Mako Burner

[bmac2]

Last night my wife told me that she wanted a different shelf setup for one corner of her quilting room. She then proceeded to show me some she’d found on the internet ranging around the $100.00 mark but none of them where quite the right size. Looking at what she wanted, top, bottom, 1 fixed shelf and 4 adjustable. I knew I could knock it out in a few hours for less than $50. So this morning I was off to the lumber yard then into the garage. Happy wife, happy life. Quick tip for spacing pin for adjustable shelves. I just use a piece of peg board and bit for centering screw holes for hinges. This wouldn’t be good enough for displaying your prized marble collection but it will do for cloth.

 

[bmac2]

So 4 hours later my wife is happy and I think I just built up some more shop time credits. Thm:

 

[bmac2]

Oh ya oh:, there is supposed to be an interesting part. This also looked like a good time to play with the Troll. After all Rich said I could use it as a heater. The Troll was smoking again so the garage didn’t warm up with the doors open. It was +1C in the garage so this was definitely a COLD start. The little Mako got the Troll up to red in just over 10 minutes with the regulator set at about 3 lbs. I didn’t dare melt anything. I’ve got a foot of snow outside and the pad inside is wet from all the crap that melts off the cars.
Yep. I think Sam and Frodo could have saved a lot of time and effort if they had just built one of these.*knuppel2*

 

[RichD]

good idea on making the shelves for shop credits.
Rich

 

[bmac2]

The weather is still cooperating so I decided to work on my crucibles. The plate I have is a little over 3/16 so hopefully it will hold up. Marked out the 2 bottoms and I’ll cut them out on the band saw.

 

[bmac2]

This is a pattern I made up once when I needed to form up a belt guard. I came close to tossing it more than once thinking I’d never use it again but it makes a great seat when using the 4x6 vertically. I use a couple of bungee cords and clamps when using it like this, my “Gentleman’s bits” don’t like staring at a running blade.

 

[bmac2]

The band saw wasn’t going to be able to handle the radius so I made relief cuts down to the cut line.

 

[bmac2]

Every thing's cut and cleaned up so I guess it’s time to attempt to weld two pieces of metal together.

 

[bmac2]

Well once again I have proven that owning a welder and being a welder is not the same thing. When I first bought the welder I could get a weld that wasn’t horribly embracing. But after the 6 ft. real of wire that came with it ran out I haven’t been able to get the same results. Agggg. That’s enough ranting. I don’t think the bottoms will fall off and with the viscosity of molten aluminum they shouldn’t leek so I’m going to go with them for now :fan:. If anyone thinks this is a BAD IDEA, please speak up now :hDe:.
One day the local college should offer a course on welding that isn’t for people working on a Pressure “B” ticket. They could call it “Farmer Welding 101” for us total hacks.

 

[vederstein]

Don't skimp, stick with a good quality wire. If you have the ability to TIG, you can smooth out some of that porosity without adding any filler metal.

I was welding up a manifold to gang run my steam engines yesterday. I could have used another method (like a single block), but I wanted to TIG it for the practice. I proved what you said is true: "owning a welder and being a welder is not the same thing". After five ports, my skill was definitely improving. Too bad I'll lose that skill after awhile.

I used the be the engineer at a welding shop. Professional welders tend to have a bit of a complex. They all think they're the best welder!


...Ved.

 

[bmac2]

Don't skimp, stick with a good quality wire. If you have the ability to TIG, you can smooth out some of that porosity without adding any filler metal.

I was welding up a manifold to gang run my steam engines yesterday. I could have used another method (like a single block), but I wanted to TIG it for the practice. I proved what you said is true: "owning a welder and being a welder is not the same thing". After five ports, my skill was definitely improving. Too bad I'll lose that skill after awhile.

I used the be the engineer at a welding shop. Professional welders tend to have a bit of a complex. They all think they're the best welder!


...Ved.

