Worlds most expensive bucket hooks!!

[40Kchicks]

Jason

I firmly believe you will be much happier buying the right machine right off the bat then doing what I did and buy a cheap machine and then always wish I had bought a better one. So good job. I finally ended up buying an ESAB multimaster 260 which has been great. Now I need to sell my almost new Lincoln AC/DC buzz box because it just collects dust now.

I am curious about one thing. Do the 210 size machines have enough power to spray transfer?

Eric

 

[SkyPup]

I welded two huge 3/8" clevis grabs on either end of our L39 bucket with Hobart Brothers HB-28 ER70S-6 solid wire with the setting on the Miller 210 @ Tap #3 and 35"/min wire feed. No need at all to turn it up any higher than that. The welds are immaculate.

No problem, the penetration and weld puddle was primo, except to be careful to watch out that you don't melt through the bucket! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[GeneD14]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( That's the good thing with having your own welder. If you break something, grab the grinder and do it again. I'm not trying to be picky, but I'd bet that if you did weld them on with only 110 voltage, you will break them off. From the pics it looks like your welds are pretty cold.)</font>

If your Miller is like mine open up the cover that houses the wire and feed mechanism and the is a chart that shows the correct wire speed and amp setting to ge good welds based on your wire size and steel thickness.

 

[LAXPatrick]

Got a DVI for the ranch a couple of months ago - pretty sweet!!! I've experimented with 110 and 220 both. Have gotten decent penetration and good welds following the guidelines as mentioned above. At 220V, with a strong duty cycle, it should be adequate for these types of welds. Granted the 250 class machine would be better for the heavy stuff, but the "cool factor" of having a 110/220 welder was too much. Have to admit that I have not done any destructive testing on the heavy stuff yet... Keep the project pics coming! I justified mine by building my own horse stall grill panels.

LAXPatrick

 

[mike69440]

I am a lucky boy! I work in a manufacturing facility http://www.lawrencepumps.com that includes a world class ASME Code weld shop. The welding these guys have done for me is incredible. I am really spoiled! Stainless Steels, Aluminum, Cast Iron, Alloy Steel Tank Armor, (Makes Great Bucket edges.) They glued together my GSX-1100G Frame after an 80 Mph lay down, fixed my woodstove, Engine block repair & Welded camshafts to gear sprockets on Big Block Mopar racing engines, lots "Cant be done" welding, not to count the dozens (Hundreds) of more mundane "fix this" stuff.

All it cost me is a few bottles of good liquor, a few restaurant gift certificates over the years.

If I get laid off or when I retire, I will need a welder. I have not welded anything since college and my co-ordination has definitely not gotten better!

 

[JasonL]

Just an update for those concerned about the quality of the welds on my bucket hooks. While I agree they may not look too good I did take a 5lb hammer to them last night and couldn't knock them off. So- I guess I'll leave them alone for now anyway. I did get my welder connected to 220v now, and I can tell a major difference. Now I just need practice. Jason

 

[davesisk]

Nice work, dude! I have an MM210 and love it. (Plus an ESAB Heliarc 161 AC/DC for TIG and stick, and a Thermal Dynamics CutMaster38 plasma cutter. Yes, I like tools!)

Don't worry about how your welds look...that'll get better with practice. Unless you're welding on a piano, worry about getting good penetration and fusion. That's what makes a "quality weld", not the appearance.

Something like this is a big investment, but there's definitely some advantages to starting with a great machine like yours: with just a little practice, you produce good welds right off the bat. As opposed to buying a cheap, underpowered machine, in which case you struggle until you figure out the machine itself is holding you back (that was my early experiences!).

Enjoy that new toy...er...uh...tool!

Dave

 

[Dargo]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( While I agree they may not look too good I did take a 5lb hammer to them last night and couldn't knock them off.)</font>

Good. Now, don't hold me to it, since I've slept since then, but I believe in a college physics class we found that an average hit with a 3 pound sledge hammer could exert a force of nearly 600 pounds, and a 5 pound hammer could exert a force of over 800 pounds. Sorry, but for the life of me I just can't recall that formula and I certainly don't have that machine that we were whacking in college. I do recall that with a 12 pound sledge, and a complete overhead swing (also, at the time I was bench pressing almost 400 pounds) I think I could well exceed 2000 pounds of force (tops on that machine); and damaged their machine. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

So, from what you've tried, I doubt that you will pull a hook off on a steady pull (depending on the angle), but please still do be careful about making sure that nobody will get hurt if one does let loose. I had one come off years ago and fortunately nobody was hurt. But, if it came off a few minutes earlier, it would have been a disaster. The grab hook looked fine, and there was a perfect "seat" for the hook still welded on the bucket. My weld was too cold and did not penetrate the hardened hook. I could actually put the hook back inside the welded seat, tap it in with a hammer, and it looked like it was fixed. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif Obviously not. At that point, I swallowed my pride (sometimes it's a big lump for me /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif) and had my dad come over and weld them all back on after I ground them off. So, now you know the embarrassing basis for my warning to be careful. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Mavrik02]

F=MA

Force = mass * acceleration

Given the hammer is attached to an arm (and not dropped) the actual values of mass and acceleration would be a little harder to calculate. And...if you swing a hammer like me there is no guarantee that all of that force gets transferred to the object of desire (vs. a foot or thumb).

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[creeper]

Nice rig ! you also saved money on welding lessons ! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif