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Show us your welding projects

LXCam

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Apr 23, 2013
Messages
19,091
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AZ
Jealous as hell at you planishing hammers.
No kidding, I hadn’t thought about making my own but I do have a couple extra air hammers that could be repurposed.

I also like that rotisserie socket rack. I’d seen them before but forgot all about them. Pretty darn slick they are 👍
 
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Beerhippie

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 13, 2023
Messages
9,670
Location
Far NE Oregon
Well, my nice portable vise stand (that I built so I can grind outside)

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has one glaring flaw: The leveling feet are too hard to use, so I don't and just deal with it being unstable. The 'feet" I put on it are just carriage bolts and take a wrench to adjust.

Can't have that.

Step one:

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Use the Hippie-okie lathe to cut down some 3/8 NC SS nuts to fit nicely inside of some SS 5/8" nuts.

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Like that. That'll give me a "knob" to make it easier to use the levelers.

Put some longer screws in for the levelers and screw the new, bigger nuts onto them:

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Plug weld them:

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That'll be much nicer. Now I can have a vise that rolls but doesn't rock, regardless where it sits.

The hardware is all recycled from decommed equipment.
 

Beerhippie

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 13, 2023
Messages
9,670
Location
Far NE Oregon
I had a set of crutch feet sitting around, surplussed from... something, so I slipped them over the nuts and:

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Now it's done.

For the self-dope-slap of the day award:

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As I also use the vise to weld outside, or when I need to hold something lower when welding, I added a nice copper ground lug a while back.
When I went to clamp the ground on today, I looked at that ground lug... then looked at the stainless steel handle.... DOH!
 

Beerhippie

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 13, 2023
Messages
9,670
Location
Far NE Oregon
I went to move the ground lug on my portable vise stand to the bottom frame today and remembered that the bottom frame is stainless--I only painted it because I was too lazy to mask it at the time. Instead of moving the ground lug, I just ground some of the paint off the base... ground point. I improved the electrical bonding from the lower frame to the vise mounting plate and now I'm good to go.
 

NUTTSGT

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 14, 2009
Messages
50,866
Location
Northern Central Ohio
Welding is hard.
Grinding is easy.
🤣

Grinding is tough, I hate it with a passion (the metal dust specifically) so I almost never grind unless someone needs it done!

Welding? Super easy!

Grinding is to a welder as caulk and paint are to a carpenter.

Lay down a good weld! Grinding *****! If you need to grind in my shop you will be asked to go outside!

I prefer to grind outside.

I also prefer you grind outside!

I wouldn't be allowed in.
Ever.
And I am OK with that. 🤣
I'm beginning to think we might need a "Show Your Grinding Thread."

:dunno:
 

PugetDude

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Mar 13, 2013
Messages
22,302
Location
Superstition Mountains, AZ
I'm beginning to think we might need a "Show Your Grinding Thread."

:dunno:
Hey, it would only be fair since Ryan just started " Woodworking Fabrication and Techniques".😉

Grinding ****. I'm getting excited.

I'd be on that thread like a twelve year old boy in the bathroom with a Victoria's Secret catalog.🤣
 
Last edited:

larry4406

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 27, 2006
Messages
19,062
Location
Northern Virginia
I'm beginning to think we might need a "Show Your Grinding Thread."

:dunno:

Hey, it would only be fair since Ryan just started " Woodworking Fabrication and Techniques".😉

Grinding ****. I'm getting excited.

I'd be on that thread like a twelve year old boy in the bathroom with a Victoria's Secret catalog.🤣
Grind hub?
 

y'sguy

Well-known member
Joined
May 1, 2010
Messages
1,309
Location
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Very cool.I've been looking for something similar for w=awhile now. Low profile that is stable. For emergency on the rode use. Not a.high priority, but it stems from the fact that one cannot buy a decent low profile scissor jack or the like that will do a decent job in the event of a flat tire off the beaten path. I used to have an old model t jack that did that very thing but it disappeared over the years. It folded very flat as I recall.
 

Firebrick43

Well-known member
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
13,994
Location
West central Indiana
Fabricated new coolant tubes for our motorcoach. Used the OEM carbon steel tubes as templates to pattern the new ones that I decided to make out of 304 stainless steel.

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Do you have any issues with your bead form? I have been thinking of getting one. It will be a lot faster than using a die and air hammer.
 
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zmotorsports

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Oct 20, 2009
Messages
21,330
Location
Northern Utah
You even back-gassed!

Need a part-time gig at a brewery in the boonies of NE Oregon?

Yes, probably overkill for a cooling system, but overkill is underrated. When my son and I built his stainless steel exhaust system on his WJ I also purged it during welding. Just something rewarding about knowing the job is done properly and thoroughly.

