Welding General Thread - A general guide on turning hot steel into trucks, trains, and airplanes as well as posting your own welds.

[Joshua Connor Tomar]

The cheapest welding mask on teemu turns out to be not very good. Any suggestions for a low cost one for a MIG hoobyist?

 

[WelperHelper99]

The cheapest welding mask on teemu turns out to be not very good. Any suggestions for a low cost one for a MIG hoobyist?

Page 2 I gave recommendations. But a decent cheap one i've used is the Viking 1840.

 

[Joshua Connor Tomar]

Page 2 I gave recommendations. But a decent cheap one i've used is the Viking 1840.

I saw those but those are outta my budget. I was looking more like 50 bucks for just a quick job i'm doing

 

[WelperHelper99]

I saw those but those are outta my budget. I was looking more like 50 bucks for just a quick job i'm doing

Fixed shade helmet with a flip up visor, harbor freight. That's about the best youre getting for 50.

 

[Bummer]

I am messing around with tig brazing super thin stainless and am having issues getting the silicon bronze to stick, seems super hit and miss. It might be related to cleanliness since I am testing on scrap, anyone have experience with this? My normal wire brush cleaning job doesn't seem to be cutting it.

Target project might just be welded but the metal is 0.3mm stainless sheet so I figured I would give it a whirl.

I've only brazed stainless with a gas torch but clean it and are you using flux? Also move your heat around and bring the work up to temperature as evenly as possible, if you burn the part it won't take shit, your Braze just puddles up and you gotta manually or chemically get all that oxide off.

 

[Darkholme's Dungeon]

Question.
I understand copper pipe is usually brazed, but should there be a reason to wield one instead? I've got to make my own radiator parts for something and would prefer hot coolant not spray everywhere under pressure.

 

[WelperHelper99]

Question.
I understand copper pipe is usually brazed, but should there be a reason to wield one instead? I've got to make my own radiator parts for something and would prefer hot coolant not spray everywhere under pressure.

You can't weld copper. Solder or braze is your options.

 

[Darkholme's Dungeon]

You can't weld copper. Solder or braze is your options.

I figured it was something like that. What about aluminum bronze pipe (Might have to make it myself)? I know bronze can be wielded.

 

[WelperHelper99]

I figured it was something like that. What about aluminum bronze pipe (Might have to make it myself)? I know bronze can be wielded.

Aluminum can. Never heard of bronze getting welded. As for pipe, practice with steel first, pipe is hard.

 

[Brenda Holiday]

Settle an argument fellas, is it a "helmet" or a "hood"?

 

[Magnus Opum]

Settle an argument fellas, is it a "helmet" or a "hood"?

It's a welding mask, of course.

Spoiler: jk

It's a hood.

 

[WelperHelper99]

Settle an argument fellas, is it a "helmet" or a "hood"?

You could make a argument for both. Hood is the more technical term, but everyone will know what you mean when you say helmet. Helmet is used in marketing, it's printed on every box that one comes in. So basically:

 

[0FEE FIVE FOUR FOME0]

7018 fill and cap I'm assuming. Without a LOT of practice, 7018 can be a bitch to use on anything but flat due to the puddle and slag characteristics. The puddle is so fucking runny it just wants to go down with gravity. But the main thing you need to fix right now is keeping a consistent (correct) travel speed with rod angle. I used to run my 7018 much faster than the 6011 root passes.

Little bit late but here's some disappointing news: that is MIG hardwire. But to give myself some credit those machines run hot as hell and only properly functions on flat surfaces.

 

[0FEE FIVE FOUR FOME0]

I figured it was something like that. What about aluminum bronze pipe (Might have to make it myself)? I know bronze can be wielded.

If you're touching anything aluminum, get TIG exclusively for it and make sure that you're on the AC (alternative current) with your settings really low.

 

[Hamstirer]

The cheapest welding mask on teemu turns out to be not very good. Any suggestions for a low cost one for a MIG hoobyist?

I've have the sellstrom s26200 as my work shield for almost 2 years now and it's been great. You can get it for $100 on Amazon and it is almost as clear as my dad's $360 Lincoln viking without the stupid complicated headband that pulls your hair. My only complaint would be that the inside lens is a odd size but you can cut down cheap lenses and make them work.

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[Rickenbacker]

hello there. I’m a structural and pipe welder with 6 years of experience. I’d love to revive this thread cause more people need to learn metalwork

 

[Rickenbacker]

The cheapest welding mask on teemu turns out to be not very good. Any suggestions for a low cost one for a MIG hoobyist?

Miller helmets are on the pricier side but I’ve had mine for 6 years of near daily use and it’s still working good

 

[Magnus Opum]

hello there. I’m a structural and pipe welder with 6 years of experience. I’d love to revive this thread cause more people need to learn metalwork

You're a MIG/TIG/stick guy ? Mostly welding in shop or on the field ?

 

[Rickenbacker]

You're a MIG/TIG/stick guy ? Mostly welding in shop or on the field ?

Mostly in shop but I have taken odd jobs that were in field. I once had to climb inside sand hoppers to do welds for them
Edit: also I’m more tig than stick but I do wanna brush up on stick

 

[Lou Sassle]

You can't weld copper. Solder or braze is your options.

You can weld copper. Stick, TIG and MIG. It's been in the AWS handbook since the 40s. The first result for welding copper handbook is the AWS chapter on. Although copper is traditionally brazed or soldered due to the relative ease and strength of the joint.