Welder World Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Don’

The next time you find yourself with a few spare moments, get on the computer and browse around an industrial supply company’s website. Many people don’t realize that these companies sell just about everything you could imagine for repairing, maintaining, building, cooking and even vehicle repair and maintenance requirements. In addition, since they do have such a large inventory and they are constantly adding new items, prices can be heavily discounted over what you find in your local hardware or home repair center.

Starting out with home maintenance the number of supply products available is truly amazing. You can find everything from major commercial chemicals and cleaners that you may expect to find in your grocery store through to specialized cleaners and disinfectants used in hospitals and in the hospitality industry. You can choose to purchase these items by the individual bottle or container or you can also buy them in lots, resulting in an overall lowering of the individual price. Antibacterial soaps and paper products for the bathroom are also available at one easy online spot, making a breeze out of your weekly shopping.

Cooking and food service types of items are also available on many of the industrial supply websites. The larger packages of disposable dishes and utensils are perfect for party planning or for buying supplies for the cabin, camping trip or even for the office break room. However, the websites also typically list a variety of bowls, appliance, dishes and food preparation items that are perfect for your kitchen. Don’t be surprised to also find brand name types of kitchenware and kitchen appliances as well as some things you have only seen in restaurants and on those cooking shows on TV.

However, supply websites don’t just cater to the home. You will be able to find all the supplies you need for your outdoor repairs and improvements as well. Landscaping materials such as wheelbarrows, rakes, shovels, sprayers and even power rakes are all available. Powered dumpers are a great addition to any garden and take all the strain out of moving dirt and debris around in the yard. Sleeping bags, tents, repellents for those bugs and even safety clothing such as lifejackets can also be found on these very handy sites.

Industrial supply websites wouldn’t be complete without industrial items as well. Hard hats, protective clothing, climbing harnesses, ventilation, welding hoods and safety storage is all available. There are also a huge range of options for first aid kits, eye wash kits, fire extinguishers, spill control supplies and safety alarms and warning alarms.

Hardware, power tools, generators, lighting, machining and welding supplies are also available at these one stop shopping sites. Really anything you could want for virtually any type of home repair is available, but there are also supplies for the office, as well as for vehicle maintenance. Since the items are brand name you can easily match parts or products to what you already have, ensuring that you get just what you are looking for.

Browsing around on industrial supply sites is really a great way to get an idea of what is new in the world of building, maintenance and repair. You may find that you actually have trouble choosing what to buy from the huge range of options you will see when you get on the site. Keep in mind that many of the companies also provide service options for items they sell as well as providing repair parts for many of the products that they have in stock.

Flux Cored Welding is not a “new” process, being dated back to the 1920′s. Instead of having the protective/stabilizing flux on the outside of the wire, as in “stick” rods, it is at the core of the wire. This flux does the same job as do the gases used Gas MIG Welding.

At Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, we periodically built rail-car “car sills”. These are the heavy metal frames upon which the railroad boxcar sits. We would use a “pantograph” machine for semi-automatically cutting out parts for the sill. Then we’d weld many of the parts with “jet rod” (7024 type), which is super easy to run on flat welds. The welds looked VERY nice.

For most other welding, we used heavy duty MIG welders. We’d fiddle with “gas” settings & wire speeds till it was just right. Then we’d just go & go till we got to the end of the pieces. We never had to worry about “duty cycle”, we just kept going. We could get a LOT done with those MIGS. If you are going to do a LOT of welding, you may want to start with a wire feed welder.

I prefer a flux cored welder because there’s no “gas” bottles nor pressure adjusting, nor are there issues with welding outside in the wind. It’s a personal decision; gas or flux cored. I would use the recommended setting ranges, running on the “hotter” side just to get the feel and coordination of running beads. An in-expensive, occasional use flux cored machine for the little jobs is fine. For my bigger jobs I go to my stick welder.

More tips and ideas for flux cored welding:
* If you go through eBay to but one, you may want to first go to welding supply shops & see them in person.
* Flux cored welders are mainly for the thinner materials. If you’re going to work on cars & the like, you would probably prefer wire feed over stick.
* I’ve done a lot of sheet-metal work with stick rods, but I needed to use really small rods, plus do a lot of “touch & go” welding, rather then continuous welds.
* One of your first accessories should be a pair of “MIG pliers”. They are great for helping you keep your equipment clean & to be able to easily convert to other wire sizes.
* When you install your 1st wire spool, don’t mess with bending it around much, or it may break. Re-threading & pulling out any that’s already in the guide tube can be a pain.
* Again, use recommended settings, then make adjustments as needed. Some machines are really limited for adjustments, so you may have to experiment with your gun positioning & arc length.
* I’d bet that there are as many variations for adjustments as there are different manufacturers & models. Be patient & keep trying.

