Show us your welding projects

[chad2198]

Like my story above, don't discount the 110v machines to much. I could have taken it even a step further and pre heated the metal before welding it with my 110 Hobart. It's all about melting the steel together and "filling" the loss of material with another material. That's all welding is. With patients and preparation, a 110v can do a lot more than you think. The down side is, it takes longer to do the same job as you can do with a bigger machine.


I worked on a 50 story building years back while they were still swinging steel. The I-beam columns were 2 1/2" thick and were welded together. A welder would sit on a bucket all day with a box full of rods and weld away while a rose bud torch was blowing on the back side of it the whole time keeping it red hot. What a crappy job to have to do every day.

This is an effective way to get 100% penetration on 1/2" steel plate using a 110v 130-150A welder.

Thanks for sharing this info.

No worries on it killing someone as I'm not gonna take it down the road until the weld is absolutely done right and if I can't get the weld done right I'll get A hole saw and another ball, drill a hole and bolt the ball on before it ever leaves my yard or our private road.

I mainly needed to fab this up so I could move the trailer to another spot in my yard so I could move another vehicle that the trailer was in the way of getting the vehicle out and I didn't have A gooseneck hitch yet which I had planned to get anyway.

And I didn't have a hole saw at the moment that would drill a hole big enough for the ball shank

I just didn't have the money at the moment to buy a factory hitch. I NEVER would risk lives over saving money.

When I get ready to take it down the highway or down the street it's gonna get a factory gooseneck hitch to pull the thing.

But then again if I bolt the ball on it should be good to go.

I actually backed the darn thing into a tree today when I was slipping on the slick ground and it held so far. And that was a hard hit that dented the bumper on the fifth wheel trailer.

I inspected the weld after that hit and I didn't see any cracks yet.

I guess I could continuously ram it into that tree to see if it breaks. lol

But I'm still gonna go over those bad looking welds and fix them before pulling it down the road and once again if I still can't get the welds done right I'm gonna drill the hole and bolt another ball on before it ever goes down a public road where lives are at stake.

Actually there's a better weld underneath all those other passes. It did indeed penetrate on the first pass all the way around.

It was just the other passes that turned out bad as I turned the amps down which I probably shouldn't have done.

Chad

 

[Engine]

I know we all hate to hear about not tackling a trailer project or anything that goes on the road when you're just starting out. And it's
Great advice and I wish I would've been told that. I'm 25 now, will be 26 March 8th.

When I was 19 I got my first welder,...

Hi Chad. An Idea for you to consider. To be confident that you are actually making welds that will hold up you can weld up some plate and have it bend tested by your local welding school or technical college welding class. Usually they have equipment you can use to cut out the coupons and bend test them. Many will tell you how to prepare them and will bend them for you.

Basically, you will want to take two pieces of 3" x 2" x 3/8" plate, bevel the edges to about 35 degrees and place them edge to edge with about 1/8" gap between. Run your root pass, hot pass, and cover pass until you get what you think is an acceptable weld on the joint. Grind them off flush on front and back and take them in to the shop, cut two 2" coupons from the plate and bend them. Have the instructor look at them and point out the defects, if any. If he is a decent guy he can give you some feedback on how you are doing and how to improve. When you are making welds that don't crack when bent double, you should be confident that they are going to hold during any "normal" usage.

Just some info that might help.

 

[vettelvr75]

Powerpro 256.

You could probably get the 205 and be just as happy. That's the one i was going to buy but they were out so they upgraded me for just a little bit more.

Thanks Erat,

I was looking at the 205. I have done a good amount of mig welding and really want to get into tig as well. Plus, I would love to have a plasma too. One question I have, is do you miss the fact you cant weld aluminum with that machine since it has no AC?

 

[welderpat]

This is the boat they filmed the Pirates of the Caribbean movies from .

 

[Engine]

I wanted a different kind of mig cart; something that would have large wheels on the back so that I could roll it out into my rough driveway if I need to weld on something there. Everything I have seen so far appears to be designed to be used on smooth concrete. I am thinking in terms of a two wheel dolly like the ones used to move refrigerators. I want to have casters on the front and large wheels on the back so that when I want to move it on rough ground I can tilt it back and roll it. Also, it needs to be easy to move in the garage. Also, cutting cost was a top priority.

