Hi! This is a suuuuper long shot, but my boyfriend and I are moving to NC. He is a very talented and creative welder, but his new job is the kind of job that wouldn’t let him do his own side projects (building furniture, sculptures, etc).
Our rental home also doesn’t have the necessary space to be able to do projects from home. Are there garages/spaces for rent available? Like if he brought his own welder?

Thank you so much in advance :)

Hey guys, I’m looking to buy a tig welder for the pole barn. My budget is about 800 to 1000. What machines do you recommend for the price range?

The newer ESAB Savage A41 hood, which replaces the now discontinued A40, has buttons instead of dials. The only thing that can be easily accessed while wearing the A41 is the grind/weld mode button, located on the left side. On the A40, the shade knob had a button built in. Because the knob protruded, it was easy to locate by feel even with gloves on. The A41 only has a button that barely sticks out, which makes me think it could be very difficult to locate while wearing gloves. Does anyone have experience with these hoods? Pros/cons?

30 years of welding and I've never seen welds that come off with a chisel

Following my earlier thread, I needed the hood for a job so I came up with a quick fix for the headgear ratchet mechanism that turned out very effective. I had to trim the spring shorter to get the tension right for my head size and create a new loop on the trimmed end using thin nose pliers.

My first attempt involved attaching the spring between the two small off-center holes on the left in the first image, the goal being to clear the central dial mounting pillar which prevented a centered spring from running in a straight line. However, that didn't work well and I decided to chop off the pillar and ditch the dial entirely, which enables the spring to be perfectly centered, as shown. I also trimmed the nape strap ends but in hindsight it would have been better not to because the full length slots into the plastic sidewalls of the nape pad and helps keep the straps properly aligned. However, once I'm wearing the hood the spring tension brings the straps back into alignment, and the plastic cover also helps keep things in place. I mention it in case anyone attempts this.

To be honest, the spring botch feels considerably more robust and dependable than the stupid planned obsolescence ratchet mechanism. There's something oddly satisfying about replacing the fragile, made-of-cheese, ratchet mechanism with a passive one that automatically accommodates my head without any manual adjustment.

In a pinch, I could even have used a cable tie to pull the strap sections.

Im just posting this because there's not a lot of information on fume extraction options out there for your average everyday guy trying to not die of ass cancer from his hobby or side hustle. I will give a bullet point listing of cost at the end.

My shop is divided into 2 bays that each have their own extraction system (I have my welding table in one bay and the other bay is mostly used for small part fab and working on trailers and vehicles). Total shop size is around 1500sqft with 10ft ceilings. I did straight runs of metal ductwork vented through the wall in about 20-25ft lengths.

Okay, first off, I really... REALLY considered an all in 1 filter unit but I didnt want to be wheeling that thing around from bay to bay and paying for filter replacements BUT if I was welding in a small(ish) area, like a garage, I would absolutely just buy one of the filter units and stick it in the corner and make it work. Obviously I have 2 bays and 2 separate units, you can cut the cost in half if you just need 1 unit.

So, I finally finished the remodel of my entire shop and the fume extraction is finally complete and I can share the real-world cost of what it took to add it, in a semi-professional manner, to my shop.

The first thing I learned was that fume extraction arms usually need 13-15ft ceilings to articulate properly, ChatGPT does NOT tell you that information, nor does the product description on virtually any website. Its buried in the user manual, which I only figured out by doing a final spec check before placing my order from FumeDogg. If I had tall ceilings, FumeDogg would get my vote for the most bang for your buck product and Id have their system in my shop right now, but I have stupid short little ceilings, so I had to order from a company called Plymovent. They are the only extraction arm company that makes a low ceiling arm, Lincoln used to but no longer does.

