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Harry (finally) lights the torch! ...and etches some zinc off too!



 
 
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  #1  
Old February 17th 09, 07:33 PM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
wright1902glider
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 132
Default Harry (finally) lights the torch! ...and etches some zinc off too!

Behold fellow aviators, for I have finally lighted that damned welding
torch that I got for Christmas...last year. Yep, bought a "b" tank and
an empty 40cu/ft oxy. tank off Ebay from Indiana Oxygen Co. Shipped
out next day and items were exactly as described. And free shipping!
Swapped it out at AirGas here in Boulder and paid way too much for the
refills, but... Also got my requisite RG45 rod and shade 5 goggles.
So far so good.

Went home, followed directions, purged, set up, connected, checked,
tested, etc. Turned on gas and sparked. Nuttin. Lady-friend is
standing there with camera in hand freezing, giving me the "Princess
Leia is ****ed at Han Solo" look. Sparked again. Nuttin. Not good,
especially since its Valentine's day and she's waiting to be taken to
dinner. So the torch waits while we have dinner at Olive Garden and
take in a movie (Coraline in case you were wondering, yes it was worth
$19.50).

OK, so I was lighting a torch. Sunday comes and I start checking. Gas
at the tank valves, check. Pressure on both reg. guages for each reg.,
check. Gas at the end of the hoses, check. Gas through the torch body,
check. Gas at the tip??? nope. So I take a close look and remember
VeeDubber's mantra about everything made by H-F. Take it apart. Clean
it out. Adjust it. Put it back together the way it was supposed to
have been. Seems some (insert slur of your choice here) varnished over
the end of the tip and clogged the lil' hole. OH, so THAT'S what that
nail-file and set of feeler-guages in the case are for. They ain't
feeler guages at all. They're tip cleaners. So I file the end of the
tip square, just enuf to get the varnish off. Then a dip in acetone,
followed by poking a hole in the "hole" and repeating with
progressively larger cleaners until all of the varnish has been
removed.

Reattached the tip to the torch body, cracked the valves and
Hiiisssssssss. Sounds good. With torch in one hand and striker in
other, I open the acet. valve, squeeze the sparker and POOF!

Yes my friends, I've made fire! Quickly opened the O2 valve and
adjusted the flame. WOOHOO! Looks just like the book! Called
LadyFriend to come with camera. Shut off torch. She comes out with the
"now???" look. Then its "Hey honey, watch this... hiss, poof, roar,
squeeeee, AAAHHHHHH! (angels singing in background). She takes a few
photos for posterity.

Now, for the really fun part. 50/50 mix of water and muriatic acid.
Add nasty old chunks of galv. fence railing. Bubble, bubble, hiss,
hiss! My future welding coupons go through the whole mad scientist
routine. And I dunno what those fumes were coming off the metal, but
gawd man, don't breathe them! 3 minutes later, one end of each of
piece is etched and zinc-free! Cool!

I'm sure its been done millions of times before, but to me it felt
like a rite of passage. I've wanted a welding torch since I was about
6. Now I've got one. Lookout!

Harry Frey

PS: Thanks VeeDub, Mike H., FighFlyer, and everyone else over the past
8 years.
  #2  
Old February 17th 09, 09:19 PM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
[email protected]
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Posts: 472
Default Harry (finally) lights the torch! ...and etches some zinc offtoo!

On Feb 17, 10:33*am, wright1902glider
wrote:

PS: Thanks VeeDub, Mike H., FighFlyer, and everyone else over the past
8 years.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And Thank You, Harry... for sticking with it.

Now the fun begins. No smiley; this is some serious ****.

Got some fire bricks? Eight or a dozen. BAKE them first... low heat
(mebbe 170) four or five hours. Leave them in the oven over night.
They're you're foundation. If you'd bought a MIG'ger we'd be looking
at a slab of steel plate. But with O/A, firebricks will do ya.

There's a strange kind of magic in that golden puddle. It's like one
eye of the Dragon. Learn how to create it, then how to control it,
then weld some of your coupons together, flat edge-to-edge first,
then over-lapped, then standing ON edge, forcing you to dig your
puddle our of the CORNER between the two coupons. After that, you're
ready for tube.

