New Today!

[Maximumsmoke]

Greetings. Tony here. Ex North Dakota farm boy. Long time shop fiddler. Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in stress and vibrations, structures, strength and materials. Retired from long career in IC engines, wind turbines, multi-component force and displacement transducers, large custom systems for testing durability and performance of whole aircraft and automobiles, and also experience in laser workstations for manufacturers of implantable medical devices, etc. Ex motorcycle roadracer ('70's). Current and long time licensed aviator and aircraft owner. Currently restoring old airplane. Also currently building custom classic bolt-action rifle(s!). Have too many projects in retirement (ha ha). Have sizeable Accra vertical-axis mill (Bridgeport style) and PM1236 lathe, etc. Need to learn welding - oxy/acetylene and TIG. Hope to learn a few machining tricks here and be amazed at what dedicated individuals can do. Thanks; I'm glad to be aboard.

Cheers!
Tony

 

[scottyp]

Welcome neighbor!

 

[Aerostar55]

Welcome to the world of "MICE" international fraternity of model internal combustion engineers! I also have an old airplane as well as
a homebuilt project in the works. South Bend 9-inch lathe and a Taiwanese mill, plus Sherline lathe with a mill attachment.

 

[minh-thanh]

Hi Tony .
Welcome to the group !
Hope to learn knowledge and experience from you .

 

[ajoeiam]

Hmmm - - - - welding - - - imo maybe the easiest to learn with a short class and then a lot (grin) of practice.

Any such available formally in your area?

 

[awake]

Welcome to the forum!

To follow up on Joe's comment with respect to welding ... FWIW, I am almost entirely self-taught, starting before there were so many resources (such as YouTube) available to help. I started with stick welding using an under-powered 110v transformer buzz-box, with a friend giving me a brief demonstration of how it worked - I say demonstration, but we had the wrong rod for the machine (it could really only do 6013, not 7018), so it was more like, "this is how it ought to work if it were working." I got some 6013 and started practicing, and got to where I could stick metal together, though not always very pretty. Then I picked up an ancient Marquette 220v buzz-box, and suddenly my welding improved. It improved even more when I took a short continuing-education course on welding at the community college - only a part of that course focused on stick welding, but it taught me the #1 thing I was doing wrong, which was that I was not supporting my arm.

Contrast that initial learning experience with the next stage when I bought an import inverter DC TIG welder. By that time, YouTube videos were starting to be available. I am sure that YouTube instruction works differently for different folks, but for me, it was marvelous, and helped me quickly gain an adequate hobby-level skill in TIG.

Nowadays, you can get a 110v inverter machine that can do stick and TIG with much fewer limits than that old transformer buzz-box, and astonishingly affordable. Or you can get a machine that can use 110 or 220, giving you flexibility and portability, also quite inexpensive. Get one of those, plus some YouTube videos (I like the Welding Tips and Tricks channel in particular, but there are many others as well), and I predict you will be welding in no time.

 

[SmithDoor]

Greetings. Tony here. Ex North Dakota farm boy. Long time shop fiddler. Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in stress and vibrations, structures, strength and materials. Retired from long career in IC engines, wind turbines, multi-component force and displacement transducers, large custom systems for testing durability and performance of whole aircraft and automobiles, and also experience in laser workstations for manufacturers of implantable medical devices, etc. Ex motorcycle roadracer ('70's). Current and long time licensed aviator and aircraft owner. Currently restoring old airplane. Also currently building custom classic bolt-action rifle(s!). Have too many projects in retirement (ha ha). Have sizeable Accra vertical-axis mill (Bridgeport style) and PM1236 lathe, etc. Need to learn welding - oxy/acetylene and TIG. Hope to learn a few machining tricks here and be amazed at what dedicated individuals can do. Thanks; I'm glad to be aboard.

Cheers!
Tony

Welcome to the group

Dave

 

[Maximumsmoke]

Thanks all for the welcome and the suggestions!

Welding -- I've done a little (very little) oxy-acetylene work, hoping the skills will transfer to TIG.

Airplanes? -- Have flyable 1940 Fairchild 24 with Warner engine, part owner Cessna 177 Cardinal, assembling 1946 Piper J-3 from its smallest bits. Welding thin-wall 4130 steel tubing was the reason for both O-A and TIG welding needs. Welding is also useful for some work on rifles (bolt re-shaping, etc).

Engines? -- Mostly my work will be on slightly larger than model size, but the skills I see here will be really useful.

 

[Chiptosser]

Hi, Tony
I would suggest to you to view Welding tips and tricks on ytube.
Jody has a lot of setup information for different materials and situations, covering stick, tig, and some gas welding.
1942 J3F
Good Luck. Dale