Tig welds with my new ghetto back purge assembly!

[usmcruz]

Yep, here you go
The stainless steel magnetic parts dish cost me $4.92, and all I did was rip off the rubber on the bottom, and then rip off the magnet, and all that was left was the dish in this picture. I then drilled two holes, one to accept the tip of the argon hose, and then drilled a smaller hole for the argon gas to vent a little so that dish would blow off once I taped her up on the outside edges to make a airtight seal. The tape holds during the entire weld, and even after your done, it doesnt get hot enough for the tape to seperate. I then folded the dish in half a little, making sure my fold crease ran horizontal to my holes at the top. The reason I put the holes at the top, and why I tape it up that way because argon is a heavy gas, and while I purge, the heavy gas floats to the bottom pushing any oxygen out the top small hole, thus filling the compartment with argon. Here are the pictures.





Here are my welds
This picture here is of the inside of a keg I tig welded yesterday back purging with argon, with a back purging assembly I put together for no more than $10 at walmart.

[usmcruz]

Here is the outside tig welded fittings of the keg



Here is the finished product, a keg built to specs of a sabco kettle without the tri-clover fittings

[man of steel]

good idea buddy looks good,what diameter filler are you useing? your welds are good just add a little more filler to the puddle and your bang on the money ,keep it up

[usmcruz]

Im using a 1/16th tungsten, using a pedal set to a max of 90 amps. The keg metal thickness is 3/32 ", and Im using a 3/32 filler rod. Should I be moving faster?, is that the reason I look really concave?

[man of steel]

no its not about your travel speed bro just add more filler to the joint, you can go over that joint again and just add filler and it would look better too.And you dont need to purge when your root is already closed ,but it looks good

[usmcruz]

no its not about your travel speed bro just add more filler to the joint, you can go over that joint again and just add filler and it would look better too.And you dont need to purge when your root is already closed ,but it looks good

Thank you. I dont understand about the closed root thing. If Im hearing you correctly, I dont need to purge if my parts fit super snug right? How come I get sugaring on the back when running a short bead on a solid piece of stainless? I may be interperating you wrong, sorry in advance.

[jdustu]

Thank you. I dont understand about the closed root thing. If Im hearing you correctly, I dont need to purge if my parts fit super snug right? How come I get sugaring on the back when running a short bead on a solid piece of stainless? I may be interperating you wrong, sorry in advance.

If the backside of the joint is protected from the atmosphere, you don't need to purge it. But it doesn't hurt on something that is thin, if you burn through a little you'll still be protected on the back. If you're getting sugaring on the back of the stainless you're too hot, or too slow, or both. You don't want to burn through the back side.

-Josh

[usmcruz]

If the backside of the joint is protected from the atmosphere, you don't need to purge it. But it doesn't hurt on something that is thin, if you burn through a little you'll still be protected on the back. If you're getting sugaring on the back of the stainless you're too hot, or too slow, or both. You don't want to burn through the back side.

-Josh

Thanks allot buddy, I will try that next time and save my argon. Again thanks for the info, Im learning allot from these boards.

[fendermender]

That is cool

As a former homebrewer now small vineyard owner and winemaker, that is really cool to me that you can do that.
I still subscribe to a h.b. discussion group and am always seeing people asking "who can weld the fittings to the brew kegs?"
I like your other thread about building the all grain rig.
Randall
AusTex.
p.s. thanks for serving your country !!!!

[fun4now]

usmcruz
he is saying you don't need to back purge when you wash over it to build up the bead. even on a tight fit you better purge. any time the back gets to melting( or close) you need purge. but with the weld done just going back over it with low heat to build up the back side wont get that hot, so no purge is needed.
nice job, and cool purge system. did you use 2 tanks or a splitter and 2 gages off one tank ?? i'm looking to get a T splitter tomorrow so i can run 2 gages off one tank. that way i can use the other tank for Try-MIX and MIG with it.
keep in mind gas is expensive, but not near as expensive as screwing up and having to cut out and start over.
its concave because it needs more filler. i find aluminum to be bad for that, more of a push it in rather than dab with aluminum.
fendermender
As a former home-brewer now small vineyard owner and winemaker
got a simple recipe, i would love to brew up a little wine. did some as a kid with my step mom.some kind of little red berries. seems like we did it in glass with cheese cloth over it. but its been a wile.
i was thinking maybe raspberry or black berry would be cool to brew from.
know of a good book or source on home brew??

