Gene wrote:
On Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:19:54 -0400, NotNow wrote:

Calif Bill wrote:
"Gene" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 23 Aug 2009 10:37:57 -0700, "Calif Bill"
wrote:

"NotNow" wrote in message
...
Gene wrote:
On Sun, 23 Aug 2009 10:48:28 -0400, NotNow wrote:

Richard Casady wrote:
On Sat, 22 Aug 2009 21:18:03 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

i mean, anybody that can make good quality welds from a generator,
jumper cables and a couple of quarters has my vote.
I took a welding class at the area college. Anyone who can weld even
with proper gear has my vote. Lets just say I can solder and let it
go
at that.

Casady
You'd think that welding would be welding. But, I grew up welding with
a
Lincoln AC welder. Did it for years on anything that would break on
the
farm. A friend's dad had a DC welder. It took me a whole day to get to
lay a decent bead with that thing! Whole different animal! Of course
now
days, wire feed welding in different gas atmospheres, welding about
any
kind of metal, etc. Totally different animal.
Except for arc blow, it shouldn't be. Probably wrong polarity or wrong
rods....
I find it quite a bit different in feel.
Something not set up correct. DC stick welding is a lot easier than AC to
get the beautiful bead. But may have been the machine. I can TIG weld
aluminum somewhat with a Miller Syncrowave 350. Most other TIG machines I
can't.

That gets a little more complicated. Gas has to be right, Hi Freq has
to be right, and the tip has to be pointed correctly..... along with
all of the other stuff you have to be concerned with in other electric
welding.

I got a chance to go here for welding (already did their basic and
advanced metal shaping classes) last year.....
http://www.metalcrafttools.com/metalshaping.html

If you are close enough it is a good show....
--

Forté Agent 5.00 Build 1171

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by
the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do.
So, throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover." - Unknown

Grady-White Gulfstream, out of Oak Island, NC.

Homepage
http://pamandgene.tranquilrefuge.net...at/my_boat.htm


I take some classes at the local JC. They have one of the top welding
courses in the country. They are sponsored by some of the refineries as
they are short certified welders for maintenance and upgrades.
http://www.thecrucible.org/ is a private, non-profit in Oakland where you
can also take classes. Check out their fire show on the website. I have
welded since I was a little kid. Dad owned one of the SF Bay areas major
machine shops. So I had a lot of very good welders to teach me stick. Most
came out of the Richmond shipyards. I can TIG steel and stainless with most
machines, but my aluminum TIG sucks. The Syncrowave 350 seems to be
something I can handle. Most of my aluminum welding is with my Lincoln 180c
and a spool gun. Problem is the power limits some of the welding thickness
I can handle. To weld on the bottom of my boat 3/16" 50xx aluminum, I would
have to preheat with a torch. And for the $7k for a Syncrowave 350 I can
hire a welder to repair the bottom if big areas need welding. Lifting
strakes mostly.


Preheating is a pain in the arse if you are using electric. My uncle
acetylene welded, learning that as an aviation machinist in the navy.
Beautiful welds!

Very much preheating at all is a BAD IDEA.

The 2xxx, 6xxx, and 7xxx aluminum alloys are all heat treated. Heat
them and destroy the desirable characteristics. Aluminum really needs
a shielding gas and HiFreq to keep things clean.... Oxyacetylene
isn't so hot at that....

In fact, heating to as little as 200 degrees with even some non-heat
treatable aluminums such as the 5XXXs (think fuel tanks and pontoons)
can cause stress corrosion cracking.

I may have not been clear, but I wasn't talking about Oxyacetylene
aluminum!