Thread: So What Did You Weld Today?

Well ... mm ... I have one of those forks to dig the veggie patch, you know those that have a shovel handle.. well I broke one of the prongs so, out came the mig and the grinder. Grinded a nice deep 45 all around and nice deep weld. I was very proud of y weld...until my wife took it to dig up some stuff and... kaput. Did'nt last 5 minutes. This things are made of very hard steel. Should have soften it up first, weld it and harden it again.
If I ever find the prong in the garden, I'll give it another go. For now it is missing a tooth ha ha

Mine was almost as simple as they come.
4 pieces of 40 x 40 x 3 mm angle iron to make a 420 x 220 mm frame to attach a blower to.
It came out reasonably square a flat too - I was quite happy about that.

Building up some damaged pistons out of a disc brake caliper and also built a trolley for my Lincoln Idealarc 400, gas cylinders and consumables. 40X40X2 Duragal frame, aluminium trays and boxes with 200mm foam filled wheels and fork pockets welded underneath for security when loading and unloading.
Most important contract though and it is a matter of life and death, apparently I am required to make a new washing trolley for my mother!
Better put that one to the top of the job list.

getting more confident on vert up today

4mm duragal T joint

cigweld 7018 2.5mm

Awning frames this afternoon using my new angle clamp. Makes the process *much* quicker - no messing about with tacks and corrections - each corner can be welded out on 2 sides, cooled with a rag and then on to the next one, frame ends up dead square and dead flat.

My other recent addition to the workshop is a evaporate cooler off Gumtree. Pumps in heaps of fresh air (with the option to turn on cooling in summer) immediately displacing welding smoke.

Originally Posted by meadow street

getting more confident on vert up today

4mm duragal T joint

cigweld 7018 2.5mm

Very nice, make a welder out of you yet
One bit of advice/suggestion. It looks like you are doing a two pass weld. One root pass, vert up no weave and then a capping pass with weave. It is only 4mm material and traditional wisdom says that the leg length should be around the same as the thickness, so you could probably dispense with the root pass and just do a single weave pass to give a smaller weld which will most likely distort less.
Nice close weaves and steady technique you have there though.

Originally Posted by RustyArc

My other recent addition to the workshop is a evaporate cooler off Gumtree. Pumps in heaps of fresh air (with the option to turn on cooling in summer) immediately displacing welding smoke.

It's always more efficient to suck as directly as possible on the source of a pollutant like welding smoke or wood dust rather than pushing fresh air into a shed. When Pollutant displacement is attempted all it really ends up doing is spreading it around the shed so it takes much longer to clear the pollutant from something like a shed.

Given that the welding smoke will be hot and rise upwards is there any chance of running the fan in reverse?

Originally Posted by BobL

Given that the welding smoke will be hot and rise upwards is there any chance of running the fan in reverse?

I expect not. However it's a huge unit for a relatively small workshop and it moves a heap of air. Even on the lowest speed I think it's probably turning over the airspace every few minutes.

Originally Posted by RustyArc

I expect not. However it's a huge unit for a relatively small workshop and it moves a heap of air. Even on the lowest speed I think it's probably turning over the airspace every few minutes.

Being a huge unit is a definite plus but for anyone else designing fume removal it's definitely better doing it the other way. What happens is the cold air comes through the air con vent in at ceiling level and just falls through the smoke (which rises upwards to take the place of the cooler air ) and down to floor and out the door. The smoke goes round and round and goes out much slower than sucking it out at the ceiling level.

I also wonder about the use of evaporative air con in a metal work shed in terms of adding to rust?

Originally Posted by BobL

What happens is the cold air comes through the air con vent in at ceiling level and just falls through the smoke (which rises upwards to take the place of the cooler air ) and down to floor and out the door. The smoke goes round and round and goes out much slower than sucking it out at the ceiling level.

I don't want to drag this thread too far off topic, but it sounds like you don't appreciate just how much air this thing moves. The incoming air doesn't just fall through the smoke, it's a *massive* stream of air - the smoke is immediately pushed out the windows.

I also wonder about the use of evaporative air con in a metal work shed in terms of adding to rust?

To put it in perspective, I fired it up in cooling mode the other day when it was about 30 degrees outside. The humidity inside went from 49% to about 54% while the temperature dropped to about 22.

Originally Posted by RustyArc

I don't want to drag this thread too far off topic, but it sounds like you don't appreciate just how much air this thing moves. The incoming air doesn't just fall through the smoke, it's a *massive* stream of air - the smoke is immediately pushed out the windows.



To put it in perspective, I fired it up in cooling mode the other day when it was about 30 degrees outside. The humidity inside went from 49% to about 54% while the temperature dropped to about 22.

With it moving that much air, does it upset your gas coverage much or are you primarily stick welding?
I have used portable fans to do similar in workshops and found I had to be very careful where I placed them or I could easily compromise my gas coverage.
I guess at the very least, the fumes are removed from your breathing zone.

Originally Posted by Karl Robbers

With it moving that much air, does it upset your gas coverage much or are you primarily stick welding?

I've only done that 40x1.6 SHS frame so far with the fan running. That was done with MIG and I didn't notice any change in puddle/arc behaviour or appearance of the finished weld. It's moving a great deal of air, but from a distance.

I typically stick weld in a different area of the shed where there's fewer things vulnerable to sparks and spatter.

This is the first and second shelf. These are designed to rest on top of each other and be easily disassembled. Total of 4 shelves with the top reserved for steel storage. 12' long, 22" wide and about 6' tall on foundation blocks.
outdoor shelves bottom and shelf 1.jpg




















storage shelf installed.jpg

Spray painting mesh, huh? Great visual answer to my question the other day .