Don't buy real tube. Start with EMT; even junked stuff, if you can
find it. Or pick up a couple of sticks at the Borg.

Same story with the acid. Cut your coupons first. Make a 'quickie'
holding block. gouge-out a vee, slather in some BONDO, press the OILED
tubing into the Bondo. Align it by eye, keeping your errors on the
'deep' side of perfection (why? Because you can always sand off a
little bit). Once you can HOLD a tubing coupon, you can create a fish-
mouth.

If you don't have a set of round files, use your angle-head grinder.
For practice your joins don't have to be perfect metal-to-metal fish-
mouths (save that for 4130 and real airplanes).

We use mild steel rod with O/A because the TYPICAL FILLET is 3x as
thick as the wall of the tubing, which means the joint is going to be
plenty strong enough. Using EMT for practice, with a sloppy fish-
mouth, your fillets are liable to be as much as 6x or even 8x the
tubing wall (it's about .047" for EMT)

EMT is no longer marked as such because starting with the year 2000
ALL tubing formbed by the ERW processing had to meet the SAME
standards, so once you've removed the galvanizing (and the epoxy
coating) you've got basic mild steel tube created from flat-stock
using the Electric Resistance Welding process, which is now done well
enough to allow the tubing to serve virtually all the functions of
mild steel tubing.

You start with an 'L' joint. Like, a perpendicular at the end of a
horizontal piece. The trick here is the fact that ALL metal SHRINKS
as it cools, which means if you want to end up with a perfect 90 'L'
you gotta start out with something 'WAY outta shape. Then watch it
slowly 'clock' over as the weld on the inner corner cools. a

After 'L' comes 'T'. After 'T' comes diagonals.

They are all a lot of fun. Each has it's own peculiarities. You'll
smile when you see what they try to do.

---------------------------------------------

Metal mass vs the Golden Eye. The more metal, the more heat, the more
difficult it is to create and BALANCE the puddle.

---------------------------------------------

Everything you learn will be needed to keep a structure to spec.
Start with some basic squares, about a foot on a side. Four 'L'
corners. Too produce four 90 degree corners. (Trick: Do to 'L'
shaped sides FIRST. Then heat & hammer until you've got a true 90.
Then put your two L-pieces togeter to form the Square. Use your fire
bricks. Tricky bit here is to TACK-weld the square; to make sure your
new corners are MORE than 90. (Remember, they're going to CLOSE as
they COOL.)

Square & rhomboids lead to diagonals. But start with several 12
squares to begin with. Then try to make a 12" cube by welding two of
your squares together. Then add diagonals. Then hire an elephant to
test it :-) (Seriously. Even EMT is strong enough for some serious
structures.)

Compared to squares, triangles are easy -- and smarter. But that's
where you have to know your onions when it comes to fish-mouths.

Basic triangular structure is a TOWER, which for practice is based on
a 12" 'cell' size.

When you find yourself thinking of airplanes, let us know. What you
want is a 'Headwind' as a school project. Lots of welding (and it
flys just fine with one of the larger VW engines).

-----------------------------------------------------------

I'm envious. You're the guy having all the fun!

-R.S.Hoover

  #3  
Old February 17th 09, 09:22 PM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
Dan[_12_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 451
Default Harry (finally) lights the torch! ...and etches some zinc offtoo!

wright1902glider wrote:
Behold fellow aviators, for I have finally lighted that damned welding
torch that I got for Christmas...last year. Yep, bought a "b" tank and
an empty 40cu/ft oxy. tank off Ebay from Indiana Oxygen Co. Shipped
out next day and items were exactly as described. And free shipping!
Swapped it out at AirGas here in Boulder and paid way too much for the
refills, but... Also got my requisite RG45 rod and shade 5 goggles.
So far so good.

Went home, followed directions, purged, set up, connected, checked,
tested, etc. Turned on gas and sparked. Nuttin. Lady-friend is
standing there with camera in hand freezing, giving me the "Princess
Leia is ****ed at Han Solo" look. Sparked again. Nuttin. Not good,
especially since its Valentine's day and she's waiting to be taken to
dinner. So the torch waits while we have dinner at Olive Garden and
take in a movie (Coraline in case you were wondering, yes it was worth
$19.50).

