Recent content by dr_clyde

A friend of a friend is changing careers and has enrolled in the local community college's welding program. She's decided she's had enough of the restaurant industry and would prefer to do something with welding. Our mutual friend told her that I had a weld shop and after scheming for a bit...

Game changers for me - Inverter tig welders. I have made so much damn money by being able to put a tig rig in my pickup and go weld wherever it needs it. I can stick weld and tig weld anywhere i can walk to that has a 20 amp 120v circuit. Being able to make welds inside the deep bowels of a...

Its apparently easier to grind... lol I looked up a few spec sheets on it, and it is a trade secret wire that doesn't conform to any AWS standard or classifications. There are lots of proprietary welding electrodes/wires that are designed and sold for extremely niche uses. They charge a...

I think you're over-analyzing this. You don't need special wire for this, body shop guys around the world use regular off the shelf wire. Just get some .023" 70S-6 mig wire and weld it. Practice on some scrap. If you can copper back it, it wouldn't hurt.

Schaller makes a bin label holder. https://www.schallercorporation.com/label-holder-50-pack/ I just bought almost $600 worth of bins including a few hundred label holders to organize hardware into a Vidmar so I'll let you guys know how well I like the Schaller label holders.

To be fair, I haven’t sprayed any Imron in about 15-20 years. I don’t even know if it’s still made by DuPont, I saw a different branding.

I'd use Imron if you can get some.

While 5k isn't exactly pocket change, it appears that that price includes a LOT of tools. It's not just an empty cart.

I believe most machinists levels claim .005” per foot.

For a home shop you probably will never notice a difference. Line diameter really comes into play when you need to deliver large VOLUMES of air to tool. This is most noticeable with a sandblasting setup or some huge air hog like big air grinders.

I don't see any issue with having options. In a mobile setting, eliminating drive sizes saves a lot of weight. If I can get a wider range of sockets for a single ratchet, I'm into it. Sometimes you need to use a specific size socket for a lower torque setting. For instance, I recently needed...

The pipefitters I worked with always used tape first, then dope over the the tape. I wouldn't want to try to get tape tight enough to not slip over a doped pipe, but it is very straightforward to put a slick of dope over an already taped thread.

Gold lens makers exist, they just charge a MINT. Phillips Safety makes a glass lens with a gold coating in a few different colors, but they're several hundred dollars.

I weld daily for work and I use a Miller Elite helmet, but I modified it to accept the headgear out of a Jackson shadow. I prefer a Jackson shadow with a passive gold lens for TIG work, but the auto dark is convenient for lots of tacks or when I need to really go dark with higher amp MIG or...

I tried on the Optrel Panoramaxx at Fabtech and I was really disappointed with the ergonomics of the helmet. I wear glasses and the inside of that particular helmet is contoured to fit around your nose and very close to your face. I kept hitting my glasses on the helmet, and it would push the...