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Metal working questions When filing/shaping aluminum, is there some trick to not fouling your file other than keeping a piece of scrap steel at hand to run your file over once in a while? Vinegar seems to free/gets the corrosion of brass and bronze. I have heard that the way to free seized/corroded aluminum is with ammonia, but I have never gotten this to work. Are there other tricks for dealing with corroded aluminum? Does ammonia actually work? EDIT: \/\/\/ Thanks for the tips. I have never used a grinder on Aluminum, but I never knew about that explosion problem. kapalama fucked around with this message at 16:05 on Jul 20, 2008 |
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Jul 20, 2008 15:05
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EVERYTHING I SAY ABOUT JAPAN OR LIVING IN JAPAN IS COMPLETELY WRONG, BUT YOU BETTER BELIEVE I'LL 
ABOUT IT.
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| # ¿ Apr 24, 2024 22:01 |
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Astrolite posted:You can never have too many files. Ok if we are talking files here, can someone gives me advice on just how you are supposed to make it so that the metal part does not fall out of the handle? Am I just using cheap-o files?
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Jul 21, 2008 06:32
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Slung Blade posted:How are your files coming out anyway? You shouldn't be putting any force into them on the return stroke, it should just skip over the surface of whatever you're filing. A-HA. I did not know that you were only supposed to file on the push. This is exactly why my files keep falling out.
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Jul 21, 2008 13:35
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Has anyone ever heard of Duro welding holders?
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Jul 21, 2008 23:15
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What options are there realistically for someone who lives in an apartment to set up a metalworking space somewhere? Are there collectives which share the rent on a big space where noise and FIRE! are all ok? I imagine that there are artist collectives some places for stuff like this, but that may just be a dream. (Also shout-out to Atomic Zombie and Shelton Brown (RIP) for inspiring mad bicycle creating lust.) Also to ask even more impossible questions: Has anyone in Japan ever seen these sort of co-op areas available? Do any of the Vulcans in this thread live in Japan? Can a 100 volt Japanese MIG welder have any sort of not immediately obvious power restriction that a 110V US MIG welder does not?
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Aug 16, 2008 10:31
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dv6speed posted:For example, I know a guy who rents a huge shop for $100 a month to build his boat. What area is that in? (For bike building I probably will never even hit 1/8 plate. Will it still hold me back?)
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Aug 16, 2008 11:37
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Ok I apparently have from now until december to kill some time, and I have a garage to use. I want to braze some bicycle frames together to make a tandem, and I guees I want to be able to weld some other poo poo on there. I will have to abandon the gear in December, and I have no experience at all. And obviously no gear. I can probably take the helmet, but the welder is going to be left behind. Tell me what I need to buy, and how it will cost me new. (mainland US) Also if brazing is just a bad idea, and I should just use a MIG welder that's OK too. I have no idea if I will ever have this opportunity again, so don't worry about long-term things like a TIG might leave me with more options down the road.
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Aug 19, 2008 05:25
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dv6speed posted:I have to be honest, I don't know if it's worth it to get all your stuff just to abandon it in December. By the time you just get everything together and learn how to use it, it'll be time to go. I I want to at least try some to do this at a time when I know I will have a garage to do it in. http://www.atomiczombie.com/  http://sheldonbrown.com/tandem-build.html  I will in all likelihood never be in one place long enough with a garage to even do this again. I am not working right now so I have nothing but free time (or at leaast completely flexible time.) kapalama fucked around with this message at 12:40 on Aug 19, 2008 |
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Aug 19, 2008 12:34
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dv6speed posted:Never is a long time! What sort of life will you be leading that will make it impossible for you to get access to a shop? I am just basing it on my life up until now. Apartment living in Hawaii and JApan. My goal is not to really have a bike at the end (since I would have to recycle it anyway). It is to see if some ideas I have work. Part of me says MIG because spitting a bunch of Joining metal seems like the kind of approach that suits me. Another part says O/A because you can always drag that out to a beach somewhere (assuming Hawaii) adnd do some welding. TIG is the obvious way to go, but I will not be working in AL (no way to heat treat it) or Titanium (I do not actually have that much faith in my design ideas). Stick welder may be the only available choice once I get to Japan, because of the licensing needed to purchase gas. My raw material will be junk bikes which alread have matching curve that make brazing doable for at least some of the joins. Others will need actual wedling. Please poke and prod, and make me get excited about it, or realize it is pointless. I do have some time here to kill. I'm waiting for something to clear probate, not really working, bored stiff and thought hey the metal thread people can tell me what to do, or that I should not even try it.
