New Jacket,gloves,doo-rag

[fun4now]

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE
i think thats the key for shore. i only have O/A teaching from an old man many years ago. the rest i just worked out with use.
i do have a good AC/DC welder its a TA-185 TIG/Stick welder. as for burning 8 or 9 rod's a day there is a problem with that a few actualy. first off i dont have the $ to spend on that much rod. and the wife works during the day so i wach the kids. by the time she gets home i'm usualy too wiped out to go play in the shop so i only get to get out there on wekends or if something realy needs fixing. then i also need some thing to burn them on.
lots of small things adding up to prevent dayly use i'm afraid. but you should defenetly keep it up, after all you can still make a carear out of it where i will just be playing.
i'll get out this weekend for shore just to try it in AC. even if its just for my own cureosity as to how it burns.
truth be told though i realy prefer TIG, but i supose you would also given the option.

[weld_13]

Yeh i would prefer tig to if I had a tig to try. I'm hopin to make a career our of it eventually but thats a little ways away so im ok for now.

[Bert]

Seriously, if you want to get real good, you have to burn 40 rods a day. Yeah, it'll take a few hours everyday, and like James said, you need a lot of practice material for it...if it's hard to come by, do what you can. Old bed frames people throw away, cut them up 8" and practice, even though it's crappy metal...Weld13, your bead looks better, but you said you were using 6011. That's a whipping rod, so you have to oscillate it! Looks like you dragged it, heavy undercut on both sides (heat too hot)...Your flash was very bright, so maybe that's why I didn't see the ripples in your bead?
Anyway, MUCH improvement
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

[weld_13]

Yeh I know i was too hot on that one by feel but once i get started i don't want to stop cause when you blend it together its not as strong and ugly. I am still workin on gettin the fine ripple effect down but I have done some. The material i have used on this stuff is strap I picked up off the side of the road that looked to be a support for a fuel tank so the strap was bent in a semi cricle shape and alot of surface rust but once I did some redneck smithing with a hammer and some grinding it was in good shape for practicing on. Do you have any tips for getting the ripple effect down?

[weld_13]

Weld13, your bead looks better, but you said you were using 6011. That's a whipping rod, so you have to oscillate it!

What do you mean by oscillate it? Like I said i have no class instruction so I am open to any help or suggestions.

[fun4now]

if your restartes look bad thats a good place to be practising.
i did find if yoiu hit the tip with a file just a bit then they restart much nicer.
if you grind down a little of the end of your bead then start a new one just in front of that and then qiuckly jump back to the end point and run over the start it looks much better i think.
did i explain that ok or just confuse you ?? not shore if its reads the way i wanted to say it.???

[weld_13]

Yeh i get what your saying. I have done it before and it does make a difference but I don't have much patient which is somewhere it needs improvement too

[fun4now]

I don't have much patient which is somewhere i needs improvement too
i hear ya, back when i was younger and out playing pool i got better as i drank more cuzz i would slow down and take the time to realy line up the shot. i was always too quick to take the shot, good some times but others need finess. the military helped me with that.

[weld_13]

I don't have much patient which is somewhere i needs improvement too
i hear ya, back when i was younger and out playing pool i got better as i drank more cuzz i would slow down and take the time to realy line up the shot. i was always too quick to take the shot, good some times but others need finess. the military helped me with that.

haha. most people who i see do that in pool fall right on the floor. I think we need to find some way to put this in another thread before miller gets upset. What should it be?

[fun4now]

as long as no one is fighting miller is fine. its just the bickering they are not putting up with any of.

[weld_13]

oh ok. I guess we are good to chat away on our useless welding subjects

[Bert]

James,
Are you telling Weld13 he should start drinking??
DON'T DO IT MAN!!! WHATEVER JAMES SAYS...DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!
DON'T THROW YOUR LIFE AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
anyway....

The "ripple" effect I think you're looking for is more using the 7018 rod. The 6011 rod shouldhave more of a fish scale appearance. Didn't any books you had show this? hmmm....
you're too impatient to grind at the end of the welds, but you found strap at the side of the road a did a lot of work to prep it!!! I'm very impressed!!!
Very resourceful!!!
Let me know about the book thing...

[weld_13]

From what I welded with I thought the 7018 was better for ripples but you sounded like you said I needed to improve on them. What I was refering to was grinding the rod after a bead or so. Personally I don't like grinding welds I find its a way of cheating and covering up all the stuff you screwed up in the bead or at the end. Just my $.o2

[Bert]

don't need to grind the rod. 6011, just tap it lightly on the floor a couple times.
answer my last post?

[weld_13]

Yeh I have seen some stuff in books about the ripplin but it was back when I was startin from chicken poo not knowin what I was doin so I will have to check it out again.