Machine Selection:
* This is primarily dependent on your budget, then on exactly what type of welding you’ll be doing. If you feel that you might go beyond just doing your own thing, then get the best you can afford.
* The cheaper units are all pretty much the same: for light duty at home projects. The mid-priced ones can get you started in your business, but you’ll likely be up-grading as soon as you can afford to.

Flux Cored Troubleshooting:
* Don’t let go of the wire end when you’re loading a new spool! It may not feed right even if you can get it all un-raveled & fed through.
* If you feel the wire pushing against the bottom of the puddle, turn the speed down or the heat up (or both).
* Try not to keep the nozzle end too close to the puddle. That can make more splatter get into the tip piece.
* When you first start the weld, stay put momentarily to allow the puddle to form & fill the initial crater.
* Uneven feeding? Make sure the wire guide isn’t twisted or kinked.
* Can’t see an actual puddle? Clean you helmet lens & get closer. If all you’re seeing is a bunch of sparks, you’re not really seeing what’s going on. And again, you need to go at a speed that gives enough time for a puddle to form.

Wanna learn how to TIG weld aluminum?

First you need a decent TIG welding machine. Not a great one, just a decent one. Already got one? You might have an old Synrowave 300 or a DialArc, an old Hobart CyberTIG or you might have a brand new Miller Dynasty 200DX.

Know what? It doesn’t really matter. The same principles apply. If you have an old as dirt TIG welding machine, you can still make good aluminum TIG welds. Weld beads that look like a stack of dimes.

First lets look at machine settings:

Set the polarity to A/c (alternating currrent)

- Make sure to set the high frequency to continuous

- Set the amperage to about one and one half amps per one thousandths of inch of thickness (up to about 250 amps then things change quite a bit)

- Set both the contactor and amperage switches to the remote positon

- Set the argon or argon/helium torch shielding gas to around 15 cfh. (if you are using a #7 cup) less if the cup is smaller

- Notice I said argon or argon/helium? Argon is not the only game in town. In fact, if you TIG weld any aluminum over about .063″ thick, adding helium to the mix makes a huge difference.

Now lets talk tungsten electrodes:

- 2% thoriated have received a lot of bad press for the radioactivity issue but they do work

- 2% lanthanated electrodes are a really good all purpose electrode…good for TIG welding aluminum as well as steel

- Use the smallest electrode that will get the job done without quivering at max amperage.

Remote amperage control…you need a foot pedal. Period.

- Once all the settings are ok, and assuming you are welding on 1/8″ thick aluminum, grab a piece of 4043 filler rod in 3/32 diameter (rarely will you use a rod as thick or thicker than the metal you are welding)

- Extend the electrode tip about 1/4″ past the tip of the TIG welding torch cup and pre purge the gas by tapping the foot pedal.

- Hold the torch like a big first grade pencil. Touch the tip of the tungsten to the metal and then pull it back about 1/8 inch. Flip your helmet down and press the pedal to initiate the arc.

- Don’t melt the aluminum right away though, watch the black stuff cook away from the arcs cleaning action before you melt the metal. Then press the pedal far enough to create a puddle that is about 3-4 times the thickness of the metal you are welding.

Now comes the part on how to achieve the “stack of dimes” look. You get that by adding the same amount of rod and by moving the torch the same distance each time you add rod. Add rod, Step ahead 1/8 inch,Add rod, Step ahead 1/8 inch,Add rod, Step ahead 1/8 inch, lather rinse repeat. If you do this consistently, you will get evenly spaced ripples that look like a stack of dimes.

Of course it looks different from underneath the welding helmet and it is harder than it sounds, but this is really how you do it. All that is left is the doing. It takes practice and lots of quality seat time.

The average person’s impression of how metal is welded is that you simply fire-up a blow torch and run it along the edge of a metal seam to weld it together. Or they probably think you can just run that same torch across any kind of metal and cut through it, like in the safe-cracker movies. But the reality is that professional welding actually involves some fairly extensive knowledge, and is somewhat of an art form that takes many years of experience to master. Even so, if you are wanting to learn, you can start with a few simple techniques. Once you’ve mastered the basics and have a beginner’s idea, you can then move on to the more complicated skills that take longer to master.

Safety Precautions

Before you ever start any project, always think about safety precautions first. Equipment and supplies can be replaced; you cannot be replaced. You may think that getting burned is the worst thing that can happen in a welding accident. However, damage to your eyes can occur from the intense light that comes from the process. Some metal welding techniques make use of high voltage electricity to create a weld, which always raises the possibility of electrocution or death if the you are careless. As you start any welding project, be sure to wear a proper helmet to protect your eyes, head and hair. And don’t forget protective gloves and clothing. Lastly, be sure to read and follow all safety precautions written by the manufacturer of the particular metal welding equipment you are using.

Oxy-Acetylene Welding (also known as Oxyfuel Welding)

This is the type of welding that the average person is most familiar with, and which is often casually described as a “blow torch”. However, even though oxy-acetylene welding is the most commonly-known type, it is actually the least used technique among professionals. On the upside, it is less complicated and less expensive than other types of welding. However, oxy-acetylene is less common nowadays because it is less accurate, doesn’t produce a weld bead as cleanly as other methods and can result in weaker weld joints due to the slower cooling time it involves compared to other welding techniques. Even so, if you are interested in learning how to weld metal, you may want to practice oxy-acetylene welding in addition to other types of welding. It will be a handy skill to have because it’s the best type to use on certain common welding projects, such as pipes or tubes, and when you have to use welding equipment to do repairing, bending and cutting.

Arc Welding

The most common technique used these days is “Arc Welding”. If you’re learning how to weld metal, you will definitely need to practice arc welding. Rather than using a gas torch, arc welding involves using high voltage electricity passing into the piece of metal. In Arc Welding, a spark (or “arc”) jumping across from one piece of metal to the other causes enough heat to melt metal and form a weld. This process is more desirable in most cases because it is more accurate and produces a cleaner, stronger weld. Within the category of “Arc Welding” there are actually several different methods to choose from, depending on the type of metal welding work you need to do.

Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW) may be best when you have large welds or metal welding in unusual positions, where a rough weld is acceptable. With this method, the electricity runs through an electrode rod (or “stick”) which actually melts, producing the welded joint. On the other hand, MIG Welding, also know as Metal Inert Gas Welding, or Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW), may be better if you are involved in a metal welding project that requires more speed. With this welding technique you don’t use rods that you have to keep replacing as they melt. Instead, you use equipment that sends the electricity through a metal tip that doesn’t melt, and a separate piece of continuous wire is fed to the tip which melts and forms the weld. TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) Welding is somewhat similar to MIG welding, but is better when working with thin materials where you need a high-quality weld and speed is not important. As you learn you will also hear of other methods, such as Flux-Cored Arc Welding (FCAW), Submerged Arc Welding (SAW), Plasma Welding, etc. But don’t worry too much about remembering all of the various techniques. Just focus on one method at a time and get to the point where you are comfortable that you know how to weld with that method before you learn something new.

Other Welding Methods

Although you will primarily be concerned with Arc Welding and Oxy-Acetylene Welding as you learn how to weld, you might hear about other types and wonder what they are, such as Resistance Welding, Energy Beam Welding and Solid-State Welding. Don’t let that overwhelm you right now. Many of those welding methods are primarily useful in large, specialized industrial applications and don’t really affect you as you learn how to weld.

Conclusion

Hopefully you now know a little more about the basic concepts that will be important to you as you learn how to weld. As you can see, although there are numerous methods, each with it’s own unique set of equipment, procedures and purposes, there are actually only a couple of basic methods you need to remember and practice. To get started learning, start practicing with an inexpensive arc welding setup. Get yourself a machine and just start experimenting with it on some scrap pieces of metal (after reading all instructions and taking all safety precautions, or course). Figure out what works, and what doesn’t. You will soon begin to develop a style that is most comfortable for you. Also, get yourself some oxy-acetylene equipment and try that type, too. With a lot of practice, you will become a good novice fairly quickly and will be able to master just about any common project you may encounter.

Related Welding Articles

5 Risk Factors for Skin Cancer People Must Consider

Nearly everyone knows that skin cancer is a very real possibility, but few are aware of exactly how little it takes to prevent this potentially deadly illness. More than one million people are diagnosed each year with various forms of skin cancer. Colorado Springs residents aren’t an exception to this statistic. Here are a few risk factors you may not have previously considered.

· Ongoing exposure to UV radiation, particularly if you’re unprotected at the time, puts you at much higher risk for this condition. There are many potential sources of UV radiation that you may not be aware of, too. Sunlight is perhaps the largest source of this type of radiation, but UV lamps, some welding equipment, and even phototherapy lamps can also place you in areas where the UV radiation occurs at a much higher concentration.

· If you have a fair complexion, you’re at a much higher risk of skin cancer. Colorado Springs residents who don’t have naturally darker skin may find themselves coming down with this condition at much higher rates than those with other pigmentations. While this isn’t a primary risk factor, it’s certainly something to be aware of every time you go out in the sun.

