and today i have mostly been...

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Welly
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by Welly »

steve_earwig wrote: Wed Feb 13, 2019 1:10 pm So today I've decided* to relax and have a headache/migraine instead. It'll still be there tomorrow.
That's frustrating.

I was hoping for some progress pics :P


Hope it clears off asap mate.
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by steve_earwig »

Me too, but no joy I'm afraid. I've been languishing in my pit all afternoon hoping to fall asleep and wake up without it, but even taking valium didn't help me do that, it was just too painful. Then at around 6 I suddenly started thinking about a fried egg sandwich (always a good sign) so I've just snaffled a couple of them and the headache seems to be going, but it's almost 7 here and I'm not starting anything now.

Blasted headaches, blasted weather :frown:
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by steve_earwig »

Small amounts of progress today. I had to wait until almost 10 for the temperature to go over zero, then at 11:30 I had to abandone ship to cook lunch and take Max shopping (his turn to cook Saturday). Home at 3, bit of work on the mig, then back out shopping again 'cos I forgot the fish for tomorrow :oops: then I had about 3 hours before my breath started condensing on the inside of my mask as the temperature dropped towards zero again rendering it useless. Pfft, excuses... :oops:

Image

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Pigeon poo welding :( Note nice crack in the beam.

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What more do you want?

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This is what a 30+ year old cheap as chips mig welder looks like.

Image
Like this maybe?

The 5mm steel is really showing up my old 90 amp mig though, it just sucks the heat straight out of the weld, even if I shine a blowtorch on it first. Could this be time to buy a bigger and better one? Hmm https://www.ekupi.hr/Einhell-TC-GW-190- ... 78891.aspx :?
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

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We've still got one of those hairy arsed 1960's oil filled 2-phase-in stick welders, good for about 400A @ 80V IIRC.
Nobody ever uses it though, weapon of choice today is one of those tiny inverter jobs that can be worn casually like a macho man bag.
Bigger stuff mostly gets splattered with a MIG that looks a lot like a bigger version of yours.

Impressive progress. 8)
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

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Doggy wrote: Fri Feb 15, 2019 9:23 am400A @ 80V
Image
Impressive progress
Thanks but it seems painfully slow this end. Still, early days, lots of planning, careful measuring and decision making. Once I get it all worked out I'll make wooden patterns for everything which should speed things up a bit. I've just pulled the strap off which was holding the diagonal up, also put my shoulder against it all and gave it a shove - looks like the pathetic welds are actually holding but I'll back them up at a later date. I'll also make an angle iron flange for the bottom of the upright and pin it into the floor, probably something similar at the top screwed into the beam to stop it falling sideways. The steps will also be screwed into the wall at their far ends. This is probably complete overkill but it's going to be mighty heavy :supafrisk:
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

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Another day of slogging away to little obvious progress.
steve_earwig wrote: Fri Feb 15, 2019 10:01 am I'll also make an angle iron flange for the bottom of the upright and pin it into the floor
Image
Needs the pins cutting flush and welding up. Should spread the load a bit too.
steve_earwig wrote: Fri Feb 15, 2019 10:01 am probably something similar at the top screwed into the beam to stop it falling sideways
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Bigger screws planned!
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

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I've just been investermagating, it took some finding but that welder will only run the full whack on 3-phase, on 230 volts it'll only do 115 amps, which is hardly any better than what I have already. This house does have a 3-phase feed but no wiring for it. They also do Telwin migs (Italian, sold there under the Sealey brand, Lincoln in the US) but it's hard to find much detail on them and they're twice the price.

Oh no, it's looking like I'm going to have to learn to stick weld. This rod, that rod, the other rod - argh! :(
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

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Stick welding clean mild steel isn't hard to learn, vertical and particularity overhead stuff is harder.

Knit some offcuts together, make your rite of passage hedgehog sculptures, blow some holes in stuff with too much current and you're good to go.
2.5mm rods would probably do for that job, just vary the current for different metal thicknesses.

I guess you know it's a lot easier to tack a pre-drilled floor plate onto the uprights first.
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by steve_earwig »

Lord knows, so it doesn't matter when it moves about? I've used mig for years (probably quite poorly) but arc is a closed book to me.

Looks like 6013 2.5mm rods at up to 140 amp will do the job. Probably - there's very little out there that says "you will need such-and-such", most advice seems to be of the "suck it and see" variety.

