Re: MIG Welding Newbie

Jay, If you could get Bosch metal Progressor blades I think you can cut a slot there as the blades could handle up to 3/8 thick metal sheets.

PROGRESSOR®
Ideal for thick and thin metal
Progressive tooth spacing for fast cuts, long life in metal,
Sheet metal 5/64" to 3/8".
Non-ferrous metal 5/64" to 3/4".
Stainless steel 1/16" to 1/8".
Fiberglass 3/64" to 3/4".
MATERIAL: HSS

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

What do you think? Shall I slot all 5 holes end to end? By the way the holes are 1/2" diameter.

I can oxy ace cut it but too lazy to build a straight torch cutting jig only for this.

Trial ...

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

Here ...in the end the Oxy / Acetylene slot cutting was the best choice available for me

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

and now for some elbow grease ......

Loading up the files with chalk helps when filling metal ... less clogs. Mexican made Bellota files are good and available at Panda with reasonable prices

I can now slide the clamp ... not much but better coverage than before. I chose not to weaken the plate by having longer slots. My reasoning is that once this plate goes into service welding heat can easily warp it so it's better to reserve surface strength.

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

I cut the head of a 5/8" fine thread bolt

drilled a hole in the center of the plate

top side with the bolt in place

bottom side

ready for welding now

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

Top side welded ....

I can do a second pass , lower the amps and tie the edges but I'll just leave this as it is now.

ground the bottom tack welds and prepare for full welding the bolt to the plate

This one needs to be clamped well as plate warping will be expected specially I'm welding at 7.5 setting with a wire speed of 100. The thickest the Miller 180 can do in a single pass 5/16". Spray transfer. The high amps melts the wire even before it touches the metal again, becomes small globs and is sprayed into the metals to be joined via the hot surrounding shielding gas.

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

Owyn suggested that I should beef up these welds. I think I got carried away by the sound of the mig welder and did a lot more passes than necessary. At this point I still don't weave weld ... only straight push or pull. Anyway I'll just grind the excess welds here.

The clamps were also blocking my gun path that I could not make continuous passes. I should have inverted the C Clamp positions so I can get better gun access to the metals to be joined. Newbie error.

Here take a look again. The c clamp handles should have been pointing downwards. LOL Well another lesson. Always review your overall gun access path before starting a weld.

A long welding rod will not pose as much of a problem given the same scenario when using a stick welder.

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

Welded the nut. Dang I forgot to clean the residue oil on the shock absorber tube with lacquer thinner again. Too much smoke from burning oil.

The welding positioner prototype looks like it will work. Hmmm a tilting mechanism for back front movement will be useful. Will do one when I make the positioner for the welding table I'm planning to build. However I will use longer 1 1/2" and 2" GI pipes.

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

Lots of errors but I'm getting to know the mig welder's adjustments better now ...

up or down / side to side adjustments

The good thing is that the ground clamp can be connected to the positioner itself. Will review the contact points and ground path later.

The mini table top can also rotate

I can either mount this jig on this mini welding table or on my folding table ... I just need to make some brackets so I can weld the base tube to a table for stability.

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

Great project you got there JayL, very nice and will be very very useful welding positioner. great for welding projects to be clamped on top, can be rotated 360 degrees, can also be raised up and down to a desired height and probably tilted from 0 to 90 degrees flat. 😀

I'll be making one too in the near future after I finish my welding table, I purchased the 36" X 1/2" round table top and the 24" X 24" X 1/2" thick square together with the 3 panels of table tops that I'll be using for the welding table. Maybe I'll be installing the 24" X 24" on one end or corner of the welding table so that I will have also a rotating table top nearby. The 36" round table top maybe I'll make another welding table and improvise a way so that it can be tilted and rotated too, well lots of welding projects here too. 🙂 :showoff: :p

Have a nice and productive day JayL.

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

Great project you got there JayL, very nice and will be very very useful welding positioner. great for welding projects to be clamped on top, can be rotated 360 degrees, can also be raised up and down to a desired height and probably tilted from 0 to 90 degrees flat. 😀

I'll be making one too in the near future after I finish my welding table, I purchased the 36" X 1/2" round table top and the 24" X 24" X 1/2" thick square together with the 3 panels of table tops that I'll be using for the welding table. Maybe I'll be installing the 24" X 24" on one end or corner of the welding table so that I will have also a rotating table top nearby. The 36" round table top maybe I'll make another welding table and improvise a way so that it can be tilted and rotated too, well lots of welding projects here too. 🙂 :showoff: :p

Have a nice and productive day JayL.

That's good thickness you got there for a welding table top. I'm also with the idea that a good welding table should shave at least 3/8" thick plate but 1/2" is better if it will not be moved a lot.

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

@Rosy

Bro if you will be building a welding positioner for your table you might want to check this link below.

A manual welding positioner for the rest of us poor boys

The idea of my positioner came from this generous welder who shared his jig. All credit goes to him.

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

Here is another welding positioner.

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

Sir JayL very nice and detailed WIP, very inspiring indeed.
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Re: MIG Welding Newbie

Sir JayL very nice and detailed WIP, very inspiring indeed.
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Thanks Ricky. I'll coat it with paint it when it's done.