· Some jobs may put you at greater risk of this condition. If your job involves coal tar or pitch as well as arsenic compounds, radium, or even creosote, skin cancer is a very real possibility, and your employer should provide you ongoing screenings to ensure you’re exposure rates haven’t been too high.

· Childhood may also play a role in skin cancer. Colorado Springs adults who experienced sunburns as a child are far more likely to be diagnosed with one of the many forms of skin cancer than others are. Because the UV radiation can take some time to build up in your system, by the time you reach adulthood, you could be looking at some very real consequences for serious burns as a child.

· Individuals with multiple moles are also considered to be in a high risk category. Keeping an eye on every mole you have for changes is essential, as it can help you notify health professionals in plenty of time.

Whether you’re at greater risk than others or you’ve just noticed a change in your skin that you’re suddenly concerned about, contacting the right professional help is an absolute must to diagnose and treat this condition early.

Related Welding Jobs In Colorado Articles

Wear long sleeves & pants, plus full shoes, & at least a helmet.

If I’m doing overhead welding, I’ll put on my leather jacket too. I ALWAYS wear long sleeves. I ALWAYS wear the helmet for welding or the goggles for torch work.

Wearing short sleeves will get you sunburned. Not wearing gloves can get your hands burned or sunburned. Yes I’ve tried it during real hot weather, & the sunburn is for REAL.

If you wear boots, don’t tuck your pants inside! One of my welder helpers did & he soon went DANCING around due to the hot sparks. We both laughed about it later, but it wasn’t funny at the time.

Got long hair? You better keep it back or cut it shorter. The guy mentioned above had fairly long hair at one time. Then he caught it on fire while doing torch work. Hair can burn REALLY fast. He came to work the next day with a lot shorter hair!

Doing some necessary work in wet conditions? Try to build a temporary shelter, or make sure you have on DRY gloves, etc. If conditions are wet enough, get some rubber WELDING gloves.

Protective clothing is a MAJOR part of Welding Safety!

Fire Safety:

I don’t start welding until I have at LEAST a bucket of water nearby. It’s good to also have a water hose & any pressurized fire fighting equipment if you have them.

Learn to know the SMELL of burning clothing & other items around the job. Have a “helper” around to watch for fires when possible. Learn to pay attention to unusual LIGHT flickering in your side vision. You may even HEAR a burning sound besides the arc sounds.

Sooner or later, something will catch fire. Catch it before it gets out of hand. People everywhere, everyday, weld by themselves. Don’t, unless you don’t have a choice.

When it comes to Welding Safety, PREVENTION SAVES PAIN!
Arc welding safety with your equipment:

1) Skin burns: Simple. Wear clothing wherever you don’t want to get burned. The ARC is hot, & the metal you’re working on is too. If you feel your leather glove getting hot, let go of the metal & remove the glove! It WILL get hotter.

Welding sparks can set your clothing on fire. It can be burning BEFORE you smell it. Keep checking yourself & your surroundings.

Metal you’ve just welded will STAY hot for awhile. Use your gloves to move it.

2) Ventilation: Open the garage door, turn on a fan, & keep “up-wind” of the fumes. Don’t weld forever without taking breaks & getting to fresh air.

3) Shocks: Start your weld on the same side of the material where the ground clamp is. It will start easier & you won’t become part of the electrical path. Use DRY GLOVES, & try to not work in wet areas.

If you MUST work in wet areas, you can use rubber WELDING gloves. They are very heavy duty. If you’re stick welding (versus wire welding), you may get a jolt when you insert the rod into the holder with wet leather gloves.

4) “Flash burns”: Even looking at the sun for a second or so can HURT. If you see the arc directly without protection for long, you will have the equivalent of sun-burned EYES! If you don’t get it too bad, it will go away shortly.

If you get “flashed” very much it will hurt for a long time. I got it bad once & had to go to a doctor to get medicine to put in my eyes. It was called “pontocaine”. It worked INSTANTLY, & what a relief!

Also, be kind to those around you & tell them to “watch their eyes”. When I was still new to welding, they called me “Lightning” because I wasn’t warning them before striking an arc.

You need to read these WELDING SAFETY DETAILS more than once!

Torch safety

1) The cutting torch & related equipment can be dangerous. First, SECURE the tanks to a wall or build a cart for them & keep the chain across them. A fellow worker told me about the time he saw an oxygen tank fall & break the top valve assembly off. Then it went flying literally through the roof!

Remember, there’s up to 2000 PSI in the O2 tanks. Again, keep the tanks secure. PLUS if you’re replacing them, make sure the cap is on the full one.

