circuit could definitely be an issue because our panel is somewhat maxed out. 

As for the polarity I spent a few minutes looking at it to make sure it was on right, and actually the little picture under the cover does have a thing showing which way for flux or for gas shielded. That much is right. 

I haven't gotten the 'frying bacon' EVER with this machine for as long as I've been borrowing it. It might do some pops and farts that are even and consistent enough to sound that way but I know what you're saying and its not doing that. I did a little welding with a stick welder at my old job and I know how it should just be SMOOTH and even and its about as far from it as possible. 

I checked the tip, its correct too. 

I think its time to do the 'parts changer' type of trouble shooting starting with getting a fresh tank of gas. Then a new ground. Then a new gun... hah. and its not even my welder :laugh: 

I've got quite a few things to check through thanks a lot for your suggestions. I wonder about a leak and having the proper gas flow set.. I thought you just dial it in to 25 or 30 and you're good to go... gotta check that out for sure.


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## kkkustom (Jun 5, 2007)

cabrlicious said:


> yeah I forgot to ask about the brown ****... its driving me mad. The gas is 75/25... if camping tomorrow is bust (hope not) I'm gonna go to the gas place first thing and get it refilled with fresh stuff. It's definitely old. I've tried push, I've tried pull, I've also just not even tried any kind of technique in frustration. The little ports where the gas should come out seem to be kind of tight against the thing (wound wire?) that the mig wire rides in, but they weren't fouled with dirt or otherwise clogged. I haven't been using the tip jelly because it made no measurable difference on the outcome.
> 
> What's the proper place for the end of the tip to sit, flush with the nozzle? If so, that's basically where I have it. I might just put a fresh tip on for ****s and giggles.
> 
> ...


 
I bet the bottle is full of **** gas. That should make a big difference. Do you have anyone else that MIG welds? Bring your tank to them on their machine and see if the problem follows to them. One thing to try, pull the wire out of the feeder, light a candle, fire up the welder and point the torch at the flame on the candle, pull the trigger and see if it blows out the candle. The argon will put the flame out if its getting to it. easy way to make sure you are getting SOME gas coverage. Also the nozzle might not be sealing to the torch too, so oxygen might be getting sucked in behind the nozzle at its base where it is slide/screwed onto the torch. replace it, they are like $5. 

the tip should be inside the nozzle, not flush and def not past the nozzle. Also I dont like the tip jelly, I use the spray stuff. spray it on and start welding. slag wont stick to the inside of the nozzle and tip, a swift knock on some metal will knock all the junk off inside and you can shoot a little more on and keep welding. best stuff ever 

good idea on the amperage test. If he used some 12 wire for 50 feet or something would have a bunch of loss I would bet. you have the idea, plug it in close and see what happens. If I am welding and the compressor kicks on, even on another circuit/breaker I can see/hear and feel a slight difference for a second or so as the compressor motor starts to spin up. and I have some damn good power at both shops. 

good on the polarity then. 


Try to turn the wirespeed up actually. If its to slow, when you pull the trigger the feed the wire, it will arc and if its hot, set on D, the wire will melt fast and rather long, as in all molten up into the tip, then fall into the puddle, loose the arc, feed more wire melt too fast and too high, fall into the puddle... and so on (or even cool and clog inside the tip). that would make the pop pop pop sound and alot of spatter. Turn up the wire speed. the frying bacon sound is a nice consistent close arc. As in the wirespeed is fast enough to keep up with the melting speed and distance up the wire as per the voltage and wire dia thus keeping the arc between the wire and the work close. Thats also why with thinner wire you need a faster wire speed for the same voltage as a thicker filler wire. the thinner wire melts way faster and doesnt wick the heat off (as it slide through the tip). 

I would also check the tension knob on the feed roller inside the cover. pull the trigger or have someone else try to weld and watch the wire over the feed roller, make sure its not slipping. Put a turn or two into the tension and try again. also look at the roller itself. it should have little teeth almost, perpendicular ridges across the C shaped valley the wire rides in, griping the wire to push it along. They will wear out and slip, causing all kinds of inconsistent wire feeding. Also, if the machine isnt cared for and you coil up the lead from the welder to the gun in tight loops, that will kink the steel braided flex housing inside that the wire rides in, putting a ton of tension on the wire and making the feed roller and the feed motor work that much harder. snip some wire a foot prior to the feed roller and a foot past the tip on the gun and release the feed tensioner... slide the wire by hand and see how it moves, there shouldn't be much resistance at all. if there is you will want to replace the flex guide inside the cable.


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

Anyone seen, or used one of these yet??? Just got one Tuesday at the shop, I love it, gonna order one for home!


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## kkkustom (Jun 5, 2007)

nubVR said:


> Anyone seen, or used one of these yet??? Just got one Tuesday at the shop, I love it, gonna order one for home!


 is it liquid cooled? 

yeah the pyrex cups are tits, but are delicate. and dont resist the heat well either, so the duty cycle isnt there i guess. meaning you cant go non stop with them or they will shatter. 

for cage work a liquid cooled micro torch and shorty Pyrex cup is a must. the torch is as light as a sharpe marker, and about 1 inch tungsten to back cap total, so it can weld the inside of a cylinder head port if need be! 

for aluminum work when the amps are high and the on time is alot longer liquid cooled is a must to begin with, so they are great IMO.


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

Yes that's liquid cooled.... 7 5" sch 40 passes at 242amps, flat footed, all in about 20 mins.... I figured if it could handle that it can handle most anything! There gas torches also have 100% duty cylce, theyshow a cut out of the gas area in the torch, it has twice the volume for cooling, pretty impressed! I'm thinking about a pencil torch at home too!


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## kkkustom (Jun 5, 2007)

wow thats intense! 

the penile ones are cool as hell! I want liquid cooing on my home tig bad.


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

Your beads are to cold so your heat is to low, bump it up about 10 amps and run a new bead to see how it comes out and cut your wire speed back about a point or so. Your gas should be running about 25 - 30cfm and you wont know if its right till you do what was said above and I would not trust that gauge your using seeing as how its internals are exposed to the elements with out the plastic lense on it. 

Ment for cabrilicious.


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

sugmag said:


> First time, long time. I just picked up a welder, it's a Mig from Eastwood, 135. It will be used for mostly sheetmetal and exhaust. Today was literaly my first time ever welding. It is set-up for .030 flux wire and I was welding on 1/8th angle and 16 guage exhaust pipe.
> Comments are welcome.


 Pic 2 cut your heat down about 5 amps, pic 3 if that is a vertical up weld then do a slight zigzag weave side to side or a J weave and always keep your heat lower on a vertical up as your going to be pushing the heat up through the weldmont as you go higher. 

With the galvanized you did good to get the coating off but you should take it off about 8 inches from the weld area and use a grinding wheel on a drill to get the coating off of the inside as well and do it with a fan behind you to blow the dust away as its bad even in dust form. Turn your heat down with the thin stuff so you dont get those burnt welds and watch your gas.


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

Oh yea, with thin stuff run short beads of say 2 or 3 inches at the most and stop and let it cool otherwise you'll blow a hole through it.


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## Jckl (Aug 29, 2004)

Well I am cheap and suck but here we go.. 

Second TIG project and used left over stuff. SS exhaust pipe, 16GA. Cheap temp catch can. 









And added galvanized pipe. 










Now the part most of you will hate... 










First time TIG ever was my exhaust. 


















So here a new person to TIG has posted :thumbup:


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

for a first time your doing well at it


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

is there anybody in jersey who would like some beer in exchange for spending the afternoon with me figuring out what the heck is going on with this welder? To say I'm getting frustrated is putting it mild ... I've had this thing a year and have yet to get a single solid weld out of it. 

I did try the outlet right off the panel the other day but it was windy and I doubt my little tent did enough to allow the gas to stay put. Speaking of gas, I was previously welding with 100% co2, and went to get a fresh bottle and got 75/25 argon. I have to do another little test weld using the outlet right off the panel which is on its own dedicated breaker just to compare with what I get on my remote outlet on the patio (my roof-less, wall-less garage). It did seem to get more usable amperage than the other one but I don't have any two pieces of work that are directly comparable. I think its gonna rain tomorrow anyway so ... bah 



Jckl said:


> Now the part most of you will hate...


 it's got primary colors ... just seems like it has less red or blue than most welders like on a machine. what's so bad about that?


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## Jckl (Aug 29, 2004)

cabrlicious said:


> it's got primary colors ... just seems like it has less red or blue than most welders like on a machine. what's so bad about that?


 
There is nothing wrong with it other than there are people who say anything other than the red or blue machines are garbage. This unit is actually a 250A TIG, Stick and 60A plasma combo and does both DC and AC. I have seen them weld just as good as a miller and in some cases better than the 200DX. I have not had any issues with mine yet and they offer a 5 year warranty so I decided I would give it a try and I like it.


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## nothing-leaves-stock (Mar 1, 2005)

miller tig, syncrowave 250:heart:


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

Very nice work indeed.:heart:


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## Jckl (Aug 29, 2004)

How well do you guys like the eastwood MIGs?


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## nothing-leaves-stock (Mar 1, 2005)

welded this up this morning, both bends and DV for a RX8 with a RX7 singal turbo swap


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

Good work, I'm currently working on a stainless 4 inch schedule 80 pipe in the 6G position and do it left handed and right handed.


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## kkkustom (Jun 5, 2007)

cabrlicious said:


> is there anybody in jersey who would like some beer in exchange for spending the afternoon with me figuring out what the heck is going on with this welder? To say I'm getting frustrated is putting it mild ... I've had this thing a year and have yet to get a single solid weld out of it.
> 
> I did try the outlet right off the panel the other day but it was windy and I doubt my little tent did enough to allow the gas to stay put. Speaking of gas, I was previously welding with 100% co2, and went to get a fresh bottle and got 75/25 argon. I have to do another little test weld using the outlet right off the panel which is on its own dedicated breaker just to compare with what I get on my remote outlet on the patio (my roof-less, wall-less garage). It did seem to get more usable amperage than the other one but I don't have any two pieces of work that are directly comparable. I think its gonna rain tomorrow anyway so ... bah
> 
> ...




WIND IS A WELDERS WORST EMEMY! cant be ANY. like I said, even the ceiling fans in my shop, 14 feet up wont allow me to tig at all when i sit under them. Mig I can if I cup my hand/glove around the weld.

Who ever said turn the flow up to 25-35 is nuts... please start buying argon fills from my store then buddy! I run my migs around 13 or so, but never above 20. TIG I am around 15 for aluminum with gas lenses and bump it up a little more for stainless (and longer post flow) to ensure a colorfull bead for the customer. Anything more is a straight waste of gas.

100% co2 will get you better penetration/heat into the base metal, but piss poor shielding, since its still allowing oxygen into the puddle (porosity). Argon pushes oxygen away, thats why tig is usually done with PURE argon. Thats also why tig beads are perfectly clean, no soot or smutz anywhere. Empty that bottle of the CO2, have the shop purge it with pure argon to insure there isnt any junk air in there, and have them will it with standard 75/25 mix. You will notice a WORLD of difference. infact I would bet that as long as the machine doesn't have any gas line leaks (sucking in atmosphere through the leak) that might be entirely your problem.... minus welding outside in windstorms! lol


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

Running %100 argon at 25CFH on a schedule 80 stainless pipe 6G with a backing ring with 120 amps on 5th layer at the moment using a Linde 300 oooollldd school set up and a number 5 gas lense.


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## TBT-Syncro (Apr 28, 2001)

am i the only one running an ESAB welder? (digipulse xr)

:beer:


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

snap a pic of that if you can.... id like to see the sch 80 welds:thumbup:


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

TBT-Syncro said:


> am i the only one running an ESAB welder? (digipulse xr)
> 
> :beer:


 We have some at work that are older than jesus and still run like chili peppers through a baby.


nubVR said:


> snap a pic of that if you can.... id like to see the sch 80 welds:thumbup:


Wish I could but if I get caught with a camera on company property its federal prison time.


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

big65 said:


> Wish I could but if I get caught with a camera on company property its federal prison time.


good point, commy spy!


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

Know how that goes....Got a couple pics of things i made with my phone (psylo's)....Technically same consequences but i didnt get caught...


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

Got a little MIG time in today, first welds in probably 6 months.... .179 5454 alum, millermatic 350
















Sorry for ****ty phone pics


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## nothing-leaves-stock (Mar 1, 2005)

vband exhaust.


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

3/8" angle 6061 to .179 5454, I was a little colder then I wanted... No big deal though


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## nothing-leaves-stock (Mar 1, 2005)

^^that looks nice:thumbup:


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

Thank you Time for some beers and TIG welding in the garage :thumbup:


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

nothing-leaves-stock said:


> vband exhaust.


Might be the picture but you've got concavity going on from 12 to 2 oclock and at 11 oclock positions unless your not using a filler to join the two pieces.


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

Yea it really does look like its undercutting the edge of the lip for the flange even further down the right side, with it being exhaust I would think that the flange would flex and possibly crack the weld without a reinforced bead with filler added as opposed to pulling the two parts together and weakening the thickness of the material for either item. Keep in mind that I'm not sure if the photo is showing the bead properly and I am no expert on exhaust work and right now I hate stainless and pipe for the principal of it.


