Member postings for Martin King 2

Hi All,

First off Ian P, many thanks for that info, will keep an eye on it.

Here are some first thoughts with my new machine and first ever foray into Tig welding;

It is certainly NOT as easy as the YouTube videos make it out and practice is the only answer I think.

The RTech machine I have is this one:

https://www.r-techwelding.co.uk/tig-welder-ac-dc-170a-digital-tig-170ext/

Delivery and service has been exemplary with most helpful operatives.

The first argon bottle from HobbyWeld turned out to be only 1/3rd full so always check before leaving their depot.

I had a couple of hours tuition at my friends workshop which at least removed the fear element from this bit of kit.

First go on some stainless scrap was this:

just ran some beads then tried a corner joint.

starting and stopping are the messy bits but as long as you get REALLY comfortable BEFORE you start it makes life much easier; any tension in your posture or position seems to translate directly to the work.

I had a small 4mm steel table 500 x 400 made with a grid of M12 holes, then welded 3" upstands on angle to the corners for my first go with mild steel. This went very well and the table has proved very usefull as it is easily portable. When used outside I use large cardboard cartons as a wind and arc flash shield, works OK.

One of the main reasons I got this was to allow me to do small Silicon Bronze brazed repairs in smallish cast iron items.

I was STAGGERED by how expensive the rods are, 1 kg was over £60 and does not go very far at all! I save the small ends and tack them together to avoid waste.

Started with a small bench vice that had small missing areas, cleaned with angle grinder back to good metal then heated with gas torch until very hot, placed on the table and started at about 75 Amps.

I found it hard to avoid melting the cast and so turned the amps down. This led to the rods just balling and not flowing evenly. Turned the amps up and it was a bit better but odd bits of melted cast in the work which later proved VERY HARD to machine.

The finish of the brazing was quite black with small blow holes and inclusions although the build up was strong and fit for purpose. It got MUCH easier after the initial layer next to the cast iron was laid down and the material could be reworked with just the torch to smooth things out.

The job machined OK and any small holes were filled with JB Weld prior to painting.

I think that as I am using the torch in 2T mode I am not varying the current as the job heats up but have not yet tried the foot pedal as it is another thing to think about at this early stage.

So far so fairly good!

Regards, Martin

Got The Hobbyweld argon bottle and RTECH just came back to say that they will throw in a consumables kit for the 2 torches that I ordered; pretty good service so far and the kit gets here tomorrow.

Cheers, Martin

Thanks Steve,

Got to get out and get some gas, there is a HobbyWeld outlet not far away but also I have a pal up the road who does lots of food grade welding in stainless and alloy, his standard is as good as the guy shown above in this thread. He uses HUGE argon bottles in his workshop and has a system for decanting to his smaller bottles for use on site. He says he will try and find me a bottle for my use which will be great if it works out. He also uses an argon /helium mix on some work.

Looking forward to having a go, he has already given me a great big box of small stainless, alluminium and steel off cuts to play with!

Cheers, Martin

Hi All, Just bit the bullet and ordered the RTECH unit same as Ian above. Very helpful people and they threw in some goodies to sweeten the deal.

Hopefully I will soon no longer have to keep hunting for people to do odds and sods of small scale welding for me. It is getting really hard to get these jobs done.

I spent ages looking at the SHERMAN units from Poland but they were out of stock of the compatible foot pedals and told me that others would not fit. Quite a bit cheaper but went for a UK based company in the end.

Fingers crossed for another steep learning curve!

Cheers, Martin

Hi All,

I'll have a go if you can supply some overall sizes including letter heights. it will give me some practice with Inkscape!

Cheers, Martin

These logos etc are to replace lost originals on old tools, things like plane cutter boxes and Taps & Dies inner label art work etc, some will need to be sticky backed vinyl but the smaller tools (like chisel handles) need the slide on decals. I use blonde shellac an awful lot for refinishing would this be OK over the inkjet print?