2) Once you have a flame going, you will get an INSTANT BURN if you run that flame across your hand! After you make a cut, the metal will stay HOT for quite awhile. Use gloves to handle work in-progress.

3) Welders are really “Special Mechanics”, & we all get greasy. You don’t want grease catching fire. It’s extra hard to get “out”. Clean up wherever you can. A trick a mechanic friend of mine showed me, was to use margarine for my dirty hands. Use it just like you would waterless cleaners. It works really good.

Just take a teaspoon (or tablespoon) full, and work it till it’s liquid, then rub it around the grime, then wipe it off with paper towels. (THEN go in the house & use regular soap to get the margarine off). Your wife will love you for not coming in totally greasy!

4) Keep all fittings tight. If the “gas” fittings are loose enough, it could catch fire AT that fitting.

5) Don’t lay the acetylene tank flat for transport, because it could become explosive the next time you turn it on & light it up.

6) When opening the acetylene tank valve, just turn it 1/2 turn. It makes everything safer.

7) Use goggles to cut or weld. Yes there are those that don’t, but I hope it won’t be YOU!

Keep your goggle lenses clean. I use my leather gloves to do that, & leather works just fine.

9) If you’re “setting the flame”, & the “gas” separates from the tip, just back off the “gas” valve a bit.

10) If your hear a buzzing, sucking noise, immediately turn the “gas” valve off, then the O2. It may be backing up into the hoses & could be a bad thing.

11) Check the whole area before you cut. Clear out gas cans, etc. And look for items that might catch fire. Also, bring out the water buckets, water hoses, & other pressurized fire fighting equipment. And have someone nearby, if possible to be the “fire-watch”.

12) “Crack open” the main tank valves before you hook them to hoses to make sure there’s no contamination.

13) Don’t tuck in your pant legs, or you’ll be dancing & jumping around if enough sparks get inside the boots! I’ve seen a fellow welder doing exactly that.

14) Break out your steel-toed shoes if you’re going to do any heavy cutting. One day I just happened to look down & noticed a DENT in my shoe toe. I didn’t even know it happened until I SAW it.

The next time you start a welding project, think to yourself, ” What have I told my buddy helping me about Welding Safety?”

Equipment Gone Bad:

Note that some equipment failures can be just “a pain”, but others might be a safety problem. Try to keep your equipment clean & working right:

1) If your arc welder overheats too much it could either be a “goner”, or even cause it to start smoking internally. Pay attention to “duty cycle”, especially if your machine has no cooling fan or a warning mechanism: a warning light or an automatic breaker.

I was welding along at home & noticed that the rod was sticking a lot to the work-piece. And I noticed that it SOUNDED different suddenly. I soon realized that my cooling fan had died. I replaced it, & it’s been working fine for years now.

2) Can’t see what you’re doing very well? Check your lenses & clean them on both sides (use your leather glove).

3) The circuit breaker kicking off? Maybe you need to go to a bigger breaker. Plus you might have to use a smaller rod & make more “passes”.

4) Is your helmet lens getting messed up from hot sparks? Add a protective cover lens (they are cheaper than your main lens).

5) Is the torch doing excessive splattering? You may be getting the tip too close to the puddle, or the cut. Or you might just need to use tip cleaners (or have both problems).

6) Is your torch not cutting very well? If you have the smaller (& cheaper) single stage gauges, you might try cranking up the cutting pressure again. This was going on for my single stage outfit, & I just assumed I was real low on acetylene.

But when I shut off the tanks later, I saw that the O2 cutting pressure reading was still at 20 PSI. So I was only using 20 PSI to cut instead of 40! I pulled the gauge’s needle off & re-set it. It was good to go again.

Welding Safety includes safe equipment and safe usage!

Welding Safety MEANS safety for you AND your customer AND those helping you!!

Related Welding Lenses Articles

Wear long sleeves & pants, plus full shoes, & at least a helmet.

If I’m doing overhead welding, I’ll put on my leather jacket too. I ALWAYS wear long sleeves. I ALWAYS wear the helmet for welding or the goggles for torch work.

Wearing short sleeves will get you sunburned. Not wearing gloves can get your hands burned or sunburned. Yes I’ve tried it during real hot weather, & the sunburn is for REAL.

If you wear boots, don’t tuck your pants inside! One of my welder helpers did & he soon went DANCING around due to the hot sparks. We both laughed about it later, but it wasn’t funny at the time.

Got long hair? You better keep it back or cut it shorter. The guy mentioned above had fairly long hair at one time. Then he caught it on fire while doing torch work. Hair can burn REALLY fast. He came to work the next day with a lot shorter hair!

