Welders???

[churchmouse]

Lower priced generators are known to have poor frequency control which can fry out circuit boards. What are you going to do in an emergency situation if your circuit board frys out. It seems to me like in a SHTF situation that gas may be old or of poor quality, you may need to travel light, or to a remote area. A couple of car batteries and jumper cables or a ready welder have a lot less things to go wrong and are a lot more portable. A ready welder is also a great addition to a home shop to augment a stick welder for mig, or as a spool gun for aluminum. Readywelder.com | There's nothing like it!

You make a good point. The boards on the low end welders are not up to the task sometimes as well as the low end gennys. I realize that budgets are an issue and folks shop for pricing. I have a miller 115 V unit and a Honda genny. These were not acquired for prep. as I use the snot out of them. I try and stay away from stick welding if possible

 

[jeremy]

Lower priced generators are known to have poor frequency control which can fry out circuit boards. What are you going to do in an emergency situation if your circuit board frys out. It seems to me like in a SHTF situation that gas may be old or of poor quality, you may need to travel light, or to a remote area. A couple of car batteries and jumper cables or a ready welder have a lot less things to go wrong and are a lot more portable. A ready welder is also a great addition to a home shop to augment a stick welder for mig, or as a spool gun for aluminum. Readywelder.com | There's nothing like it!

I am capable of repairing Multi-Layer boards if needed, you can't?!

A couple of Car Batteries and Jumper Cables can weld stuff back together, not something I really enjoy using and it is NOT a substitute for real welder.

Further a Ready Welder is a good portable machine, for use away from the shop, but is a poor substitute for a Mig...

 

[churchmouse]

I am capable of repairing Multi-Layer boards if needed, you can't?!

A couple of Car Batteries and Jumper Cables can weld stuff back together, not something I really enjoy using and it is NOT a substitute for real welder.

Further a Ready Welder is a good portable machine, for use away from the shop, but is a poor substitute for a Mig...

Has anyone ever seen a lead acid battery explode, I have. Not something I care to repeat. Realize you are basically direct shorting the battery's. If there is a weak or near shorted cell it could be the 4th of July with acid.

 

[jeremy]

Has anyone ever seen a lead acid battery explode, I have. Not something I care to repeat. Realize you are basically direct shorting the battery's. If there is a weak or near shorted cell it could be the 4th of July with acid.

LOL!

Yeah I have made my fair share of Batteries go terminal, in a HUGE assortment of ways...

 

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

SOMEONE was screwing around with the wiring on my plowtruck, and touched up the wrong wire. Hmmm. That was an experience. Don't want to see that again.

 

[Butch627]

I am capable of repairing Multi-Layer boards if needed, you can't?!

A couple of Car Batteries and Jumper Cables can weld stuff back together, not something I really enjoy using and it is NOT a substitute for real welder.

Further a Ready Welder is a good portable machine, for use away from the shop, but is a poor substitute for a Mig...

I think this thread was about a SHTF situation. At that point I wouldn't want to worry about repairing circuit boards. I would want something simple and reliable that will fuse 2 pieces of metal together. A stick welder will be the simplest, most reliable and most versatile way to weld. If the SHTF you may well be welding materials that you can't do with a standard mig, like welding cast for instance. A old stick machine should work just fine off of pretty much any generator as long as it is making the necessary wattage.

If we are talking about welding in the shop than I like my Lincoln Powermig 255. I can run it off my Miller Bobcat 225 if the power is out without worry or weld stick with the bobcat.

If I am out of the shop a couple of batteries and an assortment of electrodes and my ready welder can be carried pretty much anywhere and the only sound is the crackle of the arc, not the sound of a generator which can be heard a long distance away. If SHTF I would think you wouldn't want to be making a lot of noise and burning gas you may need for something else.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

I keep a small "hobby" welder around for small repairs. Saved my butt a bunch of money this way. I also justified the purchase by realizing that in a SHTF scenario I will have a LOT more small repairs to make and may not be able to get the manufactured parts. I occasionally even make my own "specialty" tools when needed to get a specific job done one time and don't want to spend $50-$100 bucks on the tool from the store. "Torch welding" or brazing is a very valuable skill as it can be done without electricity and with something as common as a coat hanger, fixed a lot of hanging/leaking mufflers this way

 

[ThrottleJockey]

This should go in a SHTF vehicle thread, but fits here nicely too.
http://youtu.be/vhmtTYJP8js
http://youtu.be/ZC3xEFxZj-Y
http://youtu.be/pl5RX5Mc2Rw
This one seems handy as well.
http://youtu.be/4TliLRT4btI

 

[Herstal]

I recently took a welding class to improve my skills.

Where did you take the class? What was the cost, and hours involved?

H.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Where did you take the class? What was the cost, and hours involved?

H.

It was an Ivy Tech Intro to Welding (non credit) class in Bloomington, $250 for 8 2 hour classes over 8 weeks and covered most types of welding with a half hour or so of classroom each class and the rest of the hour and a half spent with the equipment. I got lots of hands on time with different equipment and got to have the instructor give pointers and critiques. It by no means turned me into an expert, but I now know a hell of a lot more than I did and more importantly I now know what things I want to work on and what things really don't apply well to what I want to do (farm welding and occasional fabrication and SHTF self-reliance). Considering how much consumables I used, I can say the price of the class was well worth it.