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## nothing-leaves-stock (Mar 1, 2005)

1st off...i'm still learning and will to the day i die! so i'm open to people that know better telling me how to be better:beer:

the Vband flanges i use have a larger lip the goes over the pipe. this picture i did NOT use filler. and normally do not on these Vbands because of the lip. i have never had one break at all at this seam. if it was a flat seam, then i'd use filler and make it stronger.


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## Jckl (Aug 29, 2004)

When I welded my vbands on my exhaust I wish that I would not have used filler. I have been told that if the seam is a butt joint, it will need filler for strength where if its a lap joint then it will not require filler.

NLS: Do you ever get the v-band hot enough to warp or are you using some type of heat sink? The company I purchased my v-bands from told me to use a large aluminum block under the v-band. I did not use anything and just welded about an inch or two at a time and if I could hold my hand with TIG glove on it, then I went a little more. I ended up not warping any of the 4 I welded.


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## nothing-leaves-stock (Mar 1, 2005)

i warped a few at 1st, but now i welded 4 points then around and haven't seen an issue since.


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## kkkustom (Jun 5, 2007)

I do the same as NLS... the vbands are female slip fit and the inside fit a 3" dia 16ga ss tube perfectly. the thickness on the vband at the slip fit is a few mm's thick so i just fusion weld it and call it a day. Same here, no failures.


On the warping stuff. I just tack 4 sides with a 2 or 3 little bead tack at each of the 4 points. Not just a single tack, turn it 1/2 way single tack, turn a 1/4 tack... I zap 2 little tacks at one point, fast. Like pedal on is about a second total. let it cool for the 15 sec post flow, turn it 180 deg, put 3 little beads down, maybe pedal time is 1.5 sec total. let it cool with post flow. turn it 1/4 3 more beads, cool, turn 180 deg and go at it, and work around it all as fast as I can.


The thing with fusion welding them VS adding filler, the heat input is MUCH less with fusion vs dabbing filler. About 2/3 less heat I would say... that's if you are not pulsing your pedal or allowing the machine to do it with your dabs of filler. That keeps the chances of warping way down, and also doesn't over cool the stainless which is very easy to do and leave you with a porous gray weld.


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## yellowrocco87 (Oct 4, 2006)

I use filler on everything i weld. i can't even remember the last time i fusion welded anything other then a quick tack to hold pipes together.

i also have never warped a flange or anything :wave:

A local VW performance company local to me in baltimore has been fusion welding the flanges on his downpipe kits that he makes and i've been repairing them left and right at the shop. i always recommend using filler for any flange


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## kkkustom (Jun 5, 2007)

I guess it depends on how they are doing it. If they are getting ****ty penetration I can see ti being a problem. But I am melting down atleast .030 of the flange onto/into the weld puddle on the tube, that's about the same amount of material I would be adding to it if I were to dip filler. 

Many welds I repair and see out there, look good but are done with such light amperage they dont have any meat and patatos in the bead.


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## PowerDubs (Jul 22, 2001)

I've never welded before..but I just bought a welder used off Craigslist.

My GF's exhaust needs to be replaced on her GTI, and the used stock exhaust we picked up for it needs to have a pipe welded that the prior owner cut to get the exhaust off the car.

I had her stop by the local 'vw specialist' who posts here a lot on Vortex and just happens to be about 2 minutes from my house. The job consists of throwing the car on the lift, undoing the clamp to the cat pipe, pulling the rubber hangers off, and after welding 1 piece of pipe back together on the 'new' exhaust, reinstalling on car. Simple job, should take no more than 30 minutes from start to finish.

They told her it would be '2 to 3 hundred dollars'.

:what:

Screw that, I'll buy a welder and do it myself.

So I went on Craigslist and bought a Campbell Hausfeld 135amp, 115v Mig with gas tank, helmet and gloves for $150. He threw in some extra new rolls of wire and tip fitting things.

How hard could it be to weld a simple exhaust pipe? It doesn't have to be pretty.. just hold together.

Any tips?


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## Jckl (Aug 29, 2004)

PowerDubs said:


> I've never welded before..but I just bought a welder used off Craigslist.
> 
> My GF's exhaust needs to be replaced on her GTI, and the used stock exhaust we picked up for it needs to have a pipe welded that the prior owner cut to get the exhaust off the car.
> 
> ...



Hello... :wave:

Mig welding is not hard at all. I helped my brother do his exhaust with speed in mind and not looking for pretty. After he watched me do a few mig welds, I handed it to him and told him what to do.. His first welds were not the best but I adjusted the machine for his difference in speed and what not.. After a couple passes he was fine...

I would suggest making a couple passes on some other pipe first if you have never done it before. I am not sure how much you know about MIG but pretty much move in a series of cursive e's. I always do it as a zig-zag or C shape. Also put 3 tacks around the pipe to prevent it from pulling to one side when you start your beads. Speed and heat will very on your personal movement but there is a range that you can start with as a good base. I have always been told you want it to sound like frying bacon. Here is a good link to read if you need some help. http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/how-to-mig-weld.html


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## PowerDubs (Jul 22, 2001)

Thanks for the reply.

I watched the video. I might play with it later today and see what I can do on some scrap.


I just received this deal of the century so I can clean up some things before welding, painting, etc.


$38.17 shipped to my door. 

I figure it was an error on Harbor Freight's website as it is normally $268.99 + shipping and weighs 67+ pounds.

http://www.harborfreight.com/35-gallon-abrasive-blaster-with-vacuum-95502.html

:laugh:


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## Jckl (Aug 29, 2004)

wow...


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## huichox4 (Nov 8, 2004)

lucky bastard haha. Mig Welding is very easy and forgivable compared to Tig and Arch in my opinion, but for quality stuff nothing beats Tig. 

We welded a big part of our Race car Roll cage with a mig and passes inspection at the track and all without any issue.


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

Vertical up, overhead.... Check out the welder....
























5/16" tri axle subframe


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## Eganx (Apr 30, 2004)

nubVR said:


> Vertical up, overhead.... Check out the welder....
> 
> 
> 5/16" tri axle subframe




What process is that?


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

MIG


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## Eganx (Apr 30, 2004)

right....but solid wire...dual shield?


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

solid aluminum wire


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## Eganx (Apr 30, 2004)

holy ****.....ya'll make trailer subrames out of Al. I was wondering what type of material that was.......but aluminum just didn't seem like the greatest structual material. But I'm sure if its designed correctly and made well it would be fine.


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

We make everything out of aluminum


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## digga_b (Jun 19, 2005)

cabrlicious said:


> What welder do you use to make stuff, and what stuff have you made with it?
> 
> a la show and tell...


 The welders. 

Millermatic 251 w/Spool gun (the other 251 is gone) 
Maxtron 450 
Syncrowave 300 
Bobcat 250 










Some of the work.


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## Scrubbs (Mar 14, 2006)

Aluminum is an awesoem metal. And Nub does some nice work.


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

*welding*

so after much frustration, giving up, and missing opportunities to bring my friend's welder back to his place and try it out, I finally got over there today. 

after 15 minutes of me and my friend dicking around with the welder wondering about the bad welds ... his brother comes in and says 'the gas hose is unhooked right at this nipple' 

:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead: 

so anyway now I'm welding rather nicely, only problem I had today was with the autotint mask. It would randomly STOP WORKING so I had to use the other mask, which unfortunately doesn't have a head band... meaning I had to weld one handed. Despite my sloppy one handed welding, I was able to successfully weld up the seat bracket from my mk2 Recaro driver seat to stick it in my mk3. Woohoo... I'll take some pics tomorrow since I had no charged batteries for the cam.


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

IMO best hood you can ever buy.... 
http://store.weldingdepot.com/cgi/weldingdepot/25066.html?id=6h3vvuLU 

no its not an auto, but you learn to weld with a regular hood first, then you never have problems...and these things take a beating!!!!! Once you get used to the big lens, auto hoods suck!!! 
I do end up using an auto hood in the garage, tacking and little stuff, yes there amazing, bang for the buck though, huntsman has lasted me 12 years:thumbup::thumbup:, and ive welded alot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ive gone through 3 miller elites in the last 6 years:thumbdown::thumbdown:


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## huichox4 (Nov 8, 2004)

nubVR said:


> IMO best hood you can ever buy....
> http://store.weldingdepot.com/cgi/weldingdepot/25066.html?id=6h3vvuLU
> 
> no its not an auto, but you learn to weld with a regular hood first, then you never have problems...and these things take a beating!!!!! Once you get used to the big lens, auto hoods suck!!!
> I do end up using an auto hood in the garage, tacking and little stuff, yes there amazing, bang for the buck though, huntsman has lasted me 12 years:thumbup::thumbup:, and ive welded alot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ive gone through 3 miller elites in the last 6 years:thumbdown::thumbdown:


 I use the auto darkening harbour freight one bought it with a coupon and get the cheap warranty so when it takes a dump just replace it with a new one no questions asked or if the time comes for the warranty to expire somehow damage it and get another with the warranty again haha


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

*success*

 

 

 

 

 

oh and my front leathers will be available (nj). They're not mint, but they're in good shape.


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## Jckl (Aug 29, 2004)

So I going to make a catch can out of 6061 aluminum pipe and thought I would practice.. This is a piece of the actual pipe. This is my first time on aluminum and third time actually sitting down with the TIG and doing something. The catch can is to come soon I hope. 

I started just welding beads on top of beads.. 









I am getting better at feeding and laying the filler. 









I need to work on my HF ground I think as I am getting some bad arc starts which you can see the cleaning with no puddle formed..


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

cabrlicious said:


>


 Not enough heat and travel speed is jumpy which means that weld could break when you hit a good pothole due to lack of fusion between the two plates and the weld bead. You'll want to use a straight grinder with a bur tip and take out as much of the weld as you can and then redo it with 10 - 15 more amps and use a "W" weave to get penetration into both plates to ensure a solid weld.


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## big65 (Apr 5, 2011)

Jckl said:


> So I going to make a catch can out of 6061 aluminum pipe and thought I would practice.. This is a piece of the actual pipe. This is my first time on aluminum and third time actually sitting down with the TIG and doing something. The catch can is to come soon I hope.
> 
> I started just welding beads on top of beads..
> 
> ...


 Not bad, you want to add the filler closer together as you move along to get the stack of dimes laid over look to ensure a strong bead. Outside of that theres no sign of tungsten dipping that I can see so your doing well so far but the fun really begins when you start doing vertical up and then it gets crazy doing overhead but its nothing until you actually start doing real welds in the real world setting as opposed to practice. 

With the HF starts you should set your machine to continuous which is best suited for aluminum and watch your heat, aluminum never turns red when it gets hot and when it does get to hot it will drop right out of shape like ice turning to water in an instant and it will burn you in a heartbeat.


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## Jckl (Aug 29, 2004)

big65 said:


> Not bad, you want to add the filler closer together as you move along to get the stack of dimes laid over look to ensure a strong bead. Outside of that theres no sign of tungsten dipping that I can see so your doing well so far but the fun really begins when you start doing vertical up and then it gets crazy doing overhead but its nothing until you actually start doing real welds in the real world setting as opposed to practice.
> 
> With the HF starts you should set your machine to continuous which is best suited for aluminum and watch your heat, aluminum never turns red when it gets hot and when it does get to hot it will drop right out of shape like ice turning to water in an instant and it will burn you in a heartbeat.


 The HF was a problem with the machine I fixed today. It wasn't starting the arc most times like it should. I could sit and not get an arc for few minutes without scratch starting. After correcting it, I get an arc started almost immediately every time. As to the beads, I usually put them closer together but thanks for the tip since I was not aware that may not have penetrated right. It looked as if it did on the back side.. 

Today I was having a heck of a time with the round pipe and will show it later. I was hot and tired and didn't care to make it look nice lol.. I also did a vertical up to finish off my piece of filler rod and it at first it was a little weird but after a second of adjusting I got it to lay a decent bead. I didn't snap a pic however.


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

Your flats on the plate look good, like he said though, little closer together and your money...... Do a few joints with flat metals to practice with joints..... The real tests, are Pipes... when you can do a pipe all the way around and it looks good you got it! Dont worry when they suck for your first 25-50 of them.... Pipe is way harder then people think, i cant explain why, and it took me alot of practice to get mine halfway decent, dont get discouraged doing it...just keep going and practicing... it will get better with time!:thumbup:


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## Jckl (Aug 29, 2004)

nubVR said:


> Your flats on the plate look good, like he said though, little closer together and your money...... Do a few joints with flat metals to practice with joints..... The real tests, are Pipes... when you can do a pipe all the way around and it looks good you got it! Dont worry when they suck for your first 25-50 of them.... Pipe is way harder then people think, i cant explain why, and it took me alot of practice to get mine halfway decent, dont get discouraged doing it...just keep going and practicing... it will get better with time!:thumbup:


 
Thanks! I did some joints today also and a butt joint was no problem.. I bent it and it didn't break and still looked decent. I went to do an inside corner and ended up burning a hole so then I welded the corner from the outside.. That joint wasn't soo much fun.. My vertical up was better haha. I also welded inside a pipe a little but didn't feel like cutting my tungsten down and switching to my back cap so I didn't go deep on that. I was using a SR-20 torch and the only cups I have for it right now are number 4.. It worked I guess and I didn't want to use my enormous 26 style.


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## Agtronic (May 14, 2001)

Those trailers are beautiful!


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

*recaros*

I got the passenger side seat welded up today. I'm gonna take them out tomorrow so I can get all the bolts in and torque them down good. While I'm at it I'll take some pictures. I'm not sure if its because I wasn't as thorough as usual with cleaning or if its because my power sucks (and I'm pretty sure my power does suck) but I did have a bit of a harder time welding today. Last time I was at my buddy's place hooked up right to the panel practically, this time I was out on my patio on my overloaded 100 amp panel. 

