The At Home Welder » Posts

How To Fix Your Welding Screw Ups – Part 2

HomeWelder — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 22:20:56 +0000

In a previous video, I showed you an embarrassing mistake that I made while welding up a custom iron railing. The mistake wasn’t noticeable until I got the whole iron railing out on site and started the installation.

Thankfully I was able to fix everything on site. Since I had my iPhone with me, I decided to take a quick video of what happened and how I was able to fix it. The problem is, this was a solo install and I was the only one there. It’s impossible to weld and hold video phone at the same time.

Many of you emailed and commented saying that you really wanted to see the actual welding process in action. So today I went into the shop and filmed a reenactment of what happened and the exact welding techniques that I used.

Part 2

This video’s a little long but I show in “real time” exactly how I fixed the problem.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I hope that answered everyones questions about how I fixed the iron railing I was installing.

If you have any other questions or comments, please feel free to leave them in the comment box below.

PS> For everyone that signed up for the Iron Railing 101 Early Bird list, don’t forget to look for your email coming tomorrow (Friday) afternoon. Since you guys have been so supportive, I’m letting you have first crack at the course. I’m only doing the early bird thing until Monday though. After that you’ll have to pay top dollar and those special bonuses will be gone. It should be there around noon tomorrow.

The 4th Of July – At Home Welder Style

HomeWelder — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 21:57:15 +0000

So how was your 4th of July weekend?

Here’s how we have fun at our house.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What do you do to blow off steam on the weekends?

How To Fix Your Welding Screw Ups Without Looking Like Fool In Front Of Your Customer

HomeWelder — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:26:39 +0000

This past weekend I was installing a beautiful railing for client that I had worked with before. I went through all the normal motions of measuring and finding all the perfect angles and went back to the shop to create some new iron railing goodness.

Everything went smoothly in the shop and I finished up all the fab work in a pretty short amount of time. The problem showed it’s head almost immediately when I began to set up the railing to bolt down to the deck.

My BIG Screw Up

In this quick video you’ll learn how to quickly fix a welding mistake, that can happen to anyone, without looking like a total idiot in front of your customers.

Click here to view the embedded video.

No matter how experienced of a welder you are, these types of mistakes will occasionally happen. Chances are I probably just accidentally bumped something and it threw everything off.

How Do You Handle Mistakes?

What welding mistakes have you made in the past and how did you deal with them? Let me know in the comments below.

How To Build A Reusable Welding Jig To Weld Perfect Iron Railing Every Time

HomeWelder — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 21:37:32 +0000

Here’s another video taken straight from the Iron Railing 101 course. In this video I show you exactly how to make your own reusable welding jig to make the perfect iron railing down rails every time.

Until I came up with this welding jig, I was spending way too much time checking everything over and over to make sure it all stayed in place before I welded it up. It would take forever to find the angles, mark everything out, and then try to clamp down all the metal and hope nothing moved in the process.

This video’s a little long, but it’s well worth it. I use this welding jig on every iron railing project I work on. I even use for other welding projects. It’s that good. If you plan on making money from building iron railing, this welding jig is a must for you.

I Want To Thank You

I want to take a minute to thank everyone who completed the quick 2 minute welding survey I sent out. It’s been hugely beneficial for The At Home Welder and it has let me know exactly what welding questions you need answered.

If you didn’t get to chance to ask the MIG welding questions you need answered, you should do that now by completing this really quick and easy 2 minute survey.

CLICK HERE to take the survey and get your MIG welding questions answered.

For those of you that took advantage of the Angle Grinder Mastery special deal earlier this year, don’t forget that you’ll get early access to the Iron Railing 101 course and at a much reduced price.

For everyone that missed out on that special deal, don’t worry. There’ll be some great bonuses coming up for everyone that takes action early.

How To Build The Down Rail Welding Jig

Click here to view the embedded video.

Have you built a welding jig that’s saves you time and money?

Let’s hear it.

Don’t Make These Mistakes With Your Iron Railings

HomeWelder — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 02:59:12 +0000

This is the first in a series of posts that are going to be taking you deep inside the formula I use to create killer custom railings. This is definitely some good stuff for you know. Welding up iron railings is what makes up around 90% my welding business.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Stay tuned because I’ll be posting some more here soon.

