Modified thermostat housing and coolant temp sensor housing

[Blue88Coupe]

These are from my welding class tonight. Its not much but I'm happy welding anything other than butts, T's, and laps. I dont know how long before they rust through.


Heres some new TIG machines they bought, apparently they now have cup holders on top. The machines we use are syncrowaves. I dont know how the new Lincolns will compare.




Some stainless I tried to weld. We're not supposed to do TIG / Stainless till next semester but they've been letting us do anything we want since our course objectives were complete over a month ago.

[jw33]

What are they doing with the old crappy Millers?

[Blue88Coupe]

What are they doing with the old crappy Millers?

hah. they're keeping them. They only have three syncrowaves. They're going to run those in addition to the four or five new lincolns they got. They dont have enough for a full class yet

[Blue88Coupe]

What are they doing with the old crappy Millers?

I'm gonna switch to mountain view in January, they're supposed to have an older welding program than eastfield. If I hear of them getting rid of anything i'll post up in here.

[turbostang]

Not bad, it just takes lots of practice.

Your top two pieces could have both been drilled and tapped for a pipe plug - but, I realize that's out of the scope of a welding class.


The stainless, Which welds were yours? The ones on the LEFT of center?

The ones to the left are cold and slow, and possibly had the torch held too high from the work. The ones on the right are pretty good, with a HOT spot near the right end of the left bead, as shown by evidence of the sagging or "keyholing" near the right end. The far right weld, not too bad - it's a good compromise between too hot and too cold.

If you're just learning, the best things I can say - are to be sure to eat a full meal before you do your welding and don't drink a lot of sodas... as odd as it sounds. When you're hungry or shakey from Caffiene - it REALLY shows up in your work.

[Blue88Coupe]

Not bad, it just takes lots of practice.

Your top two pieces could have both been drilled and tapped for a pipe plug - but, I realize that's out of the scope of a welding class.


The stainless, Which welds were yours? The ones on the LEFT of center?

The ones to the left are cold and slow, and possibly had the torch held too high from the work. The ones on the right are pretty good, with a HOT spot near the right end of the left bead, as shown by evidence of the sagging or "keyholing" near the right end. The far right weld, not too bad - it's a good compromise between too hot and too cold.

If you're just learning, the best things I can say - are to be sure to eat a full meal before you do your welding and don't drink a lot of sodas... as odd as it sounds. When you're hungry or shakey from Caffiene - it REALLY shows up in your work.

The tap and plug idea was repeatedly mentioned but like you said it would have been boring to do in welding class.

All of the welds on the stainless are mine. The fourth weld from left to right has no filler so I was able to make it more consistent. In the first three welds the rod kept sticking so I wanted to see how the puddle worked without the rod. This was literally the first piece of stainless I had ever welded on with no instruction other than "here do this!" The only insight I was given was during the second bead one of my fellow students snuck up behind me and gave the steel table I was welding on a extremely forceful smack with a hammer.

Its interesting that you mention the food thing. I'm usually hauling ass from Frisco to Mesquite with quick mcdonalds double cheese burger meal before I goto this class for four hours.

[turbostang]

LOL!

FWIW, fusing parts together looks awesome, but beware on heat cycled parts (like exhaust) the welds tend to crack pretty easily. Undercut welds are often produced by fusing and 99% of the time, the crack is right through the middle of the joint.

If you're ever on my side of town, you're welcome to stop by for a quick pointer or two.

It took me forever to figure out why one part of the day I could weld like a mofo, and towards lunch time, It looked like Ray Charles did the welding. You get the "shakes" if you drink a lot of sodas or go long periods of time without eating.

[Blue88Coupe]

LOL!

FWIW, fusing parts together looks awesome, but beware on heat cycled parts (like exhaust) the welds tend to crack pretty easily. Undercut welds are often produced by fusing and 99% of the time, the crack is right through the middle of the joint.

If you're ever on my side of town, you're welcome to stop by for a quick pointer or two.

It took me forever to figure out why one part of the day I could weld like a mofo, and towards lunch time, It looked like Ray Charles did the welding. You get the "shakes" if you drink a lot of sodas or go long periods of time without eating.

I'll definitely hit you up when I head out that way.

I did my first piece of aluminum the same night as the SS and it looked like pretty nasty. I can do mild steel pretty well with TIG but i've been practicing it for a few weeks. Another guy and I started TIG at the same time except he went straight to aluminum while I stayed with MS. We're supposed to build a intake for his car tonight out of aluminum. I'll post up some pictures of that if it goes well.

[turbostang]

man, it's hard to say what works best for everyone - I tend to believe that it's better to learn on mild steel, particularly 1018. It welds VERY easy and makes it even easier to learn the "motions" on.

Stainless following with a close 2nd.

Aluminum, well...........that's a major PITA. Clean, clean, clean... then clean one more time. That goes for your tungsten, your rods, and your part.

[Snatch Napkin]

man, it's hard to say what works best for everyone - I tend to believe that it's better to learn on mild steel, particularly 1018. It welds VERY easy and makes it even easier to learn the "motions" on.

Stainless following with a close 2nd.

Aluminum, well...........that's a major PITA. Clean, clean, clean... then clean one more time. That goes for your tungsten, your rods, and your part.

DON'T USE A CARBON STEEL WIRE BRUSH ON ALUMINUM!!

When I was teaching myself to weld aluminum I found this one out. I never could figure out why my welds were so inconsistent. Then I asked a much more experienced aluminum welder for help. He chuckled about half way through my explaining process.

[Blue88Coupe]

DON'T USE A CARBON STEEL WIRE BRUSH ON ALUMINUM!!

When I was teaching myself to weld aluminum I found this one out. I never could figure out why my welds were so inconsistent. Then I asked a much more experienced aluminum welder for help. He chuckled about half way through my explaining process.

Consistency is a bitch. Here are some welds from tonight. I wont get to do anymore till January 18th I think. No more TIG anyhow. I do plan to start building my turbo hotside soon and tacking it with my MIG.

[Blue88Coupe]

I dont understand how things like this happen:

Is he cleaning them up after he welds them? How does he get the frosty looking area around the weld so small. What kind of drugs does he take to make him sedate enough to sit there and dip each one of those things out so cleanly? How does he start, stop, reposition? How is he getting inbetween the runners without making it look like a stop?

[turbostang]

They use 10,000$ welders to make parts like that, probably nothing available like that in the school. They have uber-adjustments and someone who's knowledgable in using/setting them - hi frequency, blah blah... Followed by someone who's extremely skilled..

I've sat and watched Wolfe weld something very similar and he's as calm and methodical as they get. Beautiful work, and amazing to watch.

[Blue88Coupe]

They use 10,000$ welders to make parts like that, probably nothing available like that in the school. They have uber-adjustments and someone who's knowledgable in using/setting them - hi frequency, blah blah... Followed by someone who's extremely skilled..

I've sat and watched Wolfe weld something very similar and he's as calm and methodical as they get. Beautiful work, and amazing to watch.

Can you show me what a quality weld looks like on aluminum that would be acceptable from something like the 350/250DX that I have access to?

[turbostang]

You CAN make them look similar (with what you have), no doubt - you just don't get all of the "features" that those guys USE to their advantage. Now, Granted, not any person who can weld can walk up to one of them, set it, and produce similar work - it still takes lots of practice.

This is an expansion tank I did for TINKRD...(with the welder in the background, which has none of those features)