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Aug 19, 2008 21:47
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I was talking to a welder dude the other day and he said that basically O/A or Torch welding is a dying art, not being taught in the tech schools anymore. (What's the proper term for that O/A or torch?)
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Sep 12, 2008 14:31
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If I wanted one of you metal gods to make me a stainless rod with a loop in one end what would it cost me? 16" long, with a 1" diameter closed loop in the end, 1/4" diameter rod. (316 stainless)
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Oct 9, 2008 05:34
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Slung Blade posted:By closed loop, do you mean continuously closed? as in no break in the material anywhere? I mentioned this in the PMs but I need a closed eye  Welding the eye shut is fine. I just need it closed.
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Oct 10, 2008 01:32
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(Sorry that was dv6speed who PM'd me.) The loop only matters so I can put a split ring on it, and the Split ring will not come off. It will not need a great amount of strength. And the alignment does not matter at all. But the rod portion does need to be straight.
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Oct 10, 2008 04:31
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Slung Blade posted:Ah, ok. Any particular reason for stainless? Other than appearance? It's going to be used in salt water all the time. I'd go with Aluminum but it bends a little too easily.
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Oct 10, 2008 15:58
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SmokeyXIII posted:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl8qfu-ojTQ That is a cool video. I love that show in general. It's interesting to hear the pronunciation of 'solder'. (I think the show is from Quebec, produced with Canadian film money).
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Oct 22, 2008 00:34
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Slung Blade posted:So ever since I started sharing the fun I've been having with my friends and co-workers, requests and projects have been coming in faster than I can handle. It's not surprising to me at all. I am in AWE of what you guys can do. Every picture posted in this thread makes me envious of the skills you have, and also makes me want to get something made. Welding and blacksmithing/metalworking are absolutely god-like.
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Oct 25, 2008 03:51
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Can you get it hot enough with a torch to bend it? I assume a Bernzo torch is a propane torch?
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Oct 28, 2008 19:00
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Small grinding questions: Can I safely switch the direction of the grinding wheel? It's a tiny grinder and I have worn one edge much more than the other. I'm using this grinder if it matters: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=43533 Also on this grinder I am going through the fiber wheel fast, and got a replacement set of wheels http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=43758 Is the fiber wheel something I am likely to find by itself? Or is that grinder just too small to get replacement wheels anywhere but at Harbor Freight?
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Nov 28, 2008 05:33
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Linux Assassin posted:3" grinding wheel, for the amount of effort you'd put into even constantly reversing the wheel as it gets worn on one side you could get a n 8" grinding wheel that will last much longer and for which wheels are very cheap and readily available. An 8" grinder that has two wheels on it already should only cost you about $50 <it will not be an excellent one at that price, but will likely 'feel' better then the results your getting from your 3" now> I know you are right, but where I am staying right now, the 'management'does not like big equipment. If there was a change in management, and I could get an 8 incher, where could I find a fiber wheel, like I linked above, but sized as an 8"? I have not seen fiber wheels at Home Depot.
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Nov 29, 2008 03:34
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| # ¿ Apr 24, 2024 22:01 |
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Are there actually wheels made for grinding aluminum? (I have never used a grinding wheel on aluminum, just a file. And it clogs the file so fast.) Actually come to think of this question, are there files made for aluminum?
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Nov 29, 2008 21:32
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