I'm making it from 1" square tube, 16ga. and some scrap 6" x 1/8" flat bar that was in fairly good shape. The machine will sit on the top level and the bottom will have 3" sides to contain tools and stuff. The back section is sized to hold two 125 cu.ft. tanks. The upright handles are 40" height and I'll put a removable handhold in the top to make changing tanks easier.

I had a hard time welding the tube and blew through a few times so I had to do a lot of grinding. That's OK, since I'm not trying to win awards, just make something solid.

The only real foul-up was when I welded on the top rails. I cut them a little too short and the fit up was bad. It left a gap between the uprights and the rails that I filled in with weld metal and when it cooled and shrunk, it pulled the uprights in about 3/8" out of square. I should have just cut some longer pieces, but instead I took the lazy way out and paid for it.

Here are some pics with the basic frame complete. Next I will weld on the flat bar for the top and bottom shelves and add the wheels, and casters. I'll post more when that is done.

This is the frame with the bottom sides tacked in:


This is a view from the left rear:


This view of the cart lying on the floor shows how the uprights are bowed toward the front, caused by the uppermost horizontal rails:

 

[chad2198]

Hi Chad. An Idea for you to consider. To be confident that you are actually making welds that will hold up you can weld up some plate and have it bend tested by your local welding school or technical college welding class. Usually they have equipment you can use to cut out the coupons and bend test them. Many will tell you how to prepare them and will bend them for you.

Basically, you will want to take two pieces of 3" x 2" x 3/8" plate, bevel the edges to about 35 degrees and place them edge to edge with about 1/8" gap between. Run your root pass, hot pass, and cover pass until you get what you think is an acceptable weld on the joint. Grind them off flush on front and back and take them in to the shop, cut two 2" coupons from the plate and bend them. Have the instructor look at them and point out the defects, if any. If he is a decent guy he can give you some feedback on how you are doing and how to improve. When you are making welds that don't crack when bent double, you should be confident that they are going to hold during any "normal" usage.

Just some info that might help.

Thanks for that advice. I think I'll do that.

I decided to ram the trailer into the tree again 10 more times just for the heck of it as the old bumper is coming off the trailer anyway as it isn't much good.

The ball is so far still holding without any cracks.

I know I said I wasn't gonna take it up the road, but after ramming it into the tree several times and the weld not breaking or cracking I added a chain to the trailer and the truck and took off with it yesterday and went down some old dirt roads. "Yeah I know there's still traffic on the dirt roads too" but if the weld on the ball would've broke the chain was there to catch it and keep it behind my truck.

Took it for a 50 mile round trip down the dirt roads and stopped periodically to check the weld for cracks and there were no cracks or any signs of the weld breaking.

The chains I had on it were some heavy duty logging chains so that trailer and the links of the chain were both hooked and bolted to prevent the chain from coming loose.

The trailer wasn't gonna leave my truck if the ball broke off "Which thankfully it didn't."


Please note that this isn't aimed at anyone here. This is just a statement.

I've heard this time and time again from people both online and offline.

I know a lot of people say that welding a ball on a hitch is a bad idea. But I see balls welded on hitches in the stores. Do we really know if these balls were welded on correctly by a pro welder? "I really doubt they were"

These too could fail just as easily. But because it's factory made we for some reason trust it better than a home made one.

Or we trust it better than our own welding. "Personally I trust my own welding more unless I actually know the person doing the welding.

Or here's A ball they sell for welding onto the hitch.
Chadhttp://www.summitracing.com/parts/cht-40094?seid=srese1&gclid=CIuSr9GS-bwCFY1r7AodyD0APQ

So welding a ball on must not be such a bad idea. Yeah I know it is bad to weld it if you can't get a sound weld.

But if you're able to get a good sound weld then it's actually a great idea.

I know whenever I bolt a ball on I always weld the nut on to prevent the nut from coming loose and the ball coming off.

Because really a bolt on ball isn't any safer than a welded on ball.

Because if you don't check that nut on the bottom of the ball then it could come lose and endanger peoples lives too.

Chad

 

[erat]

Thanks Erat,

I was looking at the 205. I have done a good amount of mig welding and really want to get into tig as well. Plus, I would love to have a plasma too. One question I have, is do you miss the fact you cant weld aluminum with that machine since it has no AC?

What?