[fendermender]

[
fendermender
As a former home-brewer now small vineyard owner and winemaker
got a simple recipe, i would love to brew up a little wine. did some as a kid with my step mom.some kind of little red berries. seems like we did it in glass with cheese cloth over it. but its been a wile.
i was thinking maybe raspberry or black berry would be cool to brew from.
know of a good book or source on home brew??[/QUOTE]

This guy is a friend of mine.
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request.asp
This is not the home page but the link goes directly to the recipes.
Randall

[fun4now]

Sweeet!!!!

thanks fendermender, you the MAN................... ................or maybe your Friend is ???? ................................... ok you both are
thanks a bundle


2 tsp acid blend
1/8 tsp grape tannin
1 crushed Campden tablet
1 tsp yeast nutrient
Champagne wine yeast
where would i find this stuff ?? grocery store ?? or do i need a brew-erie supply place ???
guess i got a lot more looking into to do, great start though. thanks.8^))

[fendermender]

thanks fendermender, you the MAN................... ................or maybe your Friend is ???? ................................... ok you both are
thanks a bundle


2 tsp acid blend
1/8 tsp grape tannin
1 crushed Campden tablet
1 tsp yeast nutrient
Champagne wine yeast
where would i find this stuff ?? grocery store ?? or do i need a brew-erie supply place ???
guess i got a lot more looking into to do, great start though. thanks.8^))

Homebrew supply.
There is one in almost every town "I think"
Lots of web stores too.
http://www.piwine.com/
It is one of the oldest.
Randall

[usmcruz]

nice job, and cool purge system. did you use 2 tanks or a splitter and 2 gages off one tank ?? i'm looking to get a T splitter tomorrow so i can run 2 gages off one tank. that way i can use the other tank for Try-MIX and MIG with it.

Thanks for that info, and yes I was using a Y splitter, but the Y splitter was running off of one flow meter with no problem. I didnt get any flow problems that I seen. Im gonna keep using the Y splitter, and down the road get another flow meter, but right now its working for me.


If your looking for beer books
The Masterbrewers bible
designing great beers
homebrewing for dummies
radical brewing
the joy of homebrewing
That should do it for the beers, but wine

Wine books
Techniques in home wine making
Wild wines and meads
The complete meadmaker
Alaskan bootleggers bible (funny read)
Cider
The winemakers recipe handbook.

If you know exactly what fruit you want to use, just tell me and I will post a recipe.

[usmcruz]

2 tsp acid blend
1/8 tsp grape tannin
1 crushed Campden tablet
1 tsp yeast nutrient
Champagne wine yeast
where would i find this stuff ?? grocery store ?? or do i need a brew-erie supply place ???
guess i got a lot more looking into to do, great start though. thanks.8^))

Just to let you know, the campden tablet gets put into the must or juice the night before, and after you crush and mix in the tablets you place a cloth over the bucket and bound it with a rubber band. Its important you dont cover the bucket with a lid to let the sulphur escape. If you were to leave the lid on the bucket over night after putting in the camdem tablets in, the trapped sulphur will kill your yeast the next day when you goto put the yeast in the juice because the sulphur was trapped in solution and you didnt give it sufficient time to escape. A cloth rubber banded over a bucket lets the bucket breathe and lets the sulphur from the tablets to dissapate. The camdem tablets added the night before picthing the yeast will kill any germs and wild yeast in the juice giving the yeast your pitching a head start in taking over the fermentation.

The yeast nutrient, tannin, acid blend, and yeast go in the fermenter at the same time. If for some reason you cant find acid blend or you wanna save a buck, vitamin C tablets that you have in your medicine cabinet crushed up is about the same thing, and to be honest is all I use after so many years of brewing. Do me a favor and dont use bread yeast to ferment your wine or beers, it tastes like crap . Yeast gives character to a wine, and contributes more than you think. Lets just say its about as important as the juice. Nutrient gives nutrients to the yeast. If for some reason the yeast fermenting your juice becomes defficient in nutrients, it will give off H2S (hydrogen sulfide) aka smell like rotten eggs. 99% of the time if you smell this and add more nutrients the smell will go away in a day. If you let it go like that the smell may become a permanent fixture in your final product, and it will be like drinking a liquid egg fart if that makes any sense . As for tannin well it comes in powder form, but winemakes adjust tannin by the addition of grape stems, but at some wineries they use the tannin powder. I have gone as far as taking the grape stems, drying them in the oven and grinding them to a powder, and it work just as well as the powder, but its only a couple bucks for the powder so just pick it up. Tannin adds dryness and will balance out a wine that is too sweet.

If you got anymore questions well look them up on the net, Im tired of typing , just kidding, ask away.