i want to learn to weld...

[GHarman]

A man of many hats!

Coalsmoke can DO-IT-ALL!!! GregH

 

[Coalsmoke]

Here's the Coles Notes version:



No, not a lawyer, I did my Ba University Degree in Criminological Law (major) and Sociology (minor). Up here you must do your Ba degree then go to law school for 3 years before writing your exams. I owned and operated a welding company before and during my university degree. Law school was an initial plan before I learned more about the intrinsic details of the job, at which point I chose happiness over monetary aspirations. I plan to (fingers crossed) find a social science career which focuses on the larger problems facing our society these days. Only problem is trying to find an organization that is not operating on a skeleton crew and shoestring budget these days. So, for now I work where I can and enjoy the extra days I have off. This also explains why I've had some strange jobs over the last couple of years, as I've served as a fill in employee a couple of times in non-permanent positions. Its not what you'd call building a career these days what with being in a recession, but, it allows me to provide food and shelter for my wife and I.

 

[GHarman]

Tig welder quit

After all these years(~24) my TIG welder quit! Well, I did the trouble shooting and it works on the "scratch start" mode with the solinoid gas valve being open, continuously. So that leads me to believe the problem is with the foot pedal control(Miller Model #RFCS-23). Taking the simple things first, I am willing to speculate that it is the Limit switch(part #011 628). Everything else is in great shape including the brush that makes contact with the "rheostat"(also called a "resistor" in the owners manual) coil. Now to order parts. I hope I dont have to take out a second mortgage:--). GregH

 

[opjohnny]

Good luck Greg I hope you get it working soon.

John

 

[Coalsmoke]

Is it a High Freq start? If so, can you get it to fire to make sure it is working? They are one of the more problematic points on older tigs.

 

[GHarman]

Coalsmoke, Its not the High freq. . The entire start circut sequence is not being initated. With the machine running(whats that noise:-laf?), the gas valve doesent even open when the foot pedal is pressed. IMHO,the most likely suspect to have a short service life is the little switch inside the foot pedal. GregH

 

[Coalsmoke]

Gotcha. Glad you have got it narrowed down.

 

[GHarman]

Simplist first

Coalsmoke, I think I do. We'll see.

Heres some pictures for the new guys. The replacement is elementary. Hope this is helpful! GregH

 

[Dan_69GTX]

Wow - you have a Montgomery Wards freezer that's still working?!?

Opps - just dated myself.

 

[GHarman]

Wow - you have a Montgomery Wards freezer that's still working?!?



Opps - just dated myself.

And Me too! Thanks PAL:-laf! GregH



PS; It makes a good light duty work bench, also!

 

[opjohnny]

My father and I always used the top of deep freeze also! You should see what it looks like now. I got a big chuckle out of that.

John

 

[GHarman]

It WORKS!

Just a simple micro switch, in the foot pedal. New switch and we're good to go! GregH

 

[Coalsmoke]

Just a simple micro switch, in the foot pedal. New switch and we're good to go! GregH

Glad to hear it Greg

 

[starkmr]

Wow, I read 20 pages of this thread and all I can really say is "thanks" to the pro's for sharing their knowledge. I've welded, almost exclusively stick, since I was in high school, you know, shop class. Practical application came from repair work around the ranch as a kid. I ended up working as an industrial electrician and did some welding for support brackets, stands etc. which got me back into welding. I recently built a 8'x16' flat bed trailer, I'll post some pics later when I get home. I just sold my welder though :{ had a Thermal Arc Raider 10000 engine driven with a Honda 20hp as the pusher. I really liked how smooth this machine welded, even with my relative inexperience. I also built the trailer that the welder is on. I just don't have the use of it anymore and it had to go.



Again, thanks to you guys for sharing your knowledge, what goes around comes around!

 

[starkmr]

Here is a series of pics of the flatbed trailer I built with my Thermal Arc welder. This was a great welding unit, but I will say that the electronics on the controls weren't so good. The engine idle control went out on the control board and they wanted $700 bucks for a new board, a simple switch for the fuel pump became my answer to bypass the silly thing. The diodes also went out on it and had to be replaced. I wasn't too happy with these kinds of things going out on a welder with less than 50 hours on it. Of course it was out of warranty though!



First pic is what I started with, then the base frame and finally the top frame.

 

[starkmr]

Framed out with headache rack and then with most of the deck on it. This turned out better than I thought I could do and pulls like a champ!

 

[GHarman]

Outstanding work!

starkmr, Nothing like building your own stuff instead of buying! GregH

 

[starkmr]

Thanks Greg, you can bet I'm proud of this trailer! I probably paid more for material than I could have bought it for, but certain touches you don't get with a production unit. All of my wiring is in rigid conduit with the splices in raintight boxes, simple to work on and well protected! Exposed splices at the lights were put together with butt splices and then treated with liquid tape to prevent moisture from corroding the joint. One of the neat things that happened on this project was when I first assembled the base frame. We set the blocks out at the corners and put the pieces in place and wouldn't you know it, it was square, plumb and level the first time! I could never in a million years make that happen again! LOL I was prepared to spend some time in this process because I knew that the success or failure of the whole trailer was in having the base frame square and plumb and danged if I didn't just spend about 20 minutes rechecking and rechecking and then rechecking again just to make sure I wasn't dreaming! LOL The only thing that didn't turn out the way I wanted was the deck. I used 2X6's and 2X8's and they all fit tight, so tight we had to put the last two boards in with a little persuasion! Within six months, the lumber dried and left 1/2" gaps between each board which does nothing but catch rocks and gravel. Next time, I'll go to the expense of using pressure treated lumber to reduce shrinkage. I really need to flip the axles as well, I have to have an 8" drop on my receiver to make the trailer ride level on my dually. Flipping the axles would go a long ways to reducing that drop. I don't have good pictures of the wiring, but you can see some of the conduit run in this pic.

Mike

 

[rbattelle]

Very nice trailer, Mike. How did you register it with the DMV? I've always wondered how the registration process for a custom trailer works.

-Ryan

 

[starkmr]

Very nice trailer, Mike. How did you register it with the DMV? I've always wondered how the registration process for a custom trailer works.



-Ryan

This is how it worked in AZ, may be different in other states. I had to take the trailer and all of my receipts for materials down to the DMV. They inspected the trailer to make sure it had all of the required lighting etc. on it. Paid my fees, it's a permanent tag in AZ, and was issued a registration and VIN which I attached to the trailer. I'll be permanently stamping the VIN on the trailer at some point.