The oil actually weighs about 7.5 lbs/gallon. So the tank would weigh full at 673 lbs +tank weight+pump and motor. The tank dimensions have more to do with ease of work. I may just build it with a smaller tank and a raised top section to get it up to work height. It will have a brake handle that mus...

Well, sorry I am way beyond the before stage. I might post a finished pic. There is some rust here and there on the cabinet. Also the radiator shows some signs that it might have a leak so it might get tossed and a replacement installed. Expect I'll paint it. Maybe after a tig cart is built I'll do ...

So I was going to build a tig cooler. Then my son texted me some pictures of some welders his boss bought at an auction and in one of them I noticed a Bernard cooler. A few texts later and I got it for $75. So it was a bit of a mess and I am rebuilding it today. Radiator was plugged with black gunk....

I am going to build an aluminum tank to roll 3-400 gallons of oil off of a box truck into clients facilities. The tank will be somewhere around 16" wide x 3ft x 3ft. technically this size would hold 650#'s with a bit of headroom. I won't fill it up that much. So I got to thinking about wall thi...

I did talk to the manufacturer of one unit I am considering. You can install a heat barrier over the top of the heater and install it mush closer to the trusses. So this is what I plan on doing. There isn't any real good place to install a heater right now. Way too much business supplies and parts f...

I have an unheated, uninsulated section of my pole barn where I have my weld bench set up. I need to get so heat put in and am considering an infra red either tube or plaque type heater. The distance to the roof trusses is 9.5 ft. I have heard that it gets kind of uncomfortable if the heat is direct...

If you heat steel to red it will lose most if not all of it's magnetic properties. I forget the the particulars of the relationship to heat buildup and magnetism loss. I would be very careful attempting to move a heavy chunk if it was heated up a lot. I do believe it has to do with the crystalline s...

And then there is the guys who are welding at a table behind you that get burned by reflected radiation. I will sometimes do a quick small tack or too without protective gear, you just have to realize you are playing ultraviolet Russian roulette. I cringe every time I see someone welding without glo...

If you are really concerned about the bolts/nuts consider painting them with a thinned coat of aluminized paint. It may tighten up the threads but this may just function like a thread locker. The auto industry uses aluminized steel for heat shields. This is a process similar to hot dipped galvanizin...

I suspect a gas lens also helps mix the 2 gases. I have been doing this exactly as was explained. I just barely get the helium regulator ball to lift and judging from the results it seems to be a good cheap solution. Make sure you make the main valve tight on the helium when not using it. I asked my...

Sounds like the description of an induction spot welder......sort of. If this is the case it will not work for aluminum. We did spot weld some aluminized steel in the auto industry. Basically the aluminum coating was burned off by the weld and we were fusing the steel underneath. Kind of nasty with ...

Spend your money on a fishing pole. :D Seriously, I don't like them on women. My ma calls them tramp stamps. Guess I'm old fashioned. I would just ask myself if it is just a fad to follow...My daughter got one on her back "just to piss you off" she said. I just shrugged my shoulders. I hav...

Thanks for the tips. Funny i did look at Out back gun parts and didn't find the spring. Looks to me like they have it. @ around $25 Got the brain working a bit better today and remembered that I used to make springs with blued spring steel sheet stock. Geeze, I don't know what hole that idea was hid...

I have an old Remington 541-S .22 rifle. I managed to break off the end of the clip retaining spring when cleaning the rifle tonight. Did a little checking and it seems a lot of folks are looking for the same part to no avail. I know if I weld the tab end back together it will be annealed and not ha...

What Poland said. I am not sure what Hi-freq fields do to dis-similar metals with water flowing through them. There are a lot of factors that I just can't quantify. All I know is that we had a monster problem with severe erosion in aluminum cooling blocks in hi-freq environments with induction welde...

Youse guys got me thinking about a copper tank. It immediately comes to mind that a soldered joint copper tank would work work well for a coolant tank....but what potential reactions might there be to the solder. I think most modern solders are a silver/tin mix? You could always colorize the outside...

I'm not really sure of the gauge of the steel. It's somewhere around .060....or at least I have some that thick. It may be as light as .045. I haven't gotten around to grabbing a mic and checking. I appreciate the tape Idea. That just sounds too easy. I am also a do-it-yourselfer.....Cheap is relati...

Ok so I'm going to weld up a stainless steel tank for a home built tig cooler. I'm looking at the process and wondering about a few things. I could just put 2 sides, bottom and top and end pieces together to form the box with little overlap at the edges and do a lot of tacks to attempt to minimize d...

Welcome!!.....Planning on welding an aluminum fishing boat? Never been up to your neck of the woods ...but it's on the bucket list.

I had a similar career path. Worked as a diemaker and because of a welding background, and not liking boredom on the job, inserted myself into situations were engineers were attempting to solve problems. Bottom line, got promoted into engineering. The reality is that book smart people often lack fun...

I have an old Miller 200 that has been a great machine. So my question is; If I obtain a spool gun for aluminum welding is there a limitation on aluminum thicknesses one can weld with a 200 amp machine? I have never welded MIG aluminum and don't know what to consider doable given the amps might be l...

Well at least I can look forward to the future. Our plan is to put a radiant tube heater in the barn for winter heat so I should be able to work without unsavory interruptions. Our future plans are for a climate controlled building with a full shop and vehicle service area. Probably be sitting aroun...

Do you mean; what is the purpose of "weld test samples" It depends on the type of test and what the test is 'looking' for. There are many different types of weld tests. A destruct test involves applying some kind of mechanical force to the weld to see if it fails, or when it fails. For ins...

I have been trying to tig some aluminum tanks and welding mostly at night because of the daytime temperatures. So it's cooler but.....that dang kamikaze bugs are attracted to the arc light and committing suicide by diving into the puddle. So then I have to stop because of contamination, grind out an...

I apologize John, I just couldn't resist. I happen to agree with always trying something rather than pitching into the scrap pile. I just wish I had more time. I don't even have time to fish. As to the vise repair. Some of those style vices are hollow in the tube section. Where the round meets the h...