never trust a welder - lopsided lollipop

A recent shop project got me to thinking.

before
little bit not right

Lotsa friends lately have been saying they want to weld,
or get a welder.
I usually ask them if they have a grinder first,
cause a welder is basically nothing without a grinder.

Most welding jobs require a ton of fitting,
or fabricating the pieces needed to make something.
Than once the pieces are tacked together,
the real welding can begin.

I'll admit I'm probably a better "fitter" or "grinder" than a welder.

Its easier for me to make something symmetrical, or square, 

or follow the template of whatever it is I'm making.

I can weld a pretty bead...
but many times I get a little impatient or rushed,
which will make a "utilitarian" looking weld.

after
a little bit better

Some builders have the opposite problem,
and this recent project helped me to realize that.
The parts for this net hoop thing were supplied to Pikachu,
and this is what he came up with.
It's hard to see in the before and after pic but it's a little lopsided.
Alot more noticeable in person,
or when it's on the boat,
and guys are wondering how someone could not notice that when making it.

before

after

After this thing was all finished with nice welds,
4 of the fitted pipe welds had to be cracked to get it to sit right,
and over an inch had to be taken out of the center handle tube to rotate it.

So if you've been wanting to get into welding,
make sure you like grinding first!

TP


















Pikachu comes from the welding side of fabrication.

never trust a captain...welding aluminum to stainless

Ok first off just take that title lightly!
Just when it comes to metalwork anyway.

So my brother went out of town.
Said there was a quickee aluminum welding job on a boat.

broken weld

I went down there to take a look.
Seemed easy enough.
Unfortunately the boat is at the end of the dock,
and aluminum welding is a huge pain in the ass with all the equipment.

So I waited til my trusty helper Luke "pigpen" Brown happened to be in town!

pigpen

Probably not what he was expecting to do on arrival,
just like old times.

el rollo

I had thought alot about how to do this,
so was hoping this was going to work.
This cut-down shopping cart has proved its worth.

please work

It was alot easier getting the stuff down there!
I swear there was more time in the setup than in the work.
I thought.

set up

We started kinda early but the wind was starting to pick up.
The worst thing that can happen for the spool gun.
Fortunately I had been there days earlier and cleaned up,
as well as making some triangular gussets to reinforce the pipe.

welded?

After way too much time fighting the wind,
it was obvious something was wrong.

pop

These two pipes were temporarily held together with some rope,
and when the rope was taken off, the weld wouldn't stick...
Ahh hell.

what the

Typically with dirty aluminum welding,
it is normal that the first pass burns the salts and contaminants out,
than that is grinded out and repeat passes til it looks clean.
Since the wind didn't help,
I was thinking the multiple weld/grind was normal,
other than the fact that it wouldn't stick!

We finally realized one side was aluminum and the other was stainless steel!
Doh!

contrary evidence

The boat captain(s), my brother and previous workers had thought it was aluminum.
Besides the joints being previously welded together,
this part on top had been welded as well.
It was just the bolts behind it were actually holding it together,
and the paint was masking the crack gap.

So,
we loaded everything up for another day...
It was way harder to get everything back to land.
That poor cart!

__________________________________________________________

Later on that week I made some plates,
and went down with the little maxstar 150 and stick welded the stainless part on.
It worked!

half done

The aluminum welding was a 2 man job,
so I had to wait to coordinate that.

deja vu

The other worker, Pikachu, thought we were crazy to do this.
One thing that was different with Pigpen,
he never doubted the crazy, just went with it!

listos

We finally got everything back down to the dock.
This is what it takes to weld 2 feet of aluminum!

set up

When working with Pikachu,
we reverse roles than with Pigpen.
He is the welder and I take pictures.

one more time

I had two choices for the plates,
vertical or horizontal.
When making them I didn't make the correct angle,
so I just went with the vertical.

one down

And the finished product.

light bar + loading ramp

Let's get out of here!
The load back up was just as fun as the last time,
but the generator only slid off the cart 2 times.
Fortunately not into the water.

the long haul

So what was supposed to be a half-day job!

loaded

Next time I'll know not to take anything for granted,
especially the type of metal!

TP

never trust a machinist

Ok,
the title is a little harsh, I admit.
However,
in many cases I'll stand by that comment!

This past job has been interesting,
as there are 2 similar boats with the same project list,
just with different sizes and problems.

One needed a coupling machined.

big chunk of billet steel in a moriseiki lathe

They had to chuck that billet steel with a forklift it was so heavy.
I should have taken a picture of the original one, it was a nasty piece.

I'll admit that this guy (company) is an excellent machinist.
This thing looked great,
and was made to fit the shaft that was also done up here.

expensive chunk of steel

Looks great from over there huh!

see anything wrong?

In addition to the coupling and shaft,
they also modified the clamping nut for some set screws.
But do you see anything wrong with this picture?

always use for a grinder

The friggin socket didn't fit in the hole!
This is where the exactness of a machinist,
needs to be coupled with some actual work experience
with the job intended.
What was the machinist thinking the nut was going to be tightened with?

Fortunately the socket thickness was about 3/16",
so some meat could be grinded (sp?) off each corner.
(about half!)
It's not like an extra 1/8" taken out of the hole would weaken this thing.

too perfect fit

You'd figure for almost a couple thousand bucks,
and all the parts needed this would be obvious!

We were able to get it good and snug,
and this thing will last (hopefully) for a long time.
The other boats coupling was on for 34 years!

Let the other guys deal with it than!

***

While I'm on my little rant,
why not mention the other boat...

This is what a bearing/pillow block looks like after 34 years.

34 years later

Lucky they still make exactly the same one.

This boat uses the same basic engineering as the other boat.
Here's what it looks like all buttoned up.

heavy duty chit

So we were able to get the prop on and slap on the rudder.
This was supposed to be the easy part.

descendants of the pyramid builders

I swear they both are descendants of the Mayan pyramid builders!
Definitely not the minds of machinists,
they can make stuff work with a hammer.

should fit right

Again we just expected everything would fit.

Nope.

get out the hammer

The machine shop had whittled out a plastic bushing,
but had added a trick 1/2" spacer for the rudder to ride on.
The problem was,
there wasn't an extra 1/2" for the rudder to fit in the space!

It's kind of ridiculous,
as they'll be precision to the .0023 in some cases,
but then can be off .500 !

This could have been alot worse as the bushing was pressed in,
but somehow we were able to pop it out using a rod, some nuts, sockets
and a hammer,
without ruining the bushing.
It still adds unneeded time to the job though as its still not hooked up.

Eddy and Paulie
2 salty phux!

This is Eddy and Pops/Paulie.
Some guys are made to be on the water for long stretches!

sea chase
the real perfect storm

This is their boat.
It just looks like it could go through anything don't it!
I've got some more stories for later...


TP