How'd it go today?

I didn't know that.
Knew about the range wars in Wyoming, which is why I brought that up.
 
Checked on a friends house today for him while he is down south. Very nice beach lot he's got. A couple of neighbors to the south are in the process of installing fairly elaborate docks...the closest is just piling at the moment. Virginia Peak is in the background. Supposed to blow and rain/snow like hell tomorrow...batten down the hatches!
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I presume that is salt water?

Any idea the water temp?
 
Couple of days and a pound or two of rod.
And some pounding, heating, clamping, banging.....
I have the sheet metal for it. Now its just about making it work. Patch job. I might eventually buy a secong hand chute. They can be had. Or, if i get a plasma cutter, might just fab my own. Time and money my friends.
But, with the holidays, and the burn season starting up, the chipper has some time off for me to tinker ;)
 
Progress not perfection.
Cant get small rod in about anything local.
Best i can do is 5/64 6013. Still blows holes in the old part of the chute. I forgot how worn for thickness it can be with the abrasion of the chips. Tad thin in spots. Going too have to order some 1/16 for this crap in the future. Got that last piece tacked down. Finish it tomorrow. Maybe. Might have found a truck for Levi.
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I very strongly recommend 6011 there. Another trick for the larger gaps is Texas tig, with one hand hold another rod to dip in the puddle like you were tig welding, but you're stick welding. Obviously not a trick for code work, but it is handy with horrible gaps and the like. It's awkward, but you'll pick it up. Oxy welding is another option if you are decent at it, but with a cellulose rod and a heavy whip it'll weld up just fine. It seems to be thin because it's a bend, maybe add some metal on top to beef it up for awhile.
 
I tried the 6011 i had, and again, too violent. Cant seem to start a rod until i get 60 amp or more. I know how to Texas Tig. Did my old tractor bucket like that. I have done it with steel rod too. But not on this stuff.I did try. So took to facing the sheet in light passes, like a small bead. Little at a time. Eventually a small stitch. The newer metal could take it. The old stuff, just blew out until i found thicker material. I hade some of the 1/16 rod to get the tough thin spots, but went through that toot sweet. You and a mig would have had this done already. But hey, gotta practice. Where i had cut along old welds, plenty to weld to. Joining the sheets with even an over lap was the fun part. Good practice for the trailer fixing coming up.
 
I need A LOT MORE practice with gas weld and what rod to use. I have tons of rod I dont even know what it is. The guy that died I knew, his widow gave it to me. No labels. So I'll buy and try matching as i experiment.
 
I couldn't figure out why no one was on the radio.

My radio was out in my outfit. I had left it there after the first fire this morning at the Oil Field. A small treater fire.

The pages do not come over the phone very reliably! Haha!


Had a nice/akward conversation with a lady who's grandson we put in the body bag a month ago.

Small towns suck sometimes.
 
There's some more tricks i should mention. Smaller rods can help, i can't remember ever going lower than a 3/32 tho, but 1/16 might help starting out. If you set it up so it's vertical, any globs will simply follow the joint to build it up. With cellulose (6010, 11) rods, you have ample penetration if you need it. But in this situation, you don't really need it at first. So your goal is to literally spatter up the gap until there's enough metal there. Once you build it up enough you simply burn it in. I was actually taught that trick with mig, when welding the cat d11 radiator guards they had a few joints that had half to 1 inch gaps.

My first day i turned wayyyyyyy down and started weaving it together. The old timer teaching me came unglued, came over, took the gun from me, cranked it wide open, and literally drug it super fast back and forth over the gap. Within moments he had enough shit built up to simply weld over it with a light whip. I was schooled right and proper. Later i learned the same trick with pipe and stick welding, which done right will pass xray no problem. Learning this technique will allow you weld on stuff smaller than the electrode, and wayyyyyyy thinner than a 6013 or something like that.

Since you have new material that can take the heat, try to favor that side. The thin stuff will burn back some (sometimes more than others), but will usually ball up a bit on the edge, which is thick enough to weld usually. If it's simply burning away too quickly move around even faster. Once again the goal isn't to weld it at first, but to literally put enough spatter on everything where you can weld it at the end. You usually have to let it cool a bit in between passes if it's glowing. Go weld elsewhere where it's cool or if need be, walk away for a few min. That's the hard part lol.


Jim, that sounds like a rough day bud, i feel for you. :(
 
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