OK, so I was lighting a torch. Sunday comes and I start checking. Gas
at the tank valves, check. Pressure on both reg. guages for each reg.,
check. Gas at the end of the hoses, check. Gas through the torch body,
check. Gas at the tip??? nope. So I take a close look and remember
VeeDubber's mantra about everything made by H-F. Take it apart. Clean
it out. Adjust it. Put it back together the way it was supposed to
have been. Seems some (insert slur of your choice here) varnished over
the end of the tip and clogged the lil' hole. OH, so THAT'S what that
nail-file and set of feeler-guages in the case are for. They ain't
feeler guages at all. They're tip cleaners. So I file the end of the
tip square, just enuf to get the varnish off. Then a dip in acetone,
followed by poking a hole in the "hole" and repeating with
progressively larger cleaners until all of the varnish has been
removed.

Reattached the tip to the torch body, cracked the valves and
Hiiisssssssss. Sounds good. With torch in one hand and striker in
other, I open the acet. valve, squeeze the sparker and POOF!

Yes my friends, I've made fire! Quickly opened the O2 valve and
adjusted the flame. WOOHOO! Looks just like the book! Called
LadyFriend to come with camera. Shut off torch. She comes out with the
"now???" look. Then its "Hey honey, watch this... hiss, poof, roar,
squeeeee, AAAHHHHHH! (angels singing in background). She takes a few
photos for posterity.

Now, for the really fun part. 50/50 mix of water and muriatic acid.
Add nasty old chunks of galv. fence railing. Bubble, bubble, hiss,
hiss! My future welding coupons go through the whole mad scientist
routine. And I dunno what those fumes were coming off the metal, but
gawd man, don't breathe them! 3 minutes later, one end of each of
piece is etched and zinc-free! Cool!

I'm sure its been done millions of times before, but to me it felt
like a rite of passage. I've wanted a welding torch since I was about
6. Now I've got one. Lookout!

Harry Frey

PS: Thanks VeeDub, Mike H., FighFlyer, and everyone else over the past
8 years.



Now come a few more rites of passage, in no particular order:

1: igniting a rag that wasn't there when you lit the torch
2: removing your glove and touching your work before it cools
3: cutting a hunk of metal and having it land on your foot
4: finding out why long sleeves are highly recommended as is a
closed collar
5: discovering how easy it is to burn a hole in that piece that took
hours to prepare
6: having once cylinder go empty just before you complete the work
7: etc

I'm sure others will have others, but you get the idea. Welcome to
the world of bigger and more expensive toys. How long before you
graduate to MIG?

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired
  #4  
Old February 17th 09, 09:31 PM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
jan olieslagers[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 232
Default Harry (finally) lights the torch! ...and etches some zinc offtoo!

Dan schreef:
Now come a few more rites of passage, in no particular order:

1: igniting a rag that wasn't there when you lit the torch
2: removing your glove and touching your work before it cools
3: cutting a hunk of metal and having it land on your foot
4: finding out why long sleeves are highly recommended as is a
closed collar
5: discovering how easy it is to burn a hole in that piece that took
hours to prepare
6: having once cylinder go empty just before you complete the work
7: etc


Help help help! Even disregarding the elusive vocabulary of a certain
guru, it is most obvious welding will NEVER be my cup of tea. All of the
above pitfalls were clear to me with only a hacksaw, a screwdriver and a
broom in my "workshop"; actually I am beginning to wonder what keeps me
lurking around here. Sigh.
  #5  
Old February 17th 09, 09:55 PM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 472
Default Harry (finally) lights the torch! ...and etches some zinc offtoo!

On Feb 17, 12:31*pm, jan olieslagers
wrote:
it is most obvious welding will NEVER be my cup of tea.

------------------------------------------------------------

The only things we ever TRULY own are the things we KNOW.

It is easier to learn to weld than to type. Knowing how to type
allows us to connect to the world. Knowing how to weld allows us to
build our OWN world.

Handy skill to have, any way you look at it.

