How do you find a good welder?

dannygraves · Post by **dannygraves** » December 21st, 2009, 7:32 pm

bummer about your brother...
I think the argon including a tank was like $80, then every refill was like $30. I use that 4340 wire, its like $15 for a roll that will last you forever.
I use my works account at airgas, so it might cost you a bit more.

I use that damn welder about every week or two. it paid itself off the first time I used it (shock tower on my moms mustang). It has probably paid itself off 100 times by now. I had a leaky water heater, so I cut the skin and insulation, found the hole and welded it to get about another month out of it. welded the shock mount on my old C10 p/u welded the neighbors chinese qwad frame, welded my whole gen-4, mocked up all of my frames, fixed big jays mangled cases, made a trasfer case bracket for the stealth, welded WBO2 bung in my friends rx-7, etc. etc.

dannygraves · Post by **dannygraves** » December 21st, 2009, 7:36 pm

BTW I use flux core on all the steel, so I don't have to get co2 tanks and although flux splatters a lot and makes ugly weld, its very forgiving as far as work area, prep and power/wire speed. you can weld a rusty nast pile of steel in heavy wind, leave the power all the way up and still get a strong weld with flux.

http://www.youtube.com/user/500bigbore · December 21st, 2009, 7:43 pm

bro tried a mig spool gun at the show, did a better job than the demo guy, dude said he hadnt seen that before, and it was bros first time on it

. it'd be pretty handy for whacking a trailer or something togeter

HrcRacing · Post by **HrcRacing** » December 21st, 2009, 7:51 pm

dannygraves wrote:bummer about your brother...
I think the argon including a tank was like $80, then every refill was like $30. I use that 4340 wire, its like $15 for a roll that will last you forever.
I use my works account at airgas, so it might cost you a bit more.

I use that damn welder about every week or two. it paid itself off the first time I used it (shock tower on my moms mustang). It has probably paid itself off 100 times by now. I had a leaky water heater, so I cut the skin and insulation, found the hole and welded it to get about another month out of it. welded the shock mount on my old C10 p/u welded the neighbors chinese qwad frame, welded my whole gen-4, mocked up all of my frames, fixed big jays mangled cases, made a trasfer case bracket for the stealth, welded WBO2 bung in my friends rx-7, etc. etc.

Yeah, he killed himself back in 1975. My mother died a year later and I found out that he had murdered my father a month before I was born. Kinda' changed the way I viewed my brother's (half brother actually) death, as you can imagine.

Regardless, how the hell did you figure out how to weld with it. I love the idea of getting the set up, the price is definitely right, but I'll be clueless with it. Did you learn off the internet or ?????

Thanks for all the help bro!

Post by **AlisoBob** » December 21st, 2009, 8:13 pm

HrcRacing wrote: Sadly, one is dead and the other lives in Ohio.

Doesnt that make both of them dead?

Exnav · Post by **Exnav** » December 21st, 2009, 8:49 pm

This place is slipping. Almost 2 pages and no one has made an Rhacks joke.

HrcRacing · Post by **HrcRacing** » December 21st, 2009, 9:30 pm

AlisoBob wrote:
HrcRacing wrote: Sadly, one is dead and the other lives in Ohio.

Doesnt that make both of them dead?

Uh, no. I love Ohio, Cincinnati specificially but I met a sweet, at the time, girl and have been here since (she won't leave Florida, I hate it). She's vowed to divorce me after our 25th year (4 to go) so maybe there's hope for a return home afterall.........

dannygraves · Post by **dannygraves** » December 21st, 2009, 10:17 pm

damn dude, thats one hell of a story...

I was just talking about cincinatti earlier today, my great grandfather got into some trouble there.

The trick is to just get some scrap of various ticknesses and play with it. on aluminum you need to move pretty quick, it goes from nice welding to burning a hole through in a very short time. That welder is very simple because it just has 4 power settings and a wire speed knob. people say you need a spool gun for aluminum, but all you really need to do is keep the tube pretty strait. if all you are doing it tacking, you can prettu much crank the power way up and give it about half a second. for AF frame tacking that isn't enough time to burn through, but plenty of time to lay down a solid tack.
I practised on an old swingarm I had laying around and various old pistons and broken case peices, etc. came out the look like a real modern art peice, I should have kept it.

HrcRacing · Post by **HrcRacing** » December 22nd, 2009, 1:02 am

dannygraves wrote:damn dude, thats one hell of a story...

I was just talking about cincinatti earlier today, my great grandfather got into some trouble there.

The trick is to just get some scrap of various ticknesses and play with it. on aluminum you need to move pretty quick, it goes from nice welding to burning a hole through in a very short time. That welder is very simple because it just has 4 power settings and a wire speed knob. people say you need a spool gun for aluminum, but all you really need to do is keep the tube pretty strait. if all you are doing it tacking, you can prettu much crank the power way up and give it about half a second. for AF frame tacking that isn't enough time to burn through, but plenty of time to lay down a solid tack.
I practised on an old swingarm I had laying around and various old pistons and broken case peices, etc. came out the look like a real modern art peice, I should have kept it.

Oh, it gets worse. I was raised in the house where my father was murdered and my mom allowed his killer to assume the role of "father figure" in the home. That bastard would pull down our pants and beat us with a belt whenever he felt like it. He was a drunk and one time held us hostage pointing a 44 at us until my mom got home. We're thinking, man this fucker is going to get it when she gets home but she did nothing. My aunt/uncle were rich and that's how the fucker got away with killing my dad. When he killed himself, he did so in the same hallway where he shot my dad. Fuck him! Good riddance to a piece of shit!