Hi Ved
Isn’t it great when by the time you finally get the technique down just right you’re on the last hole?
I think that complex comes from breathing in the fumes. I like to wear a respirator when I’m welding, maybe that’s why I can’t get it.
I have is a Lincoln Handy Core so no shield gas. According to the book of words that came with it, most of which states how important it is NOT to lick any part of the welder and to never place welding wire in your ear, the spool was NR-211-MP flux-cored wire. I have several Lincoln dealers in my area but none (that sell retail) carry it. I’ve had them tell me “this stuff is the same thing” but I just can’t get the same results as I did with that original spool. I’d like to get another just to see if it’s me or just some slight difference in the wire composition. It still shows up on the Lincoln web site but I find it frustrating that I’d have to order the wire from the US and pay the shipping when every kid and his dog around here sell the welder.:rant:

 

[bmac2]

I got to use up some of my “shop time credits” and fire up the troll to see if I could melt something. It’s 10C in the garage today, weird weather for Alberta in January but I’ll take it. Started it up at 3 psi and got the crucible up to red in 5 minutes.

 

[bmac2]

The muffin tin my wife gave me (always ask) had a coating on it so I burnt it off while I got to work cutting down some more of my scrap into bite sized pieces. Whatever that coating is (don’t think its Teflon) it stinks a bit.

 

[bmac2]

When we replaced our furnace a couple of years ago I kept the fan assembly and it makes one killer exhaust fan. It comes in handy for times like this.

 

[bmac2]

After some pre heat I started loading the crucible and increased the pressure to 7psi. Once the troll gets hot is seems to deal with higher pressure better and 15 minutes later it was ready to pour. The next 3 melts where done with the regulator set to 10 psi and it took about 10 minutes from load to pouring.

 

[bmac2]

I can read all the information on metal casting available on the net and look at hundreds of charts on melting temperatures but until I did my first pour it’s hard to really grasp just what the numbers mean. I didn’t see this until I watched the video. In the video my pliers are in contact with the crucible for a grand total of 34 seconds and they got hot enough to scorch the cardboard when I put them down.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNLaCiv1Kwk&feature=youtu.be[/ame]

 

[bmac2]

I only melted the extruded scrap and didn’t do any of the cast scrap I have. I cut one of the pucks in half and it looks pretty gummy, I don’t think it would machine very well. It might be Ok for an engine base or something. Looks like I’m going to have to do some reading on improving alloys.

 

[bmac2]

Well that was fun and educational. Despite my dodgy setup I only burnt myself once and that was on a piece I’d pre heated and put back onto the pile of cold scrap. Needless to say I forgot about it until I tried to move it while setting up for the next melt. Lesson learned; keep the hot stuff and the cold stuff separate. The crucible looks like it held up Ok with only light scaling. It stood up better than the muffin tin, I had one stick :fan:.

 

[TorontoBuilder]

I can read all the information on metal casting available on the net and look at hundreds of charts on melting temperatures but until I did my first pour it’s hard to really grasp just what the numbers mean. I didn’t see this until I watched the video. In the video my pliers are in contact with the crucible for a grand total of 34 seconds and they got hot enough to scorch the cardboard when I put them down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNLaCiv1Kwk&feature=youtu.be

Please dont take this the wrong way... but my wife used to be a workplace safety trainer for commercial electricians and she'd freak if she saw this. No leather apron working on your knees offers zero protection. Then on the last bit of your pour you gave a sort of jerk to get the last drop out of the crucible. That could result in a blob of molten metal being flung onto your unprotected legs.

I know a guy who gave himself 3rd degree burns by spilling molten lead on his leg while casting fishing sinkers from tire weights. Please consider proper long handle tongs for lifting your crucible and pouring so you can stand up and gain some much needed distance from the molten stuff.

 

[Cogsy]

I have to agree it was a little dangerous. Having worked as a hot dip galvaniser, I can tell you that even a small drop of molten metal on the skin causes a major jerking reaction/reflex. If you happen to be holding something molten at the time, it will end up splattered all over the immediate area. So the idea is to not be in the immediate area - less chance of getting a splash and less chance of getting covered if an event happens.

We didn't wear aprons in galvanising (just too cumbersome to run in, and I have literally run for my life on occasion) but we did get some 'fireproof' (so they said) shirts. I once had a fireproof shirt catch fire and I could not put it out. Ended up pulling it over my head, still buttoned, while it went up in flames. At least it did offer some thermal protection and I wasn't badly burnt.

I would never go into galvanising these days, but I am slowly getting set up to melt and pour aluminium. Be safe and don't take chances.