-R.S.Hoover

  #7  
Old February 18th 09, 12:38 AM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
cavelamb[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 257
Default Harry (finally) lights the torch! ...and etches some zinc offtoo!

wright1902glider wrote:
Behold fellow aviators, for I have finally lighted that damned welding
torch that I got for Christmas...last year. Yep, bought a "b" tank and
an empty 40cu/ft oxy. tank off Ebay from Indiana Oxygen Co. Shipped
out next day and items were exactly as described. And free shipping!
Swapped it out at AirGas here in Boulder and paid way too much for the
refills, but... Also got my requisite RG45 rod and shade 5 goggles.
So far so good.

Went home, followed directions, purged, set up, connected, checked,
tested, etc. Turned on gas and sparked. Nuttin. Lady-friend is
standing there with camera in hand freezing, giving me the "Princess
Leia is ****ed at Han Solo" look. Sparked again. Nuttin. Not good,
especially since its Valentine's day and she's waiting to be taken to
dinner. So the torch waits while we have dinner at Olive Garden and
take in a movie (Coraline in case you were wondering, yes it was worth
$19.50).

OK, so I was lighting a torch. Sunday comes and I start checking. Gas
at the tank valves, check. Pressure on both reg. guages for each reg.,
check. Gas at the end of the hoses, check. Gas through the torch body,
check. Gas at the tip??? nope. So I take a close look and remember
VeeDubber's mantra about everything made by H-F. Take it apart. Clean
it out. Adjust it. Put it back together the way it was supposed to
have been. Seems some (insert slur of your choice here) varnished over
the end of the tip and clogged the lil' hole. OH, so THAT'S what that
nail-file and set of feeler-guages in the case are for. They ain't
feeler guages at all. They're tip cleaners. So I file the end of the
tip square, just enuf to get the varnish off. Then a dip in acetone,
followed by poking a hole in the "hole" and repeating with
progressively larger cleaners until all of the varnish has been
removed.

Reattached the tip to the torch body, cracked the valves and
Hiiisssssssss. Sounds good. With torch in one hand and striker in
other, I open the acet. valve, squeeze the sparker and POOF!

Yes my friends, I've made fire! Quickly opened the O2 valve and
adjusted the flame. WOOHOO! Looks just like the book! Called
LadyFriend to come with camera. Shut off torch. She comes out with the
"now???" look. Then its "Hey honey, watch this... hiss, poof, roar,
squeeeee, AAAHHHHHH! (angels singing in background). She takes a few
photos for posterity.

Now, for the really fun part. 50/50 mix of water and muriatic acid.
Add nasty old chunks of galv. fence railing. Bubble, bubble, hiss,
hiss! My future welding coupons go through the whole mad scientist
routine. And I dunno what those fumes were coming off the metal, but
gawd man, don't breathe them! 3 minutes later, one end of each of
piece is etched and zinc-free! Cool!

I'm sure its been done millions of times before, but to me it felt
like a rite of passage. I've wanted a welding torch since I was about
6. Now I've got one. Lookout!

Harry Frey

PS: Thanks VeeDub, Mike H., FighFlyer, and everyone else over the past
8 years.



Well, Harry, like Mrs. Hickam told Homer...

"don't blow yourself up!"

  #8  
Old February 18th 09, 02:14 AM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
Dan[_12_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 451
Default Harry (finally) lights the torch! ...and etches some zinc offtoo!

cavelamb wrote:
wright1902glider wrote:
Behold fellow aviators, for I have finally lighted that damned welding
torch that I got for Christmas...last year. Yep, bought a "b" tank and
an empty 40cu/ft oxy. tank off Ebay from Indiana Oxygen Co. Shipped
out next day and items were exactly as described. And free shipping!
Swapped it out at AirGas here in Boulder and paid way too much for the
refills, but... Also got my requisite RG45 rod and shade 5 goggles.
So far so good.

Went home, followed directions, purged, set up, connected, checked,
tested, etc. Turned on gas and sparked. Nuttin. Lady-friend is
standing there with camera in hand freezing, giving me the "Princess
Leia is ****ed at Han Solo" look. Sparked again. Nuttin. Not good,
especially since its Valentine's day and she's waiting to be taken to
dinner. So the torch waits while we have dinner at Olive Garden and
take in a movie (Coraline in case you were wondering, yes it was worth
$19.50).