WTS 10 | MIG Welder vs. TIG Welder – Which Welder Is Best For You?

HomeWelder — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 01:59:37 +0000

This was the 1st ever “LIVE” Welding Tips Show.

It was a lot of fun and I’m going to be going “live” every week on Ustream. So if you have any questions, I can answer them live, as you ask them. That’s pretty cool.

Don’t worry if you can’t make it to the live shows. I’ll always have a post, here on the site, of the recorded show.

Let me know what you think about a live show. If you have any questions you’d like answered on the show – leave them HERE and I’ll make them a part of show.

55-gallon drum smoker

HomeWelder — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:37:20 +0000

I came across this today and well… It brought a tear to my eye.

Not really, but this really is the best step-by-step DIY guide to building your own smoker I’ve ever seen. The end result is simple and beautiful -not like most mutated gas tank BBQ abominations I see on the internet – and any one could do this from home with very minimal tools or skill.

I couldn’t find his name but I think it’s Joel.

So Joel, if that’s your name, the At Home Welder is officially giving you props. NICE WORK!

The following is the DIY Smoker post from Joel’s (sorry if that’s not your name) site, Design & Make. Enjoy

55-Gallon Drum Smoker

This past fall I took an evening welding class at a local technical school and got very excited about making things out of metal. I already had an old stick welder that I didn’t really know how to use, and I ended up buying a MIG welder–the Hobart Handler 140 from Northern. After making lots of small assemblages out of scrap metal I managed to build a stool and a couple of plant stands, but I had bigger plans.

There’s something special about creating useful objects. A smoker is a nice combination of supremely useful (preparing sustenance) and slightly frivolous (do you need a smoked pork butt to survive?). There are certainly faster and more efficient ways to cook food, but damn smoked meat is good.

I looked around at commercial smokers and custom hacks and talked to a few connoisseurs, and decided the Weber Smoky Mountain was a good design to start from. It’s simple and effective, and in the end it mostly convinced me that the design need not be complex.

Something appealed to me about using the iconic 55-gallon drum as a building block, so I went out and bought a couple from the local scrap yard. One of them even got immediate use as a beer barrel at Crushtoberfest!

A little sketching on different configurations, and I decided a ‘T’ shape would be simple, stable, and functional, and provide plenty of opportunity to practice the MIG on some thin sheet metal. I laid it out in CAD, which made it easy to generate the intersecting curve between the two barrels.

I printed the curve at full scale and wrapped it onto the barrel, traced the curve, then cut the barrel with a jig saw. The first dry fit was amazingly close (way to go, CAD!) but there was still a lot of grinding here and there to accommodate the ribs in the barrels.

I measured and marked the door openings on the barrels and cut them out with the jig saw.

The next step was grinding the paint off. The last thing I wanted was burning paint fumes getting into the food, so every bit of paint needed to go. If I were to do this again I would find another way… sand blasting, chemicals, burning it off, etc… anything but taking it off little by little with an angle grinder. I’ll admit the Gator brand paint & rust remover discs I found at Lowes were very effective (if a bit pricey at 9 bucks a piece). But my shop is now coated with a thin layer of green paint dust, much of which ended up in my nose and likely my lungs.

On the first day of grinding I wore a respirator and glasses but nothing else. After washing my hair three times in a row to get the paint dust out I learned to don more protection. For the insides of the barrels I also used an LED headlamp.

As the barrels were made of surprisingly thin metal (20 gauge) the door openings needed to be reinforced with some angle and rolled sheet metal strips, which were plug welded from the outside and tacked from the inside.

The doors also needed reinforcement, in the form of sheet metal ribs tacked onto the undersides.

I welded small pads onto the barrels and doors for the stainless steel hinges. These pads were ground flat then drilled and tapped.

After grinding the rest of the paint off I welded the two barrels together. This was a challenge, since the metal was so thin and the fit was far from perfect. To prevent burn-through and warpage I used a “stitching” technique where you put a quick tack weld across the joint, wait a second or less and put another tack next to it, continuing like that for about an inch at a time. Apparently this puts less heat to the metal than a continuous bead, but the end result looks very similar. With a little practice I was even able to bridge relatively large gaps between the barrels with short, controlled beads that build on each other, kind of like ants crossing a stream.

I shopped around looking for off-the-shelf replacement grates that would work but none of them were big enough for this guy. So I bought about 80 feet of 1/4″ diameter 304 stainless rod (from onlinemetals.com) and cut it to length on the abrasive chop saw. I scored a piece of 1x pine on the table saw at the proper spacing to use as a jig, and clamped the rods down. The MIG would have been perfect for welding the grates, but I would have needed to buy stainless wire and a separate tank of tri-mix gas (65% argon, 33% helium and 2% CO2). The stainless itself was already pushing my budget, so I bought a handful of stainless welding rods and used the arc welder.

Next I drilled holes for the dampers– two sets of three holes at the top and two sets of four holes the bottom. The top ones were made like typical grill dampers with a round rotating plate. The bottom ones needed to be on a curved surface, so they slide along the surface rather than rotating.

In both cases the moving damper is retained by screws, so I drilled holes and tacked some steel nuts behind them.

I then drilled a series of holes to allow the smoke and heat into the top barrel. My step drill bit did an amazing job, but the cordless drill still went through two fully charged batteries getting the job done.

Next I tacked on some small support tabs for the grates and six small sections of square tube as feet.

After a thorough deburring, wire-brushing and degreasing with alcohol, I set about applying a high-temperature grill paint. There are several available but Rustoleum High Heat Brush On was a) available at Lowes and b) didn’t require curing at a high temperature like most of the products I found online. Unfortunately it only comes in black, which is actually slightly brownish. They recommend only applying one coat, which I agree with after trying to touch up a few spots after drying, resulting in some weird gloss differences. I then tried the spray can version of the same paint, but found it to be flat finish (vs. the brush-on which is satin). The lesson here is get it right with the first coat because you really can’t go back and hit it again.

While the paint was drying (24 hrs… it’s oil-based) I fabricated some handles out of a 1″ maple dowel. I don’t have a wood lathe but the metal lathe did the job. A few coats of Polycrylic and they’re ready to assemble.

The smoker can be used in one of two different ways– with charcoal in an expanded metal basket or with wood on a traditional fireplace grate. I suppose I could retrofit some gas burners or even electric heating elements, but that’s a project for another day.

And last, final assembly. I bought a 3″ smoker/grill thermometer online, and used some nickel-plated chain for the lid stays. I also fabricated a sheet metal “drip tray” to cover the holes under the food and deflect some of the heat.

I figured my brother-in-law Pete would make much better use of this than me, so we gave it to him for Christmas. Here he is opening it…

WT 09 | Cutting Torch Basics And The Welders Best Friend

HomeWelder — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:40:52 +0000

In this episode you will learn how to get started with your oxygen/acetylene cutting torch. Surprisingly, most people have no clue how to get their torches started correctly or even how cut with them.

There’s nothing more embarrassing than everyone hearing that loud *POP* over and over because you can’t keep your torch lit.

As a welder, do you know who your best friend is?

Listen and learn who your best should be and how to find them.

Episode Length 19:47

Subscribe in iTunes

Download this episode to keep

TAKE ACTION

To take advantage of my mistake that I talked about in this episode – Go Here

Let me know what you think about think about this episode. Leave your comment in the comments section or in the comment box for this post.

Until Next Time – Keep The Sparks Fly’n

PS> This is the only chance you’ll have to get the course this low. It will never be offered at this price again. There is only 2 days left. ACT NOW to save big.

WT 08 | Tips And Tricks For Welding Galvanized Metals

HomeWelder — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:01:31 +0000

In the episode you will learn some of the best tricks for welding galvanized metals. You will also learn how to avoid and treat one of the greatest fears of welding steel that’s been galvanized, Metal Fume Fever.

We also answer a great question about keeping finials straight when welding custom fencing

and…

an At Home Welder webinar?

Episode Length – 17:00

To Subscribe and Rate this podcast in iTunes >>CLICK HERE<<

COMMENTS & QUESTIONS

Have you ever experienced metal fume fever? What was your remedy and what was the project?

Let us know by leaving your answers in the comment box HERE

The Greatest Angle Finding Tool Ever!

HomeWelder — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:43:01 +0000

Your about to learn how to make and use the greatest angle finding tool ever.