Do you have any issues with your bead form? I have been thinking of getting one. It will be a lot faster than using a die and air hammer.

No issues, although the stainless steel does push its limits and I have to tighten in smaller increments. I've had this bead form for at least 20 years now and it has never let me down. Not something I use often, but when it's needed, nothing else comes close for a home shop.
 

Beerhippie

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Joined
Oct 13, 2023
Messages
9,670
Location
Far NE Oregon
Yes, probably overkill for a cooling system, but overkill is underrated. When my son and I built his stainless steel exhaust system on his WJ I also purged it during welding. Just something rewarding about knowing the job is done properly and thoroughly.



No issues, although the stainless steel does push its limits and I have to tighten in smaller increments. I've had this bead form for at least 20 years now and it has never let me down. Not something I use often, but when it's needed, nothing else comes close for a home shop.
I don't think it's overkill. I think it's doing the job right.

Most people don't realize what "sugaring (decarbonization)" is, nor how big it can be. A 1/4" high band of rough, crusty sugaring in a coolant pipe will definitely increase turbulence and decrease flow--not good in a cooling system.
 

Firebrick43

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Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
13,994
Location
West central Indiana
No issues, although the stainless steel does push its limits and I have to tighten in smaller increments. I've had this bead form for at least 20 years now and it has never let me down. Not something I use often, but when it's needed, nothing else comes close for a home shop.
What gauge or wall thickness did you use. Most of what I do is schedule 10 pipe. (.109”)
I don't think it's overkill. I think it's doing the job right.

Most people don't realize what "sugaring (decarbonization)" is, nor how big it can be. A 1/4" high band of rough, crusty sugaring in a coolant pipe will definitely increase turbulence and decrease flow--not good in a cooling system.
I use Harris solar flux most of the time on the back side on pipes or large welds, so I don’t have to fool with back purging, although I wouldn’t do it on food grade stuff
 

Beerhippie

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Far NE Oregon
What gauge or wall thickness did you use. Most of what I do is schedule 10 pipe. (.109”)

I use Harris solar flux most of the time on the back side on pipes or large welds, so I don’t have to fool with back purging, although I wouldn’t do it on food grade stuff
Solar flux works best when you have good access to the backside of your project--not so much halfway down a pipe.

For stuff like SS kitchen counters, I'll use the Solar flux backed by a copper plate. It helps.
 

Firebrick43

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Joined
May 12, 2015
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13,994
Location
West central Indiana
Solar flux works best when you have good access to the backside of your project--not so much halfway down a pipe.

For stuff like SS kitchen counters, I'll use the Solar flux backed by a copper plate. It helps.
Most of the time it’s an exhaust system and I don’t care if it’s left.

I have done some coolant tubes on class 7/8 trucks like zmotorsports but they were much shorter and just 45’s or 90’s on at the ends where I could get a mini needle scaler and scotchbrite wheels to get most of it off.
 

Beerhippie

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Messages
9,670
Location
Far NE Oregon
So the sugaring doesn't affect the weld strength, it's mostly a cosmetic issue? (or as noted it can affect the flow inside a pipe)
As Firebrick notes, the "sugared" areas are no longer stainless and will corrode. The HAZ is also no longer stainless, but can be restored by acid passivation--the sugaring, not so much, as it's deep.

In our case--process piping in a brewery--the sugaring also means the piping can't be properly cleaned and sanitized. The insides of the pipes have to be as close as possible to perfectly smooth, which is why the welds are also fitted to within one-hundredth RCH and fusion-welded only.
 

M.Brane

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Feb 11, 2024
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1 hr N/W of LA LA Land
Yes you can totally weld SS with a MIG, but the weld/HAZ is no longer SS, and will rust/corrode. I welded up our presilencer at Laguna Seca after it oil-canned, and split open with a little Lincoln 120V flux core welder. I got us through the rest of the race, but we got rid of it after that. We also never ran there again due to the draconian noise restrictions.

IMG_0534.jpegIMG_0536.jpeg
 

kaymccampbell

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Joined
Feb 27, 2015
Messages
29,438
Location
Upstate New York
the base is buried to about an inch above that flange. Once the soil/ clay gets wet and tamped down it should be very solid.
OK. Here with our clay, a good rainy, windy day and it's in the mud. I'd at least put a big *** spike through each of the holes in the little arms. Or weld a 3 foot pipe to the bottom, so you could drive the base with a post driver.
 

stinkity stoink

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 8, 2007
Messages
730
Location
New Jersey
whenever I get some free time and motivation I like to learn something New or better my skills in something.
I dove back into metal shaping again over the last few weeks of spare time. I have an old fender in my shop I use to try and recreate. Last time I did it the patch in this area was 4 pieces that I welded up. This time I made it in 2. progress😀
 

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