What changes can we make to our lives to deal with the economic and energy crises ahead? Have you already started making preparations? Got tips to share?
featherstick wrote:As is mine. My point was less about one's levels of self-reliance, and more about taking advantage of a learning opportunity while it's there, expanding one's network of acquaintances, and supporting a local college.
All good points, but I've found welding to be a motor skill that can only be improved through practice. An instructor can tell you how to bevel an edge and which rod and current to use, that will take 10 minutes, then you need several hours of actually running beads on metal.
I don't know how much a course costs, maybe it's very cheap, but if it costs significant money I'd spend the cash on decent gear and practice. See the book I linked to earlier, you can get it used for a few pounds and it's excellent. Mine was issued to a welder on his course and cost him a lot of money.
My local college charge £390 for a 10 week, (3 hrs per week on one evening) course leading the City and Guilds level 1. Looking at a number of colleges, course lengths seem to vary 10 to 20 weeks, prices from around £300 to £500. It's not always clear whether you can only do one technique of all four (MMA, MIG, TIG and Oxy) during the 10-20 week course. I think if you're quick, you can do the practical exercises and get signed off on all four.
I think I'd prefer to do a 1-2 day intensive course, but they don't really seem to exist...
clv101 wrote:My local college charge £390 for a 10 week, (3 hrs per week on one evening) course leading the City and Guilds level 1. Looking at a number of colleges, course lengths seem to vary 10 to 20 weeks, prices from around £300 to £500. It's not always clear whether you can only do one technique of all four (MMA, MIG, TIG and Oxy) during the 10-20 week course. I think if you're quick, you can do the practical exercises and get signed off on all four.
I think I'd prefer to do a 1-2 day intensive course, but they don't really seem to exist...
I bet if you approached a welder and asked him to give you a couple of days of his time to tutor you, he might well do it for a couple of hundred quid. Especially if he was unemployed and I wouldn't be surprised if there are quite a few unemployed welders about at the moment. You won't get a certificate at the end, but you'll probably learn as much if not more than you would on a course where there are several people sharing one tutor.
Last edited by Little John on 14 Sep 2012, 13:31, edited 2 times in total.
I’ve just invested in a twin carbon arc torch from the following supplier. One of only two in the UK as far as I can tell. These were the cheapest. I could have made one myself, I guess. But, at 48 quid I couldn't really be arsed. I have also bought some carbon brazing rods from them as well. I will let you folks know how it operates when I get it and have tried it out on some brazing and heating.
stevecook172001 wrote:I’ve just invested in a twin carbon arc torch from the following supplier. One of only two in the UK as far as I can tell. These were the cheapest. I could have made one myself, I guess. But, at 48 quid I couldn't really be arsed. I have also bought some carbon brazing rods from them as well. I will let you folks know how it operates when I get it and have tried it out on some brazing and heating.
I tried one years ago, made by SIP. It was a cheap one, the rods brought together by a slide under the thumb. I didn't have much luck with it, the "flame" was wide and short and I couldn't see what I was doing. It did make a lot of heat though.
stevecook172001 wrote:I’ve just invested in a twin carbon arc torch from the following supplier. One of only two in the UK as far as I can tell. These were the cheapest. I could have made one myself, I guess. But, at 48 quid I couldn't really be arsed. I have also bought some carbon brazing rods from them as well. I will let you folks know how it operates when I get it and have tried it out on some brazing and heating.
I tried one years ago, made by SIP. It was a cheap one, the rods brought together by a slide under the thumb. I didn't have much luck with it, the "flame" was wide and short and I couldn't see what I was doing. It did make a lot of heat though.
The one I'm getting sounds like a very similar design. I'm also going to get hold of a solar helmet as this should allow me to get the carbons right up to the job before ignition. Also, I have heard pretty much 50/50 on the usefulness of these as brazing torches. Some swear by them and some can't stand them. The one's who swear by them are usually old timers who started out with an arc buzz box and had one of these torches thrown in with the purchase. As such, they learned to braze on them and so never knew any different. The ones who can't stand them are usually mig or tig users or oxy-fuel users and so have never had to use a twin carbon arc and, understandably, see them as being very crude compared to what they currently use. Which is fair enough.
I'm going to persevere for a bit with it as a brazing torch, though, to give it a fair wind. If, in the end, it is no good for that, then it will certainly have use as a simply heating torch for forging steel. Apparently, it's a brilliant tool for loosening rusty nuts without having to destroy the nut. what you do is bring the electrodes together until they each touch either side of the nut. At that point they will send the charge directly though the nut and will turn it cherry red in a second or two. It gets hottest near the electrodes and so the nut expands more than the bolt. At which point it should be possible to undo it.