The 205 and the 256 both have AC...

I weld aluminum all the time with it. I admit it's a big learning curve with all the settings the machine has.

I know whenever I bolt a ball on I always weld the nut on to prevent the nut from coming loose and the ball coming off.

Because really a bolt on ball isn't any safer than a welded on ball.

Because if you don't check that nut on the bottom of the ball then it could come lose and endanger peoples lives too.

Chad

Huh? That's what cotter pins are for. What if you want to take the ball off again?

 

[jnkpile]

Huh? That's what cotter pins are for. What if you want to take the ball off again?[/QUOTE]


I have three draw bars with balls bolted on and none have a hole for a cotter pin. I have two ATVs and one lawn tractor, all with bolt on hitch balls and no holes for cotter pins.
I suppose your hitch ball also came with a castle nut too?

 

[chad2198]

Huh? That's what cotter pins are for. What if you want to take the ball off again?

Sorry I didn't fully explain. I don't fully weld the nut on. I just run a short bead on the bottom of the nut to prevent the nut from coming loose.

If I ever need to remove the ball I can cut through the weld and still remove the ball.

It's just enough to prevent it from coming lose. Not a full on weld.

Chad

 

[erat]

I guess i've just never seen a bolt on hitch that didn't have a hole for a cotter pin.

 

[Engine]

Or here's A ball they sell for welding onto the hitch.
Chadhttp://www.summitracing.com/parts/cht-40094?seid=srese1&gclid=CIuSr9GS-bwCFY1r7AodyD0APQ

So welding a ball on must not be such a bad idea. Yeah I know it is bad to weld it if you can't get a sound weld.

But if you're able to get a good sound weld then it's actually a great idea.


Chad

The ball should hold fine if it and the hitch are both completely fused together properly when they are welded.

I'm driving a truck now that I bought used and the previous owner had that exact ball you show welded into a baseplate and then to a crossmember under the truck bed that extended from one side of the frame to the other. I had no use for it, and it was always in the way because it stuck up from the middle of the bed about three inches. I finally decided to cut it out. Since the truck has a plastic bedliner, I couldn't use a torch to cut the ball out. I had to use an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel. I'm telling you I cut on that thing for a couple of hours before I finally cut deep enough into the welds to get it loose. There was no way that thing was breaking off from pulling a trailer.

Here is a the way it was mounted in the truck bed:
(The ball was inserted in a 6" dia. x 1" plate and was welded around the circumference both top and bottom as you see in the sketch. The baseplate was also welded to the channel crossmember.)

 

[chad2198]

I'm telling you I cut on that thing for a couple of hours before I finally cut deep enough into the welds to get it loose. There was no way that thing was breaking off from pulling a trailer.

I've had to grind hours on some of my welds to get something loose.

I welded a thick I beam to an old car rear end. It took me at least 2 hours to get those welds cut off so I could use the I beam for something else. I cut half way through the welds and tried to break them off and even with the welds being half way cut through the weld still wouldn't break.

I was about to give up and just leave the I beam attached to the rear end.

That's why I feel confident enough in my welds to weld a ball on even though the bead doesn't look all that great. Sometimes I can get great looking beads and sometimes not.

But I have no doubt that the ball and hitch fused together like they were supposed too. I know it definitely fused together on the first pass.

I also cleaned the ball and the hitch of any rust and contaminants before doing the weld.

I've had bad looking beads of mine on other things that took me hours to grind through.

It'd also probably help a lot more if I could see better through my helmet when welding. I think I need to get a new helmet as the lens in my helmet seems to be getting harder to see through than it did before.

I bet if I actually wanted to remove this ball. It'd take a lot of grinding on the welds to remove it.

I really don't see this ball ever coming off from pulling the trailer around especially after ramming the trailer into a tree over and over again. lol

I've got better looking welds on my home made loader I built for my garden tractor. "I'll have to get some pics of those welds. Those look great and are also strong.

Chad

 

[yaidunno]

Heres what I've been putting together the past few days. Some 3" stainless exhaust.

 

[Engine]

Heres what I've been putting together the past few days. Some 3" stainless exhaust.

Now there is a project that really takes some skill. Great job!

 

[yaidunno]

Now there is a project that really takes some skill. Great job!

Thanks much. Its quite time consuming getting all the pipes to a zero gap fit. This is my first go around with plumbing exhaust, but so far so good.