Has anybody reading this thread done the mk2 power recaro -> mk3 swap? I didn't realize just how far to the middle of the car the seats actually sat. I might make a second set of frames where the seat is moved away from the center console a bit. As it is, I'm going to swap back to the 'euro' style center console that came with my car since it will fit a lot better than the cup holder one. That way, I can leave the adjuster knobs facing inwards so I'll have the lean forward things on the outside.


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

Heres my new intake adapter...Its kind of rough... It only took me an hour to put together so its nothing fancy. its more for function than anything else....Would fit in great for the ratrodder crowd. It was welded with a miller 140 amp with a spool gun attachment. :beer:


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## Eganx (Apr 30, 2004)

Its obviously a work in progress.....but this is the climbing wall I'm working on in Seattle. This section will have two 25' overhangs......both meeting the 54' longs truss in the ceiling which at the peak is around 52' high(4" from the insulation). One overhang will start under the HUGE truss that the guy is under in the first pic. I am one of two iron workers on this job......we have a lot of work to do. 

Built with 3" 3/16 angle for the ledgers and most bracing, wall columns are 4" square 1/4 wall 40' tall, columns for the big truss are 6" square, some 6" channel in there also..... 

Using two XMT 350 inverters running 1/16 fluxcore out of the feeders(I had to run one roll of 5/64 or .072 wire we had that had been mispackaged, that **** is huge)


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## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

big65 said:


> Not enough heat and travel speed is jumpy which means that weld could break when you hit a good pothole due to lack of fusion between the two plates and the weld bead. You'll want to use a straight grinder with a bur tip and take out as much of the weld as you can and then redo it with 10 - 15 more amps and use a "W" weave to get penetration into both plates to ensure a solid weld.


 yikes thanks for the advice. It's a good thing I don't drive like a maniac and I'm pretty good about dodging road hazards (or as I describe NJ roads: reverse wack-a-mole). 
As far as a bur tool, is this what you had in mind? http://www.amazon.com/SAIT-45000-Tungsten-Carbide-Alternate/dp/B000P698AM forgive my ignorance, I've been working exclusively with an electric angle grinder with cutoff wheels. I just found out the bliss known as flap disc, hah... cut off wheels suck for cleaning up rust. 





Eganx said:


> this is the climbing wall I'm working on


 I'm amazed at all the pro welding.. tankers, 40 ft structures, all the great exhaust piping. At this rate someone's going to chime in with some tig work on a nuclear reactor or international space station :laugh:


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

Ill upload some pictures i found on my laptop of work ive done most likely on monday.


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

Theres not welding involved but hers a small fab job i did to repair a trailer with an aluminum frame that couldnt be helped by re-welding it.
















this is how bad the material was at ever intersection.








Heres my solution to brittle aluminum that isnt going to be helped by the throw some extra metal on the method.








Heres a close up. I drilled a 27/32" hole through the tubing and sleaved it with a 1/2" shedule 40 pipe then ran the hardwear through.


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## kkkustom (Jun 5, 2007)

Hang on, something that cant be help by welding?!?! I thought I would never hear those words. 


If all the joints were welded, correctly and they cracked like that, I would say its back to solidworks for the designer who build that rig.

I dont see any lateral supports in there to keep it from leaning, and pulling up on the opposite sides tubing/joints maybe causing them to crack like that. and were they welded 360 deg around each joint or just one face of the junction?


Plates came out cool though, and are over kill i think now, so as long as the tubes aren't the next weakest link I would say its good to go. nice job.


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## MKIGTITDI (Aug 25, 2007)

Yeah my next step im going to take next year when they come back through is ot reinforce all of the bottome junctions and modify the center top supports to incorporate a brace on the roof as well. Oh to answer you yes all of the junctions were welded all the way around. But on a couple of them they had some d-bag tell them he knew how to weld try to repair a couple of cracked tubes. It looked like a bird shat all ver it and it just broke again.


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## nothing-leaves-stock (Mar 1, 2005)

made a tip from SS sheet to fit my R32 bumper design...


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## l88m22vette (Mar 2, 2006)

That ****in cool :thumbup: Any soundclips?


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## nothing-leaves-stock (Mar 1, 2005)

Thanks next week. Motor is almost done


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## 85vwcabby (Mar 28, 2011)

Still gotta make the cart for it yet... this coffee cart probably won't hold too much longer under this Handler 140... :laugh: 










Yes, the new cart will be overbuilt, big, and overbuilt. It will have provisions for scraps and stuff on the lowest shelf, and will be capable of holding the smallest to largest CO2/Argon bottle... 

Currently running flux core... I can make some real nice welds with flux core every now and then. First, I gotta replace that ****ty ground clamp that they send with this great little welder. Better ones have more surface area contact and ground the parts better, which automatically equals a better weld... 

I made the fuel injector puller for the Cabby with this welder, as well as fabricating and attaching the flange to the cat on my brother's CR-X. Never did take pics showing all of the fab work I did on that stupid flange... some moron thought it's a good idea to cut the flange off and weld the pipe directly to the ass end of the cat... :banghead: 

Makes a couple hour project of installing a new proper fitting exhaust into a two day fab this flange and attach it to the cat ordeal... at least the welder, and the recently wired 60 gallon Husky compressor got some work... :thumbup: 

I do have the sketch of the welding cart I plan to make... first I gotta finish this JD 317 repower and a few other projects... there is NO room in the formerly empty and fairly huge pole barn we got here... :what::facepalm: Plus the Cabby is gonna have to go in there to hibernate for the winter... so I got a LOT of cleaning to do... there's **** everywhere... :laugh:


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

psychobandito said:


> Miller Invision 456P.
> 
> I also use a Syncrowave 250 for all my tig work, no current pictures.


 Hello fellow ex co-worker...lol...It's Damian... DUDE...i lost my phone pm me your number :laugh:


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

Only got 2 pictures


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

From today. Aluminum and welded with a syncrowave 350


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

Heres the last couple months project......
























Car hasnt been washed in 4 weeks, i dont wanna hear bout it.....


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## nothing-leaves-stock (Mar 1, 2005)

1 side of a V10 M5 BMW custom 2.5'' echaust SS TIG'd with syncrowave 200. polished, Vband'd. custom staggered tips.
back, one side...








front half..."Xpipe" cat and res delete


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

nub.. in the first picture, is it pulsed? INCREDIBLY consistent.. looks beautiful :thumbup:


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

Yeah, thats a Pulsed weld. I have alot more heat control. Took me awhile to get used to it, but now i love it!


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Definitely not as cool as most of this stuff, but this was some of what I did on my last job.

This is just mild steel. Usually we're working with inconel, chrome moly, and stainless.


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## kkkustom (Jun 5, 2007)

nubVR said:


> Yeah, thats a Pulsed weld. I have alot more heat control. Took me awhile to get used to it, but now i love it!


Question for ya on the pulse.

I only played with scrap with it and on any production work I turn it off becasue i am not confidant in my setup skills/knowhow with using it. I haven't turned it down in hz to try to get consistent walking welds. I turned it up and tried it with AC and noticed it helped agitate the puddle and seemed like it cleaned it a bit more with the same EN setting i would normally use without the pulse. Speaking of which, for the aluminum master, what freq do you like with your AC? (not talking pulse here, just curious) 

When you do the pulsing, for bead consistency (I assume lower freq like 2-5 per sec) you are laying filler and just walking over it with the torch? Your are you trying to dab on the hot side of the pulse? If the later I should just give up now becasue I cant even walk and chew gum, so no way could I catch the hot pulse and dab/get out until it slopped to the cool side! lol


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

I obviously can't speak for any of the aluminum guys, but to work on your timing, manually pulse the current. I find the more I absorb myself in to the work, the more consistent it becomes. When im walking the cup, especially on pipe welding, I will sway my whole body to keep the tempo. if I don't, I get sloppy and uncontrolled. I know that doesn't work for most, but its the only way I can do it.


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## kkkustom (Jun 5, 2007)

Pat @ Pitt Soundworks said:


> I obviously can't speak for any of the aluminum guys, but to work on your timing, manually pulse the current. I find the more I absorb myself in to the work, the more consistent it becomes. When im walking the cup, especially on pipe welding, I will sway my whole body to keep the tempo. if I don't, I get sloppy and uncontrolled. I know that doesn't work for most, but its the only way I can do it.


I turn up the Godsmack cd really loud so I cant even hear the arc, makes me focus on the weld pool more! LOL


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

kkkustom said:


> Question for ya on the pulse.
> 
> I only played with scrap with it and on any production work I turn it off becasue i am not confidant in my setup skills/knowhow with using it. I haven't turned it down in hz to try to get consistent walking welds. I turned it up and tried it with AC and noticed it helped agitate the puddle and seemed like it cleaned it a bit more with the same EN setting i would normally use without the pulse. Speaking of which, for the aluminum master, what freq do you like with your AC? (not talking pulse here, just curious)
> What welder are you using?? I know on my square wave at work, its all pre set to settings that we set like 3 years ago...All i do is change my amperage! Also, never really use pulse when i tig, i dont like the flucuation of the light, it bugs my eyes! I also manually use the peddle if i do need to pulse. At home, i just have a little dial that i turn and it has a blinking light, no real number there. and as far as the cleaning setting, i put my lincoln on auto, it seems to work just fine, i know thats no real help to your question though.
> ...


 


Pat @ Pitt Soundworks said:


> I obviously can't speak for any of the aluminum guys, but to work on your timing, manually pulse the current. I find the more I absorb myself in to the work, the more consistent it becomes. When im walking the cup, especially on pipe welding, I will sway my whole body to keep the tempo. if I don't, I get sloppy and uncontrolled. I know that doesn't work for most, but its the only way I can do it.


 Im the same way..... not quite a whole sway, but i need a rythem in my head


kkkustom said:


> I turn up the Godsmack cd really loud so I cant even hear the arc, makes me focus on the weld pool more! LOL


 Hearing the pool actually helps in TIG welding..... I can get a nice sound going just like a MIG, when you drop that rod in, it is actually cooling the metal a bit, get a nice rythem going, and thats what makes it so shiney


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## Curt_pnw (Nov 27, 2005)

We have a Everlast Powertig 250EX at our shop. I started aluminum TIG about 3 months ago. I have a bit of seat time with oxy-acetylene and mig, but I like TIG welding more than anything.

Here's just some practice stuff on scrap. The material is 6061 T6. 1/8th inch thick I believe.



























I hope to frequent this part of the forums to learn as much as I can. Seems like there are a lot of knowledgeable people on here.
:beer: :thumbup:


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## digga_b (Jun 19, 2005)

Started on a Smoker.



















Until I ran out of wire.  More on the way...


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

Killer smoaker.... i was gettin ready to make one my self..... show us pics when your done:thumbup:


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## digga_b (Jun 19, 2005)

nubVR said:


> Killer smoaker.... i was gettin ready to make one my self..... show us pics when your done:thumbup:


Do it! :thumbup: Everyone should have one.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

I was always told never to mig like that because the movement limits heat input. Thoughts?


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## digga_b (Jun 19, 2005)

Pat @ Pitt Soundworks said:


> I was always told never to mig like that because the movement limits heat input. Thoughts?


I was taught to mig with side to side motion. But when I became a Millwright about 13 years ago, they insisted that I weld with a circle motion. As long as you stay in your puddle, there should be no problem with penetration. I've been tested this way and had no issues with porosity, inclusions, or incomplete fusions.


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

Its the only way i MIG.... aluminum or steel..... never had any problems


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## dasbeast3.0 (Aug 15, 2007)

Great thread, a lot of you guys are turning out some crazy work. 

This is going to be a fairly long post, But I really would like some pointers/ input.

By no means can I call myself a "welder" but in about 2 years of welding (handler 140 mig) I picked it up ok. I chopped up a holset hx52 turbine housing to get it fitted on a vr, partially fabbed a manifold, dp and exhaust. I bought a roll of 309ss which is for joining SS and mild steel from what ive read, but wound up just doing the entire job with it (most piping was 304ss).

I had someone tig the initial twinscroll mani from factory cast manifolds, to t4 flange. I did the rest. I had trouble getting a nice bead with the SS out of the Hobart, I could get it perfect for a few inches then the filler would build up and drip, this went on the entire time and made the welds look like trash. Only cure was turning up wire speed a hair which was then "too fast" and I felt like it did not penetrate as well. Youll see through the pics how much i adjusted settings by the diff. looks of the welds. Only nice one I did was the vband on the turbine housing only b/c i could weld pretty hot. Gas was used was Tri-Mix. Not sure if its my technique, wrong wire, low quality welder, limited at 115v etc. ? regardless ill post pics and see what some of you think. Thanks in advance:thumbup:

Orig. turbine housing:









cut:










t4 and vband welded on:























































Warped flange (machine shop flattened it out 











Next is the manifold:

Tig'd section:










My part = wg's, recirc, and dp:




















































DP:


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

You gotta heat cast to weld it. About 250-400 depending on the thickness. then you are supposed to cool it very slowly. wrap it in some heavy blankets. Cast loves to crack if it's not done right.

And on the downpipe, on the flex joint it looks like it needs more heat. On the rest, you need to go slower - work on consistancy. Any if you didn't purge it, you needed to.


