Yesss! Arc welder!

[TerraHertz]

It was $.25 a pound for that steel, it doesn't look like a whole lot but it does weight a decent bit. I did check on kijiji first but there wasn't much in the way of scrap.

Do you have a public tip nearby, and can you scrounge there? Or how about local council cleanup days? I notice you have a pickup truck.

Phoned a bunch of welding and fabrication shops and didn't really get much, a couple told me to phone the scrap yard that I went to later that day.

Places like that, it's better to drop in personally and ask.

The 5/64th welding sticks are 1.98mm or so apparently, and these are 1.76 so I think that will help a bit, but that's pretty much as thick as I can go with this one.

Yes I got that. It's why I suggested using thinner metal to practice on.

There is an old (1 month) kijiji ad with a 100 or so mm angle grinder for $50, not sure if he has it still or not.

Probably, since that sounds too much for a 2nd hand grinder. These are Australian prices for new ones:
http://www.bunnings.com.au/search/products?q=angle%20grinder&facets=CategoryIdPath%3D2a021706-07d5-4648-bf26-2ea8fea049df%20%3E%2090380562-a3ff-40f3-80a4-be8f7bc99b02

I think I see my most recently bought one there, but they don't show model numbers. $75.

No welding gloves or anything, there is an add with some jackets for $50 or so and some sleeves for $25. I am just welding in a tshirt, cotton shirt and jeans for now. (did not think about the weld burn, but right now I just go out for a couple minutes to give it a try then take a break)

Well, leather gloves can be cheap. Nothing special required, just flexible enough, and going about half way up the forearm.
UV burns are cumulative, jut like sunburn. Taking breaks won't achieve anything. (Except letting the welder cool down.)
Incidentally the UV also wrecks cloth. Wear one set of old clothes for welding, if you don't wear leathers.
It's amazing what happens to cotton cloth if you weld a lot.

I am using partially synthetic sneakers that are steel toes but I do have some leather steel toe boots somewhere that I plan on using, but right now the sign sticks out enough from the table to keep sparks from dropping down.

You may not notice while wearing the mask, but drops of molten steel can bounce around a lot. Anyway, eventually you're sure to find out.

Also, cat worming paste? Don't have any of that.

See pic. You sure? That looks so like cat wormer! Right color, same end cap...
 

No chipping hammer, just a brush with a metal bit, but I do have a couple old hammers around that I could sue the nail puller on if I need to.

Even just an old cold chisel, used like a striking scraper, works. When you get better beads, then you'll notice the stuck spatters nearby. Also most stick welds have (deliberately) a protective slag coating, that needs to be struck off after cooling.

All in all it comes down to still needing money for this stuff, as it is the next $100 I make or so will have to go to a family member since the helped me foot the bills this month. Sigh.

Tell me about it. I'm in a similar position atm.

So tired of getting interviews then not hearing back. Went for an interview at future shop to install car audio, and sure I don't know much about that specifically but I do know about electronics. They said that my computer repair "business" on kijiji could be a problem though since they do stuff like that at the store, I said I know, and I would stop if I got the job, it's just to pay bills on the months where I make enough but they didn't seem to get it.

Why did you tell them? None of their business, is it?

[Monkeh]

Also, cat worming paste? Don't have any of that.

See pic. You sure? That looks so like cat wormer! Right color, same end cap...

[XOIIO]

Also, cat worming paste? Don't have any of that.

See pic. You sure? That looks so like cat wormer! Right color, same end cap...

Yup, you can make out the shape of the logo. We don't even have a cat, I'm allergic lol

[TerraHertz]

Ah, it's the label that is yellowish. That's what tricked me. Have never seen dull yellow thermal paste. White, blue, gray...

Pity I don't have an example here atm to show.

[SeanB]

I will second a trip to a steel merchant and ask nicely. I bought some 304 stainless rod earlier this week at $6 per kilo. Scrap value is $1 per kilo. I needed it to repair a broken shaft, and it lost 1kg in a lathe to get it to the right diameter.

The other lathe had a massive brass casting in it busy losing about half of it's mass into shavings in the lathe bed. It will eventually be a bush for a printing press, with a very convoluted oil path and an eccentric inside gear tooth set for aligning the press. It has a matching one for the other side as well. Probably will be a final bill ( and not mine) of around $2k or so for the bush.

Steel is a lot cheaper, you can probably go to any laser cutting place and ask for offcuts as well, there you will get small pieces that are the coupons they cut out, all nicely finished and only having a small initial plunge cut for the laser to start. You just have to only use mild steel initially, or only use ferrous stainless steel which will be weldable with a regular welder.

[SteigsdB]

There's a great thread about welding that's been going on at ADVrider if you're looking for even more info.

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=210053

[G7PSK]

Those little air cooled welders are only any good up to 5mm thick steel in one pass, you need to vee the joints out open up a gap between the parts to about 1.5 - 2mm and use a 2.5mm dia rod mahe a few tack's then one pass down the middle and then several passes each side and when you get good a capping pass over the whole lot using a triangular weave. One thing you could do to improve the ease of start is put a big capacitor on the mains side of the transformer, the PF is so bad that 50 or so mf will lift the open circuit voltage from 24 volts or less, I used to fit them to welders for the local farmers, had a whole bunch of capacitors made specially by Phillips at their Kings Lynn factory back in the early 80's still have a few left, not much need for them these days as they either get small mig sets or inverter units which are very good, I use one myself it only weighs 2.7 KG and will run at 90 A all day.

[kamaangir]

I have just got into welding myself, done an epic arc session a few weekends ago, loads of rusty metal that got transformed into a turbo jet engine in an afternoon!

I have just bought an old mig welder from a friend and plan on doing some mig welding.

Go to utoob and check out a chennel called weldingtipsandtricks, the guy is a very experienced welder and he puts in a lot of resources in making his videos (he gets some really nice arc footage), its mostly tig and mig but the underlying principal is the same.

I am hoping to get an inverter tig/stick welder soon.... Its very addictive!

[tautech]

its mostly tig and mig but the underlying principal is the same.

Stick welding travel is downhand in most cases whereas mig welding is uphand in most cases.

This fundamental difference between stick and mig makes a massive difference in weld strength and neatness.

The most common exception is vertical welding, when travel direction is commonly reversed for mig and stick.
Mig, downhand and downward, Stick, uphand and upward.

**** hand is how the electrode/torch is positioned and travels in relation to the weld bead.

Downhand the electrode is leaning away and travelling away from the bead.
Uphand the torch is leaning toward the bead and travelling way from the bead.

[kamaangir]

I meant the bit about, prepping, distortion, selecting the right electrode/filler rod/mig wire for the job. What a nice bead looks like. Penetration, the importance of correct amperage, safety, importance of a good ground........

When you first start learning (like me) its all fine and well trying to do it with the correct technique and hand movement, but when you fail to strike an arc and keep banging the electrode on the workbench and can't figure out what's going on, only to fall at the 1st hurdle and not have the ground clamp on!

[johansen]

i would take that welder apart and run heavier leads.
if those are nice flexable leads you might double them both up to get power to the stick, while using some other cables to get to the clamp.

you also might want to replace the cord with a larger gauge wire if it gets warm.


given that you are welding on thick steel with a lightweight welder you might try and preheat the steel as hot as is practical.
Also try 1/8th 6011 rod on the highest amp setting you have. yeah, i know the box says 80-120 amps but that doesn't matter. you can get good welds with lower currents the difference is technique.  i can run 1/8th 6011 rod on 40 amps from my Lincoln 225 if the steel is clean and thin. (but the Lincoln 225 has 80 volts open circuit so its going to be a totally different machine.