I could buy something cheap and probably regret it, or I could splash out a couple of grand (Kn that is, about 240 quids in real money) on an inverter probably more powerful than I'll ever need, the trubble is I've no idea what I'm doing.

Or I could borrow one... I think Miloš said he has an arc :supafrisk: Once I get a better idea what I'm doing I'd be better placed to buy one. Or at least consider it anyway.

Still, spring is sprung so I have plenty of other things to do now while I pontificate.

Thanks for hanging in there with me Eric, I feel like I've gone and chucked myself in the deep end again. I could talk to t'wife about it but, you know...
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

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Borrow one & have a play - just make sure the rods haven't been lying around for years or you'll never be able to strike/maintain an arc.

(Buy him some fresh ones to 'replace the ones you used)' :wink:
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by steve_earwig »

Now, there's something else I didn't realise, I saw some of the speciality rods need care, but I'd not considered it for the boggo ones.

Meanwhile I've been a-planting shallots. Not really sure why as I've been told to lay off the onions, but I've had these going from a bag I bought in the veg section in Sainsbury's UK about 14 years ago so I'd like to keep them growing. About 150 so far :shock: and I'm not even half way. Oddly, the soil is perfect, I just gave it a hoe and a rake and it's lovely fine and friable. Usually it's either too early and unworkable mud or too late and it's dried up like concrete, I never usually find the right moment. Max temperature today was 12 degrees and the other side of the garden, where it's more in the shade, is still frozen.
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

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Reminds me of working for pipe fitting firms in the 1990's, arc welding steel tubes (not me but arranging all the stuff for the lads), can't remember the name of the welding machines but the 'bad boy' was the "Oxford"....big heavy brute.
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

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Yesterday I asked our neighbour Kruno if he had a welder, his dad was a welder so I wasn't surprised when he said yes, it's very old, 3 phase and MASSIVE, but he knows someone with some new fangled welder that's so small you can go up and down ladders with it :o Not got hold of Miloš yet, I'll see him Friday anyway.

Meanwhile, 1/3 of our garden is shallots, I've sown 3 shelves of tomato seeds and I'm back to dismantling the pallets our wood comes in. Yesterday it was 17 degrees. In February. All my photos of last February feature copious amounts of snow so I guess the weather is truly broken.

Seeing as how spring seems to be here I guess I should start looking for summer tyres for the yoyo, I'm thinking https://www.bartog.si/letne-gume-22565r ... 68631.aspx Afore you go suggesting stuff it's a very small market here so there's not much choice, I did find some yoko's but the reviews say Yokohama are truly off their game with these tyres 'cos they're sh*t.
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

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We've ran two Merc Vito vans at work over the last 5 years (they do about 45K per year) without fail the Continental tyre last the longest so you really get your money's worth. We saw that they lasted about 50% longer than other brands.
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by steve_earwig »

SO I was sing the saw bench to make some more tomato stakes when the motor started going slower and the blade started ringing again. I've only just had new bearings put in it so I was wondering what had gone wrong so soon after. Took the motor back to the shop and this time the armature's had it. Oh FFS :roll: Leave it with them and they'll see what they can do.

Then I called Goran 'cos I know he has the same saw and his motor already blew up. I thought he'd got another motor but it turns out he'd had the original rebuilt after taking it to the same place and being directed to Milić Tools in ZG who repaired it for 1,000Kn. Ouch. Ok, I've got that to look forward to :roll:

SO then I told him about my welder issues and he said he's welded up to 10mm with his with no problems. I knew he has a MIG (he bought it about 10 years ago after I showed him how useful they were) more powerful than mine but I wasn't sure of the model. Is it 3-phase? No, 230 volt. Would I like to borrow it? Err, yes please!

Here it is
Image

It's a Telwin. I've had lots of trouble trying to find the specs on those, even on their website all you get is 2 pages of an instruction manual that covers a whole load of different welders, single phase, 3-phase, MIG, MAG, TIG, but according to the spces written on the front it peaks at 145amps. And it's fine
Image

Baby steps
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Just tacked on. The board is just a scrap for alignment.

Seeing as Goran has had a lot of use out of this one (including a set of spiral stairs :shock: ) I thought I'd check if they're still available. Yes they are, and the nearest shop is, erm, Milić Tools in ZG. It seems like fate... :supafrisk:
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