This simple to make tool will give you the perfect angle every time, and it’s so incredibly easy to use.

You can make it for less than $5 and you probably already have everything you need laying around your house.

I took this clip straight out of the upcoming Iron Railings 101 Course and it shows you exactly how to make this powerful measuring tool.

Click here to view the embedded video.

GOT QUESTIONS?

Let me answer your questions. Leave any questions and comments HERE.

The 7 Welding Resources You Can’t Live Without

HomeWelder — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:52:25 +0000

We all have our little lists of our favorite resources. The places that we keep returning to time and time again because they always havewhat we need and they can always answer our questions.

Well this list is no different. I compiled a list of 7 of the greatest resources you can have as an at home welder. I use almost all of these resources every month and they’ve all saved me loads of time, money, stress.

So here they are…

They 7 Resources You Can’t Live Without

King Architectural Metals – King is the place to get everything you need. From raw steel and hardware to ornamental elements and paints. King is my number one source for anything I can’t get locally.

Metal Supermarkets - This is a great place to get the exact amount of steel that you need for each job. Metal Supermarkets will sell and deliver steel by the foot and only charge you for what you need. Most steel suppliers will gladly sell you a few feet but they’ll make you pay for the whole piece.

McNichols - If you’re looking for hard to find mesh or grating materials, this is the place to call. Steel, aluminum, stainless steel, McNichols covers it all. They cost a little more than others, but they have a lot of stuff that you cant find anywhere else. They’ll deliver anywhere too.

OSHA Railing Codes – keep in mind that these are written in OSHA talk, which means it reads weird at times. It’s still pretty clear as to what is required. Start in section (d) for stairway railing and guards.

Harbor Freight – A great place to find good tools of all kinds really really cheap.

Northern Tool - Northern has been around for forever and their tools are as good as their reputation. I’ve used Northern brand tools like grinders, chop saws, air tools. They’re half the price of the big names and last just as long.

NOMMA – This is an incredible resource for all welders. They stay up on all current code changes, welding technology, business models, metal practices and just about anything you can think of that deals with working with metal. It does require a yearly membership that isn’t cheap, but when you can afford it, I strongly recommend that you join. They produce the Fabricator Magazine.

If you have any great resources on your list, please share them. It’s always great to hear about what’s working for others, besides, we can all benefit from each others recommended resources.

COMMENTS & QUESTIONS

There’s a new way to connect with me. Yep, I’ve gone fancy and The At Home Welder now has a phone number. True, it’s a little cheesy, but when I saw it was available I knew I had to get it.

Now you can call…

860-HOT-WELD

And of course, you can leave any comments and questions in the comments box or look up HomeWelder on Twitter and Skype.

Mig Welding 101 | Wrought Iron Railings (sneak peak)

HomeWelder — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:21:30 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

WT 07 | Choosing The Right Welding Gas

HomeWelder — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:08:21 +0000

In this episode we will cover how to choose the right welding gases and when is the best time to use them.

It is very easy to just use what you have and think that you’re safe. But in many cases you have to use specific gases for different materials. If you use the wrong ones, your welds won’t be worth a dime.

I also answer a great finishing question on how to get that rustic look without actually letting your metal rust.

Rust = Death to metal

And the 1st ever At Home Welder contest is born with a grand prize worth over $500.

Episode Length – 17:09

Listen in iTunes

The Contest

Send your name ideas to weldingtips@theathomewelder.com

I’m going to choose the best one and give the winner the entire railings course for free. That’s well over $500 worth of material. Even if I decide not to use it, you still get the course.

Questions & Comments

As always, if you have any questions or comments, leave them in the comment box or email them directly to me at weldingtips@theathomewelder.com

WT 06 | How To Avoid Blowing Holes In Your Metal When Welding

HomeWelder — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:34:45 +0000

In this episode you will learn some excellent techniques on how to control your welding heat to avoid nasty blowthroughs and how to repair them if they do happen.

In the Q&A session, an AHW community member gets an answer to one of the most frequently asked questions by beginning welders.

Episode Length – 17:20

Subscribe in iTunes

TAKE ACTION

Practice the pull away technique described in the show. This is the best technique to control your heat without having to stop welding. If you can master this technique, you’ll greatly speed up welding which will allow you to move on to something else.

QUESTIONS?

Leave your comments and questions in the comment box. I love hearing what you have to say and they types of projects that you’re working on.

AHW 05 | How To Avoid Heat Distortion

HomeWelder — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:12:38 +0000

In this episode you will learn the best way to avoid heat distortion when welding sheet metal. It’s easier than you think to master great welds when working with sheet metal.

I answer a great question from an AHW community member about how to find the perfect materials and I unleash a huge announcement about the future of The At Home Welder Podcast.

Episode Length 17:21

COMMENTS & QUESTIONS

Do you have a question that you want answered on the show?

Leave them in the comment box, Shoot Me A Bird, or email

How To Choose The Right Materials For The Job | PART 3

HomeWelder — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:49:07 +0000

IN THIS POST

The last in the Choosing The Right Materials series. In this video I show you some key material choices for cap rails and how to slap it all together.

Click here to view the embedded video.


Email:

AHW 04 | A Sneak Peak Into The Railing 101 Audio Guide

HomeWelder — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:53:01 +0000

A sneak peak into Railing 101 – The definitive guide to building custom iron railings from start to finish.

How was that? Was that exciting enough for you?

Life has been pretty crazy around Atlanta these days with all of the massive flooding thats been going on, but we’re still here. We might be a little damp, but still here.

Thanks to everyone that checked in on us and to all those who lent a helping hand.

You Are All Heroes

IN THIS EPISODE

Im giving you a sneak peak into the upcoming Railing 101 guide. This is just a few parts of the audio guide.

The complete course will have full videos and resources to guide you step by step through the entire process of building iron railings.

Episode Length – 25:50

TAKE ACTION

Give me your thoughts. Tell me if you like what you’re hearing so far.

COMMENTS & QUESTIONS

As usual, if you have any questions or comments, let me know by leaving them in the comment box.

Thanks

KEEP THE SPARKS FLYING

Choosing The Right Materials For The Job – Part 2

HomeWelder — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 01:50:30 +0000

This is the part 2 of the 3 part series in learning when to use what materials and why.

One of the easiest ways to waste your time, energy, and money is by using the wrong materials at the wrong times.

IN THIS POST

In this video we continue the learning which material options are available and when and how they should used.

Click here to view the embedded video.

COMMENTS & QUESTIONS

Like the info or half a question? Let me know by leaving your comments and questions in the comment box.

I love hearing what you have to say.

Are You Wasting Your Time And Money? How To Pick The Right Materials – Part 1

HomeWelder — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:20:06 +0000

Other than family, my time and money are the two things that concern me the most on a daily basis. And I’m sure that you’re no different.

IN THIS POST

This is the 1st in a 3 part series on how to choose the best materials for the job. In these posts I’m generally referring to railings, but the same principles apply to any project. In this video I show you the best choices for the basic frame work and several things to consider when bidding on and planning out your project.

Click here to view the embedded video.

TAKE ACTION

Find your closest steel supplier. Find out if they stock regular and punched channel (and any other materials you might need) and get pricing for it. Its important for you to know the potential costs for any possible projects in the future. There are small distributors all over the country but if none are in your area, I suggest these.

Like This Post? Want more?

COMMENTS & QUESTIONS

As always, if you have any questions or comments, let me know by leaving them in the comment box. I love hearing what you have to say and I respond to all your questions. It’s your feedback that keeps making the AHW better and better.

Thanks

The Question That Will Change Everything

HomeWelder — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:59:13 +0000

IN THIS POST

I ask you the question that could change The At Home Welder forever.

Click here to view the embedded video.

TAKE ACTION

Send me your top 5 picks.

Here’s how:

Email Me
Twitter
Facebook
Comment Box For This Post

Any of these will work just fine.

I can’t wait to see your answers and how they’re going to shape the future of The AHW.

AHW 03 | The Key To Your Success

HomeWelder — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:31:24 +0000

In This Episode you will learn easy and mostly free marketing tricks to rocket your business, no matter how big or small, to success.

I’m also going to share a really cool tool that I recently found to use when trying to decide what new little niche products to start making and how much you can actually sell them for. It’ll keep you from wasting your time and money on something that will never sell.