Plymovent actually makes a fantastic product, I couldnt be happier with their quality... but they're also 3x the cost of FumeDogg. I ordered the Plymovent Ultraflex Low Ceiling model. Its a 13ft articulating arm that works with 9ft ceilings and still gives a 6ft person proper clearance to walk around without banging their head. Their sales staff is helpful but will only answer the questions that you ask them, they do NOT offer extra information. For example; I asked about their low ceiling product line, they sent me every shred of information I could ever hope to know about the LC offerings, we finalized my invoice and then I thought to myself "I better make sure they are going to send me everything I need to mount it to the wall". Well, come to find out, there was zero mounting options included with my quote, they're just like that, you have to think of everything you need and ask them for it, they will not offer it to you preemptively. They also do not include or arrange shipping, the customer has to arrange their own shipping... this was significantly more of a pain in the ass than I would have ever thought.

The extraction fans are supposed to pull 2400CFM and Plymovent offers their own extraction fans for $$$$. I thought to myself, "Why pay $800 for their stupid fans when Harbor Freight offers 2400CFM fans for $99". DO NOT DO THIS. I wasted so much time and money setting up my system with the harbor freight fans. They work, but only at about 1/3rd of the capacity theyre supposed to. I bought an anemometer and my best reading at the head of the extractor was 900CFM, after I got the proper fans my best reading was 2700CFM, DO NOT SKIMP ON THE FANS. If you're doing a jerry rigged extraction system with a very short run, itll work fine, but it will NOT work for a moderate run. It has some bullshit to do with pulling air through a tube and physics and voodoo, idk.

Plymovent also wants you to order a bunch of shit to go with their fans to protect the fan motor called a Motor Protection Switch, and a Motor Control Box (to turn it on/off), which adds about $2000 to the cost (for two). I had my electrician wire 2 20 amp 120V plugs in my ceiling and then wire them to on/off switches next to my work area and I just went to Lowes and bought a heavy duty 120V pigtail electric cord and used ChatGPT to walk me through how to wire it to the motor, it took 20 minutes and works great and saved me a stack of cash.

You also absolutely need a fresh air intake, either an open door or windows, these fans will suck the air out of a room in a heartbeat and you need to replace it with fresh air. My shop has a minisplit in each bay so I dont want to just open the door. I took one of the Harbor Freight fans and mounted it as a fresh air intake, when I flip one of my extractors on, I flip the intake on to replace the air thats being sucked out with fresh air.

Okay, cost breakdown for TWO units-

• Extraction arms - $3700 + tax + $1200 shipping (they fucked me on the shipping and shipped Fedex priority because I didnt explicitly tell them to ship it economy. Choose freight shipping, its much cheaper)

• Fans $1700 + tax + $350 shipping. I ordered the fans after the arms and shipped via freight

• Electrician wiring 20amp 120V plugs in the ceiling + switches, $800

• Duct work is hard to price because I had to redo a lot of it because it was originally 8" but the new fans work off of 6". A safe guess is $325-$375.

• Misc purchases like electric cords, connectors, etc, $125

• Harbor freight fresh air intake fan + exterior shroud and silver tape $150

• Redoing everything to switch from HF extractions fans to Plymovent $400

So, there you have it. I just wanted to put some more information out in the world for those that want to get fume extraction set up in their own shop

How’d I do?

As the title says, I am looking to purchase a welder. I know NOTHING about them. My daughter has been taking welding for awhile in high school and I want to purchase her a welder and some kits she can practice even more with at home.

I would prefer something she can continue to use for awhile, but wont break the bank. I see a lot of cheap $50-100 welders. But I assume they are junk but I have no idea. I dont know which brands to go with or anything. A kit with everything she needs would be amazing and easy for me.

Any advice is appreciated!

I’ve got a miller 252 I use as well as Oxy/Acetylene set up. The stained glass is framed with cold rolled solid round rods 1/2” between the glass panes. The glass wings are double paned cause the color is only on one side. The body is help up by a branch made from 3/8” solid round stock bend and welded into shape. Then the seams of the round rods are welded shut creating a bark like texture, and a shell of steel that can handle 350+ lbs. there’s an inner frame work underneath the fluorite stone made from 1.5” solid round stock which runs the length from the ass up to the shoulders where the wings attach. The wings have 1/2” male steel rods that slot into 14guage 1/2” square tubing about 8-10 inches. The female square tubing is reinforced to the main armature so it can handle 70lbs wings leveraging on the shoulders.