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## dasbeast3.0 (Aug 15, 2007)

The cast stuff was heated with a blow torch, welded and cooled slowly, again with the torch. Prob over the course of and hr or so. I researched a bit before welding on the housing. I did not purge anything, I do not have the setup to do it. This was more of a rush job/learning experience so I guess ill see how long it holds up. The issue with the filler backing up was my major setback, I had to keep messing with my settings to no avail.

Normally, using 75/25 and mild steel wire, I can get damn near perfect welds with only minor adjustments to my wire speed if any. SS isnt near as easy to do a clean job. I tried every heat setting and wire speed within spec. I tried different welding techniques etc. It just didnt want to happen. I prob just need to dedicate some time, practice and research with SS.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

haha absolutely. Try stainless stick. It's an unforgiving mother****er.

For the company I work for WPQs we do cast stainless only with stick. Cast steel to anything other alloy we have PQRs in the works for tig and stick using inconel only. Inconel stick isn't much fun either, especially out of position.

For exhaust tubing, until I get a tig at the house worth of working with, I use a little hobart handler 140 with heat on 2 and wfs on about 20 and stitch weld it. The heat is just enough to get full pen and pulsing keeps it from blowing through. I'd never do anything structural like that though.


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## Minty_Fresh (May 27, 2009)

Hey i didn't want to start a new thread so i thought this would be a decent place to ask. 

but I've bin using one of those ****ty harbor freight 90 Amp flux wire Welders for a wile now. honestly i don't care what people say i got it for like $50 with a coupon and I've done a lot of exhaust work and little things here and there with it. its turned out to be the best $50 I've spent just because of the amount of times i didn't have to call a friend or find some one to weld something. 

but now i picked up a rabbit and want to do frame notch eventualy raise the towers and control arm mounts. whats my best bet for a good welder that can handle that type of work. cause I'm going to assume the harbor fright one is just not going to give strong enough welds to be safe? 

thanks for the help.


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## dasbeast3.0 (Aug 15, 2007)

Pat @ Pitt Soundworks said:


> haha absolutely. Try stainless stick. It's an unforgiving mother****er.
> 
> For the company I work for WPQs we do cast stainless only with stick. Cast steel to anything other alloy we have PQRs in the works for tig and stick using inconel only. Inconel stick isn't much fun either, especially out of position.
> 
> For exhaust tubing, until I get a tig at the house worth of working with, I use a little hobart handler 140 with heat on 2 and wfs on about 20 and stitch weld it. The heat is just enough to get full pen and pulsing keeps it from blowing through. I'd never do anything structural like that though.


 Doesnt sound like its too easy. The 140 is great for exhaust work etc. and when plugged directly into a dedicated outlet close to the panel, you dont get the voltage/amp drop as compared to an extension cord or long run from the panel. That was my only saving grace when I welded the housing. I had it running at full tilt and was able to hit it from both inside and out, stack welds and get a nice deep hot joint. I did my research and took every precaution to do it right, hopefully it lasts a long while, if not I can always redo it.

I installed the elec for my neighbor's 240v hobart 180mig today, hooked up my trimix and SS wire to test it out. Night an day difference from the 115V 140mig. I was able to get MUCH cleaner welds, much easier..even at low amperage. Is there normally that much difference when going from 115v mig to 240v mig?


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Absolutely. I've never tried tig at 110, and I don't think I ever want to. Even the difference between 220 and 440 is noticeable, but not as much as going from 110 to 220, or one phase to three phase.

There's a reason why 110 welders are called "hobby welders" hah


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## dasbeast3.0 (Aug 15, 2007)

True. Im going to just buy a 240v mig and call it a day. The 140 has served its purpose but I've def outgrown it.

I'm having second thoughts about this turbine housing holding up now. I may pop it off and have a Prof. welder clean it up/ do some structural welding. Kind of a crucial part.


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## Vegeta Gti (Feb 13, 2003)

Having moved 8000 miles away four years ago, I got a little 110....I effin hate it, bought a House had my buddy install 220. Thinking of saving up for a mig/tig combo....but more than likely just a solid mig. 

Probably go miller this time, every mig I have had has been a lincoln....always had a miller tig, I feel the millers are far better...obviously lol

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk


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## Vegeta Gti (Feb 13, 2003)

Any thoughts on a miller dimension 302...used one for sale by me....

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

Looks like there a 3 phase only machine.... not sure what power options you have..... Also to TIG aluminum you need highfrequency... i dont think that has it.


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## fastmaxxcooper (Sep 25, 2003)

Pat @ Pitt Soundworks said:


> You gotta heat cast to weld it. About 250-400 depending on the thickness. then you are supposed to cool it very slowly. wrap it in some heavy blankets. Cast loves to crack if it's not done right.
> 
> And on the downpipe, on the flex joint it looks like it needs more heat. On the rest, you need to go slower - work on consistancy. Any if you didn't purge it, you needed to.


you can absolutely weld cast iron cold. It just takes a lot longer between welds and there is a lot of peening involved. Ni99 also helps a ton.


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## Vegeta Gti (Feb 13, 2003)

nubVR said:


> Looks like there a 3 phase only machine.... not sure what power options you have..... Also to TIG aluminum you need highfrequency... i dont think that has it.


This would be my mig, tig I haven't begun to look for lol

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk


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## pimS (Jan 7, 2009)

Here's some of the stuff i've done uptill now.
I just recently bought a Lincoln V160 invertec 

modded my screamerpipe

















Can't use backinggas at home, because i only have 1 reducer on the cillinder.

I made a start on my new exhaust manifold this week, fitting a 2.5inch pipe to a T4 flange.

















I really should have stopped after tagging it up. We still have a small wooden workbench in the garage, wich my dad made of our old salon table.
So i can only weld stuff that's in the vice, otherwise i'll set the table on fire. 
Wich shows in my weld's because i can't set a consistent pace. Plus not being able to place myself in a comfortable position sucks:banghead:

Uptill now i've made some exhausts with a friend of mine, in his garage. 
Here's the start of a downpipe for a 1jz lexus is200


























Did a sri for my vrT, wich didn't even fit:laughi'l be building a good one this winter)

















Made some volicity stacks, fitted them on the wrong ports:banghead:









All tips, critics & comments are welcome


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Anyone have any hands on with the old Idealarc 300/300s?


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## diive4sho (Feb 7, 2004)

*Eastwood TIG*

Just Picked up an Eastwood TIG 200. Couldn't pass up the deal. (normally $899.99 on sale for $699.99 and they had one with a torn box they sold to me for $599.

Here is the welder.










http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-s-ac-dc-tig-200-welder.html

First impression after a few hours of welding: 
I love it. Only welded 1/8" aluminum plate and tube on 115v. ( 3/32" red 2% thoriated tungsten, roughly 120-140 amps) 
I can't wait to give stainless a shot. That'll have to wait till tomorrow though. 

Now for some pics...





























and some stuff I've done with my Hobart handler 140 MIG w/ Spool gun























































Pieces left over from frame notches










I have to find a shot of one welded up before the seam sealer... I'll dig


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## freakyGTI (Oct 10, 2007)

test pipe










Shortened my tank (need to pressure test before install)

















any advice on the aluminum welds would be appreciated, I was about to start on the FMIC end tanks on Wednesday when I ran out of gas and everything is closed until tomorrow :banghead:

the end tanks will be 14ga and I plan to weld from the inside first then the outside before welding them to the core. Welder is a lincoln 175, so I do not have frequency or pulse control, other than my foot :laugh:


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## J.Owen (May 31, 2001)

diive4sho said:


> Just Picked up an Eastwood TIG 200.


Brandon, i'll be interested in how you like it in the long run. I was looking at that welder as it seems like a pretty good deal for a decent entry level machine.


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## huichox4 (Nov 8, 2004)

Eastwood tig200 is very Decent welder for the $$ I have one and if welding 110-115 on alum the duty cycle is not the best and you need to let it rest after a while. on SS when I did my exhaust it was surprisingly good..... I just need to practice for better welds. 

I bet it is way better on 220 but I havent used it because I have not installed the outlet on my garage for it...... and could not find the extension cord to use the 220 outlet in the Laundry room at home haha


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## diive4sho (Feb 7, 2004)

Ditto to what huichox4 said.

I LOVE it for stainless.. Made a stainless downpipe and wastegate dump for a buddy's SR20 240 last night and it performaed flawlessly.

I removed the finger switch because I like the footpedal much better. 

Only one complaint, Not only is the breaker (on/off switch) on the rear of the machine which is a PITA but it doesn't seem to wan to turn on all the time... have to snap it down a couple times before it holds and the machine turns on...maybe it's because I'm reaching behind the maching at an odd angle to do it but it bugs me.

It gets the job done on aluminum as well, even on my 110V 15amp breaker setup. I welded AN fittings to a SAAB oilcooler for the same 240 and it came out well. Anything thicker than 1/4" in AL will probably need the 220V outlet.

For the price of the hobart and the spoolgun I probably could have bought the Eastwood MIG AND TIG together for less. Crazy. Hindsight is 20/20 though and for quick stuff the hobart serves me well. I'm addicted to TIG now though.


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## huichox4 (Nov 8, 2004)

diive4sho said:


> Ditto to what huichox4 said.
> 
> I LOVE it for stainless.. Made a stainless downpipe and wastegate dump for a buddy's SR20 240 last night and it performaed flawlessly.
> 
> ...


yeah I like the foot pedal much better but didnt remove the finger switch because it came really handy when we were welding some stuff in some really awkward positions inside our race car or at least tacking stuff with it is way easy. 

I havent had the issue with the switch like you mention


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

What kind of switch does that eastwood use? Compatible with lincoln or miller units? I'm tossing that up vs an old idealac tig-300/300 with watercooler and gasbottle for 200 more. The idealarc doesn't do squarewave, but its industrial and watercooled and does375 amps I think.


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## huichox4 (Nov 8, 2004)

Pat @ Pitt Soundworks said:


> What kind of switch does that eastwood use? Compatible with lincoln or miller units? I'm tossing that up vs an old idealac tig-300/300 with watercooler and gasbottle for 200 more. The idealarc doesn't do squarewave, but its industrial and watercooled and does375 amps I think.


we were talking about the on/off switch it is a breaker style switch 


this machine is very basic and doesnot have pulse or any of the other fancy things the really expensive machines have so keep that in mind :thumbup:


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

****. I ment to put in: for the hand control and foot pedal.

Not having pulse doesn't matter too much for what ill be doing. In fact, I don't think I've ever used pulse.


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## J.Owen (May 31, 2001)

good info.


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## diive4sho (Feb 7, 2004)

*Eastwood TIG 200*

Some practice with the Eastwood TIG:

Welded an O2 bung on my raceland header.










Practice on aluminum tubing










Had an issue where the foot pedal failed to turn the power off when I let off. Come to find out the small tab that presses the kill switch wasn't making full contact. A slight tweak with the pliers and all is good.
Pedal depressed to show what the switch looks like under the tab.









Tab bent to fully depress switch when pedal is released. All better.









Decided to chop some extra allroad downpipes I had lying around to make "piggie pipes". (delete the first cat out of each pipe. Chopped them after the cat, busted the cat out, smoothed out the inside, welded back together.



















I'm always up for a challenge and in trying to keep things interesting I came across this on the internet.....welding razor blades together. My attempt was, eh, ok i guess. lol










Boredom got the best of me and I made this for my Fiance's desk at work. Made from a bunch of stainless washers, a random stainless star I found, a nickel and a masonry nail.
crappy picture









More scrap stainless tubing practice









Welded an inside and outside corner joint....









More tubing









Be easy on me guys. I know the welds aren't the best. I'm just trying to give a review of the eastwood TIG for those who are thinking of buying it....not trying to showoff my awesome welding skills. lol


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Edit: nvm


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## GTijoejoe (Oct 6, 2001)

really got me in a bind between this Miller Diversion 180 and this eastwood 200.......the price just can't be ignored.....:banghead:

When welding stainless what type of cups, electrode, and CFM are you guys using? My beads always come out very dark like almost black...thanks.. perhaps we should start a thread about welding tips.
There are so many good welders here and on EvoM... ToxicFab "Collin" over there does some very very serious work, some of the best I've ever seen on forums


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Black stainless welds are insufficient gas flow/coverage, too slow travel speed, and/or too much heat.

Sent from my HTC ThunderBolt using Tapatalk


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## TIGninja (Mar 21, 2010)

Ok I will play too. 

Skyline exhaust I built.


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## 02vwgolf (Oct 6, 2009)

TIGninja said:


> Ok I will play too.
> 
> Skyline exhaust I built.




Holy **** clearly someone has alot of experience behind the welder...Nice work:thumbup::thumbup:


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## bmxdarcy (Mar 7, 2006)

TIGninja, What do you use to cope exhaust tubing?

:thumbup::thumbup:


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## TIGninja (Mar 21, 2010)

bmxdarcy said:


> TIGninja, What do you use to cope exhaust tubing?
> 
> :thumbup::thumbup:


Bandsaw and a 6/48" belt sander.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

don't quote posts with pictures in them


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

retrofit a honda s2k electric power steering rack in to my buddies 94 legend. had to do it under the car, on my side, welding the bracket while holding the rack "steady" between my legs. Hobart Handler 135 strikes again


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## GTijoejoe (Oct 6, 2001)

I get to join the show and tell eace:

My lin135+ mig









... and my newly purchased Miller Diversion 180 









Welds coming soon....


