Hello but I'm not building a Haynes roadster, quite

[Eternal]

nice welding! im looking forward to doing some ally welding soon myself. Hope i can get it looking half as good as yours.

[Bonzo]

That user manual cracked me up Davy

Did you get a free " Hand held " Welding screen with yours .... An absolute must if TIG welding

I am sure you'll soon get into the swing of it mate, I suspect like me, you are new to all of this new fangled inverter technology

[Davey]

Hi Ronnie, yes I got the "free" safety screen made of really cheapo plastic and hand held, I did wonder how you were supposed to use a TIG welder and a hand held screen but then the makers can use chopsticks without wearing their dinner so maybe they hold the torch and filler rod in one hand and the screen in the other.

D.

[Davey]

Well I managed to get out and source some Argon and a reg today so tried the set out forthwith and I have to say that although it was only a brief trial its pretty bloody good for the money . Tig'd up a small piece of 1.6mm thick 2"x2" angle and its looking damned good. You were right Ronnie, just like falling off a bike, you never forget how . Spent a couple of hours building a trolley to carry the TIG unit, its gas bottle, foot pedal and give a working surface on top but didn't have time to take any photos. Got a small job to do in the morning then have to move our son and his girlfriend back into our house (how did that happen then?) so probably won't get to play till Sunday AM.

D.

[Davey]

Had a good morning at work today, small job for a customer then I could get on with my TIG workstation, still a few bits to do to complete but the main parts are sorted, its on castors so I can move it around easily and it gives me a nice clear welding table too. Here's a couple of photos, first of my new TIG station then of my first TIG weld joining two pieces of 1.6mm ali together, ignore the lump of snot in the middle of the run, I tried to add a bit of filler rod but it was too thick.

D.

[twinturbo]

Did you forgot about moving your son then?

TT

[Bonzo]

Way to go Davey mate .... Green with envy over that neat little workstation that you have made

A propper stand is still on my to do list, just can't decide if I want to mount it onto the top of my Cebora DC tig set or to keep them sepperate .... Bit of a nuisance swapping the large Argon cylinder about !!

The weld is looking FAB

Got my Sherlock Holmes hat on now .... The heat got away from you a little in the middle, You reached for the filler rod & had a " The Eagle has landed " moment with the Tungsten, then promptly stuffed the filler rod right into the said Tungsten

Only kidding Davey, what you have done is looking great, told you that you would soon get back into the swing of things.

I have never used the inverter type tig before but I must say, I find the current really smooth, good cleaning cycle & produces a very tidy weld.

Like me, I expect you have loads of plans for some nice goodies for your build .... Swirl pot, catch tank & the likes

Very tempted to buy a metal polishing mops for my bench grinder, you know, just for that little bling factor

[Davey]

Cheers Ronnie, not too far off with your sherlock holmes work . I'm well pleased with the workstation. I welded the frame up yesterday afternoon then my mate gave me a bread tray trolley which i was going to rob of its castors but when I tried it turned out to be a perfect fit so I just drilled and bolted it on, quick spray job with "poundland" primer and then a coat of black to make it look a bit tidier, a shelf for the welder to sit on and an ali deck on top as a work area and bobs your father's brother . I still need to make a wooden deck for the bottom and fit a restraint for the Argon cylinder then its good to go.

Got a fiar bit of work to do with the TIG. First up is gluing all the bits together to make the inlet manifold then I need to hack about an inch and a half off the sump plus of course there's the SS exhaust headers and pipes to make plus a mate wants me to do some SS pipework for his bike and another mate wants me to fab up some throttle body inlets for some little shitroen cars or summat so there's a bit to go at yet. Probably will make a catch tank too and I'm sure there will be other jobs for it on the car. I've also got to make some brackets for sat dishes which I'm hoping will sell.

TT didn't forget my son I went and did the move about midday, thankfully only half a mile journey so not a major issue but he needed me to shift the bigger stuff in our camper so his bed is now back in his old room and the rest of his furniture is residing in the corner of my workshop. Hopefully not for too long though.

D.

[Davey]

Well I haven't had much time to play since I got my new TIG machine. It only came with a single 1.6mm tungsten which is a bit skinny for higher power jobs so I ordered a set of tungstens, shrouds and collets from the parts dept to give me all the options. They finally arrived today and this afternoon I tried it out. It seems to be stuck at a low current level and won't melt 3mm ali but I have the pedal attached. Although I have the switch set to "local" it seems to be controlled by the pedal anyway. Ronnie, if you read this, does the "local/remote" switch only control the switch or the current control too? I've only just thought about this as it was working well till I connected the pedal.

The only other Dragon news is that I now have a clutch cable! Last week I had to replace the clutch cable on my brothers Nissan Almera as it was seizing up! I ran some cleaning fluid through the old cable and you would not believe the crap that came out. Anyway after a couple of hours soaking in cleaning fluid I applied some slippy liquid (WD40) and it seems to be fine so I offered it to the Dragon and it is a perfect fit (although I've still got to make the pedal box ). If it turns out to be a FUBAR cable I can easily replace it at a small cost.

D.

[Davey]

I've solved the lack of power on the TIG set, it was me . I'd got the remote/local switch set to remote so without my foot pressing the pedal it was only giving me minimum power. Sorted now and working like a charm.

D.