OK, so I was lighting a torch. Sunday comes and I start checking. Gas
at the tank valves, check. Pressure on both reg. guages for each reg.,
check. Gas at the end of the hoses, check. Gas through the torch body,
check. Gas at the tip??? nope. So I take a close look and remember
VeeDubber's mantra about everything made by H-F. Take it apart. Clean
it out. Adjust it. Put it back together the way it was supposed to
have been. Seems some (insert slur of your choice here) varnished over
the end of the tip and clogged the lil' hole. OH, so THAT'S what that
nail-file and set of feeler-guages in the case are for. They ain't
feeler guages at all. They're tip cleaners. So I file the end of the
tip square, just enuf to get the varnish off. Then a dip in acetone,
followed by poking a hole in the "hole" and repeating with
progressively larger cleaners until all of the varnish has been
removed.

Reattached the tip to the torch body, cracked the valves and
Hiiisssssssss. Sounds good. With torch in one hand and striker in
other, I open the acet. valve, squeeze the sparker and POOF!

Yes my friends, I've made fire! Quickly opened the O2 valve and
adjusted the flame. WOOHOO! Looks just like the book! Called
LadyFriend to come with camera. Shut off torch. She comes out with the
"now???" look. Then its "Hey honey, watch this... hiss, poof, roar,
squeeeee, AAAHHHHHH! (angels singing in background). She takes a few
photos for posterity.

Now, for the really fun part. 50/50 mix of water and muriatic acid.
Add nasty old chunks of galv. fence railing. Bubble, bubble, hiss,
hiss! My future welding coupons go through the whole mad scientist
routine. And I dunno what those fumes were coming off the metal, but
gawd man, don't breathe them! 3 minutes later, one end of each of
piece is etched and zinc-free! Cool!

I'm sure its been done millions of times before, but to me it felt
like a rite of passage. I've wanted a welding torch since I was about
6. Now I've got one. Lookout!

Harry Frey

PS: Thanks VeeDub, Mike H., FighFlyer, and everyone else over the past
8 years.



Well, Harry, like Mrs. Hickam told Homer...

"don't blow yourself up!"


Or, as most mothers would say "If you kill yourself don't come crying
to me."

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired
  #9  
Old February 18th 09, 02:56 AM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
Morgans[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,924
Default Harry (finally) lights the torch! ...and etches some zinc off too!


"wright1902glider" wrote

Add nasty old chunks of galv. fence railing. Bubble, bubble, hiss,
hiss! My future welding coupons go through the whole mad scientist
routine. And I dunno what those fumes were coming off the metal, but
gawd man, don't breathe them! 3 minutes later, one end of each of
piece is etched and zinc-free! Cool!


Welcome to the world of constructive fire! My favorite mantra is "control
your molten puddle." Learn how to keep it at the right temperature, and to
move it around at your command, and you will be well on your way.

One thing about this zinc thing that you may not know. It is really bad,
bad stuff to breath, and it does not take much to mess you up.

If you want to have a bad case of the "I wanna puke, and die's" or reverse
of that order, work with zinc heated to high temps, without the wind (or a
fan) at your back, for 5 minutes. Then you get the headache that make most
hang-overs look like no problem at all. Oh, and it will last until you
sleep it off, in most cases.

So if you did not know about that, take heed. Zinc is for metal that does
not rust, not for turning into smoke and sucking into your lungs.
--
Jim in NC


  #10  
Old February 18th 09, 02:59 AM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
Morgans[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,924
Default Harry (finally) lights the torch! ...and etches some zinc off too!


"jan olieslagers" wrote

Help help help! Even disregarding the elusive vocabulary of a certain
guru, it is most obvious welding will NEVER be my cup of tea. All of the
above pitfalls were clear to me with only a hacksaw, a screwdriver and a
broom in my "workshop"; actually I am beginning to wonder what keeps me
lurking around here. Sigh.


Nonsense!

Trained monkeys can even learn to weld! Why should they have all of the
fun!

Putter around with it, do some reading, and ask questions, and if you can,
get someone who is good to come over and give you a lesson, and watch how he
does it. It really does help to see what it looks like, when it is all
going right.
--
Jim in NC


 




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