Doing some necessary work in wet conditions? Try to build a temporary shelter, or make sure you have on DRY gloves, etc. If conditions are wet enough, get some rubber WELDING gloves.

Protective clothing is a MAJOR part of Welding Safety!

Fire Safety:

I don’t start welding until I have at LEAST a bucket of water nearby. It’s good to also have a water hose & any pressurized fire fighting equipment if you have them.

Learn to know the SMELL of burning clothing & other items around the job. Have a “helper” around to watch for fires when possible. Learn to pay attention to unusual LIGHT flickering in your side vision. You may even HEAR a burning sound besides the arc sounds.

Sooner or later, something will catch fire. Catch it before it gets out of hand. People everywhere, everyday, weld by themselves. Don’t, unless you don’t have a choice.

When it comes to Welding Safety, PREVENTION SAVES PAIN!
Arc welding safety with your equipment:

1) Skin burns: Simple. Wear clothing wherever you don’t want to get burned. The ARC is hot, & the metal you’re working on is too. If you feel your leather glove getting hot, let go of the metal & remove the glove! It WILL get hotter.

Welding sparks can set your clothing on fire. It can be burning BEFORE you smell it. Keep checking yourself & your surroundings.

Metal you’ve just welded will STAY hot for awhile. Use your gloves to move it.

2) Ventilation: Open the garage door, turn on a fan, & keep “up-wind” of the fumes. Don’t weld forever without taking breaks & getting to fresh air.

3) Shocks: Start your weld on the same side of the material where the ground clamp is. It will start easier & you won’t become part of the electrical path. Use DRY GLOVES, & try to not work in wet areas.

If you MUST work in wet areas, you can use rubber WELDING gloves. They are very heavy duty. If you’re stick welding (versus wire welding), you may get a jolt when you insert the rod into the holder with wet leather gloves.

4) “Flash burns”: Even looking at the sun for a second or so can HURT. If you see the arc directly without protection for long, you will have the equivalent of sun-burned EYES! If you don’t get it too bad, it will go away shortly.

If you get “flashed” very much it will hurt for a long time. I got it bad once & had to go to a doctor to get medicine to put in my eyes. It was called “pontocaine”. It worked INSTANTLY, & what a relief!

Also, be kind to those around you & tell them to “watch their eyes”. When I was still new to welding, they called me “Lightning” because I wasn’t warning them before striking an arc.

You need to read these WELDING SAFETY DETAILS more than once!

Torch safety

1) The cutting torch & related equipment can be dangerous. First, SECURE the tanks to a wall or build a cart for them & keep the chain across them. A fellow worker told me about the time he saw an oxygen tank fall & break the top valve assembly off. Then it went flying literally through the roof!

Remember, there’s up to 2000 PSI in the O2 tanks. Again, keep the tanks secure. PLUS if you’re replacing them, make sure the cap is on the full one.

2) Once you have a flame going, you will get an INSTANT BURN if you run that flame across your hand! After you make a cut, the metal will stay HOT for quite awhile. Use gloves to handle work in-progress.

3) Welders are really “Special Mechanics”, & we all get greasy. You don’t want grease catching fire. It’s extra hard to get “out”. Clean up wherever you can. A trick a mechanic friend of mine showed me, was to use margarine for my dirty hands. Use it just like you would waterless cleaners. It works really good.

Just take a teaspoon (or tablespoon) full, and work it till it’s liquid, then rub it around the grime, then wipe it off with paper towels. (THEN go in the house & use regular soap to get the margarine off). Your wife will love you for not coming in totally greasy!

4) Keep all fittings tight. If the “gas” fittings are loose enough, it could catch fire AT that fitting.

5) Don’t lay the acetylene tank flat for transport, because it could become explosive the next time you turn it on & light it up.

6) When opening the acetylene tank valve, just turn it 1/2 turn. It makes everything safer.

7) Use goggles to cut or weld. Yes there are those that don’t, but I hope it won’t be YOU!

Keep your goggle lenses clean. I use my leather gloves to do that, & leather works just fine.

9) If you’re “setting the flame”, & the “gas” separates from the tip, just back off the “gas” valve a bit.

10) If your hear a buzzing, sucking noise, immediately turn the “gas” valve off, then the O2. It may be backing up into the hoses & could be a bad thing.

11) Check the whole area before you cut. Clear out gas cans, etc. And look for items that might catch fire. Also, bring out the water buckets, water hoses, & other pressurized fire fighting equipment. And have someone nearby, if possible to be the “fire-watch”.

12) “Crack open” the main tank valves before you hook them to hoses to make sure there’s no contamination.