 

[backfire]

Don't need any of this fancy-smancy stuff..... All a guy needs is a car battery, two wires and a nickel and you too can weld up your connecting rods in your engine if she blows...

If McGyver can do it, so can I and he's the KING of SHTF preparedness!!

 

[churchmouse]

Where did you take the class? What was the cost, and hours involved?

H.

As with most things, time spent equals increased skills. The more time you spend under a welding hood, the better you should be able to weld. Taking a class is a good thing but like shooting, if you do not use it, you will loose it.
Buy a decent welder, practice with it.

 

[Kmcinnes]

I helped chop a top on a 32 ford with Gene Winfield a couple years back, I was surprised because he welded most of the top back on with a torch, coat hanger, hammer and dolly. I checked out the penetration and it was good. I couldn't believe my eyes and never would have thought you could do it, but after seeing it done it makes sense that it would work.

 

[churchmouse]

I helped chop a top on a 32 ford with Gene Winfield a couple years back, I was surprised because he welded most of the top back on with a torch, coat hanger, hammer and dolly. I checked out the penetration and it was good. I couldn't believe my eyes and never would have thought you could do it, but after seeing it done it makes sense that it would work.

Some coat hangers (older) are made of good, mild steel. We have put quarters, door skins and all manner of car body repairs together this way before we got decent wire welders with stitch cycles. The steel is better than brazing because you use no flux. The flux will cause issues with the coating ie. bondo, paint.

 

[shibumiseeker]

As with most things, time spent equals increased skills. The more time you spend under a welding hood, the better you should be able to weld. Taking a class is a good thing but like shooting, if you do not use it, you will loose it.
Buy a decent welder, practice with it.

That was the thing though, until I took the class I had a 110v buzz box and a cutting torch. I could stick metal together and cut it apart. And I come from a background of building almost anything I want, but welding was a skill I was very weak on. Until I took the class I had no idea what I didn't know and I didn't know how to go about it, I just knew I wasn't doing it well (and I HATE not being able to do a skill well).

And just like guns and shooting, I had the Hi Point equipment and Hollywood shooting skills. Now I've taken a class and I can tell what is cheap crap equipment and what is good quality, and I know what areas I need to work on and have the starting skills to practice which I wouldn't have gotten without having taken the class, and I didn't run out and buy the welding equipment equivalent of the Surgeon with an S&B scope mounted when my skills weren't up to the task yet. I now know what a "decent" welder would be for me without having to spend a crapload of money on a welder that has features I will never need.

Having someone to teach me has saved me a lot of time and effort flailing around on my own as I had in the past. Since I've taken the class I've done a lot more welding and my quality has improved a lot, but I needed the push in the right direction first, and now I know what kind of equipment I need to acquire to be able to move forward.

Yeah, lots of people may offer to teach welding, but unless you luck out with someone who is both skilled AND a good teacher, it's a good way to learn bad habits as well as biases that may not apply to what I want to do. That plus not many folks have the patience to spend hours and hours teaching a novice who will make novice mistakes again and again.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Some coat hangers (older) are made of good, mild steel. We have put quarters, door skins and all manner of car body repairs together this way before we got decent wire welders with stitch cycles. The steel is better than brazing because you use no flux. The flux will cause issues with the coating ie. bondo, paint.

After the torch welding section of the class it really opened my eyes up to what can be done. I've been practicing and have gotten to be pretty decent at it with ranging from structural steel to sheet metal. After I get my hand a little better I want to work on my aluminum sheet metal working, some of the guys I've seen doing it were awesome in their skill.

 

[jeremy]

When my Grandfather taught my Dad to weld, Dad's graduation test was Papa took a Pepsi can cut it in two pieces and told him to put it back together. Then he poured 12 ounces of water into it...

I never passed the test by the way...

 

[Kmcinnes]

I think alluminum is easier to weld, but then a gain I have only tig welded alluminum. A can would be tricky as thin as it is! I might just have to test myself on that one of these days just for fun. My graduation from welding was when a friend who taught me slammed a sledge hammer down on the welding bench while I was in the process of welding. I was so concentrated on my welds that I didnt even flinch or jump. He said that was the sign of a true welder!

 

[shibumiseeker]

When my Grandfather taught my Dad to weld, Dad's graduation test was Papa took a Pepsi can cut it in two pieces and told him to put it back together. Then he poured 12 ounces of water into it...

I never passed the test by the way...

Ah, I actually have welded a steel beverage can back together. I used a paperclip as filler rod and a torch I built by making an electrolyzer out of a 6 volt motorcycle battery and charging it at 12 volts and running the gas through a tip from a carbide lamp. The only issue with the setup was I had to blow out the flame BEFORE taking away the power else I'd get flashback which usually blew the aquarium tubing off the battery vent. I was in high school then and was more interested in building the electrolyzer than welding. I might try it if I get an 00 or 000 tip for my oxyacetylene rig. What's funny is I never really made the connection to doing that and welding bigger stuff when I started ten years later.

 

[leftsock]

I enjoy reading these old-timey plans, but I haven't yet attempted any of them.

Metal and Welding Projects - Vintage Projects