September 13, 2007
     Just can't seem to get out of the heat...

Back out there again. Planned on an hour, stayed for over an hour and a half.

Again, it's all about practice. The more you practice the better you get. The welds I was happy with a few months ago just don't get it anymore. If I make a weld like I did back when, I'm disappointed in what I just did.

As of today... I haven't taken my welding to be viewed/critiqued by anyone. I've just been comparing my welding to what I've seen in books and in the DVD I have. I'll have to remember to bring a few samples with me the next time I go to an EAA Chapter meeting. Take it to one of the experts. I've been meaning to do that for some time now.

I just recently cut in half one of my practice welds. The tubing and the weld looks as if they're one. Put a smile on this boy's face. Time to fine tune my practicing. Not just a nice weld line... I've got to get that signature "necklace"... the ringlets, a nice throat on the line. More Practice... Just a matter of spending more time in the heat of the torch.

September 20, 2007
     Turning up the volume...

Played a little with the torch setting tonight. Went into "unknown" territory. Set the flame of the torch a little longer, a little hotter. Got the puddle moving real fast. Not that much popping either. As would be expected, it wanted to chew through that thin-walled 4130 like it was butter.

Based on a little over an hour of playing with that, turning up the heat produced flat welds with raised ringlets. Not what I would call acceptable for aircraft standards. The raised ringlets were produced by the force of the gases pushing out the end of the torch, lifting up the liquid metal like a wave.

I was at first disappointed in my welding tonight, but I realized I had changed it up a bit. No reason in feeling bad about that. A lesson learn... and that's what this is all about. Turn up the volume, turn down the volume, small rod, large rod, 10 pounds of pressure, five pounds of pressure. It's amazing what a little twist here or there will do to the puddle, aka good weld/bad weld.

September 24, 2007
     Three's a charm...

Yeah.... back out practicing welding again tonight. Thought I'd get a 1/2 hour before I did a little bit of CAD work. The 1/2 hour turned into an hour. as usual.

I think I've figured out what Manuel Benito, one of the guys on the biplane forum, was saying when he mentioned how he adjusted his torch flame.

Turn on and light the acetelane and adjust it to just where it's starting to get rough when you turn up the volumn of gas. Adjust your oxygen for that perfect flame tip. Waalaah ! Seems to be the length that I've been happy with when welding, only in the past it's taken me some time to find that adjustment by just playing with the torch for awhile in the begining of the session.

I also came to the realization that it's taking me about three weld joints to get into that "groove" where all the planets align and all is at peace with my welding. A little bit more practicing and I should get that down to two than one. Just need to keep a constant routine of practicing even if it's just a half hour a night.

What was that, that I was told in the begining.... practice practice practice. That's what it's all about.

September 27, 2007
     the breakthrough...

Back out... you know... back out to the garage workshop, the place I do all my welding. Wanted to put in at least a half hour tonight. That practice practice practice I'm always talking about.

Adjusted the torch to just about perfect from the getgo. The puddle flowed nice. Dipping in the weld rod, the puddle just ate it up. Still having an issue I've been dealing with for most of my time practicing... flat weld lines. Just couldn't figure out what was up with it. Less heat and the puddle didn't want to flow... more heat and I was blowing holes in 4130.

I thought maybe... just maybe, if I use a larger rod, say a 3/32, it would produce a throat on the weld that would be that nice mound of rings I was looking for. NOT ! The only thing that did for me was give me weld lines that didn't really look like they were attached to the two pieces of tubing I was suppose to be fusing together. Just looked like it was sitting on top... doing nothing but adding weight. Everything I tried doing, didn't work.

Not really sure how I discovered it. Might have been when I was twisted half-way around my work, half-way upside down... I dipped the rod in towards the back-side of the puddle instead of the front like I had been doing (probably by mistake.) I always thought that the front of the puddle is where the metal was needed. Tonight, I discovered that it's not the place that needs the metal... it's the backend of the puddle that needs that metal.

All these months and I couldn't figure out why dipping the rod in the front of the puddle made it stick most of the time. It was because the front end of the puddle is the coolest part of the puddle, just forming... not as hot as that "aged" puddle in the back. I was my own worst heat drain.

My inexperience, and feeding the rod to the front of the puddle, starved the back-end of the puddle of the metal that it needed to build up a nice weld bead. Without a source of metal to feed off of, it took whatever metal it could get from the back end of the puddle and just sorta mated the two tubes together the best it could. And the best that it could do was a flat weld line.

Feeding the back-end of the puddle... Never read this in any book or saw it on any DVD. Must be something that you see when you're watching someone right there in front of you. But hey... you've read it here, you've got a couple of months of me learning, from the start.

September 30, 2007
    good but not pretty...

Got in some welding practice over the weekend... actually today. whoo hoooo !

Got the lighting of the torch down and now I have the principle of my welding technique down. Getting consistently good welds... they just ain't that pretty. More time in the saddle and I'll start getting better looking welds too.

October 2, 2007
     Decided to back off a little tonight...

Turned back the pressure on both tanks tonight. Erich, from the biplane forum, had mentioned in an earlier post that he found 3 - 4 lbs of pressure gave him great control of the puddle.

Turning back the pressure slowed down the welding process, but it allowed me, like Erich, better control of the puddle. Allowed just as much heat, but the force coming out of the tip was reduced. It wasn't eating up the tubing as fast as 10 lbs of pressure, which I had been using.

Took a look at some of my older welds, as compared to tonights... they're hideous.

Here's one of my latest creations. Not bad for being self taught. Threw the photo up on the biplane forum. Scottly took a look at it and said "Although it's hard to tell from a picture, this weld appears to have adequate fill, adequate penetration, and good technique producing a good bead." He suggested a destruction test of it. I'll be doing that and making a report on it. Randy wrote, "I think I see two small spots in the center of the weld, top and bottom, that did not get melted into the base metal. Not a structural problem as long as it did not leave a pinhole. Otherwise, with welds that good I would be welding on the fuselage getting it tacked together. By the time it is tacked you will have improved another 75% and ready to start finish welding. Remember my first advice when you couldn't decide to weld or not - JUST DO IT.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I'll soon be tack welding up the fuselage and then on to welding it together. Moving right along...

Click here... for more welding. Pictures of mass destruction.