13) Don’t tuck in your pant legs, or you’ll be dancing & jumping around if enough sparks get inside the boots! I’ve seen a fellow welder doing exactly that.

14) Break out your steel-toed shoes if you’re going to do any heavy cutting. One day I just happened to look down & noticed a DENT in my shoe toe. I didn’t even know it happened until I SAW it.

The next time you start a welding project, think to yourself, ” What have I told my buddy helping me about Welding Safety?”

Equipment Gone Bad:

Note that some equipment failures can be just “a pain”, but others might be a safety problem. Try to keep your equipment clean & working right:

1) If your arc welder overheats too much it could either be a “goner”, or even cause it to start smoking internally. Pay attention to “duty cycle”, especially if your machine has no cooling fan or a warning mechanism: a warning light or an automatic breaker.

I was welding along at home & noticed that the rod was sticking a lot to the work-piece. And I noticed that it SOUNDED different suddenly. I soon realized that my cooling fan had died. I replaced it, & it’s been working fine for years now.

2) Can’t see what you’re doing very well? Check your lenses & clean them on both sides (use your leather glove).

3) The circuit breaker kicking off? Maybe you need to go to a bigger breaker. Plus you might have to use a smaller rod & make more “passes”.

4) Is your helmet lens getting messed up from hot sparks? Add a protective cover lens (they are cheaper than your main lens).

5) Is the torch doing excessive splattering? You may be getting the tip too close to the puddle, or the cut. Or you might just need to use tip cleaners (or have both problems).

6) Is your torch not cutting very well? If you have the smaller (& cheaper) single stage gauges, you might try cranking up the cutting pressure again. This was going on for my single stage outfit, & I just assumed I was real low on acetylene.

But when I shut off the tanks later, I saw that the O2 cutting pressure reading was still at 20 PSI. So I was only using 20 PSI to cut instead of 40! I pulled the gauge’s needle off & re-set it. It was good to go again.

Welding Safety includes safe equipment and safe usage!

Welding Safety MEANS safety for you AND your customer AND those helping you!!

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Imagine yourself standing under the roof of an unmanaged building lacking all the required necessities. It would be called nothing more than an empty shell. Every thing that makes the building a real worth are the Building Services. The Building Services help in the constriction of a safe and sound construction and add some value to it.                    The Building Services can be attained from a reputed Architectural Services provider.

The Building Services include all the services that are required for the complete construction of the building. The Building Services can be classified into various types according to the Architecture Design of the building like the Home Building, office building, shopping malls and restaurants etc. The type of Building Services depends on the usability of these buildings.

The Building services begin with selection of the construction site for the building. If you are going to buy the land through the Building Services provider then you must carefully check all the legal documents of the land. The Building Services then include the preparation of the Architecture Design for the building. The Architectural Design is prepared according to the Building Regulations of the city.

After that the Building Services provider helps you in the filling of the Planning Permission forms. Their experts keep a close check on the progression of the application and guide you at every step in the acquiring of the Planning Permission. `

The real test of the reliability of the Building Services is proved in the construction phase. The Building Services appoints the reputed and experienced building contractors who serve the best of the construction services with the assistance of the skilled labor and the selection of the a healthy building material. All the strength of the building structure lies in the selection of the proper building material. So make sure that your Building Services are allowing you to make a genuine choice for the building material.

After the building of the shell the Building Services undertakes the task of making it worthy of inhabitilation. The Building Services provider appoints the interior designer to put in some life to the dead building shell. The Interior Design sets in for the application of the suitable coloring, internal theme etc. The application of all the internal accessories comes under the scope of Building Services. Along with the Interior Design the Building Services also applies to the exterior designing and the landscape designing. The Building Services also makes the arrangement of the proper insulation of the building with the power minimization. The Building Services makes the full arrangement of the proper lighting, plumbing, drainage and water supply.

Another feature that is acquired with the Building Services is the security solutions. The Building Services makes all the arrangements add subsequent security devices to the Building.

In the Modern world the Building Services can also set the creation of smart building with the fully electric control system. All the Building Services are to be acquired from a reputed Architectural Company. Design-u is such a reliable Company that proffers a vast range of Building Services for the construction of every type of building. For more information you can log on to: www.Design-4u.net

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Any Texas land for sale is going to be a huge monetary investment for you, don’t pass on a good deal because the land is rough, hilly and just plain hard to get around on. I have seen many times in my land trading days when the terrain is a little unforgiving the seller will have to give more on the price to generate a sale. In this article I will discuss ways to work your deer plots when you just can’t get a tractor around the land.

Don’t give up on your Texas land for sale to early; a good ATV in many cases will do a fine job working your deer plots. I will go over some implements and ATV’s I have used in the past on tough land tracts.

Before you even start looking at ATV implements you must first have a machine to pull them with. On Texas land I suggest at least a 300cc motor to pull your heavier implements with, Texas land can be very hilly to plain flat so if your ATV is a little less powerful don’t trade it to soon just make sure you implements like a ATV disk does not just over power your machine. If you have never worked deer plots with an ATV before you need to look at the machine you have a little different that just caring you and passengers. I  suggest a water cooled engine for more longevity of the machine you buy, remember pulling a heavy disk with task the machine pretty bad especially if it’s a large plot and you have many plots to work in a short period of time like trying to get all your plots done in one day or one weekend.

Now let’s take a look at ATV implements for your food plot work. There are two general categories: seedbed preparation implements and forage-maintenance that you will need on hand to handle all your needs. As you will see when working your machine there will be some overlap like with a sprayer, lime spreaders, plows, disks, cultivators, harrows, seed and fertilizer spreaders and cultipackers.

I will not go over any particular brands for you to purchase you will need to do your own homework on that just keep in mind the implements I have mentioned in this article will all be needed and you will have a substantial investment in your equipment. When looking at equipment get good heavy equipment, check the welding, on your disk make sure it has grease fittings, and make sure the spray rig has a good wide stance with good tires for grip. Take each implement you will need one by one and check the quality this is an investment that will last for many years don’t be cheap here it will cost you in the long run.

You can save thousands of dollars when buying Texas land for sale if you don’t mind a little rougher terrain and a little more work when building your deer plots and maintaining your land.

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Don’t worry too much about how your welds look at first:
* While you’re improving electrode control, you’ll be learning more about different welding job situations.
* Plus I’ll tell you WHY it’s important to have good rod control.
* After you read these tips, THEN you can practice your welding rod control techniques.
* Whether you swing a golf club or a bat, if you don’t practice in correct ways, the results can be at least EMBARRASSING!

Let’s talk about arc pressure and gravity:
1) Arc pressure is produced by the voltage from the machine as it’s pushing the molten metal outwardly.
2) The pressure will vary depending on machine settings, rod size, & the amount of arc gap.
3) Gravity not only effects the direction of the molten metal, but also it’s going to try to make your puddle drip.
4) If you’re arc welding in a flat position, you mainly just worry about keeping the rod at right angles to the work-pieces, & tilted away from the puddle, to help control the puddle & the slag. (And that will help you to SEE THE PUDDLE!).
5) If you’re going to weld in a vertical position, you need to aim the arc up-ward to preheat the metal & to help keep the puddle from dripping.
6) At the same time, in vertical welding, you no longer need to worry about slag, because gravity is keeping it out of the way.
7) For horizontal positions it’s a lot the same. Gravity will try to drip the weld, so you aim the arc upwardly.
For overhead jobs you keep the rod nearly straight up for the same reasons. You don’t want to do any weaving in overhead welding, instead just use straight “stringer” beads.

Pipe welding:
* Pipe welding is rather unique, in that it involves all positions as you go around it. You will gain real electrode control experience in pipe welding!
* Horizontal welding on pipe can be tricky too, because you need to keep changing the rod angle as you go around.
* Save overhead welding practice for last. Get used to ELECTRODE CONTROL & amp settings in the easier welding positions first.

General tips:
* Learn to keep the arc length as steady as possible, plus keep the rod angle steady.
* Weld in a straight a line. This helps to give your welds to look better, and to give them more strength.
* Use both hands to steady the rod. Either place both hands on the rod holder, or one hand on the rod itself, until it gets too short (or until the rod gets too hot).
* Work on a steady speed to keep a uniform puddle shape. An oval shape is good, but don’t let it get too pointed. A round shape may be too wide, unless you need a wider or heavier bead for the job you’re doing. You’ll soon be able to judge that your welding speed is right for the job size & situation.
* Finding a good amperage setting for the job at hand, will help you to concentrate on getting a good weld, & not be fighting sticking rods, or having the rod burn through the work-piece.
* Learn to hesitate slightly at the start of your welds to ensure that the “puddle” forms sufficiently.
* Also pause a bit, at each side of the bead, when you’re doing a weave weld, to make sure there is good penetration.

REMEMBER, Don’t worry too much about how your welds look at first! Now start practicing!

Joel Ort of Miller Electric Mfg. Co. shares his tips for MIG welding success. Placing the focus on MIG technique, Ort’s useful comments are applicable for many garage applications involving farm and automotive repairs. Topics include: simple setup, butt joints, T-joints, lap joints and horizontal, vertical and overhead welding positions.

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