Ugly beads, critics welcome...

k0ua · May 3, 2016

GManBart said:
That makes sense.

I thought I probably went up a touch too much on the heat, but didn't have another piece of this square tubing ready to try again. I'm pretty sure the rod angle was a bit too close to 45* as well and needed to be flatter.

I had no idea how much metal I'd be going through during this process! I found a good local supplier for scrap steel, but didn't buy nearly enough last trip. The guy let me walk around the shop and pick up whatever I wanted from the drop piles, and only charged me $5/25lbs. I guess I need to go back and buy a lot more!

This also has me shopping for a cutoff saw....it never ends!

A bandsaw is really nice.. quieter, and no sparks.

GManBart · May 3, 2016

Arc weld said:
Consider it stress relief. Look at Shield Arc, I think he enjoys buying toys as much as he enjoys using them but offers them up for anyone that wants to come over to his fantasy toy box with the 80 ton crane. :cool2:

That's what I was going to tell my wife, but she says I never stress about anything

GManBart · May 3, 2016

k0ua said:
A bandsaw is really nice.. quieter, and no sparks.

That's the kind of bandsaw/cutoff saw I was talking about. I'm not sure why, but some folks seem to call horizontal bandsaws cutoff saws cutoff saws...maybe to differentiate between vertical bandsaws

Regardless, that's the kind I'm talking about. I went to an auction on Saturday because they had a clean Wells Model 8 listed with decent pictures....got there and the saw was nowhere to be found. All the other tools and machinery was there from the pictures, but not the bandsaw.

They seem to come up on Craigslist pretty regularly, so I'm checking that daily. This one came up last night...kind of a monster, at 10x16" cut, but would likely last forever:

MODEL 1 WELLS HORIZONTAL BANDSAW

k0ua · May 3, 2016

GManBart said:
That's the kind of bandsaw/cutoff saw I was talking about. I'm not sure why, but some folks seem to call horizontal bandsaws cutoff saws cutoff saws...maybe to differentiate between vertical bandsaws

Regardless, that's the kind I'm talking about. I went to an auction on Saturday because they had a clean Wells Model 8 listed with decent pictures....got there and the saw was nowhere to be found. All the other tools and machinery was there from the pictures, but not the bandsaw.

They seem to come up on Craigslist pretty regularly, so I'm checking that daily. This one came up last night...kind of a monster, at 10x16" cut, but would likely last forever:

MODEL 1 WELLS HORIZONTAL BANDSAW

Maybe diferent parts of the country have different names for it, but to me and around here a cutoff saw is a 14 inch circular abrasive saw. Lotsa noise and lotsa sparks. Works, but is considerably cheaper than a good horizontal bandsaw. They are often priced under $100 in some places.

ovrszd · May 3, 2016

k0ua said:
Maybe diferent parts of the country have different names for it, but to me and around here a cutoff saw is a 14 inch circular abrasive saw. Lotsa noise and lotsa sparks. Works, but is considerably cheaper than a good horizontal bandsaw. They are often priced under $100 in some places.

Yep, that's what us Northerners call em.

Furu · May 3, 2016

ovrszd said:
I think SA is genuine in his offer.

Arc weld said:
I know he is and it would be hard to find a better mentor.

As a person who has been a recipient of and benefited from SA mentoring and guidance I can truly attest to the accuracy of both of those statements.
He is the real deal.:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

I just need to retire so that I can spend more time getting his help. I still need to get over to have him help me on my Aluminum Tig with my new machine.

dragoneggs · May 3, 2016

Furu said:
As a person who has been a recipient of and benefited from SA mentoring and guidance I can truly attest to the accuracy of both of those statements. He is the real deal.:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: I just need to retire so that I can spend more time getting his help. I still need to get over to have him help me on my Aluminum Tig with my new machine.

I can second that. I also need to retire to take more advantage of SA's hospitality. I learned more than I can remember in the couple hours I spent with him.

Shield Arc · May 3, 2016

You guys need to stop, you're going to make me

GManBart · May 4, 2016

I had a few minutes to run a couple more fillet welds...this was probably the best (ignore the ugly start!). I have so much to learn, but with the help here I feel like I'm making some progress!