Nice Belgiun-made Charles Daly 28 gauge came in missing its top lever latch. Having never seen the part, it took me some time to figure out what it should look like. Had the part almost finished and went too far with the file, rendering a couple hours work useless. Just picked up a new Miller welding helmet which has a 2.5 magnifier lens in it so I figured I may as well give it a try. Set up my torch with a .062" electrode and using a bread tie for filler managed to put this bead right where it needed to be. You just never know what you can do until you try.

Could You send some more fotos of that 28. cal. Charles Daly ? It seems that I have quite similar Saive Super in caliber 12. I have read that some early Chs. Dalys are actually made by Saive.

Well done.

Brilliant precise work! Did the repair require hardening and if so how did you do it?

Bread tie?

Why

I case hardened the piece using Kasenit. I used a bread tie because it was the finest steel wire I had on hand to use for fill.

Outstanding job, never thought of using bread tie wire. I have been there with having to make small-tiny welds. But I use 2.5 X in the helmet and 3.5X drugstore glasses. and end up inches from the part to weld.

Nice work! How did the bread tie flow? What current? Just curious...

Cheap dress makers needles. You can get them in a multitude of thicknesses. Heat them to cherry red first to flake off the plating and lightly sand with #400 W&D. They seem to be made of some form of Air Hardening, Zimbabwe Death Steel. The finished weld will be rock hard. They will also gas weld very well if you use a very soft flame.

I've used bread ties for fill wire for years. A lot of work to prep them, you have to peel the paper or plastic off. I set the max current at 20 amps but it probably takes half that.

Take whatever .062 filler you wish to use for a walk to the belt sander or the bench grinder

I have no idea how many hundreds of yards of rod I've ground through the past 30 years but not very often these days

You can spin whatever dia. you need 2 or 3" at a time between your fingers pretty fast

When I buy tool steel rod these days I order .030 or smaller unless it's Rockmount Brutis

For that I buy .062

Well saved Sir
Kudos

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:
Take whatever .062 filler you wish to use for a walk to the belt sander or the bench grinder

I have no idea how many hundreds of yards of rod I've ground through the past 30 years

You can spin whatever dia. you need 2 or 3" at a time between your fingers

When I buy tool steel rod these days I order .030 or smaller unless it's Rockmount Brutis

For that I buy .062

Put a short length (2 to 4 inches) in your cordless drill and spin it over the grinder or belt sander Ted. Much more quickeresterest and you don't burn your puddys.

I regrind TIG tips that way too. Just hold it pointed down to the belt or wheel travel to get your grind marks going up and down instead of round and round so you don't get a wandering arc.

magnifier in the helmet is priceless at times isn't it

Spearchucksr

Chem-Sharp for never leaving the bench to sharpen

And....I buy my rod thin these day

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:
Spearchucksr

Chem-Sharp for never leaving the bench to sharpen

And....I buy my rod thin these day

OH MY ! You young fellers and your fancy doo dads and doo hickers. I didn't even know there was such a thing. Went to YouTube and watched a video. Almost like magic even. LOL

Good lord by the time you fart around with that I can have a whole package of sticks sharpened. That looks like a solution to a non-existent problem.

quote:

Originally posted by Rolland:
Good lord by the time you fart around with that I can have a whole package of sticks sharpened. That looks like a solution to a non-existent problem.

Well, yeah. But it's REALLY COOL and think of the possibilities if you had 45 gallons of the stuff. I'd never have to go out in the dead of night to bury another whiny customer again ! LOL

quote:

Originally posted by Rolland:
Good lord by the time you fart around with that I can have a whole package of sticks sharpened. That looks like a solution to a non-existent problem.

If you are referring to using a heat activated sharpening compound

It takes 10 seconds or less in a real life tool shop and you never leave the bench.

Every minute counts when your competition is China

i cant think of how many feet of .030 safety wire i have used for filler. the spool of MIG wire aint bad either...

I worked for a plastic injection mold processing plant many years ago. Their specialty was medical devices. We had a mold for heart catheters using flexible PVC. The allowable flash on the tip was .0002" with no mismatch permitted. The tool needed repairs occasionally and was sent to a place that performed micro welding. I went to the facility once to see how they do it to determine if it was something we could start doing in-house.......NOT A CHANCE! They were TIG welding under a microscope. It was robotic and the puddles produced were .001"-.002" deep and .003"-.005" across. Absolutely friggin incredible.

Andy B

Even us Injection Mold Makers from Swampeast Missouri know a little about that kinda stuff.

I just had a wonderfully, horrible, nasty idea. I may just toss my hat in the ring to take up a collection and we can get you a set of those moleskin, Hello Kitty, sewing thimbles to use as welding mitts so you don't sunburn the tips of your widdle puddys anymore Ted !

I wasn't using that hat anyway. No hair to hold down anymore. Mind you. I was thinking of letting whats left on top and in front grow really long, dye it orange and do a really big, wrap around comb over. It's gonna be big. REALLY BIG !!! LOL

Gloves......at the micro amps that little sucker produces it doesn't even make the part hot or even turn blue

You know, I have no idea what you guys are talking about but this old dog LOVES the hell out if it. (welding some dohickie with a thing-a-mabob, I'm guessing)

I love seeing the banter of folks at the top of any craft and I'm amazed and entertained by y'all!

