Re: First Welding Project

["J. Michael Daugherty" <jmdaugh@domain.elided>]

>Date: Fri, 05 Feb 1999 10:49:25 -0800
>From: MikeIIDC@domain.elided
>Subject: Welding First Project

>  Where does one get the metals used for your
>welding-some plate to put in the body mount areas?  Welding supply, or
>Home Depot kind of place?

I've purchased small pieces of metal from different welding shops.  My
experience has varied from being given small pieces that are considered
scrap to paying a premium.  Now I usually buy from a steel supplier I found
in the yellow pages.  They have a truck that comes to my town once a week
and have appeared to be very happy to handle my small orders.  Last fall I
needed a 3' piece of flat stock which they delivered and charged me $2.57 total!

>real difference between the parts in this application purchased from a
>mega-store like Home Depot v. a welder's supply shop?  Any input on
>tanks?

You might be able to get the same equipment from either type of place.  My
recent experience is that most people have a cylinder DEPOSIT [not rental]
with a welding supplier rather than owning the tanks.  This is probably a
smart move for convenience of simply exchanging empties for full cylinders
and then you don't have to pay for periodic pressure testing etc.  You might
want to check into getting everything at once from the same place to see if
they will give you a little break on it.

> should I even mess
>with trying to master the torch,

Mike, there are a couple of advantages to having a set of torches.  One is
being able to heat up a stuck nut or bolt to get it to come off without
breaking anything.  It can also be handy for heating up something that you
want to bend.  I've had some sucess using a propane [bottle] torch to loosen
a couple of things, but it's never helped me with bending/forming.  Some day
I'll end up with an oxyacetylene outfit.

Good Luck, you'll enjoy welding if you have the time to do it,

Mike