"Ivan Vegvary" wrote in message
...

"Ignoramus8895" wrote in message
...
On 2010-06-29, Ivan Vegvary wrote:
I own about 80 tomato baskets. These are the conical wire supports that
hold up the plants as they hopefully grow. Every year about a dozen
baskets
experience failure by having one of their welds break. I segragate them
and
eventually they meet with my OA welding torch and get a new lease on
life.
SWMBO says I should simply buy new baskets. Most of them are at least
20
years old, back when you could buy them for $ 0.50 each. I refuse to
pay
$1.79 and up for new ones. Cheap? I would rather spend the money on
welding gas.

It is just one touch per joint with 3/32" 6013 electrode. Get an arc
welder.

i

Hi Iggy! I do have a large MIG and TIG. My experience with OA is much
broader, ergo my preference. BUT, taking your suggestion, this time
around I will try the MIG.

Thanks, Ivan

FWIW, I have two grill baskets made of mild steel wire, each over 40 years
old, on which I've used O/A to braze broken spot welds back together about a
half-dozen times in total. They've held up now for perhaps 10 years since
the last brazing job.

However, they're floppy as rabbit ears, now that I've taken the work
hardening out of them for maybe an inch in each direction from the braze
points. That hasn't hurt their performance.

Having arc-welded a bunch of concrete reinforcing mesh using the method Iggy
describes, my experience is that there is much less of that softening that
results from a quick hit with an arc welder.

--
Ed Huntress