LOOKOUT! He's got a torch!

papakeith · Post by **papakeith** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 8:06 am

I finally got around to purchasing and setting up my all of the bits and pieces needed for my Oxy-acetlyene torch this past week. So, in between washing and priming parts, I've been practicing with pieces of my box-o-tubing from ASpruce.

weezbad · Post by **weezbad** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 8:17 am

that weld looks a little cold.

i dont know your skill level but, you want the weld to taper smoothly into the base metal. get the puddle going, it will be the shinny spot, and push or pull it while adding filler rod. when finished inpect the back side for thorough fusion. when the weld is finished make sure there are no craters where it ends.if so be certain to file it off or cracks will propagate.. it gets easy fast. i hope this doesnt come across offensive. if so my appologies..

your doing great work from what ive seen on your site.

Good luck on your build....

papakeith · Post by **papakeith** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 9:02 am

not offensive at all. I am planning on putting my life, and that of anyone willing to go for a ride, on the line. I want harsh criticism. Please be brutally honest. Give me all of the tips, tricks, suggestions, slaps to the back of the head, practice drills, etc that you can think of.

I plan on lots more practice before anything gets into production. I will also have qualified people inspect all of my welds for issues.

Here's the other side of that joint

I'll post more pics as I progress. Give me all the input you can.

thanks,

Keith

papakeith · Post by **papakeith** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 9:12 am

Oh yeah, my skill level?

Farm welding/hack/novice

weezbad · Post by **weezbad** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 9:51 am

im not an expert welder but i did use up a whole sheet learning how in school.

my old instructor came to check out my project last saturday, some 20 years later, and the second thing he told me was he thought id would have built a rag and tube plane the way i used up all of his metal in welding.

my advice is to practice pulling/pushing a puddle without any filler rod. once you get that mastered then start puting test pieces together. look inside the tube to see how well it fused. should be obvious as to where the weld took place and not just by the heat ring. should have a witness mark of the shape of the adjoining tube. to me it looks like it almost became liquid. practice practice practice. the tube intersections were the toughest for me and i would probally have to learn from scratch all over again.

airguy · Post by **airguy** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 10:20 pm

Uuuggh - I hate welding with a torch, though I can get it done if I have to. Give me a TIG any day and I can make some art.

papakeith · Post by **papakeith** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 9:57 pm

granted TIG makes a pretty weld, but the margin for error with a TIG weld is a lot slimmer (so I'm told) than with a torch. The margin being for pre and post heating mostly.
Then there is the price point for entry : My tanks were free (uncle), my torch was 1/2 price in excellent condition (friend bought a TIG setup

).

In any event, it's torch I have, so it's torch I'll learn to use properly. How's that saying go? When all you have is a hammer everything starts to look like a nail

.

Post by **Spike** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 8:49 am

That stuff is soo cool. I want to learn how to do that one day.