Episode Length 35:01

Listen in iTunes

Mentioned Resources

Free Networking Groups – I’ve used this site many many times to find new groups to meet up with. The great thing about these groups is that you can go as many times as you want without any kind of fees. And because its free, there’s usually a different group of people in each group. Sort of a revolving door kind of thing.

BNI – Probably the biggest most well known of all networking communities. I’ll admit it. BNI is a very good network to be a part of. You are expected to pay yearly though and those prices vary depending on the groups. These groups are always very organized and their meetings are pretty structured. You can visit any of these groups several times without having join, which is what I do.

Building A Website

WordPress.com – Building a website has never been easier. I didn’t know the first thing about building a website when I started The At Home Welder and here I am. I had the 1st basic version of the site up in 30 minutes (I’m not exaggerating). WordPress is totally and completely FREE. They will guide you through the entire process and if you have any troubles just look up WordPress in YouTube. There are a million different short videos that will show you how to do just about anything.

If you do build a site and decide that you want to sell your creations online, I definitely suggest that you check these guys out. They will literally hold your hand and guide you from start to finish in creating your own little internet empire.

Shiny New Tool

Ebay Pulse – A great tool for finding which little niche ideas are worth it.

Take Action

Choose which marketing strategies are best for you right now. Form a plan and get started.

The longer you wait, the longer the money flies all around you and not in your pockets.

Tell Me What You Think

If you have any questions or comments, leave them in the comment box for this post.

u8p6siw2dz

AHW 02 | The Worst Mistake You Can Make Before Starting Any Project

HomeWelder — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 05:27:16 +0000

In This Episode you learn how to avoid the worst mistake you can make before starting any project.

We’ll also discuss when you should take deposits and for how much.

The Quick Tips in this episode are two great resources that will ensure that you have an edge over the competition when bidding for any project.

Episode Length 27:30

Listen in iTunes

TAKE ACTION

Download the Bidding Cost Check List and fill in your own amounts to ensure that you never underbid a job again.

MENTIONED RESOURCES

King Architectural Metals

COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS

If you have any comments or questions, please leave them in the comment box for this post and shoot an email over to comments@theathomewelder.com

How To Be A High End High Paid Modern Artist

HomeWelder — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 03:45:16 +0000

Have you ever entertained the thought of having your art resting behind one the huge glass gallery windows, catching the eyes of the thousands that pass by every week?

Well, it’s easier than you think.

IN THIS POST

I visit a local gallery and show you the great things that are possible with minimal effort and little or no expense.

Click here to view the embedded video.

TAKE ACTION

Do you have some scrap metal laying around? Or maybe you know of a local shop that would love for you to haul off some of their leavins’. It’s pretty simple really, just grab some scrap and start welding it together. Sign up and I’ll teach you everything you need to create these wonderful works of art, and you’ll learn it in less than 20 minutes. If you need some inspiration, just Google metal art. You’ll be amazed at the crazy stuff you find.

If you have some local galleries near you, take some pictures and at least one smaller sculpture that would be easy to carry, to show the quality and originality of your work in person. If you don’t have any galleries around, try a popular local hang out like a coffee shop or restaurant. Anywhere where people will clearly see your work and your name.

PICS AND COMMENTS

Show us your original metal sculptures and help inspire others by leaving pics and links in the comment box for this post.

If you have any comments or questions, leave them in the comment box for this post.

AHW 01 | The 5 Fears Of Starting Your Ornamental Welding Empire

HomeWelder — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:30:37 +0000

In This Episode I officially introduce myself and give you a brief (maybe not brief enough) summary of who I am, why I am here, and what I am going to do to grow your abilities and your business.

I also answer the 5 main questions and fears of starting your own ornamental welding business from home and I give you 2 of the best resources you could have if your just starting out.

Length 26:37

Listen in iTunes

That’s right, it’s finally here.

For those of you who have been following me on Twitter, you know that I’ve been teasing you with the thought of an AHW podcast for while now. TADA!

Yes, it’s a little rough around the edges, but hey, I’m new at this.

MENTIONED RESOURCES

Home Depot Rental Store Locator

As always, if you have any comments or questions please leave them in the comments box for this post.

Welding Safety Tips Every At Home Welder Needs To Know

HomeWelder — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:46:57 +0000

“It’s the simple things that’ll always get you.”