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## Curt_pnw (Nov 27, 2005)

I learned how to weld TIG on aluminum with an Everlast PowerTig 250EX. This is my first try at a project using mild steel. It's so much easier. :laugh:

Not totally straight, but it's pretty.


















Brackets done. They are for hanging our aluminum stock off the ground in our shop.









In action. Sturdy as hell. When all the lag bolts were in, we had two of the bigger guys in the shop hang from each side of one of them. Didn't even budge.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Had to build a rigging fixture at work so we can lower a couple hundred pound piece of metal we're cutting off. Forgot to picture the lifting eye. It's all crap scrap steel out of our expendable kits and shim kits. 150-175 amps with no foot control.


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## jettred3 (Aug 5, 2005)

has anyone ever built a dual plenum intake manifold.

One large main plenum, and a second ram plenum connected above?


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## vwangler (Jul 27, 2009)

Just got my Miller Diversion 180 a few days ago, and I spent sometime practicing yesterday and today. So far I'm pretty happy with the 180 although I have run into a few minor problems. I'm not thrilled with the small size of the pedal, it is difficult to make fine adjustments with most of your foot hanging off the end. At any rate, I'm having a ton of fun with it. I've been MIG welding for a little over 3 years now with a Millermatic 140 and while I would never give up my MIG, I'm finding TIG to be a bit more interesting and enjoyable. Here are some test beads from this morning for you to critique (1/8" carbon steel, 3/32 ceriated tungsten, 3/32 filler rod, ~105A).




























Toward the end I started to find my rhythm while listening to the subtle 'click' sound made when the filler hits the molten pool. As always, advice/criticism is welcomed.


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## TIGninja (Mar 21, 2010)

vwangler said:


> Just got my Miller Diversion 180 a few days ago, and I spent sometime practicing yesterday and today. So far I'm pretty happy with the 180 although I have run into a few minor problems. I'm not thrilled with the small size of the pedal, it is difficult to make fine adjustments with most of your foot hanging off the end. At any rate, I'm having a ton of fun with it. I've been MIG welding for a little over 3 years now with a Millermatic 140 and while I would never give up my MIG, I'm finding TIG to be a bit more interesting and enjoyable. Here are some test beads from this morning for you to critique (1/8" carbon steel, 3/32 ceriated tungsten, 3/32 filler rod, ~105A).
> 
> 
> Toward the end I started to find my rhythm while listening to the subtle 'click' sound made when the filler hits the molten pool. As always, advice/criticism is welcomed.


More juice and more turn the torch closer to 90 deg. I would also use 1/16 filler on the as well for a flat weld.


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## vwangler (Jul 27, 2009)

Thanks for the input, I'll give that a try this afternoon. :beer:


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## TIGninja (Mar 21, 2010)

Some more pics.














































Some more of the style I like to build.


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## TIGninja (Mar 21, 2010)

Anybody want more?


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## TIGninja (Mar 21, 2010)

Oh this one has to be here.




























And a couple of shots of my personal transportation.


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## GTijoejoe (Oct 6, 2001)

I want more.


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## poopie (Feb 22, 2005)

vwangler said:


> Just got my Miller Diversion 180 a few days ago, and I spent sometime practicing yesterday and today. So far I'm pretty happy with the 180 although I have run into a few minor problems. I'm not thrilled with the small size of the pedal, it is difficult to make fine adjustments with most of your foot hanging off the end. At any rate, I'm having a ton of fun with it. I've been MIG welding for a little over 3 years now with a Millermatic 140 and while I would never give up my MIG, I'm finding TIG to be a bit more interesting and enjoyable. Here are some test beads from this morning for you to critique (1/8" carbon steel, 3/32 ceriated tungsten, 3/32 filler rod, ~105A).
> 
> 
> 
> ...


what torch cup size are you using and what is your argon flow rate? Some welds look too hot and some look too cold. I'm sure you can spot the difference. You are also cratering at the end. It could be too hot and you are leaving the torch there too long to end the weld or maybe your argon flow is too high and the cup is too small. It may help to introduce some filler rod just before you let go of the pedal. You will have to work on the timing of this to reduce the cratering. Sign up to weldingweb.com. They do a good job critiquing welds. If you haven't found weldingtipsandtricks.com you should check it out. There is a list of common mistakes by noobs for tig welding. I thought i had it all figured out until i saw that list. haha. If you want to work on the timing a introducing rod and puddle control, weld up some aluminum plate. You can just stack rows of dimes one after another with out much cleaning or prep between welds.


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## vwangler (Jul 27, 2009)

Thanks for the input! The cup size I was using was #7 and my flow rate was ~15CFH. The craters/drop outs on a few of the welds was the product of me accidentally dipping the tungsten into the weld pool. I've been doing a good deal of research, I have read quite a few of the articles on weldingtipsandstricks.com and other great sites. I could definitely tell that some welds were too hot and some were too cold, this was partially due to me varying travel speed and the fact that I wasn't always giving the steel a chance to cool down. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get any practice in lately because I had to drop the welder off for service already... Thanks again for the tips! :beer:


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## 85vwcabby (Mar 28, 2011)

Byramtra said:


> [snip]
> latest project: rebuilding a free boat trailer to fit my boat. (and be roadworthy  )
> Thats about all for now.
> Travis


You're running 122 amps on the old school buzzbox in the photo...

I also have a HH 140... good welder, if you change out that cheesy ground clamp they give you for a Tweco type 300 amp clamp...

Most recent project was my welding cart... (HH previously rode on an old coffee cart...) 

Here's a few pics from that project...

Here's one of many, many welds on this overbuilt cart... 









getting close...









Yippee-ki-ay MF!!!









I've done exhaust work on my brother's car (second generation CRX, sorry, forgot to take pics. turned out beautiful) and made my own fuel injector puller for the sometimes insanely difficult to remove VW CIS injectors... and will soon be making a winch bumper for my truck...

I run flux core wire... works pretty good. Right now, it's got a partial of a 2 lb spool of .035" flux core, but that will be changed out for a new 10 lb spool of .030" wire when I am going to start on the winch bumper... it's gonna take quite a bit of filler to get that welded up solid... the full 140 amps will be used on that project. 

At some point, I plan on getting an Argon/CO2 mix tank and have that in case I need to do thin stuff where it'd be a PITA to brush and chip slag all the time due to the numerous tack welds used to keep stuff from burning through or warping...


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## turtledub (May 10, 2006)

One day I will pick up a welder for doing some rockers and exhaust work. I don't need anything big. I keep scanning craigslist for something that would work. Any recomendations on a specific model?


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## diive4sho (Feb 7, 2004)

Eastwood MIG 135
Lincoln weldpak
Hobart handler 140


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## bmxdarcy (Mar 7, 2006)

Started fiddling with titanium tonight after work. One of the guys just told me how he sets up the welder and I was on my own after that. I can either make them look pretty or I can get the penetration but both isn't real easy. 









Just the bottom two beads are mine.









I can only go a few puddles at a time without argon to follow up. We aren't worried about that though because we rarely ever do plate, mostly just tube. 









Same weld but backside. When you get the material hot enough to penetrate like this the puddle gets a bit more difficult to control. Welding something new is exciting like the first day you ever picked up the torch


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

That looks pretty thin. How are you getting argon on the back side?


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## bmxdarcy (Mar 7, 2006)

We have a little purge manifold built to do certain parts, I just cut the .063" sheet to the same width as the manifold


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

Took the pic with my phone, wish it was bigger........ that weld is about 4' long just to give a size.......

I might post random weld pics here and there.......


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## GTijoejoe (Oct 6, 2001)

nubVR said:


> Took the pic with my phone, wish it was bigger........ that weld is about 4' long just to give a size.......
> 
> I might post random weld pics here and there.......


I have to say, I've seen a decent amount of your work, and you have excellent Aluminum skills, your beads are always very very nice, straight, and even. Some of the best I've seen no doubt :thumbup:


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## [email protected] (Sep 18, 2005)

Bought myself a Eastwood TIG machine for Christmas, and finally had the time to get my bench cleaned up and get a bottle of argon and other supplies to get welding. I took a 6week welding course when i was in tech school as a part of my Diesel mechanics program, and just loved tig welding. but sadly, havent been able to weld with one in about 4years. 

the setup:









first weld, just a piece of scrap 1/8in aluminum i had, i think it turned out ok for not having welded aluminum in 4years.









after some more practice









only using the machine on 110v right now. need to get my electrician over to the house and get another 220v plug put in next to the bench. seems to work great on 110v though.


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## huichox4 (Nov 8, 2004)

nice man, those look pretty good, how are you setting the machine up? how much argon are you using? etc.


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

It's time to upgrade my helmet.


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## Racer16 (Aug 22, 2002)

I know this may be a bit off topic but what would you guys suggest as far as welding machines go for someone trying to learn to weld??I doubt I will be welding any aluminum any time soon.Looking for a good beginner machine for some strong welds.suggestions appreciated.


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## Ld7w_VR (Apr 21, 2006)

This thread really makes me want to buy a welder. Been to long since I have done any welding.


Racer16 I take it you have never welded? I learned MIG first. Was not to bad place to start. Would like probably start with stick If you have to buy a machine. Only because it's cheaper and more forgiving since your learning. Then you can move up to MIG and then TIG over time.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Here's some more industrial action for you guys. I was flown up to Minnesota to refurbish two valves at a power plant. The robotic welder **** the bed at the 90% mark on the first valve, so we had to set up the cwf and do it by hand. 26" diameter, 300 degree constant pre-heat using induction coils, sitting inside the valve. Three faces were done, the seat, the face, and the backside (locating face for another internal part). It took four 12 hour shifts to get it done. 215 amps, no foot pedal control, no hf start, and just a constant speed 0.035 stainless steel 410 on a wire feeder. The back side was done with inconel 1/8, 150a.

It ain't pretty, but after you sit in an oven for an hour, welding below your sitting surface, your welds will start to look rough as well.

After a couple days of post weld heat treating, machining will begin.


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## Eganx (Apr 30, 2004)

Pat.....that is awesome! What is inconel like to weld?


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Inco is interesting. The puddle is gummy and sluggish, but it isn't too bad. It gets a really really pretty straw color when the heat input is right. If you overheat it or roll out of the puddle (to break the arc) wrong, it looks like pidgeon **** (literally). You have to be careful with it cause it picks up trash on the surface easily, if you force too much rod in to the puddle it will develop microscopic voids, and its extremely easy to get microscopic cracks in your starts and stops.


Sent from my HTC ThunderBolt using Tapatalk


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

Holy $hit!:thumbup:


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## CDJetta (May 11, 2004)

Holy.... mother.... of.... god. That's a crap ton of welding. That's probably more welding than I've done total.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Forgot to mention, that was the second valve, all done by hand. The robot welded one was already insulated for pwht. 4 layers on the top, one in the back, and three in the seat. Last time these valve were worked was in 89.

And for a size refrence, each bead, except for the corner beads, are almost an inch wide

Sent from my HTC ThunderBolt using Tapatalk


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## stevem589 (Oct 18, 2010)

what is the thickness of the piece being welded?


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

The weld prep left 2.5 at the top, and at the bottom, its about 4, but the way the valve chamber is designed, its probably closer to 10.


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## Jckl (Aug 29, 2004)

Don't mind my shaky line.. I don't currently have a table in my garage and was not in a good position for this.. Ran a 3/32 tungsten and rod at ~180A with a #7 cup


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## Racer16 (Aug 22, 2002)

sorry dont mean to hijack the thread.Im looking to buy A MIG what would be a good machine to start on. perhaps weld pak 3200 hd from lincoln?


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Hobart Handler 140. With a spool gun it'll do aluminum. It's cheap. And it runs off 110. It's the perfect hobby mig.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

More industry work. 

This time it's a gas turbine plant in southern Alabama. An expansion joint baffle in the exhaust keeps cracking, so engineering gave this to us as a temporary fix. Two units. I didn't get to play as welder much. Night shift got most of the welding work. I got most of the cutting off the old panels and prepping the new ones. 

The black lines are the cracks, where the baffle is falling down. One unit was still held on at the top, the seconds was completely broken. 

























The plates we had to put on 

























A few of the welds I did. Left handed weld, done with the right hand. It was supposed to be a 3/16 fillet, but some of the plates had a 1/4 gap between the plate and the base metal, thanks to the fallen down baffle. 


























































It's SS347, no foot pedal. It does not like to overheat. The one or two wavy spots are where I overheated it, being out of position a little. I had to do three stringers and a fillet, before the base metal would reach the bottom of the plate and I could tie it in together.


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## stevem589 (Oct 18, 2010)

where in Alabama? , I am in mobile ..


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

I flew out of mobile yesterday. That damn thunderstorm left us waiting on the runway for a good half hour-fourty-five minutes.


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## galil762 (Jun 30, 2007)

. 
My Millermatic 210, also have a Millermatic 135 XP, Miller Maxstar 140 Tig and a Miller, 375 X-treme Plasma Sorry for the cell pic. Ill post up a better one sometime. Im a pretty fair Mig welder, but just learning the Tig!!


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

bling bling platform


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## tripwalking (Apr 28, 2004)

Part of a brew stand I'm making for a friend.


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## bmxdarcy (Mar 7, 2006)

tripwalking that looks nice! do you 'set the ceiling' when you set up your welder or is that all in the foot?


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## tripwalking (Apr 28, 2004)

It's all in the foot.


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## bmxdarcy (Mar 7, 2006)

:thumbup::thumbup:


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

damn, thats nice:thumbup:


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

nobody posts anymore? 

Another industrial job. Coal plant in Oregon. We're replacing the pressed in valve seat with a pinned seat. I have to weld the pin guides to the valve casing. It's a stupid weld prep. Need to talk to corporate about this one.....

Weld was 2.25% chrome stick welded 6g-****-me-in-the-ass-super-restricted. I welded the side against the turbine cylinder because I'm the smaller guy and can actually fit there.

location guides are fixed to the alignment jig. Casing was heated to 450 degrees prior to welding.

















"prep". It's a nipple fitting at an angle on a round casing. You can't even really see the bottom of the prep. it's retarded.

























Like I said, super restricted 2.25% chrome stick. The only way to get to part of it was to bend the last 1.5" of the rod 90 degrees and use it that way. 

























I'm not super happy with it, but considering I had to weld 50% of it upside-down, and the other 50% hugging a 450% oven, I think it turned out better than it didn't.

It looks a lot better in person. Camera flash always makes stick welding look ****ty.


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

Little reservoir 80 gal


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

MIG action 25.5 amps 480 wire speed. U welded MIG with tig gloves today, my fingers burn like a mofo holy crap. **** gets soooooo ****in hot haha

still gotta touch up on top of the channel with TIG


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

PINHOLES are the worst enemy ! acetone=BFF this one had 0 pin holes first shot on the pressure tester, i put my fist in the air out of excitement Cause usually I get one or two on the whole tank which means more work, more work= no good


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

Last one and I stop with the whoring,


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## tripwalking (Apr 28, 2004)

How did you get it to float??!


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## turtledub (May 10, 2006)

Anyone have any thoughts on this welder?

http://www.tractorsupply.com/auto-arc-130-mig-welder-value-package-1048051


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Hobart welder, good units


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## speeding-g6O (Nov 22, 2011)

not a lot of people understand 6g....


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Any tips on doing anodized aluminum? 

I welded up a oil return flange last night, anodized to anodized. Ground the surface with a tiger paw, then acetone bathed and gave it enough heat to not form a puddle on 70/30 clean/penetrate to try and break up the anodizing, then went. Still came out unpleasant looking. It could be that I haven't done aluminum in almost three years.


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## Eganx (Apr 30, 2004)

Pat @ Pitt Soundworks said:


> Any tips on doing anodized aluminum?
> 
> I welded up a oil return flange last night, anodized to anodized. Ground the surface with a tiger paw, then acetone bathed and gave it enough heat to not form a puddle on 70/30 clean/penetrate to try and break up the anodizing, then went. Still came out unpleasant looking. It could be that I haven't done aluminum in almost three years.


Ya, grind that **** off. Or mix a solution of water and , soak the part for a few min, and wipe clean. The lye will eat the anodize off and leave clean aluminum. Its how I prep parts for anodizing or strip them to re-anodize. Last time I welded some AN bungs I just attacked the hex with a wire wheel, welded really nicely after that even without cleaning with acetone.


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## speeding-g6O (Nov 22, 2011)

anodizing prevents conductivity.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

I did grind the surface of the flange, and the hex. But I forgot to grind the sides of the flange. That's probably where my trouble came from.

Sent from my HTC ThunderBolt using Tapatalk 2


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## diive4sho (Feb 7, 2004)

I have heard that oven cleaner will eat through the anodized finish and leave a clean surface to weld on. I would hit it with acetone still but the oven cleaner should at least take the finish off and get you down to bare aluminum.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Turbo Cavalier manifold, tacked for test-fit. Had some trouble getting that one 45 tack...










Saab 9-3 pre-maf v6t tip


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## sdezego (Apr 23, 2004)

diive4sho said:


> I have heard that oven cleaner will eat through the anodized finish and leave a clean surface to weld on...


Yes, it does. Works wonders and I have used it many many times.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Not as good as you other guys, but I'm a fast learner.










edit: damn that's a bad picture


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## 5mall5nail5 (Mar 13, 2002)

Not totally new to welding, but just picked up a Miller Diversion 180 and a couple bottles

I now have a Hobart Handler 140 w/ 80 argon/co2, and a 330 cf (I think) argon, and an 80 argon.


Big bottle by Jon Kensy, on Flickr

This is what I got for now

I am learning still, but made some decent beads


Aluminum practice by Jon Kensy, on Flickr


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## Jckl (Aug 29, 2004)

5mall5nail5 said:


>


Looks like your off to a good start!


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## 5mall5nail5 (Mar 13, 2002)

Jckl said:


> Looks like your off to a good start!


 Thanks! I just need to remain consistent


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## irishmpls_2 (Sep 23, 2005)

I run an early 90's Thermal Dynamics TigWave 350 AC/DC. 










Tuning the welder up for some Aluminum welds... 










Electrical panel cover boxes for a pipeline company in Canada. 










Modified front primary drive plate. Was a harley, not it bolts right onto my Kawasaki. (Spline conversion) 










Handrail base plate for a museum in Madison, WI. 










Single pass metalcore in a structural application. I think this was a Miller XMT with a feeder. I dunno... I hate wirefeed welding. 










Flux core on a slide tube for ventilation. 










.035 Hardwire a blast vent door. 










Multipass 3/4" 1/16" Lincoln UltraCore, 6 passes, end termination. 













And a chinese weld, just for something to laugh at: 










And these people want to be the next world dominating super power..... :screwy:


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## irishmpls_2 (Sep 23, 2005)

Pat @ Pitt Soundworks said:


> Here's some more industrial action for you guys. I was flown up to Minnesota to refurbish two valves at a power plant. The robotic welder **** the bed at the 90% mark on the first valve, so we had to set up the cwf and do it by hand. 26" diameter, 300 degree constant pre-heat using induction coils, sitting inside the valve. Three faces were done, the seat, the face, and the backside (locating face for another internal part). It took four 12 hour shifts to get it done. 215 amps, no foot pedal control, no hf start, and just a constant speed 0.035 stainless steel 410 on a wire feeder. The back side was done with inconel 1/8, 150a.
> 
> It ain't pretty, but after you sit in an oven for an hour, welding below your sitting surface, your welds will start to look rough as well.
> 
> After a couple days of post weld heat treating, machining will begin.


 Oh come on, you know we all LOOOVE to do buildups. lol 

(No.... we don't.)


----------



## TIGninja (Mar 21, 2010)

Pat @ Pitt Soundworks said:


> Here's some more industrial action for you guys. I was flown up to Minnesota to refurbish two valves at a power plant. The robotic welder **** the bed at the 90% mark on the first valve, so we had to set up the cwf and do it by hand. 26" diameter, 300 degree constant pre-heat using induction coils, sitting inside the valve. Three faces were done, the seat, the face, and the backside (locating face for another internal part). It took four 12 hour shifts to get it done. 215 amps, no foot pedal control, no hf start, and just a constant speed 0.035 stainless steel 410 on a wire feeder. The back side was done with inconel 1/8, 150a.
> 
> It ain't pretty, but after you sit in an oven for an hour, welding below your sitting surface, your welds will start to look rough as well.
> 
> After a couple days of post weld heat treating, machining will begin.


 If you ever get back up to MN LMK.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Every March/April we go back to the plant for more work. We gonna have a sleep over?


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## irishmpls_2 (Sep 23, 2005)

Which plant do you go work at?


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Prairie Island Nuclear. We do others, but that's the one I've been to a few times.


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## irishmpls_2 (Sep 23, 2005)

Never been inside Prairie Island. Only Monticello. Never really liked buildups and repair stuff. I prefer the start to finish fabrication over it any day of the week. I just don't have to attention span for much else anymore. Hats off to you for your patience!


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## TIGninja (Mar 21, 2010)

I have never done much in the repair but I have dome some in shop nuke stuff. I will pass on the post welding


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Yeah, it's not the most exciting of work, but I meet some cool people, and I get paid to travel around the country, so it's not too bad. It beats the fab-shop work I've done, punching out the same couple products every day. 

There's quite a bit that I do that's quite challenging - makes things interesting. That post welding was probably one of the hardest things I've done. That, or a 2" 5G weld where I was crammed in a cubby hole, and had to have someone hold my legs down while I hung off the side of some scaffolding inside a generator haha.


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## irishmpls_2 (Sep 23, 2005)

Gahhh... 

that brings back memories of climbing inside of a huge coal dust filtration tank and repairing tube sheets for filters at power plants. 

Not work I miss in the slightest. 

No thanks. I'll stick to staying home and working on car and bike projects for myself and others. Plus, I get to listen to Slayer whenever I want. :thumbup::laugh:


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

Man ive been pricing new additions to my welder this morning.... Making some additions to my Millermatic 251..... I already have the 22a feeder, and a 30ft lead for my steel set up that im gonna mate up with the machine then Im gonna add a 30ft aluminum pull gun to the regular feeder. Ill pretty much be able to get any where i need to for steel or aluminum with one set up! When i get it all figured out and built ill post some pictures up! 

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/mig/product.php?model=M00218 
http://www.millerwelds.com/products/wire_feeders/20_series_feeders/


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)




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## Matysik (Oct 6, 2008)

5mall5nail5 said:


> Not totally new to welding, but just picked up a Miller Diversion 180 and a couple bottles
> 
> I now have a Hobart Handler 140 w/ 80 argon/co2, and a 330 cf (I think) argon, and an 80 argon.
> 
> ...


 Please strap your bottles to the wall or at least take off the regulator and put the cover on. Last thing you want is a freak accident of it falling and having a 2400 PSI torpedo ripping right through your house. :thumbup:


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## zornig (May 12, 2001)

Snowmobile parts.


----------



## TIGninja (Mar 21, 2010)

Now these are some sexy welds


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

longshot. Anyone have a wp20 torch power cable? I blew mine out, and it'd be nice to get back on the watercooled torch, especially for aluminum.


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## TIGninja (Mar 21, 2010)

Pat @ Pitt Soundworks said:


> longshot. Anyone have a wp20 torch power cable? I blew mine out, and it'd be nice to get back on the watercooled torch, especially for aluminum.


You can get them new for about $30 delivered online.


----------



## turtledub (May 10, 2006)

Just picked up a Hobart 135 last night on the cheap. Now I just need to find a bottle. Anyone know of a good place to get one?


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## Matysik (Oct 6, 2008)

turtledub said:


> Just picked up a Hobart 135 last night on the cheap. Now I just need to find a bottle. Anyone know of a good place to get one?


praxair, or look up your local welding outfit


----------



## RedRumGTI (Dec 6, 2003)

Picked up a Eastwood tig welder a couple weeks ago, never tig welded before but it's getting better. After some practice I put this together


----------



## GTijoejoe (Oct 6, 2001)

That's not bad for a beginner on aluminum... I like that top, where did you get it from with the cap?


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## RedRumGTI (Dec 6, 2003)

GTijoejoe said:


> That's not bad for a beginner on aluminum... I like that top, where did you get it from with the cap?


Thanks, it's a pro werks cap. I usually order them from amazon.


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## GTijoejoe (Oct 6, 2001)

RedRumGTI said:


> Thanks, it's a pro werks cap. I usually order them from amazon.


Thanks for the tip, that's one of the best I've seen.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

The cap is pretty cool. I'm big fan of these caps:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MEZ-PN6550/

They end up looking like this:
http://imgur.com/CIzQT.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/xtQ6t.jpg


----------



## 1SlowSLC (May 4, 2003)

stack o' dimes laid down by one of the 2 welders at my new job...


----------



## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)




----------



## Bazmcc (Jan 11, 2005)

Pat @ Pitt Soundworks said:


>


 Those blades are about 3 feet across and about an inch thick. :laugh: 

Cool work. :beer:


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

I'm gonna try that just for shots and giggles when I get some time


----------



## nothing-leaves-stock (Mar 1, 2005)

its tuff...i did it once. took a bit...and a pile of razors to F up haha


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## sdezego (Apr 23, 2004)

nubVR said:


> I'm gonna try that just for shots and giggles when I get some time


 As long as you show any eff ups along he way, I am cool with it :laugh: 

I won't lie, I has me wanting to try...


----------



## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

That was try #4. Here is #2 and #3 










Sent from my HTC ThunderBolt using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Scrubbs (Mar 14, 2006)

Nub needs to show 2 soda cans welded together.  Or 1 cut and reattached.


----------



## TIGninja (Mar 21, 2010)

If your going to weld something, do something useful :laugh: You guys should practice your SS pipe welding with backpurging.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

I'm sorry. I got a little bored from building this.


























Sometimes you just want to mix it up a little

edit:mis-spelling. I had just woken up for work


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## sdezego (Apr 23, 2004)

TIGninja said:


> If your going to weld something, do something useful :laugh: You guys should practice your SS pipe welding with backpurging.


hah, look past the lathe I am rebuilding (on the back of my Miller). That is next on the agenda


----------



## sdezego (Apr 23, 2004)

Pat @ Pitt Soundworks said:


> I'm sorry. I got a little board brom building this.


----------



## [email protected] (Oct 6, 2009)

i wish i still had some of my shipyard welding pics...some of these things in here bring back memories.....and NIGHTMARES.:laugh:


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## pDUBc (Dec 26, 2008)

Any advice for me? I know it's not the best, I'm self taught using a harbor freight 90amp flux core welder.








(And don't mind the bottom, I let a friend give it a try)


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

How thick is that tubing your welding to? Or is it not tube?


