Tricks of the trade.....

[ToolLover]

My first day in in the auditorium of Gaston Community college in 1960 they told us: "We are not here to teach you everything in the books. We are here to teach teach you to think!" That has haunted me from that day.
There are always little things that we have learned while we have made our way in our carears simply by just thinking a little deeper.
I thought of two that were of use to me while running my shop.
For years we only had stick welders that everyone is familiar with.
Then came the wire welders that used a .035" diameter wire that was a great relief to the drudgery of changing all of those burned rods.
Of course there was a new and improved fire hazzard that went along with the wire welder.....Without leathers, we often burned our shirt sleeves off.
Sorry about meanering.....back to the point.
Well as anyone that has wire welded knows there is the other item that is required for this process....the expensive 25/75 mix that keeps the tip cooled and provided arch suppression.
Now when you are rumming thru multiple tanks of the 25/75 mix, you begin to put you mind to work.
Investigation into the avaliable wire revealed that a flux core wire was avaliable for only a little extra cost.
So, my next move was to buy a roll of this wire.
While at National Welders, I bought a tank of CO2.
I was careful to not reveal my thoughts to any of the counter guys.
I could not wait to try out my new idea.
I set up the flow meter on the CO2 tank and went to work.
Worked great!
Tips ran cooler and the .045 flux core wire worked good after I changed the drive rollers.
There was one thing that I had to be careful of....circulation is a must as CO2 replaces the air around you.
I had to be careful when going down into the pit to clear any stale air out.
The other idea that was of benefit to me was changing the cutting tips of my Oxy-Acetelene tip to a propane tip and replacing the acetalene with propane.
Acetelene runs at 5600 degrees and propane is colder at 4800 defgrees.
Creates a slower start, but the savings is worth it when you are paying.
Honestly, I was running thru 3-4 tanks of Acetelene a month.
Propane did away with that expense....less than one 30# tank a month.

 

[tdkkart]

Well as anyone that has wire welded knows there is the other item that is required for this process....the expensive 25/75 mix that keeps the tip cooled and provided arch suppression.
Now when you are rumming thru multiple tanks of the 25/75 mix, you begin to put you mind to work.
Investigation into the avaliable wire revealed that a flux core wire was avaliable for only a little extra cost.
So, my next move was to buy a roll of this wire.
While at National Welders, I bought a tank of CO2.
I was careful to not reveal my thoughts to any of the counter guys.
I could not wait to try out my new idea.
I set up the flow meter on the CO2 tank and went to work.
Worked great!
Tips ran cooler and the .045 flux core wire worked good after I changed the drive rollers.
There was one thing that I had to be careful of....circulation is a must as CO2 replaces the air around you.

You were running flux core AND Co2 at the same time??
That's a thought,but seems like it would be at least as expensive if not more.
As long as you're welding exhaust and and don't care what the weld looks like flux core works fine.

 

[Amitygravel]

Great info. Keep it coming ToolLover !

Craig

 

[ToolLover]

TDKKART,
Yep, the CO2 keeps the tip cool.
Of course that was quiet a few years ago. I am sure welding has changed for the better today.
Then while welding in a shop that is 40x70, and drafty, ventelation is not a problem.
I had 7 men doing contract welding (piece work) when I lost my contract.
We were making Water stoves for a large company that marketed them all over the USA.
The welds had to meet specs and be water tight.

 

[e-tek]

That's what I'm talking about! We have amentor in the house!!
Much appreciated.

 

[Stick]

You were running flux core AND Co2 at the same time??
That's a thought,but seems like it would be at least as expensive if not more.
As long as you're welding exhaust and and don't care what the weld looks like flux core works fine.

Nothing wrong with flux core wire, it's just not appropriate for stuff like sheet metal. In fact, the OP didn't invent anything new, "dual shield" welding is commonly used in structural steel applications, and I've seen some absolutely beautiful welds from the guys that run it.

 

[R-132 Fan]

Yeah, the duel shield welding process has been around for many years. That's how all those nice lookiing welds are done on railroad cars, heavy equipment and ships. You can really push the amperage up on the duel shield process and do thick section welds in one pass.

 

[MichaelP]

ToolLover,

I don't get it. Do you want to tell us that you invented the dual shield process and oxy-propane cutting?

 

[FLFFPM]

ToolLover,

I don't get it. Do you want to tell us that you invented the dual shield process and oxy-propane cutting?

ToolLover, you remind me of my dad. I apologize for the asshats that look for the negative in every post and I'd love to elaborate but I don't frequent this site much after finding the boys at the garage g@zzette forum. Nonetheless, you have my respect, I try to pass on things I've learned to my son but I can't hold his attention for very long. When he and my dad get together it's entirely different, last visit they spent 6 hours together cleaning guns. I'm sure you have a lot to offer so don't let the negative posts deter you.

 

[Stick]

ToolLover, you remind me of my dad. I apologize for the asshats that look for the negative in every post and I'd love to elaborate but I don't frequent this site much after finding the boys at the garage g@zzette forum. Nonetheless, you have my respect, I try to pass on things I've learned to my son but I can't hold his attention for very long. When he and my dad get together it's entirely different, last visit they spent 6 hours together cleaning guns. I'm sure you have a lot to offer so don't let the negative posts deter you.

ToolLover, if my reply came off negatively I apologize, it wasn't intended to be that way.

I've actually shared quite a few tips and tricks, though I usually post them in their own thread. So in the spirit of the OP:

Assembling a road grader circle drive, a story in 25 pictures...
Notable in this one are the use of heat/cold to put parts together, and the use of welding to extract bearing races from their bores.

My twist on the standard brake job (lots of images)
That one shows the use of a dial indicator to check for rotor runout in order to reduce brake pulsation.

I'm sure there are more, but hopefully that will help get the thread back on track.

 

[R-132 Fan]

Yeah, no offense meant by my post either. I'll try to think a little more before I hit enter in the future.

 

[Jack Olsen]

I am a novice welder, so forgive my ignorance in advance. But I was under the impression that the flux core wire used for the dual shield process was not the same formulation of flux as the wire used for plain ol' flux core welding. Outside of this post, I haven't ever heard it suggested that you would benefit from using your GMAW gas (or pure C02) on top of a flux core wire that was not made for dual shield welding.

And I'm also curious about the idea of 'cooling the tip' in GMAW welding. As it was explained to me, shielding gas functions to displace ordinary atmospheric air in order to provide a consistent environment for the metal to melt -- because the oxygen in the stuff we breathe compromises the melting of the old metal and the deposit of new material and produces things like porosity, weakened welds and excessive slag. I've never heard anything about shielding gas playing a role in controlling the temperature of the wire, the tip or the nozzle. But then, I've only welded mild steel and I know there are different gas mixes for different metals and even different mixes sold for regular mild steel -- so it could very well be that I've been missing something about the function of shielding gas in GMAW.

I'm interested in learning more about this.

 

[rickycobra]

Welding has always been cool to me especially when I'm in someones else shop and they let me use their tools.

 

[brats.n.harleys]

ive alway ran regular welding wire (non-flux) with straight co2. its way cheaper and the welds i run with co2 compared to co2/argon look the same.

 

[z28snksknr]

I am a novice welder, so forgive my ignorance in advance. But I was under the impression that the flux core wire used for the dual shield process was not the same formulation of flux as the wire used for plain ol' flux core welding. Outside of this post, I haven't ever heard it suggested that you would benefit from using your GMAW gas (or pure C02) on top of a flux core wire that was not made for dual shield welding.

And I'm also curious about the idea of 'cooling the tip' in GMAW welding. As it was explained to me, shielding gas functions to displace ordinary atmospheric air in order to provide a consistent environment for the metal to melt -- because the oxygen in the stuff we breathe compromises the melting of the old metal and the deposit of new material and produces things like porosity, weakened welds and excessive slag. I've never heard anything about shielding gas playing a role in controlling the temperature of the wire, the tip or the nozzle. But then, I've only welded mild steel and I know there are different gas mixes for different metals and even different mixes sold for regular mild steel -- so it could very well be that I've been missing something about the function of shielding gas in GMAW.

I'm interested in learning more about this.

This is my understanding (or lack of) as well.

Regardless, I certainly appreciate the intent of this thread - tips and tricks you've come up with by using your own noggin vs. googling the info or following what others did. I think as a whole, readily available information decreses the amount of time we spend actually thinking through something and figuring out a way to accomplish a task. If you were able to save some $$ by finding another way, then you are applying yourself as God (or insert your preference) intended. My hats off to you.

 

[StingRay]

Lets remember he's talking about when mig welders came out. The processes used today are derivatives of what was learned back in the day. What is commonplace today probably wasn't back then. They call that innovation and creative thinking.