Thank you,
Zeke

I use piano wire from the hobby shop for small tig welding filler it comes in 30" straight sticks and many very small diameters plus, I use it to wind coil springs. The post weld gas flow will chill and harden it so many times you need to draw it back to keep it from being brittle.

Mig wire works for mild steel but I clean the copper coating off the wire if the part is to be blued.

quote:

Originally posted by elk hunter:
The post weld gas flow will chill and harden it

Please explain this to me

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:

quote:

Originally posted by elk hunter:
The post weld gas flow will chill and harden it

Please explain this to me

I've heard people mention that before Ted. Small quick welds with high carbon steal like drill rod or music wire often come out at near full hardness. People have told me that its because the argon or carbon mix blowing on it after the arc moves away that super cools it and hardens it. I seldom say anything but I think it might have something to do with the big heat sink that they are welding on that rapid cools the fill and for lack of a better description: "quenches the weld area."

ADD NOTE: I don't think real welders actually make a habit of welding with drill rod and music wire. The stuff is just to prone to creating porosity in the weld and cracking where the dissimilar steels meet. I think the welding gods actually reserved welding jobs like this for farmers, gunsmiths and weekend warriors who are trying to save themselves or a customer a couple hours of machining work and replacing it with a 5 minute tack-and-grind.

Argon must be magic stuff

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:
Argon must be magic stuff

Actually it is. Not just for welding either. It's starting to replace nitrogen as the most common oxygen excluding gas here in packing plants for meat, vegetables and wines. They say it works better, but I imagine when it comes right down to the nuts and bolts of it, I bet the crap is just cheaper to use somehow. I have always found that the cheapest way is always the best way. Even it's not the best way ! Well, according to government and big business anyway.

I gotta get me some magic Argon

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:
I gotta get me some magic Argon

Hell, I'll sell you some. I got this prime bit of, piece of, I'll call it green area or wildlife habitat. Maybe it's kind of a swamp. Anyway, it bubbles and gurgles like a vegans gizzard when he accidentally eats a beef burger instead of a regurgitated soybean meal burger. I'm sure we could toss a tarp over it and catch some of that wonder gas. It smells like a cross between doggy breath and loon farts and if anything would be good at displacing oxygen, it would be that acrid, yellow, smelly, crap !

Toss in some of these high quality filler rod replacements and you've got a deal

While we are at it

I gotta meet a "professional" welder some day and take notes

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:
Toss in some of these high quality filler rod replacements and you've got a deal

While we are at it

I gotta meet a "professional" welder some day and take notes

No one gets my cherished supply of baling wire and pipe cleaners buddy ! Have you ever tried welding with plastic baling twine and those silly plastic vape sticks that the kids are all sucking on? The crap doesn't even seem to conduct electricity all that well.

And I don't think there is a such thing as a professional welder anymore. Well, there are those high school kids with their self darkening masks with Donald Trumps face painted on them and welding machines that you can't even clamp a stick into anymore. But I aintent to sure about them fawkers. Back when I was a kid we used to take the wind drift of our arcs and the refraction of light through our masks and the smoke cloud into consideration.

he he he

Yep.....you can buy filler as small as you wish but in most applications .010 is as small as I care to use and that's with the LaseOne and 40X microscope

.030 is as small as I use with a micro or a standard size TiG torch

I will also point out that when at all possible I use parent metal and not some "exotic" for several reasons.

Reason #1 would be customer requirements.

Reason #2 would be re-heat treat

Resonance #3 would be color match

Reason #4 would be for acid texture

1.....the customer doesn't want "exotic" metals introduced or used in their product

2...."exotic" metals will not heat treat the same as the parent metal or may not heat treat at all

3....parent metal will match in color after polish or bead blast when "exotics" normally will stand out and advertise the welded area

4....acid textures will bring out a welded area faster than anything

I once worked on a weird [non-welding ] progect where we needed SMALL dia wire . it was.0005 dia , soldby the pound of course .We learned quickly that if you dropped a piece don't look for it ,you'll never find it !!

quote:

Hell, I'll sell you some. I got this prime bit of, piece of, I'll call it green area or wildlife habitat. Maybe it's kind of a swamp. Anyway, it bubbles and gurgles like a vegans gizzard when he accidentally eats a beef burger instead of a regurgitated soybean meal burger. I'm sure we could toss a tarp over it and catch some of that wonder gas. It smells like a cross between doggy breath and loon farts and if anything would be good at displacing oxygen, it would be that acrid, yellow, smelly, crap !

Pickled eggs and beer will get you the same thing

Or pickled turkey gizzards and Fitgers beer

Well, this degenerated quickly

John, do me a favor. Tuck a note in the action of my brother's gun when you finish it telling him "This end toward user".

LOL! I have two brothers so I understand.