Brazing or welding kit for general home repairs

[F Murtz]

Satincraft 13 is the easiest general purpose for the home welder. Use the smallest gauge probably 2.5 mm

[newshound]

I'll give that one a try. I used to have VHS videos produced by TWI (The Welding Institute) and they were very good, they presumably have DVDs now. These days there is probably lots of stuff on YouTube (but I havn't needed to weld anything for a while, so havn't looked).

[AL_n]

F Murtz wrote in news:53870d20$0$61473$c3e8da3 $ [e-mail]:

Thanks to John Rumm and F Murtz for teh advice on rods etc. I deduced that thin rods were what was required, so I purchased some 1.6mm 6013 ones. That was before I read your suggestion of 2.5mm rods. Would you say the 1.6mm is too thin? The main problem I encountered was that the face shield supplied with the welder had glass that was so dark it was almost opaque! There was no way I could see where I was welding. So I wore some very dark sunglasses instead, and managed to complete the job. I can still see okay!

-Al

[AL_n]

John Rumm wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Thanks for the tip, John - I will remember that one! Yes, the rods were hard to start occasionally, but once going, I had no problem. I'd watched few youtube videos prior to making my first attempt, which helped a lot, and while my finshed job looked a bit rough, I managed it without making any holes. I just hope it holds up. On my first attempt, the tubing broke apart at the repair as soon as force was applied so I had to re-grind the and re-weld. So far, so good. If it breaks again, I will be looking to reinforce the work with bits of angle-iron, and a lot more weld?

-Al

[AL_n]

RJS wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Thanks, Richard. Very helpful. I will take a look at that book, and look into the superior earth-clamp thing.

-Al

[AL_n]

John Rumm wrote in news:OOmdnXOHi [e-mail]:

Excellent - thanks! Do those auto-darkening masks really darken quickly enough to save your eyes from damage? They must self-darken almost instantly, do they? The only self-darkening glass I've known in the past, (as a non-welder) were self-darkening sunglasses, which took ages to adjust!

~Al

[AL_n]

newshound wrote in news: [e-mail]:

The idea of silver soldering was a good one. I've done oxy-acetalene brazing before, which I imagine is a similar skill. But the cost of the gas bottles etc, steered me in the direction of an arc welder which I was able to buy for under 60.

Can anyone point me to a good online guide to rod-thinkness in relation to thickness of the steel being welded, and the optimal amperage to use? I couldn't find any definitive guide to this, so I gusstimated 1.6mm rods to weld my 16-guage tubing, using about 55 amps. Was this way off the mark? Can anyone clarify?

Thanks,

Al

[AL_n]

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

This is the exact arc welder I bought a couple of days ago:

It's the first arc welder I've ever used. So far so good. It seems to have a fault in that the amperage adjuster stops short of the minimum amperage mark. Its linear dial indicates amps from 30 up to 100, but actually, the pointer only goes down to about 50 amps on the guage. I took the first one back and exchanged it, but the second one has the same fault. It seems to work okay though.

~Al

[John Rumm]

Hence why auto darkening helmets help greatly. (failing that, very bright work lights - like the 500W halogen jobbies)

[John Rumm]

Yes

Yup - the delay is almost imperceptible.

These are in effect battery powered LCD shutters. So they are "closed" by an electronic sensor and trigger circuit in response to sensing an arc.

[AL_n]

John Rumm wrote in news:l [e-mail]:

What a cool invention!

Al

[charles]

That's effectively what the LCD was inveted for. MoD spec for a high speed camera shutter which wouldn't freeze at hight altitudes.

[dennis]

Used to protect military pilots from nuclear flash as they are bombing.

[meow2222]

What happens when the batteries go flat?

NT

[newshound]

The "cheap" ones simply rely on a "solar cell" activated by the arc flash. ISTR that some of the "pro" ones contain batteries and can be adjusted for darkness.

[John Williamson]

The fail safe setting should be that the LCD is set for opacity when there is no power, so the photo sensitive circuitry cuts off the power when the arc strikes. Given the current drawn by most LCDs, the battery life should be a fairly close approximation to the shelf life.

The KISS approach (To be honest, the only one I've seen in real life)is, indeed to use a photovoltaic cell powering the LCD directly. A limited amount of adjustment would be possible using an appropriate variable resistor in series with the LCD.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Mine doesn't have batteries. 'Solar' powered.

[John Rumm]

Like all LCDs their natural unpowered state is untwisted or "closed". So basically it won't lighten when there is no arc.

[John Rumm]

Mine (a cheap one) has a AA battery, and a pot to adjust the sensitivity. I don't think there is any control over how dark it gets though - its "welding glass" dark.