Welding Tips and Tricks

Tig, mig, yah yah, how about a jig? Nothing works without them, from high tech setups to masses of bessie clamps. The latter is more my style though turnbuckles are handy too, as well as a couple of custom tools. This job is prompting me to get a portapower, though I seriously hope this is the last time we cast something this large in house, usually we send out to a larger foundry when single pours need to be larger than 50 lbs. What can I say, we needed the work....

So what I'd like to see are some pics of jigs, crazy or slick, though any interesting shop aids are cool. I'll start with a humble shot of a load of clamps on this screwed up set of bronze parts- ridiculous, and not really a jig, I know, but I'm just trying to get something going here. I tacked pieces of gating to hold the parts roughly relative to one another while I weaseled clamps into place. Why didn't I get some Bessie clamps years ago? Since this shot I have tried to kill them in every way possible.... Can anyone say restrained welds?

- - Dave

This is a really handy clamp that I made one day. It's just 2 clamps, one long piece of angle iron, and 2 short pieces of angle iron. It allows me to clamp up round or square tube and weld them together on 3 sides, then reposition.

MobileWelding,
I like your clamp.
I'll have one soon, thank you very much.
Jack