 

[Engine]

I'm still continuing with the cart "build."

The first pic shows the frame with the bottom shelf in place and the front casters welded on.

The second shows it with the top shelf and rear wheels installed.

I should have been able to finish this already, but we had about a quarter inch of ice and at least five inches of snow night before last... I'm ready for spring already.

 

[chad2198]

I'm still continuing with the cart "build."

The first pic shows the frame with the bottom shelf in place and the front casters welded on.

The second shows it with the top shelf and rear wheels installed.

I should have been able to finish this already, but we had about a quarter inch of ice and at least five inches of snow night before last... I'm ready for spring already.

Nice cart. I've got a cart in the plans for my lincoln tombstone. It has wheels but it is hard to move around and there's nowhere on the welder to hang the cables so right now they're just strung out in the shop. lol

Hopefully I can get onto the welding cart project soon. I just have to purchase the material first.

We've had ice here too, and 3 inches of snow after it was 70F 4 days ago. Just when I thought we were done with winter another winter storm had to arrive.

I'm ready for spring too.

Chad

 

[CheezyRiderAZ]

Chad,

I'd like to see your cart plans for your tombstone.
I have one too but can't seem to come up with anything I really like.....

 

[PCO6]

CheezyRiderAZ - If it helps, here's what I did with my tombstone.

View media item 38444
View media item 38445

 

[Robert Hall]

I'm still continuing with the cart "build."

The first pic shows the frame with the bottom shelf in place and the front casters welded on.

The second shows it with the top shelf and rear wheels installed.

I should have been able to finish this already, but we had about a quarter inch of ice and at least five inches of snow night before last... I'm ready for spring already.

You might want to leave a hole in that bottom tray to clean the **** out of it, or if liquid gets spilled in to it, gives it a place to go.

Looks good!

 

[sz0k30]

Just finished spending a few fun days going thru this entire thread, and sometimes the only thing you can say is WOW.

On a side note, and I hope this question isn't insensitive, going thru @ the 1st half of the pages I saw a lot of posts by ZTFab. Didn't seem to notice any of his posts in the 2nd half?

 

[chad2198]

Chad,

I'd like to see your cart plans for your tombstone.
I have one too but can't seem to come up with anything I really like.....

I haven't drawn up any plans yet. But I was thinking something like a 4 wheel dolly "Kind of like ENGINE's Post above" and I'd have a place to hang the cables on the side.

And make some hangers for my welding helmet and my chipping hammer and someplace to put my welding electrodes, clamps, magnets etc.

I seem to always lose my chipping hammer and clamps whenever I'm welding something.

I could be laying a weld, chip the slag and brush the weld. Then go and weld again within seconds and then after that second weld I can't seem to find my chipping hammer when I know it should be right there next to me.

My chipping hammer always seems to walk off on me.

Chad

 

[bob_the_builder]

PC06,

Do you have a picture of the bottom frame. I am trying to understand how you attached the welder to the frame.

Bob

 

[Engine]

Thanks for all the kind words guys. I'm hoping to have it finished by tomorrow and I'll post some pics.

I'm thinking about buying a Hobart Stickmate sometime soon, so I'm thinking about some ideas for making a cart for it too.

 

[PCO6]

PC06,

Do you have a picture of the bottom frame. I am trying to understand how you attached the welder to the frame.

Bob

Bob - Here's a (not so good) picture of the frame and the rear shroud that I made to house the cables. The front of the welder faces to the left and the shroud goes over the expanded metal portion of the frame.

The welder is bolted to the frame via the 4 holes you see in the flat bar. In the first of my photos above you can see the 2 front bolts. I had to drill 4 holes into the base that the welder normally sits on.

View media item 38456

 

[Adam McLaughlin]

Well done PC06!

Adam

 

[PCO6]

Thanks Adam.

 

[chad2198]

My old fifth wheel camper "That I turned into a utility trailer" has the fifth wheel hitch coupler that is adjustable with bolts.

I would tighten those bolts over and over and torque them and they still would work loose. "Not something I want when going down the highway.

So I decided since I'll never need to remove the fifth wheel coupler that I'd weld it to prevent it coming loose in the event that I lose the bolts.

Here's a few pics of the welds I did on the front and back of the hitch.