Cheers, Martin

Hi All,

Just got the first logo done in Inkscape, found out that in order to print you have to save as a pdf version?

I now need to find some "paper" to print to.

Ideally I would like to make old fashioned transfers or decals with a clear background. Alternative would be clear sticky backed vinyl.

There seem to be loads of different types all with very varying ratings and reviews.

Most seem not to be waterproof and need a spray coating of some sort which would be a pain.

Has anyone done this type of stuff with success? If so can I have a few pointers please?

Cheers, Martin

OK Got it now, Many Thanks

OK, I've worked out the way to put text on a path but cannot get the top and bottom text elements the correct way round, top is OK but bottom (Kilmarnock in above example) is upside down?

Driving me nuts!

Martin

SOD,

That is exactly the type of thing that I need to do, then print to decal paper or sticky label stock.

Almost exactly like the Andrew Barclay file above.

I have downloaded INKSCAPE and having a go at my first label, although similar in many ways to Illustrator (which I have not used for YEARS! I am finding it less than intuitive and the built in tutorials are pretty thin.

I have got the hang of using layers to build up the label, saving colour swatches etc

My immediate need is to create text on a circle or path but cannot seem to get there!

Can I use a circle shape and convert to path somehow? How do I add the text to the path when created?

Probably dead easy but only if you know how!

Any help most welcome.

Cheers, Martin

Hi All,

Years ago I used adobe Illustrator (Mac) for producing facsimile tool labels and logos for the cutter boxes for old Stanley planes.

IIRC the file format was Postscript and was fully scaleable.

I sometimes just printed them myself or sent them to be made into decals or sticky labels at a print bureau.

Recently I have had a need to do this again in a VERY small way and can not possibly afford to pay a permanent subscription to Adobe in order to do so.

I am no longer Mac based (Win10).

Can anyone please suggest a program that can be bought outright or free that will do this for me? Not sure whether Postscript is still around?

Cheers, Martin

Hi All,

FWIW I have had my Ender 3 Pro for almost a year now and without a word of a lie it has been flat out day and night for about 75% of that time, one reel of filament after another churning out lathe spiders and other small items.

Has paid for itself about 4 times over and then some!

Only one breakdown which was a blockage so put on a new nozzle and tubing and straight back to work.

It is a tad noisy so have to shut the office door at night as the War Office is a light sleeper!

May well get another one in the New Year so will probably stick to Creality.

Regards, Martin

Jason,

PM sent.

They are more rectangular than round which works well for thie application, its a very good video.

Cheers, Martin

Paul Lousick, just found this online re nail diameters?

Is SWG different?

Cheers, Martin

Hi, I got the idea from the German chap who made a better video (don't know how to link it!) and he SAID 18g but the ones he used are J30 CNKHA with a large J on the pack. I guess he got the gauge wrong?

Cheers Martin

Hi All,

I have 3 high quality push key padlocks minus their keys

There is a way to pick these and make a replacement "key" using 6 18g "Finish Nails" (US name?). I have been given some 16g but they are too large. I only need about 2" of them as they come stuck together for the nail gun. I don't really want to buy 1000 of these and throw the rest away.

Wondering if anyone here could perhaps send me about 2" of them if they have any. I am, of course, happy to pay postage etc?

Cheers, Martin

"Yes, Cats are an essential part of our household. A house without having independent creatures wandering around at will doing what they do is just a house to me, it’s not a home. "

Well said Vic, so true!

Martin (aka cat staff!)

Hi Andrew,

I heartily endorse Brian Woods comments above!

I really enjoy your threads and expertise as a complete newbie at all this stuff

Also many thanks for you know what!

Cheers, Martin

Newlyn is also the base reference for tide charts

Martin

The "collapsed" view shows the screwdriver extended it actually goes right inside hen pushed home leaving the other half of the handle empty, bit storage perhaps?

Martin