----------



## pDUBc (Dec 26, 2008)

It's 1/4 inch box tubing on top of 1/4 inch mk2 seat sliders


----------



## pDUBc (Dec 26, 2008)

This is two of the pieces of box tubing^ together.








Advice?


----------



## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Inner shield flux core is for salvage work. Pick up a spool of hardwire and a bottle of 75/25


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## Scrubbs (Mar 14, 2006)

A little more heat. Flux core always looks like crap.
Sux for sheetmetal. If its a ground weld then it doesnt matter, multi pass stuff too.
Gas is faster, less clean up. imho.


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## pDUBc (Dec 26, 2008)

Scrubbs said:


> A little more heat. Flux core always looks like crap.
> Sux for sheetmetal. If its a ground weld then it doesnt matter, multi pass stuff too.
> Gas is faster, less clean up. imho.


Thanks for the input. Unfortunately my ****ty welder only has a high and low setting for heat. These were on low. I will try high on this. I do also want to look into how to use gas with this welder.


----------



## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

Vertical uphill..... 1st time in over a year.... Ha


----------



## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

Second one.... Done for the day, power source








One more crank on the heat and it woulda been perfect 








That's up hill again


----------



## nothing-leaves-stock (Mar 1, 2005)

G60 throttle body adapter. cut out the dump valve and welded then smoothed the welds out inside and out for a 16v turbo swap 









super tight small weird compound bend intake for a BT 1.8t passat 









AWIC intake and coolant bottle

















plated oil pan.









RX8 with a RX7 BT swap....









water tank split for meth on one side and AWIC tank on other.


----------



## RAREgtI97 (Nov 18, 2008)

hey misc motorsports arent you the guy with the mid mounted mk2? i picked up a manifold from you a few years ago


----------



## SlamYourCupboards (Oct 16, 2009)

Pat @ Pitt Soundworks said:


> I'm sorry. I got a little bored from building this.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Where do you get your aluminium tubing you use for intake plumbing? or do you guys bend them in-house?
:thumbup::thumbup:


----------



## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

mandrel-bends.com


----------



## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Sealing face refurbishing with inconel


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## RedRumGTI (Dec 6, 2003)

Pat @ Pitt Soundworks said:


> Sealing face refurbishing with inconel


Looks good!!


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

More work. Inconel joint repair. Carbon bolt face cladding. Walking that cup all day long - tight and akward positioning. That liquid-pen crack was 3" deep. Had to gouge it out and weld it back up, but no pictures of that.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Finished the bolt face up today. It's not about being pretty, it's about being flat. And it's pretty darn flat. 70S

































Another face needs refurbed. 309L.


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## nubVR (Apr 25, 2004)

Holy****.... That's awesome man


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

I love jobs like these. Its just weld and weld and weld. There's a total of 16 of those inconel patches, four bolt faces, and four of those stainless faces, but its 2" wide and forms a half circle that's about 80" in diameter. That shot is only 2 feet I can get to above the scaffolding. 4 welders per shift, 2 shifts, still takes a long ass time. We've burned through two cryo tanks and four standard argon bottles and are about 75% done.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

Good job pat, that is awesome !!


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Just watched the machinists mill off one of the faces. Flat within .025". 100% cleanup .020" above finished height. I can live with that...

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## vwbull23 (Nov 16, 2006)

just picked up this milller dial arc AC/DC. a couple of weeks ago stick welds nice getting my bottle to run tig cant wait to make my short runner for my mk1 vr6 build


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Old and busted vs new hottness



























He actually paid money for the first one.....


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## irishmpls_2 (Sep 23, 2005)

Pat @ Pitt Soundworks said:


> Inner shield flux core is for salvage work. Pick up a spool of hardwire and a bottle of 75/25





Scrubbs said:


> Flux core always looks like crap.


Funny.... us ironworkers use it all the time for doing beam and column splicing. You know, the parts that hold buildings up.  NR232 to be specific. 

Maybe if it looks like crap and you can only use it for salvage work you're doing it wrong? :laugh:

When tuned properly and used by someone who has experience, self shield welds very nicely.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

I always assumed iron workers used 6010/7018. Schlepping a wirefeeder around on girders doesn't sound like fun at all.

I could never do that. This is about the scariest god damn thing I've had to do yet. Worse than the rope climb in second grade gym class.

So The unit I'm working on is an outside unit, like all gas turbines. But the main engine is in an enclosure. To work on it, they have to take the roof off. Due to some stupid-**** during construction, there were some channel supports welded to the roof. They couldn't pick the roof and set it on the ground because this **** hung off the bottom. So the laborers did the most logical thing they could think of: hack the supports off. They left it up to me to weld them back on, when the roof was reinstalled.










Now as luck would have it, the scaffolding crew is all mexican. Go figure. It doesn't look so bad. that is, until you realize there's nothing to hold on to. There's two parts to the scaffold, one on the left side of the "barrier", and one on the right.










There's nothing to ****ing hold on to. Except that center bar, which is only 30" tall. Which I had to climb under to get from the left side to the right side of the scaffold.










And the scaffold had a big ass hole right in the middle of it.










And it's way the **** up there. And if you fall, you go all the way down.










I don't have a fear of heights. I have a fear of unnecessarily falling to my death.

Doesn't anyone else do any work any more?


----------



## RedRumGTI (Dec 6, 2003)

My wife just had our first son so I haven't had much time to work on stuff but I did start my volksrod. Hopefully will be back out in the garage this weekend to make tie rods. I know the one supports crooked but it's only tacked in. More pics to follow... Hopefully :laugh:


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## Three3Se7en (Jul 2, 2007)

Pat kick those scaffolding hands in the ass and get them back in there. Is that a HRSG turbine you're working on?


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

No HRSG on this site. Just a straight up gas turbine plant.


----------



## EngTech1 (Nov 30, 2008)

*Been awhile , so a little Rusty on welding*

Hard Pipe for Turbo Exit going from 1.840 ID - > to < - 2.25 ID to slow down the - Boosted Air !

Cutting up and Laying out pcs. :










Stock pcs. was Cold Rolled - Rusting - BS :

Cleaning up all the insides also with a Porter :











Tools Help : Geo Table - borrowed .










Some Welds : Checking Angles


Bracket making - see My - PVC used for Testing Path & Fitting .

Custom Path - cleaner Lines and shorter , so Boost will Build a lot Quicker even - Thou
The Boost Air Speed will be Slowed from 310 mph to 260 mph . ( WHY ? ) 
The CFM will Actually go Up - going from KKK-04 to K16 and 10 PSI to 18 PSI !
It's a Technical Answer , but also have removed , 2 - 90 degree bends and 2 - 15 degree Bends .


----------



## BlaktOut02 (Sep 4, 2009)

brake pedal and master cylinder mount under the floor. ive done lots of work on this car, s10 front clip, fab'd 4-link (59' chevy rear end), ls1 swap (motor mounts and trans mount), exhaust, airride, etc. and one pic of the car after i got wheels on it. using an old school snap-on 220v mig.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

thats cool


----------



## pluck yew (Oct 23, 2011)

Pat @ Pitt Soundworks said:


> thats cool


ditto!


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## BlaktOut02 (Sep 4, 2009)

thanks. ive got a lot of time in this car. heres a couple shots of the clip i did.


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

My First attempt at making a 6 cylinder twin scroll collector using 1.5".... Came out nice but could have been better with 1.25" ... Local fabricator recommended me going with 1.5" for the power I'm shooting for... Oh well I already have all the material.


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

Came out better than I thought.. I'll finish it tomorrow


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

They look kinda too far apart, but it should work fine...I'll have to be a little creative with wastegate routing I guess i already have twin presicion pw39's non v-band... but planning on selling them for v-band set-up


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

There's no harm in cutting them off and repositioning them....


----------



## Bazmcc (Jan 11, 2005)

Would you need to have a fillets or some of of rebar down the middle to prevent them from spreading and cracking on the inner welds?


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

I'll leave it like this... I put a bead in between them, with this angle it was easier to get the cup as close as possible with good gas coverage.. . and on the inside I welded around the flange... Gotta grind it and its good to go


----------



## irishmpls_2 (Sep 23, 2005)

Pat @ Pitt Soundworks said:


> I always assumed iron workers used 6010/7018. Schlepping a wirefeeder around on girders doesn't sound like fun at all.
> 
> I could never do that. This is about the scariest god damn thing I've had to do yet. Worse than the rope climb in second grade gym class.
> 
> ...


 Looks like a good time. :laugh: _"Way the **** up there"_ takes on a whole new meaning when you are a few stories above ground at least and scaling a column that dead ends where you stand on your sleever bar and free hand it to direct a crane so you can connect a beam. Everything after that feels damn near grounded.  :laugh: 

You'd be shocked where we drag a suitcase feeder on a job site though. Between that and a harness with tools and bolt bags totalling around 70 pounds it makes for an interesting time to say the least. 

Feeders are getting more and more common in our trade because of the increased productivity. Faster deposition= more gets done faster. 

We do still run a lot of 70/80 series rods though, for sure. 

Falling to your death would not be fun. It's an unfortunately COMMON thing in our trade. Everyone is allowed to go like 6 feet up without a harness according to OSHA... but we're allowed to go 30 feet up unharnessed as ironworkers. I have kids and a wifey, so I still tie off no matter what, but we do have the option anyhow. 

I wish I had some pictures of this plant we did some repairs on a few months ago. Coal powered electric. Someone lit a smoke or some **** and ignited the coal dust and KABOOM! Dude nearly died, etc. 

There was some suspicion by the engineers that the coal dust may have collected in the hoppers themselves... which were like 30x30x75 feet. The laborers set up scaffolding inside there and we had to go in and do a bunch of reinforcement and seal plating. Not only was the scaffolding shoddy as hell, but there was barely any light at all. Thankfully, we didn't have any droppers in there because that **** tapered down to 12x12 inches at the bottom. If a guy had fallen down there it would have hurt a lot.  

Oh, and since this is the weld thread, here's something I've been working on. Got a side contract with a local firearm manufacturer. Doing a bunch of parts for him. 










Yes, those are top cocking MAC style 9mm pistol uppers. :laugh: 

We figured out a per piece price on them and I'm doing quite nicely with the contract financially. Covering my harley build anyhow so that makes the wifey happy. 

Got a customer who broke the chain stay off his fixed gear bicycle that needs that repaired and another duder who is a home brewer who brought me all the parts pre-cut and ready to weld for a 3 burner brewing stand too, so this week should be kind of fun anyhow. 

And just for good measure, there's a lot of wire feed and TIG pics in here...but I am seeing a lack of other stuff. 

Here's a shot in progress of a 3/8" fillet 3 up on a stiffener plate with dual shielded flux core. 










That's about the bottom foot. Was like 7 feet long IIRC. 










3/4" multipass metalcore weld. Hard to tell in the pic, but that boss is about 12" diameter and you have to start your pass. pull around and stop at your start. No restarts allowed on each pass individually. That's a 5 pass. Manufacturers code. 










Another metalcore pass. D1.1 structural code. Single. 










And another dual shield weld. These are slip couplers on the ends of piping for some job years ago. I don't recall where they went or what they were for, but they basically had a male and female that was like an expansion joint. 

If I can find some other pics of weird stuff I'll post it up. 

Just for ghits and shiggles, here's an aluminum TIG setup I did when I was testing a few guys at a place I worked. Used it as an example. No pulse involved, just pedal manipulation. This, obviously, is post destructive test... 










I've got more TIG pics, but it seems we've got that covered in here. :laugh:


----------



## irishmpls_2 (Sep 23, 2005)

euro-sudaka said:


> I'll leave it like this... I put a bead in between them, with this angle it was easier to get the cup as close as possible with good gas coverage.. . and on the inside I welded around the flange... Gotta grind it and its good to go


 You need a gas lens. :laugh:


----------



## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

Good stuff Irish... Those metalcore passes...no restarts ... Too pro !! (Y) Double shielded looks good too... 
Scary stuff in our trade.For sure. I've got it easy for now, But I did repairs on aluminum cement tanker trailers before....could get claustrophobic from time to time lol


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

Sorry dual shielded not double... Same s*** though lol


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## irishmpls_2 (Sep 23, 2005)

euro-sudaka said:


> Good stuff Irish... Those metalcore passes...no restarts ... Too pro !! (Y) Double shielded looks good too...
> Scary stuff in our trade.For sure. I've got it easy for now, But I did repairs on aluminum cement tanker trailers before....could get claustrophobic from time to time lol


 Thanks! I hear ya about that. I want to get my commercial divers training and get into underwater welding. I would be in deep **** if I were claustrophobic. Haha 

I'm building a 304 ss single tier three burner brewing stand today for one of my customers. 

Will update with pics tonight. 

I kinda get around to all sorts of processes from MIG to submerged arc welding....kinda wish I'd remember to take more pics of the weird stuff....


----------



## mldouthi (Jun 26, 2010)

I picked up a Miller syncrowave 200 last week. Here are some pictures of my first project with it. They arent as pretty as the other welds posted in here, but Im practicing..... maybe one day.


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

Bored... It's nothing extraordinary... but pays my bills and I enjoy doing it !


----------



## Whitbread (Dec 19, 2007)

dp for the rabbit









2.5" to 3" transition at base of stack in rabbit









ps filter mount for a truggy









cage in a superlite coupe almost done









stack on my pellet smoker









dp and turbo inlet for mk4 tdi with big turbo









Set of crossover headers on a ford gt40 replica. Cheap ass wouldn't go SS. 









SS v band to cast turbine housing with nickel rod. Puddle is super thick with a skin almost









SS IC pipes on a mk4 TDI



























3" SS round/oval on b4 haldex wagon









Same car as above









same car as above









for same car as above


----------



## cabrlicious (Jan 27, 2008)

*3yrs*

I like how this thread is three years old, going strong.


----------



## PLAYED TT (Oct 17, 2010)

Didnt know this thread even existed. Time to start taking pics of welds :beer:


----------



## planet321 (Sep 17, 2008)

Forward control mounts for a CBX1000 chopper bike

Strutless fender for a wide tire kit on a fatboy

An exhaust backpressure and cat delete on a triumph 675

Decided to play show and tell too, what do you guys think?


----------



## nothing-leaves-stock (Mar 1, 2005)

bored at lunch... tigged this aluminum braclet for my wife, smoothed, engraved and polished....


----------



## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

your wife has super hairy arms :laugh:


----------



## nothing-leaves-stock (Mar 1, 2005)

haha, knew someone would say that....that's me :sly: haha 
gave it to her the other night, she loved it


----------



## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

I just picked up a pack of 045 308l. I love it. It's so much easier to use than 030 mig wire, and has much better consistency than 062


----------



## Budsdubbin (Jul 14, 2008)

thats mig?


----------



## Jckl (Aug 29, 2004)

I would say no its TIG. And I assume he is saying he got a pack of tig rods (308 = Stainless) and is no longer using MIG wire when TIG welding. :sly:


----------



## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Correct. Tig. I was using 030 diameter mig wire to tig 16 gauge pipe with, but its too small. .045 wire is just perfect 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4 Beta


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## bmxdarcy (Mar 7, 2006)

pat what is your torch setup on stainless? looks very good


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

either a welcraft wp20(10ft water cooled) or wp-9 (25ft air cooled), depending on if I'm working in one spot or bouncing around the shop tacking things in position on cars. Depending on where I need to get to, I'll use a 1.25" diameter ck gas saver, #6 ceramic with a micro gas lense, or a #12 with a jumbo gas lense. For really tight areas, like welding runners to collectors, I use a ck micro torch. 

I'm anywhere from 60a-125a depending on material thickness and desired finish (super smooth with an even crown or "tradtional" like the last flange), with a foot pedal, and whatever argon flow feels right depending on joint set-up, cup selection, and required stickout. Oh, and no pulser options. If I need to pulse, I do it manually.


----------



## bmxdarcy (Mar 7, 2006)

so you typically flat foot? 

the argon coverage looks great, I need to get one of those gas savers for the shop I'm in now. When I used those big 1.25" pyrex cups we were running 30cfh on Ti, don't really know if that's necessary for stainless or if that is just what you must run with a lens that big.


----------



## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

I've gotten away with 15-17 with the big pyrex cup, but I typically keep it around 20-25. That range will let me get about 1.5" of stickout without any shielding issues. 

I don't flat foot. I always set the machine high and use the pedal. You never know when you might need an extra 10-15a, and you can always run less amperage...


----------



## Whitbread (Dec 19, 2007)

Pat @ Pitt Soundworks said:


> I've gotten away with 15-17 with the big pyrex cup, but I typically keep it around 20-25. That range will let me get about 1.5" of stickout without any shielding issues.
> 
> I don't flat foot. I always set the machine high and use the pedal. You never know when you might need an extra 10-15a, and you can always run less amperage...


Since you're the only person I've ever seen post up anywhere that runs one of the big 1.25" pyrex cups, I have a question for you. I picked one up a while back but have never been able to get a clean arc start with it. It act's like you strike an arc with no gas; it fouls out the tungsten the second you start the arc. After a tenth or two of a second, the arc will stabilize like it should but the weld then looks like crap from the dirty tungsten. I've tried everywhere from 2-10 secs of pre flow, 1/4" to 1" of stickout, and 10 - 40cfh of gas with no combination resulting in a clean arc start. Tried it on 3 different welders with exact same results. Has yours ever done anything like that?

I've just set it aside in the tool box and stick to my normal large gas lenses since I haven't been able to get it to work with a crap.

.045 308l is the bomb! That's all I've been using for a few years for large lap v band joints and sch 40 header pipe. .035 wire works much better for the vibrant v band though as they have a much smaller lap to weld in.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

I've never had an issue with contaminating tungsten. I typically don't run preflow, but noticed that the cup is so big, it's required to run a 1s preflow. The only thing I can think of is maybe the oring at the top of the cup is off, or the maybe there's a problem with the gas diffuser inside. Try cutting a piece of scotch brite the size of the cup and sticking it up in there and then giving it a shot.

Another idea is maybe the collet is bad. We go through a ton of collets in the field and when they start going bad, they'll cause contaminated tungsten on start up.


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## Whitbread (Dec 19, 2007)

Pat @ Pitt Soundworks said:


> I've never had an issue with contaminating tungsten. I typically don't run preflow, but noticed that the cup is so big, it's required to run a 1s preflow. The only thing I can think of is maybe the oring at the top of the cup is off, or the maybe there's a problem with the gas diffuser inside. Try cutting a piece of scotch brite the size of the cup and sticking it up in there and then giving it a shot.
> 
> Another idea is maybe the collet is bad. We go through a ton of collets in the field and when they start going bad, they'll cause contaminated tungsten on start up.


Hmmm, makes me wonder if I got a lemon. Good to hear that it does actually work though. 

It's assembled correctly and all brand new (including collet), doesn't even have 5 mins of welding on it. I've used the scotch brite trick before on other lenses, didn't try it on this thing yet as it's not "supposed" to need it.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

I have a CK micro (1/4" pyrex cup) that only works if I pack it full of scotch brite. Otherwise it does exactly what you describe. I only get about 30 seconds out of it at a time.

I'm not a big fan of CK. Their quality is hit and miss. But I'll be damed if the CK micro wasn't $125 when the Weldcraft micro was $350


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## bmxdarcy (Mar 7, 2006)

I don't care for the CK stuff as well, especially their torches. I have a ton of issues with the torch here, I can't wait till it's burnt up.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

If anyone in the Pittsburgh area is looking for a welder, I'm selling my Hobart Tigwave 300/300. I'm moving to FL and don't want to lug it with me.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Manifold I'm working on for a 3.5L honda motor. 8.5l plenum volume. 15.5" runners, plus what's in the head


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## tripwalking (Apr 28, 2004)

Welded some pieces for a friend.
















And some four link frame brackets. 










Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

Good job tripwalking... Mind sharing your press brake set up ?? Cnc I would assume ?


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

Good job tripwalking...do you Mind sharing your press brake set up ?? Cnc I would assume ?


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

Double posting ... How do you delete a post on tapatalking ??


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

When the Inspector left looked like a murder scene lol


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## sdezego (Apr 23, 2004)

euro-sudaka said:


> When the Inspector left looked like a murder scene lol


Please explain for those of us that are not in the know. I am guessing that red stuff is from some sort of inspection.

What we should have in this thread is have a caption with: specs (i.e. Cup size, Amp, flow, settings/balance, tungsten type and size, etc) as well as any special technique.

It might help people try to perfect techniques who aspire to come close to reproducing some of the ridiculous skill in here.


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## BlaktOut02 (Sep 4, 2009)

well its not nearly as crazy as some of the stuff in this thread, but its what i do everyday so i cant complain. hope to get up to your guys level someday.


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## sdezego (Apr 23, 2004)

Nice. I love my TIG, but I also love my MIG. I have the SnapOn 140 MIG (also 100% D/C) and my brother has 2. Friend has the same one you do. Great machines.


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## Eganx (Apr 30, 2004)

That was a dye penetrant test. You apply the dye, clean the dye up, apply developer. If there was a crack, pit or any imperfection to hold some of the dye the developer will draw it out and make it visible.


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## tripwalking (Apr 28, 2004)

BlaktOut02 said:


> well its not nearly as crazy as some of the stuff in this thread, but its what i do everyday so i cant complain. hope to get up to your guys level someday.
> 
> Mustang II? Whose kit is that? I'm www.welderseries.com. Have you used our parts before? Very nice install!
> 
> ...


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## euro-sudaka (Aug 22, 2006)

sorry for the delay in response but eganx explained it pretty well... basicly the penetrant goes inside the material if there's a crack or a pinhole, or porosity, once he aplies the white stuff, the crack will show up in red.. nothing crazy... die grinder with a carbide bit.. reweld and c'est fini.... lol I made 8 of throught this year !!


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## BlaktOut02 (Sep 4, 2009)

tripwalking said:


> Mustang II? Whose kit is that? I'm www.welderseries.com. Have you used our parts before? Very nice install!




Thanks, i love getting those jobs in. I have quite a few brackets from you sitting on the shelf right now actually. I believe that was the new TCI mustang II. It was a really nice kit, everything seemed to fit well except the frame boxing plates werent even close, but the top hats had the anti-dive built into it which was really nice. I work at a shop in Euclid, OH called Street Machinery.


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## lorge1989 (Sep 3, 2008)

All I have is a Hobart Handler 140. Really only bought it to do exhaust work.



















(still learning the importance of making sure the joints are perfect before welding, as you can see in the last pic)


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## Budsdubbin (Jul 14, 2008)

not bad


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## chrgdVR (Aug 2, 2004)

Started making a coolant res. the other night.










And my friend would prolly be pissed about these pics but he'll prolly never know I posted them here lol

Twin turbo cts-v he's building


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

That heat exchanger is huge! Is it a bell awic repurposed as a hx or Griffen rad?


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## chrgdVR (Aug 2, 2004)

As for the heat exchanger I don't know who makes the core. But I can find out. And no it's not repurposed as a rad it's the heat exchanger for the awic. The stock radiator is back there behind the a/c condenser still, It's huge too. The awic isn't blocking any more air flow than the stock bumper beam was 
The awic is 2 Garrett 750hp cores side by side with custom end tanks. 1/8" wall end tanks.
One turbo will feed from the left and the other from the right. Both exiting to the top to that 5" Pipe that sneaks behind the drivers headlight and up/around to the throttle body

I'll try and get some better pics of everything next time I'm over there. It's definitely some cool work he's doing on the car


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## chrgdVR (Aug 2, 2004)

My welder is a lincoln tig300


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## vr6swap (Aug 17, 2001)

Played around with TIG the last few years, off and on. Stuff for my car mostly. I don't do enough personal projects to stay welding all the time, and there's not enough car **** going on in HSV to support / justify trying to take in customer work. 

Getting a little more serious now, back in welding class and trying to get a 3G / 4G cert. Not sure what I'll do with a cert once I get it, current employer does mostly Gov't logistics and tech support, will worry about that when I get there. 










This was with a Syncro DX machine at school. 










With my machine at home (green).


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Intake Manifold for a Regal GS. I didn't do the runners. I only finished it as a favor. The car isn't put back together, but that's because it's all on the owner who is currently being a **** and is having the car towed to their house without any tools to reassemble.. and a bill.


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## chrgdVR (Aug 2, 2004)

A regal huh?! I didn't know people did much with those cars..


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## chrgdVR (Aug 2, 2004)

Just searched regal gs. I had no idea they had 2.0T and were awd :thumbup:


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Unfortunately, this one is fwd. And nobody is really doing anything with them yet, except this owner, because he's stupid. But it's basically a cobalt ss motor in a nicer body. Due to his incompetence, there's plastic in the motor and it's ticking already. But he has pistons and rods already and is planning on doing other stuff with it......


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## leebro61 (Nov 7, 2001)

Pat @ Pitt Soundworks said:


> And nobody is really doing anything with them yet, except this owner, because he's stupid.


I lol'd. I'm so sick of the adage that "the customer is always right". Sometimes people would benefit from being told that they were being ridiculous so maybe they would/could learn from their mistakes. :banghead:


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

If someone wants something built, I'll take their money. I don't do tuning so once my parts done, GTFO.

But this guy... The only options for tuning are hptuners. And he plans on doing it himself with absolutely no tuning background besides "looking at graphs of other tuners files and messing with numbers". If he ever gets the car back together (with no tools), then he reaps what he sews.


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## chrgdVR (Aug 2, 2004)

Modified evo intercooler for the mk2


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)

Treadstone top-mount intercooler for an 05 STI. I didn't realize the pictures turned out like crap but I can get some nicer ones. Sorry.

The black vacuum manifold piece running across the cooler is only temporary until they go to a rotated gt3782 setup in a month or so.


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## Pat @ Pitt Soundworks (Nov 14, 2008)




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## BlaktOut02 (Sep 4, 2009)

no limit engineering front end, frame z'd 4", custom ls1 motor mounts/trans crossmember, getting airride.


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## chrgdVR (Aug 2, 2004)

Picked up this #14 cup/gas lense setup, dropped it and cracked it in a day so I JB welded it back together until I can get a replacement... Gas coverage is crazy though

When I got it









after I had to repair it. Still works great though, it was a clean break atleast










First test with it on some scrap stainless exhaust pipe I had


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## BlaktOut02 (Sep 4, 2009)

55 chevy with an ls1, oil pan didnt clear the steering linkage.


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## chrgdVR (Aug 2, 2004)

I started working on this manifold yesterday... Someone else built it, it was just all tacked together. I'm gonna finish the rest of the work on it.

It's a Tacoma engine with a 67mm Borg Warner s400 turbo in a corolla drag car


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