Welding Tips and Tricks

I've been following Jody's weekly tips and tricks for several years and only recently learned about this forum. I haven't welded in about 15 years but am trying to get back into it. His site takes me back to an earlier time in my life when I had the time and freedom to take shop classes just for the fun of it, getting exposed to all the different welding processes. I work on old classic cars in my free time so am particularly interested in high quality and professional welding for automotive applications, panel replacement, rust repair, body and frame restoration etc. I've got a Lincoln 225 tombstone arc welder (1976 vintage) that I got cheap many years ago but haven't had an opportunity to use it- currently working on cleaning it up and refurbishing it this week to weld up an angle iron frame for an aluminum foundry that my 8-yr old daughter and I are making over the next few months. I want to learn something about casting so I can reproduce obsolete car parts when I need to; she wants to cast metal hearts- a win/win I suppose. I found an excellent how-to article online that shows how to refurb the tombstone. My contacts are all dirty as the pics show which is a common thing, and my on/off switch is jammed in the 'on' position. Also have a new Lincoln 140 mig my brother gave me but haven't got around to trying it yet. Ultimately, I'm working towards getting a Miller Dynasty 200dx to use in my car restoration hobby. It's always seemed to me that high quality car body restoration is more of an art which would dictate using a tig but I see a lot of those car shows on tv using mig, often haphazardly. Maybe I'm wrong.

-Scott

Hey,

Welcome to the forum, gld to have you.

There are some great videos on casting on youtube, one in particular is AME design.

Could you please share the link to the refurb site for the lincoln, I have an old one that could do with a touch up.

Mick

Here is the link for refreshing your Lincoln tombstone.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Refresh ... tone-weld/

Hey,

Thanks for that,

I'd send mine over for you to gussy up, but the shipping might be a bit extreme.

Mick

Welcome to the forum.

Hey Scott, since you are in Pleasanton you are only a BART trip away from this non-profit organization called the Crucible. There are plenty of DIY parts casting types there that you might want to get to know.

Thanks for the reminder about The Crucible. I've seen them from the BART line and have looked into taking classes from them before but always had a time conflict. I'll check them out again.

The Lincoln tombstone is almost back together. It really is not that bad of a job, and a Dremel makes it a lot easier as the article notes. Ordered a couple welding helmets, gloves, and 7018 rod over the weekend and can't wait for it all to arrive to try this out.

Scott,

I hope you ordered ER7018AC...

If it doesnt' have that "AC" at the end, it's a DC (electrode negative) rod, and you'll get mixed results (unless I misread, and it's an AC/DC machine). Then again, Jody built a homebrew rectifier for one of his old buzz-boxes, and even TIGs with it. It's a route to consider to make the machine more versatile.

Steve S

Thanks Steve. I don't know what I don't know. The 7018 was the only part of my order Airgas couldn't fulfill so they told me to visit my local Airgas. I'll be sure to ask for the correct 7018.