So, if you think your dad was a dick and you had a rough upbringing, just remember it could always have been worse (I'm sure for many it was). If your parents were great and are still around, make sure that you tell them how much you appreciate them.

Ok, how the fuck did I get on that shit? Anyway, thanks for all the help Danny and if I come up with a practice piece for the museum of modern art, I'll post it here first.

Post by **AlisoBob** » December 22nd, 2009, 1:47 am

Exnav wrote:This place is slipping. Almost 2 pages and no one has made an Rhacks joke.

Its like your reading my mind!!!!

HrcRacing · Post by **HrcRacing** » December 22nd, 2009, 6:44 am

I've been more shocked that Bob hasn't posted that Service Honda Gen 4 pic that he likes to pull out of his archives. Common' Bob, one more time for old times sake.

Post by **AlisoBob** » December 22nd, 2009, 6:47 am

S/H made good by replacing that frame with one that looks great..... and my buddy couldnt be more happy.

That frame dosent exist anymore, so neither does my crusade.

87CR500Rider · Post by **87CR500Rider** » December 22nd, 2009, 7:02 am

[quote=""SOLID Bro!!""]If you buy this machine be careful what you expect it to do.

The duty cycle is so small that it will weld about 3" of 1/8" aluminum and the thermal breaker will shut the machine down.

Welding frames require a bunch of energy, to create the heat and high frequency to stick those two pieces together. It may do it but it could get frustrating.

My suggestion buy a used syncrowave 250 by miller or Lincoln equivalent.

It will have everything you want and cheaper in the long run.[/quote]

Which machine are you referring to?

bearorso · Post by **bearorso** » December 22nd, 2009, 8:19 am

I've used a Miller Syncrowave 250, with a Miller PC300 Pulse unit and foot control since 1990. It's been a great little machine, never missing a beat, save for when a loose wire got severed by the internal fan. As I've protected it well since I purchased it , it looks new still. It's done hundreds of bicycle & motorcycle frames, plus probably 1000s of other jobs / projects in that time. I think I've had to adjust the Hi Frequency spark gaps only twice in almost 20 years . It has earned its keep Many times over. Previous to this, I'd used Esabs & Lincolns for the most part.

Every now & then I think of replacing it, but other than having the occasional need for something with more oomph ( a 350 would be perfect now) to do the cylinder heads that come to me after I repaired my baby brothers ( he's a young 'un, only 47, and once I did his heads, his drag racing cronies have 'found' me - I'm not a 4 wheel bloke, let alone remotely interested in drag racing - but they don't seem scared to throw money around

) Keith Black heads - a blower decided to make like an Apollo space flight

. It's a fantastic old machine. I'd say they would probably be easy to find & cheap used in the US.

HrcRacing · Post by **HrcRacing** » December 22nd, 2009, 8:54 am

AlisoBob wrote:S/H made good by replacing that frame with one that looks great..... and my buddy couldnt be more happy.

That frame dosent exist anymore, so neither does my crusade.

Wow, I never thought I'd see the day....

dannygraves · Post by **dannygraves** » December 22nd, 2009, 9:35 am

I did, Bob's crusade are unbiased

AJ is pretty cool and has made an effort to make good on unsatisfied customers. RJacks is still a dipshit, but I don't think he has ripped off many hoons lately, so he hasn't really been much of a topic.

BTW dude, thats one fucked up story... shit, man, I'd wish he was still alive so I could kick his ass

HrcRacing · Post by **HrcRacing** » December 22nd, 2009, 10:19 am

dannygraves wrote:I did, Bob's crusade are unbiased
AJ is pretty cool and has made an effort to make good on unsatisfied customers. RJacks is still a dipshit, but I don't think he has ripped off many hoons lately, so he hasn't really been much of a topic.

BTW dude, thats one fucked up story... shit, man, I'd wish he was still alive so I could kick his ass

Yeah, Bob's heart was in the right place so it's all good. I also agree that AJ is a good guy. He helped me out a bunch on my last 500AF.

After all these years, the "story" is just that, a story. There's no emotions anymore and it's like it was someone else's life.

Anyway, I get my frame tomorrow. I bought a bolt kit that has the front/rear axles, swingarm bolt, etc, etc from them too. A guy on TT has offered to give me a swingarm, airbox and tank (stuck bolt in the tank though) so I'm definitely thinking this will be a "one piece at a time" Johnny Cash build.

Post by **AlisoBob** » December 22nd, 2009, 10:38 am

HrcRacing wrote: I also agree that AJ is a good guy.

X2

pstoffers · Post by **pstoffers** » December 22nd, 2009, 11:02 am

AlisoBob wrote:S/H made good by replacing that frame with one that looks great..... and my buddy couldnt be more happy.

That frame dosent exist anymore, so neither does my crusade.

There are still more just like that one out there..... Don't kid your self!!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/500bigbore · December 22nd, 2009, 11:18 am

look whats on the floor

dannygraves · Post by **dannygraves** » December 22nd, 2009, 1:16 pm

oh, shit!!! I just jizzed in my pants!

http://www.youtube.com/user/500bigbore · December 22nd, 2009, 1:36 pm

just bustin 'er out

dannygraves · Post by **dannygraves** » December 22nd, 2009, 2:01 pm

I'm jealous

http://www.youtube.com/user/500bigbore · December 22nd, 2009, 2:10 pm

We needed something to get into cylinder heads better than we'd been using, seen this and bust a nut. Good chance Bro is going to be on it 500x more than I, but whatever.

Post by **AlisoBob** » December 22nd, 2009, 2:19 pm

BannedCR500Riders.com

How do you find a good welder?