I’m also getting into smoker building and I’ve been looking for used propane tanks. There are usually a few on Craigslist for a decent price.

For the time and effort involved, I'd just buy one from SWAG Offroad. I bought one a few years ago and love it. It is much better quality than I could produce and wasn't all that expensive. My shop rate is $80/hr and there is no way I could build this in less than 3-4 hours. They are a bargain.

I'll work on Guatemala.

You are off to a great start! Welding is very therapeutic for me. It's very satisfying being able to turn a pile of metal into something useful. Good luck with your fabricating!

Coming along quickly!

When I was working up north, I got to experience -62*F with a windchill of -106*F.

weldin mike 27 wrote:less polar-bears and frozen digits. congratulations.

Definitely! Winters aren't as fun as they used to be. I'm ready for some sunshine.

It will be tough with a spool gun. The ones I've fixed are thin, like 18 gauge or smaller. I usually hammer them back in to shape and then just TIG them up. They are low pressure, so it's not all that difficult.

Well, my retirement shop in Summers, AR is coming along nicely. The plan is to retire from my govt job here in Alaska around June next year and head south. I've been running a small welding shop on the side here for 5 years now and I'm planning on supplementing my retirement income with welding in A...

Thanks for the write up Jim, that answers a lot of my questions.

Typically you don't need to use much movement with a spool gun. The wire comes out of the gun with a slight oscillation already. Try to be smooth and don't go too fast. If you are going for the "stack of dimes" look, you need to do a slight hesitation while the puddle builds and then advan...

The PlasmaCam 4x4 table is just under $8k. The Arclight 4x4 table is just under $10k. I like the ability to use the hand held torch with the PlasmaCam instead of buying a separate machine torch. The Arclight comes with automatic height control standard where the PlasmaCam has it as an option (I don'...

Thanks for the write up Larry, that's good information I hadn't heard yet. I am looking at the Hypertherm 85 but I'm guessing I could get away with the 65 realistically. Is there a good reason to go with the bigger machine?

Ok, I'm seriously talking myself into buying a CNC plasma table. I know Jody and JD brag up the PlasmaCam, but I'm also finding a fair amount of negative reviews calling their tables "homeowner" grade. I can't justify a $50k table, but $10k-$12k might just be doable for the new shop. Is th...

....looking for a quick side job? I had a guy contact me today about building a custom battery box for his camper (I'm guessing aluminum...). The catch is that he lives in Brunswick Ohio and I'm in Alaska. He said he is having a hard time getting a welder to return his calls. He follows my page on F...

Yeah, I posted the FB page on WW. That was all I was able to find. The family is going through some very tough times with Johns suicide and another son being diagnosed with MS. I've been giving my own kids some extra time lately...

I haven't heard anything about this. I'll do some checking. His grandfather was my basketball coach in high school.

I'm under Rob's Welding and Fabrication on FB and robsweldingandfab on Instagram.

3/8" is pretty thick for that small of machine. Once you get it clean and shiny, hit it with a torch to pre-heat. Your machine is struggling.

You can still pre-heat around the joint. Any heat you can add to the aluminum in the area of the weld will help. It will be less area for the welder to heat up so your starts won't be so cold.

Clamp the plate solidly to a table or a strongback of some sort if you can, and don't un-clamp it until it has cooled completely.

With that small machine, I'd try some pre-heat to give it a little help.

What machine will you be running? I'd run my Miller 252 with the 30A spool gun at around 23V and 460IPM of 3/64" 5356. Just remember to keep moving! It is a much faster process than TIG and you will not have time to dilly dally around once you strike the arc.

I've tried sharpening a 1/8" tungsten with a long taper to a very sharp point thinking it would work...for some reason it still doesn't. 3/32" seems to do most of what I ask. I will go to 1/16" for thin stainless though. I haven't come across anything I've needed .040" for.

electrode wrote: Nice mistress. KTM 1190 Adventure. That must be a lot of fun in Alaska.

Yeppers! I put over 5K miles on it last summer after picking it up the end of June. So far I've avoided any interaction with the law, but it's bound to happen at some point. The bike is a monster.