And I threw in a pic of a stone I moved today with my homemade loader. Well I made the forks but the loader arms are factory made. "They were given to me".

I added them to a sears GT16 80's something model.

I did weld the forks and the mounting ears to the square tube for the forks.

Chad

 

[bob_the_builder]

Thanks for the extra pictures PCO6. I love the idea.

Bob

 

[ishiboo]

Chad, the loader looks neat! That's a big rock for a garden tractor

I don't mean to harp, but the advice given to you on TBN in regards to welding up a hitch with those welds was pretty spot on... that's one thing you need to buy professionally made

 

[chad2198]

Chad, the loader looks neat! That's a big rock for a garden tractor

Thanks. Yeah I really thought it was gonna flip that garden tractor without any weight on the back. But luckily it didn't.

I don't mean to harp, but the advice given to you on TBN in regards to welding up a hitch with those welds was pretty spot on... that's one thing you need to buy professionally made

That's okay. I agree that things like that ball are critical and does need to be done professionally. But unless I know that the weld on those "purchased" hitches were done by an actual pro then I don't really trust it anymore than my own welded hitch.

Right now I wouldn't hesitate to take this trailer down the highway with that ball. It's been looked at by 2 pro welders and they say that it will hold fine.

They took a closer look than a picture will show. And they said that it did indeed penetrate. "And that's what really matters" not the looks of the weld.

I've had it down the road without any cracks or anything. The first pass has a great looking weld to it all the way around. It's just that the other passes didn't turn out that great looking.

That ball that I've welded on is NOT coming off without doing some serious grinding or something.


Please note. I'm not a total newbie to welding. If I were there's no way I would've ever tried welding that ball on. I know how to get the weld to get penetration.

I'm still learning. But the truth is we never stop learning.


And yes I could've had either of those 2 pros weld this ball on for me but I didn't have the cash to pay those pros. "If I did I would've".

Chad

 

[chad2198]

After seeing a pic of a factory made welded on ball hitch on TBN.

I have rethought this thing about the ball being just welded to the hitch.

It might hold. But I'm not taking the chance anymore. I'll be making a new hitch with the ball bolted on this time.

http://www.metallurgist.com/html/Towingtrailerhitchfailure.htm

Chad

 

[CheezyRiderAZ]

Thanks Chad and PCO6.

I LIKE that, simple but it does everything I need except hold my chipping hammer, which has legs and likes to run away whenever I put it down......

 

[PCO6]

Thanks Chad and PCO6.

I LIKE that, simple but it does everything I need except hold my chipping hammer, which has legs and likes to run away whenever I put it down......

It doesn't show in the second photo of my post #2183 but I have since added a magnetic bar to the top underside of the cavity in the back of the welder. It's a good spot for my chipping hammer. I also added a pad to the topside of the welder which by default became a place to put things while welding.

View media item 38446

 

[WakonTonka]

After seeing a pic of a factory made welded on ball hitch on TBN.

I have rethought this thing about the ball being just welded to the hitch.

It might hold. But I'm not taking the chance anymore. I'll be making a new hitch with the ball bolted on this time.

http://www.metallurgist.com/html/Towingtrailerhitchfailure.htm

Chad

Bravo Chad!
The threat of litigation is a very real thing in our "modern" world. Can you imagine what could have happened should you ever have a failure of that hitch. During discovery, this thread might have surfaced. Damn, that would ****. Glad you thought this thing through, it says a lot about you that you are able to move on with this thing.

 

[Engine]

After seeing a pic of a factory made welded on ball hitch on TBN.

I have rethought this thing about the ball being just welded to the hitch.

It might hold. But I'm not taking the chance anymore. I'll be making a new hitch with the ball bolted on this time.

http://www.metallurgist.com/html/Towingtrailerhitchfailure.htm

Chad

The pics of the failed ball and hitch look like a homemade rig.

If I'm not mistaken, trailer hitch balls are usually made of some type of alloy steel. Unless you know the composition, it would be easy to use a completely wrong method of welding it to the ball mount. Obviously, the one shown was not done correctly.

In my opinion, this is a truly poor design for towing even if the welds are done correctly. Here's why...

