DAPPH
as dyslexik as I'm daft
- Messages
- 6,492
- Location
- Near to Cross Hands Llanelli SouthWales GB
As a birthday present for my lass I purchased two 600 mm x 6 mtr aluminium scaffold platforms with a water resistant wood impregnated with resin walk way . These are so she can take her 60 plus Bonsai plants out of my raised veg beds and let me get back to my Specialist , " All new square foot gardening " .
The platforms are to be placed on four trestles for each platform to bring the table top height up to 110 mm high .
Everything arrived yesterday ..
Whoopeee. The only trouble is that the lightweight trestles I purchased are made for 1000 mm wide platforms . A desperate check on the companies website didn't reveal anything about the widths being different to the width of the ordered platforms . As I ordered them over the phone after finding them on the internet , I decided a quick call to the sellers was in order to get thing ssorted.
As I brought up the website on my screen I noticed something that I'd missed before . At the end of a short technical description it said " More " in blue lettering.
So I clicked on it ....... Bugger it stated inthe extra info that all trestles are 1000 mm wide so after swearing a lot and a bit more at my stupidity , I started thinking how to sort the problem .
The company do not make bespoke trestles for 600 mm wide or 300 mm platforms ( because if the need for stability once the platfroms are above 600 mm high apparently .
They will take them back so long as I pay the carriage of about £50 and they will take a 20 % handling charge . so I'll lose about £120 .. I though buger that for a game of soldiers I'll chop and mig them myself
.
Now it's nigh on 50 years since I did any serious mig & tig stuff, I've been lent a very basic Clarke 85 EN B gasless mig welder ,it had nearly a full reel of flux cored 0.9 mm wire on it . So I cut a trestle down & used the unwanted bits to practice on after a quick refresher on mig from the sites welding guides . I got seven decent runs with reasonable penetration after i used a fine flap wheel to remove the galvanized coating on the thin tubes ( wall of 1.5 mm thick ).
I then flapped all the areas round the cuts and started to sucessfully mig two tubes at 90 degrees .
then the wire ran out .
Now being aware of the need for more consumables I nipped out and purchased four new correct grade flux cored 0.45 kg reels from a local Machine Mart .
I did a test trial run on some more waste metal just in case there was any difference in the wires..
" Oh dear ! " I said aloud ,or words to that effect .......several times over .
There is a tremendous difference even though all of the wires are Machine Mart sourced and have the same part numbers .
Now the problem I have is no matter what feed speed I use at the high or low current rating ( it's a real cheap Clarke jobby without any dial-able current control ) , I cannot get a satisfactory weld run.
On the low current @ speed six I can get a tiny fabulous transfer arc with a nice happy sound . The trouble here is that it will not penetrate the surfaces as there is not enough heat in the weld pool even if I try weaving it left to right & slow down the speed of my run .
On switching over to the higher current rate it simply blows holes in the thin wall tubes at low speeds or pushes back at any speed just above the end of the hole blowing speed .
So , now you know my amusement .......... I have some questions .for you all .
Yes , the machine is crap but it may also be something to do with the thin walled tube being electroplated inside & out with zinc .
Whilst I've used a flap disc to take off some of the external surface I'm loathe to really go to town on things as it will reduce the wall thicknesses ..
I don't have anything to remove the zinc from inside the tubes .
What can I use ( if anything ) to remove the zinc plating & make it weldable ?
Do I have to admit defeat and buy some aluminium round bar & turn it down to make connecting rods once I've cut out the unwanted metals from the middle of each trestle ?
Is there something I've missed in welding these ( 2 mm thick wall) galv tubes that I need to know so I can give it another go tomorrow .
Dave .
The platforms are to be placed on four trestles for each platform to bring the table top height up to 110 mm high .
Everything arrived yesterday ..
Whoopeee. The only trouble is that the lightweight trestles I purchased are made for 1000 mm wide platforms . A desperate check on the companies website didn't reveal anything about the widths being different to the width of the ordered platforms . As I ordered them over the phone after finding them on the internet , I decided a quick call to the sellers was in order to get thing ssorted.
As I brought up the website on my screen I noticed something that I'd missed before . At the end of a short technical description it said " More " in blue lettering.
So I clicked on it ....... Bugger it stated inthe extra info that all trestles are 1000 mm wide so after swearing a lot and a bit more at my stupidity , I started thinking how to sort the problem .
The company do not make bespoke trestles for 600 mm wide or 300 mm platforms ( because if the need for stability once the platfroms are above 600 mm high apparently .
They will take them back so long as I pay the carriage of about £50 and they will take a 20 % handling charge . so I'll lose about £120 .. I though buger that for a game of soldiers I'll chop and mig them myself
.
Now it's nigh on 50 years since I did any serious mig & tig stuff, I've been lent a very basic Clarke 85 EN B gasless mig welder ,it had nearly a full reel of flux cored 0.9 mm wire on it . So I cut a trestle down & used the unwanted bits to practice on after a quick refresher on mig from the sites welding guides . I got seven decent runs with reasonable penetration after i used a fine flap wheel to remove the galvanized coating on the thin tubes ( wall of 1.5 mm thick ).
I then flapped all the areas round the cuts and started to sucessfully mig two tubes at 90 degrees .
then the wire ran out .
Now being aware of the need for more consumables I nipped out and purchased four new correct grade flux cored 0.45 kg reels from a local Machine Mart .
I did a test trial run on some more waste metal just in case there was any difference in the wires..
" Oh dear ! " I said aloud ,or words to that effect .......several times over .
There is a tremendous difference even though all of the wires are Machine Mart sourced and have the same part numbers .
Now the problem I have is no matter what feed speed I use at the high or low current rating ( it's a real cheap Clarke jobby without any dial-able current control ) , I cannot get a satisfactory weld run.
On the low current @ speed six I can get a tiny fabulous transfer arc with a nice happy sound . The trouble here is that it will not penetrate the surfaces as there is not enough heat in the weld pool even if I try weaving it left to right & slow down the speed of my run .
On switching over to the higher current rate it simply blows holes in the thin wall tubes at low speeds or pushes back at any speed just above the end of the hole blowing speed .
So , now you know my amusement .......... I have some questions .for you all .
Yes , the machine is crap but it may also be something to do with the thin walled tube being electroplated inside & out with zinc .
Whilst I've used a flap disc to take off some of the external surface I'm loathe to really go to town on things as it will reduce the wall thicknesses ..
I don't have anything to remove the zinc from inside the tubes .
What can I use ( if anything ) to remove the zinc plating & make it weldable ?
Do I have to admit defeat and buy some aluminium round bar & turn it down to make connecting rods once I've cut out the unwanted metals from the middle of each trestle ?
Is there something I've missed in welding these ( 2 mm thick wall) galv tubes that I need to know so I can give it another go tomorrow .
Dave .