marking on steel

[BrokenBiker]

I have just had my missus grandmother on the phone asking if I can make a name plate for the gate ive just done for her.

she wants something simple, jus the name of the house, in a nice hand drawn font, with it written in weld.

so the idea is, get hold of a bit of 10mm scrap plate, drill some holes in it to mount it then mark out the words and trace with the mig.

but, the question is, what do I use to mark it out so I can still see the line when I am welding. I normally use a red felt pen to mark out where I am going to cut or drill but I know for a fact I cannot see that with an arc going

 

[Tigman]

draw it on in pen then centre punch it along the line many times ! it works !

 

[rikrobson]

chalk

 

[wristpin]

Marking chalk

http://www.thewelderswarehouse.com/Welding/Engineers_Chalk.html

or just Google engineers' marking chalk

it's harder and easier to draw thin lines with than the black board variety.

 

[chunkolini]

Another vote for engineers chalk.
Harder and easier? Tautology?
Ah! harder on the Moh scale, not a 4.46am mind melt.

 

[julianthegypsy]

Not done it with mig, but if I want a good cut with oxy I centre punch repeatedly so I have a nice dotted line to follow. It takes a few minutes but I've always found it worth it.

 

[migman2014]

Engineers chalk as above, oh and a steady hand!

 

[wristpin]

Another vote for engineers chalk.
Harder and easier? Tautology?
Ah! harder on the Moh scale, not a 4.46am mind melt.

Yea, it was early - well, late actually!

 

[reedx]

Or you could try my usual belt and braces approach, and rub engineers chalk over the punch marks to make them more visible

Colin

 

[wristpin]

Just occurred to me that if you have a Dremel or some such tool you could "write" the name with a light grind mark. Come to think of it how about a coloured felt tip? (wide awake now)

 

[BrokenBiker]

cheers lads, will go with the chalk I think

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

French chalk is the best, dosen't burn off like felt tip.

 

[BrokenBiker]

cheers lawnmowerboy