Having the ball simply sitting flush on the surface of the ball mount and being connected only by the weld around the perimeter of the ball may not provide sufficient strength to withstand the shear stress and torque placed on it when pulling the trailer. Additionally, it is incapable of absorbing the tremendous shock loading caused by the trailer slamming back and forth into it. This causes the weld itself to be the "weak link" in the whole chain. This is one reason why most ball mounts are made of rather thick plate steel that is drilled through to accept a ball that has a shaft that extends through the plate. This design relies on the shaft strength rather than the welds.

The shaft and ball are probably constructed from one solid forging and are designed so that the shaft itself is large enough to withstand the forces involved. This design usually has a threaded shaft and nut to hold the ball in place but some types are welded around the perimeter of the ball as well as at the bottom of the shaft. In either case the forces are transmitted through the ball and shaft to the ball mount and do not rely on the weld strength to any significant degree.

Considering the potential consequences of having a trailer come loose from my vehicle and causing damages to someone in today's litigious society, I doubt I would go the "homemade" route on this one. But, that's just me.

 

[Lazylaser]

Here is my 1st welding cart project and the first time using my welding table I just
made.

It's stainless and for my eastwood tig.
Its in progress at the moment.


http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=239432&highlight=welding+project

 

[chad2198]

In my opinion, this is a truly poor design for towing even if the welds are done correctly. Here's why...

Having the ball simply sitting flush on the surface of the ball mount and being connected only by the weld around the perimeter of the ball may not provide sufficient strength to withstand the shear stress and torque placed on it when pulling the trailer. Additionally, it is incapable of absorbing the tremendous shock loading caused by the trailer slamming back and forth into it. This causes the weld itself to be the "weak link" in the whole chain. This is one reason why most ball mounts are made of rather thick plate steel that is drilled through to accept a ball that has a shaft that extends through the plate. This design relies on the shaft strength rather than the welds.

The shaft and ball are probably constructed from one solid forging and are designed so that the shaft itself is large enough to withstand the forces involved. This design usually has a threaded shaft and nut to hold the ball in place but some types are welded around the perimeter of the ball as well as at the bottom of the shaft. In either case the forces are transmitted through the ball and shaft to the ball mount and do not rely on the weld strength to any significant degree.

Considering the potential consequences of having a trailer come loose from my vehicle and causing damages to someone in today's litigious society, I doubt I would go the "homemade" route on this one. But, that's just me.

You're right just welding on the ball on flush is indeed a poor design. Especially for a trailer going down the highway.

Like you said there's a lot of force going on with the trailer especially even more when loaded.

And I don't want to rely on just that weld holding all that force just sitting on top of the hitch. "Even if it was a greatly done weld by a pro". Next time if I were to ever weld a ball to a hitch without the shank. I'd cut the hole out first and then put the ball down into the hole and then weld both the bottom and top so the weld isn't the only thing taking the force.

But I'm not gonna attempt that until I get some more experience welding.

Also I saw a few other hitches that have the welded on balls and they have part of the shank welded into the square tube which is a better design than the ones with just the weld on top.

Chad

 

[chad2198]

Also a new hitch is needed anyway as where I welded the ball it sits to far out back from the axle. I need to make the hitch sit more over the axle.

I'm gonna get some steel plate and drill a hole through the steel and bolt the ball through one plate on top and the other on the bottom.

Once I do that I'm gonna cut this hitch into on each side of the ball and then throw the ball in the scrap bin. The rest of the hitch can still be used for the steel bars on another project.

I don't want to just sell the whole thing to the scrap yard in case someone ever tries to use it. I don't want that.

I think I might just go ahead and cut the ball in half as well to definitely prevent usage.

It might be a little bit too much but I don't want this thing used by anybody else.

By going to the junk yard it will probably never see use. But you can never really tell.

And I want to be sure that it will never be used again.

Chad

 

[Engine]

I finally finished the mig cart I was working on. It was a learning experience for sure. The welds won't win any awards but it's solid and will serve the purpose that I intended, so I'm satisfied.

This shows the cart completed and empty.


The next two pics show views of the handle and how it can be removed to make it easier to change cylinders.


This shows the handle removed. I made this fit into the tubing by cutting a slot down the length of the unpainted parts, heating them, compressing the corners together, and welding the slots back.


Here's the cart with the welder and tank onboard.


See how the lower shelf holds tools, gloves, etc.


Finally, as a "catch-all" for all the welding stuff.