Speaking of which, my work vehicle is due for MOT shortly, and needs a new piece on the exhaust. I bet those U-clamp nuts are rusted up! They always are.
Perhaps I'm cosseted with my immediate access to a compressor and MiG rig but I'd rather crawl under a car with an air gun than with a welding torch.
I've seen many apprentices reach for the oxy to loosen a poxy clamp when it's going to be replaced anyway. Give a man a hammer and all that.
It doesn't occur to some folk to just snap the damn thing. Even a breaker bar is good enough. The nut will grind away into the threads and shear the U bolt a couple mill below the clamp usually.
We didn't fit many exhausts where I've worked but I've done enough.
Use a torch if you want to - I won't hear the bang.
Rusty exhaust clamps are junk, we all know that, but we have different methods of removing them. Personally I would hammer an impact socket on and just break it off. A rusty nut on a stud at the manifold is a different matter, you don't want to snap or damage the stud, but moderate heat isn't going to loosen it - it gets hot every time you start the engine. A small angle grinder will take one side of the nut off to nearly the thread depth and a pair of mole grips or an impact socket ( plus short length of welding rod on the ground side ) will snap what's left.
Catweazle wrote:Rusty exhaust clamps are junk, we all know that, but we have different methods of removing them. Personally I would hammer an impact socket on and just break it off. A rusty nut on a stud at the manifold is a different matter, you don't want to snap or damage the stud, but moderate heat isn't going to loosen it - it gets hot every time you start the engine. A small angle grinder will take one side of the nut off to nearly the thread depth and a pair of mole grips or an impact socket ( plus short length of welding rod on the ground side ) will snap what's left.
Yeah, I know what you are saying about exhaust clamps, I was just being frivolous with that as an example to point out how these carbon arcs can put out so much heat. JSD is just an irritating little bugger because he is like that little squirt you always get hanging on the edge of things winging that they are going to go and tell teacher cos you're not doing it "right" or doing it by the "rules". The way I was brought up plus my own life experiences have stood me in good enough stead to this point and I certainly wouldn't take the piss if someone else had their own methods of doing a given job. Furthermore, I always have respect for those people who are prepared to strike out and find news way to do stuff, even if they run the risk of screwing up. You share what you do and what you know and then people can basically take it or leave it. Which is fair enough.
stevecook172001 wrote:Yeah, I know what you are saying about exhaust clamps,
Of course you do, I know that.
You, me, and JSD know how to repair stuff. That's important. I have a metal cutting lathe, shaper, pillar drill, bandsaw, plenty of welding kit, hand tools etc etc. We should all be buying this stuff before it's snapped up by exporters and sent to India.
Bugger me, my carbon arc torch has just arrived with the brazing carbons. But when I opened the box, I found they had packed two carbon arc torches instead of one. They've only charged me for one though.
A few seconds second of ethical dilemma later and I've rung them up. They're sending a courier back to pick up the second one.
Just used it for the first time to melt a lump of 4 mill angle steel. The bugger must get mighty hot cos it made the angle steel go red in just a few seconds.
The way to adjust it seems to be the following:
Firstly, you set the upper heat limit to the torch by the amperage. Then, you can adjust from a maximum to minimum heat within that amperage range by moving the carbons closer or further away form each other. Counter-intuitively, the further they are away, the hotter the arc is. The upper heat limit for a given amperage is when the carbons are so far apart that the arc breaks. If that wasn't hot enough, then you whack the amperage up and the upper heat limit is increased. It goes without saying that the higher the heat, the faster the carbons will burn. I'm guessing that a pair of carbons will last about thirty minutes of continuous use. A pair of carbons cost about a quid.
One niggle I have is that my inverter welder is DC output. This means that the negative carbon gets hotter and so burns down more quickly. This further means there will be a need to regularly adjust the negative carbon. I reckon if I use a thicker carbon on the negative side, this should mitigate significantly against needing to do that
That's pretty much it. It's easy to use for heating. I will need to see how hard it is to braze with it next.
Catweazle wrote:A rusty nut on a stud at the manifold is a different matter, you don't want to snap or damage the stud, but moderate heat isn't going to loosen it - it gets hot every time you start the engine. A small angle grinder will take one side of the nut off to nearly the thread depth and a pair of mole grips or an impact socket ( plus short length of welding rod on the ground side ) will snap what's left.
I hear you about the seized studs. Bimetallic corrosion can be a swine.
Mostly the trade simply tell you that if the studs snap then the head will have to come off. Easy money for them.
Besides ensuring that I use plenty of copper ease and fresh nuts every time, if I have to play with exhaust studs I PlusGas them for a few days before hand. Penetrating oil cut with paraffin and sloshed on with a brush does a similar job.
I'm reliably told that Q10 or Liquid Wrench are even more awesome.