That’s what one of my mentors said one time when he was giving me one of his off-the-wall lessons about welding safety. His lessons were usually strange and most of the time I think he just liked hearing himself talk, but what he said really stuck with me.

It’s easy for us to remember the big things like,

Keep your hands away from the saw when it’s on
Don’t smoke next the gas tanks
Don’t weld in room full of TNT

I think you get the point. However, it easy to get comfortable in your abilities and forget about the little safety measures that come into play more often then say, welding in a room full of dynamite.

IN THIS POST

In this quick video I go over those simple safety tips that you need to know and remember every time your having fun with a project.

Click here to view the embedded video.

TAKE ACTION

Think about the last project you worked on or take a look what your creating now. Are you ignoring the little things and just focusing on the big ones? Make yourself a safety checklist ( a reminder really ) and put it on the wall in a spot where you’ll see it while your working. It won’t take long before their engraved in your brain and they’ll become second nature.

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?

If you have something to say, let me know by leaving your comments and questions in the comment box.

How To Change The Liner In A Mig Welder

HomeWelder — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:18:21 +0000

Changing the liner in your mig welder isn’t something that you’ll have to do very often, but it’s something that can stop you in your tracks if you don’t know how to do it the correct way. Sometimes these kind of repairs can seem huge (especially if you have no idea where to start).

Luckily, changing your liner is a cheap and quickly fixed problem. Most liners have price tags from $18-$23 and can be changed in less than 10 minutes without any special tools.

WHEN DO I NEED TO CHANGE MY LINER

One easy to diagnose problem is if you know you have kinked your line in some way. Maybe you dropped something heavy on it. If you notice the wire running really slow or not at all after the drop, you need to change your liner. Other times you may need to investigate a few other possibilities first.

If your wire starts running slow or has a start – stop – start – stop type of action then the first thing you should check is your tip. It’s possible that you’ve collected too much slag on the tip, which can slow you down very quickly.

The next thing to check is the tension adjustment pushing the wire down onto the drive motor. A simple little turn of the knob may be all you need to get your wire feeding smoothly again.

If these aren’t the problem, you should replace the liner. Sometimes the liner is just old and should be replaced anyway.

IN THIS POST

In this video, I show you how to quickly and easily change the liner in any mig welder.

Click here to view the embedded video.

TAKE ACTION

Make a visit to your local welding supply store, as if you really needed another reason, and find someone that can help you find the correct liner for your welder. If you can, go ahead and get it. It’s always good to have an extra liner around just in case you need it. You don’t want to be caught in the middle of a weekend project when your liner kinks up on you and half to wait until Monday to get up and running again.

COMMENTS & QUESTIONS

If you’ve got something to say, let me know by leaving it in the comment box.

The Best Known Way To Get Old Metal Looking Glamorous Again

HomeWelder — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 02:19:41 +0000

The key for most artists and entrepreneurs is finding cheap or just outright free materials to work with. The main problem with both of these is that most of time the material you find, or is given to you, looks like crap. It might even be covered in it.

Fortunately, there’s a tool that can make your life so much easier, when it comes to cleaning off such nastiness.

The tool I’m talking about is a wire cup brush that attaches to your angle grinder. Whether it’s just something simple like removing rust quickly or something a little more involved like removing 8 layers of old paint, a wire cup brush attached to your grinder will take care of it all.

In This Post

I’m going to show you how to attach and use a cup brush on your angle grinder. You’re going to see how fast and easy it is to use and the huge difference it makes in reviving old metal.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Where To Get Them

The great thing about these attachments is that you can find them in just about every hardware store. I usually get mine from Home Depot or Lowes, but smaller places like Ace Hardware always have them as well. Of course, any welding or metal supply places are going to have them.

Take Action

Do you have any old scrap laying around just building up rust? Or maybe you’ve got a bunch of cool tractor parts laying around just waiting to be turned into something. Take your cup brush to them and turn them into something beautiful again. You’ll be amazed at how just seeing the metal in a new light will inspire you with new ideas of what to make with it.

I want to hear what you’ve cleaned up and how it’s inspired you. Let me know by leaving a comment in the comment box for this post.

Got Questions or Comments?

If you do, let me know by leaving them in the comment box.