Welding Tips and Tricks

Here's the job I did last week on a crown wheel and hub from a 1977 BMW R100rs, only crown wheel I have seen welded to anything, ensures you have to replace the crown wheel and pinion anytime the drive hub splines to the rear wheel wear out.
And you though you Americans developed planned obsolescence.

Before


After




309L stainless 1.6 mm lantanated electrode 1.6 mm can remember the amps. These were done after about an hours practice on the edge of some 3mm mild steel pipe.

Yeah I know not perfect, but at least the quality of the original weld.

Nice work, Pete.

Done in one.



Kym

"Planned obsolescence" is as old as life itself. We're all going to wear out and fail eventually, only to be replaced...

Cheerful thought for the day.

Steve S

Gee thanks Steve.
My main thrust in the planned obsolescence bit was the part could have been easily designed to be replaceable and connected by bolts not welded.
Having seemily been "scrapped" from the work force, some of this hits a bit close to the bone.

Consider that the Singer Sewing Machine company nearly put itself out of business, by building a nearly indestructible product. I bought a 1920's model treadle machine that had been converted to electric in the forties. Five dollars at a yard sale. I tore it down, cleaned it, and reassembled it. Replaced nothing, repaired nothing, and used it for ten years before I passed it on.

I'll be tickled if I last so long...

Steve S

Did an air con repair at a block of flats. Owner asks me to look at his old stlye "Hills Hoist" clothes line which was busted by kids swinging on the line and you can't get them or parts anymore. All aussies will know what I am talking about here.

Here is an example of what kids do (this is an image off the web):
So I made up a brace for it. 25 x 25 x 2 (1"x1" x 5/64") square section with some 50mm pipe clamps.

Strong as anything now, owner and kids happy.

In america they make a separate set of pipes for the kids to climb on.

Thread jack. Again. (Sorry.)

I'm working quite a bit in film and documentaries at the moment. As Aussies will know, here in the great southern land, standard operating procedure is to wash your clothes, then hang it on the line to dry.

I was speaking with a producer the other day and he mentioned that in the 'set up' scenes of many American films they will often open with a shot of clothes hanging on a wash line. I've always wondered why this was. The Producer said "When you see that, it's a standard film way of introducing a family or neighbourhood visually and saying 'these are poor people', because in America, unless you are poor, you always dry your clothes in a dryer."

Seems odd to me. In the U.S. you guys have as much fresh air and sunshine as we do. Any truth in what the Proucer was saying, or is he full of crap?


Kym

Kym,

It's a stereotype that moviegoers recognize. While much of rural America owns clothes dryers, and will use them, we will also gladly use solar power. This is perceived by the "upwardly mobile" as penny-pinching, and thus a sign of poverty.

I'd estimate less then 10% of us regularly dry clothes on the line anymore, as the automatic dryer has become so common. So it's easy for the other 90% to see the image of clothes on a line as a representation of "I can't afford a dryer".

A mistaken notion, but then, the filmmaker does not show a man in his Khakis and Polo shirt gathering clothes from the line.

Steve S

Kym,

I'll add, some people really DO dry outside because that's what they can afford. I've done my laundry in a tub, by hand, in a pinch.

Steve S

Our family has a dryer but we use it maybe a dozen times a year to bail us out if it rains.

I could start a whole other thread on the cost of electricity in Australia, but it would start to sound too much like all my whining about argon prices!



kym

In america we buy cheap crap so we can complain about how it doesn't work.

I built this snow plow with 3/16 2x6 square tube to adapt it to a fork lift. Right after I built it I delivered it to Denver and the guy tested it and ran into the concrete side walk and almost flipped the fork lift. It didn't hurt anything or break any welds mainly due to the design of a blade it is made with tons of play but it was funny.

Here is the completed plow the previous post was 4 stringer beads 1/8 7018 at 135 amps Esab mini arc 161 lts plugged in to Miller Bobcat 250

Here is just another bead 7018 at 85 amps on 3/16 tube steel.

Neat work, man. Very tidy.


Kym

I decided to repurpose a K mart cart for my welding buggy it works pretty well I added some extras and welded a plate to the back to hold my gas bottle 75/25. Hope you like it my dad laughed I got the cart for 10 dollars when the store went out of business.

I've replaced the clothes line several times, they get old and rotten. Not once has Mrs B used it except to dry a very large quilt too big for the dryer. Her family didn't have a dryer growing up, she refuses to use a line.

One life's little pleasures is to get into a bed with fresh sheets off the line that have been sun kissed.
I must be old fashioned.

jlhawtho wrote:I decided to repurpose a K mart cart for my welding buggy it works pretty well I added some extras and welded a plate to the back to hold my gas bottle 75/25. Hope you like it my dad laughed I got the cart for 10 dollars when the store went out of business.

Bud , I love that cart . That is cool. Probably easy to move, solid as heck and good for a laugh too.

Wanna bet the bastard of a thing will wander all over his workshop before he gets it to the job?




Other than directional stability, nice job.

The legendary 'shopping trolley with a wobbly wheel' saga.

But seriously...nice job. Anything that combines practicality with humour is okay with me.


Kym

Coldman wrote:One life's little pleasures is to get into a bed with fresh sheets off the line that have been sun kissed.
I must be old fashioned.

I agree.... My wife still prefers to hang the comforters and sheets during the warm months, even though I bought the largest capacity washer and dryer I could afford for her

subwayrocket wrote:

jlhawtho wrote:I decided to repurpose a K mart cart for my welding buggy it works pretty well I added some extras and welded a plate to the back to hold my gas bottle 75/25. Hope you like it my dad laughed I got the cart for 10 dollars when the store went out of business.

Bud , I love that cart . That is cool. Probably easy to move, solid as heck and good for a laugh too.

Thanks man I could build something else and waste money but the cart holds tons of weight. and yes it does move around really easy. It was supposed to be a joke I used to push around shop parts but it worked so good I kept it.

jlhawtho wrote:

subwayrocket wrote:

jlhawtho wrote:I decided to repurpose a K mart cart for my welding buggy it works pretty well I added some extras and welded a plate to the back to hold my gas bottle 75/25. Hope you like it my dad laughed I got the cart for 10 dollars when the store went out of business.

Bud , I love that cart . That is cool. Probably easy to move, solid as heck and good for a laugh too.

It was supposed to be a joke I used to push around shop parts but it worked so good I kept it.

That's the beauty of it ...funny and functional