If anyone has other question I’m happy to go deeper into my processes.

Hello, as the title says. I'm trying to switch from mig/mag to TIG HF as it seems more suited for this kind of work. I mostly work with sub 1mm mild steel, sometimes zinc coated. I got a TIG machine today with 1.6mm electrode and nr 5 cup and could make some welds on 2mm flat pieces but 0.8mm corners were a mess. I googled a couple of things but none of them were my specific situation. I found videos for TIG welding corners but on 2mm+ steel. Also found videos on thin sheets but not for corners.

Would really appreciate it if somebody has videos, guides or just tips that I could use.

Decided to take up welding as a hobby and signed up for a welding class this semester. Started with 6010. It’s sad that I won’t ever be proficient at welding because there’s just so much to it, out in real scenarios, but I do enjoy it a lot!

Why does it look like that i brush it shiny clean too

Hello,

I’m hoping you welding pros can help me. I have no idea about welds and hoping you can educate me. I just bought a Mgrills C4 grill from their overstock sale and upon inspection I see that the joint welds are different from the pictures on their website.

To be honest, I’m not entirely sure how to feel about this. I think it’s fine but I have no background in manufacturing. I don’t think it’ll affect the performance of the grill but it’s a little disheartening when the product I received is different from what is advertised without being informed of differences between product versions.

It’s an overpriced and overbuilt little grill, I know. Can you share your thoughts? I’ll probably just start cooking on it regardless.

I am new to welding and keep getting holes in my welds i understand this is probably heat but im not sure what else i can do to reduce it.

ive got a mig welder, its a fixed speed to correlate with amp which is set at 35 which is the lowest it will go, also running 0.8mm flux core on 0.9mm sheet metal and there’s no major gap as you can see in the photo

I am also pretty sure checking both sides are rust free and ground back, is it the heat or 🤷🏼‍♂️😫🫪

Please any help or advise will be very much appreciated

Hi guys,

Been MIG welding for about 2 odd weeks now at a new metal fab job. I always wear my welding mask while tacking/welding. I always wear my welding gloves and black coveralls yet everytime I finish my shift the skin around my nose/face feels really tight and dry. Ive begun using moisturiser for it at home and always wash my face after a shift to get the dust off. What is the cause of this and how can I prevent it in the first place?

Talking position welds, not rollout or stands. I did a few 10" schedule 40 welds yesterday. 6010 root, 7018 out. Put a heavy root in, flushed with one pass of 7018, then capped. All was 1/8".

10" is always a weird one for me. If I run 3/32 it takes forever, but 1/8" always results in a cap that's a little heavier than I'd like. 12" I always run 1/8, 6" and down is 3/32. 8" is optional, usually 3/32.

Just curious what y'all have found that works. The guys I work with that run 1/8 on these sizes are either more talented than me, run a grinder way too much, or end up with a weld that looks like shit. I'm in the middle there, I can fight through a decent looking weld without grinding half of it out. Cap will be heavy but it'll shoot good.

Talking X-Ray welds here, not farm welds, in a 5G. 2G is a given that I go straight to 1/8 and run it hot.

Idk what I want to do now career wise! I know I said I would give the union a chance but I just talked with my current jobs boss and he may promote me… the funny part with that is though is that I’ll be making close if not more than my union entry level scale’s “total package”. And I get full ride benefits and a retirement plan and they match it. Also offers a free degree if I’d like to go to college. Right when I got excited to go union my job got 20x better! I don’t know what I want to do now. BTW my total package is $37/hr.

Edit: well fuck me sideways. I just got humbled. Thank you everyone. I was just given this and told to weld. Thanks for the information