My welding equipment

[The_Crusher]

Hi guys, I am fairly new and wanted to drop by and show you my welding gear. I have an Airco (made by miller) 250 TIG/ARC set-up that I keep at home with a set of Axy Act torches. Then I have a portable rig that I purchased that was basically new (49hrs) it is a 2000 miller 250 gas powered with the high freq box and water cooler mounted on a 2 wheel dolly along with the pedal and torch. Then I have a set of oxy/acet torches that mount to the trailer with 100' of hose, 100' of cable for the tig or for arc or spool gun that all came with it along with a ton of aluminum rod, bronze rod, high nickel rod for Tig and arc and a bunch of spools for aluminum and steel. This was all wedged into the back of a commercial type van (see pic) and is all now on a trailer with a nice set-up with steel work bench, vise, bench grinder on post for tungsten sharpening. As well as a job box for keeping all of my rod, tools and accessories in I have everything done on the trailer and mocked up and it is out being blasted and then will go to powder coat then I can finish it up. I paid 900 for the airco with the large tank and 3000.00 for the portable with the van and everything. I wold the van for 1200.00 and then did some horrendous stupid things that people do to boats and pontoon repairs to pay for the rest of it. So now it can set and owes me nothing.

Now for the pics and a few of the repairs too.










This is a damaged boat that I picked up and repaired and built the dash out of aluminum. It is a 1865 semi V that had never been in the water. It was damaged in shipping.













Here is what happens when you are drunk and stupid and try to use a log chain and try to pull your pontoon out of the water using a 4 wheel drive truck instead of paying 20 bucks to have the guy who owns the trailer to remove it and put it up on blocks for you. CAN YOU SAY DUMB?










I saw another one similar to this and repaired a few aluminum canoes and boats and that made the money to repay the bank account for the welder

 

[xalky]

I learned how to weld on an airco outfitted with a Lincoln wire feeder way back in the mid 80s. It was a good solid machine that just ran. Never any problems. Those old machines are made for 100% duty cycle all day long- you can't kill em.

Oh yeah,...super deal on the van and welders. :yousuck: :LOL:

Nice boat. That oughta last a lifetime.

Did you mig or tig the welds for the boat repairs? I can do either/ or here. I prefer using mig with the spool gun, mainly because it's just easier. But, I like tig for the smaller fussier stuff.


Marcel

 

[Tony Wells]

Great idea for a small business. Looks you have a nice rig for it too.

Maybe I could go ahead and retire and give that a go. We have lots of lakes, fishermen and boats around here. lol

 

[The_Crusher]

Lots of money to be made if you can repair boats, winterize, fix engines, etc. around any lake if you are reasonable and the word spreads like wild fire. I used to help a guy do that years ago. I can repair about anything on a boat or car so it is nothing to weld it up either. The thing of it is though they always wait until the last minute and want it yesterday!...lol!

I did TIG the welds as the spool gun wouldn't keep it hot long enough, had to keep the torch on the pontoon as the part that the this sides hook to is like 3/8" and the sides are only .090" so it would burn the thin before you could get the center rail hot enough. It is an ugly weld for sure, but it is also china aluminum and welds like crap too. 90% of the boats you weld it is very hard to get a nice bead on them, good stuff I can make look like a roll of nickels layed over, but not this junk...lol!

 

[sniggler]

Hey nice setup thanks for sharing the photos. When i was welding for myself I did mostly marine stuff stainless and aluminum. I miss that independence.

I built a bunch of 8ft prams and some 14ft sharpie skiffs out of .090 and .125 5052. They were used as tenders for boats on moorings. I even dug clams commercially out of one of the skiffs for a couple of months when my regular clam boat was down with motor problem at a time when my pockets were inside out.

I have had to repair a bunch of small production (thin) aluminum boats they can be a real challenge. For that type of repair TIG is king it's just getting it clean and in a good position to weld. The last one i fixed was a bow stem crack that someone had fixed with silicone caulk after a a lot of false starts and cursing we used the torch to melt out the stuff in back of the crack and got a weld on it. My kid had to work the foot peddle while i welded. Not a pretty repair but short of cutting out and replacing a whole section it is the only thing to do unless a customer wants to pay half the price of the boat for a new bow on a banged up 25 year old boat.

I still dream of building custom rowing skiffs out of aluminum instead of running into the big city to weld.

"Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing — absolute nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing... about in boats — or with boats. In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not".

"The Wind in the Willows", By Kenneth Grahame

Don't let the customer know it's not magic.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, Bob

 

[Ray C]

Cool stuff and nice repairs on the boat aluminum... I can't imagine working on thin material that. Good job


Ray

 

[The_Crusher]

I agree, I tell everyone, NEVER try to repair your boat with JB Weld, any kind of putty, silicone, liquid nail, foam insulation, or any other miracle cure as all it does is contaminate the aluminum and then you have to clean it all off and it oozes out and pops and blows holes and take 5 times longer and costs 5 times or maybe 10 times more, depending on how mad I am by the time I am done...lol!

I also do Cast Iron V8 Chevy engine blocks and heads as i used to race circle track and if you would blow a head gasket and it would fire between 2 cylinders, it burns the iron away and I would repair it right in the car. Weld cracks, that is touchey as are cracked heads. People would tell me that you can't do that or fix it...I would tell them it is junk already right......so I can't hurt it any worse and if I can fix it then you pay me right.....Yep! I also raced 100mph go Karts and I had a set of Magnesium wheels and broke the bead on one and welded that too, they said all it would do is start on fire......not if you put it in an Argon bath and not run argon on your torch to disturb the bath! I used to love a challenge...:rocker: