Got an unused box of ten sticks, Sylvania brand .025 by 7" thoriated
tungsten.

Anyone have a use for it? It's not terribly expensive stuff. Swap for???


Jon

On 3/5/2012 10:09 PM, Gunner Asch wrote:

Gunner raises his hand in interest.

PM reply on the way!

On 3/6/2012 1:28 PM, Gunner Asch wrote:

Ive had some intererst in welding beer cans together.....G

Post a pic if you pull it off. I've been the best TIG welder at most
shops I've worked at, and I can't butt weld two beer cans together.
Interestingly, nearly every place I've ever worked, someone has walked
in the door looking for a job claiming they can. Not a one has ever
produced such an example of welding skill, nor have the ones hired, been
willing to demonstrate.

Damn sure, if I could butt weld two beer cans together, I'd be bringing
a sample to the interview!


Jon

Jon Anderson wrote:

On 3/6/2012 1:28 PM, Gunner Asch wrote:

Ive had some intererst in welding beer cans together.....G

Post a pic if you pull it off. I've been the best TIG welder at most
shops I've worked at, and I can't butt weld two beer cans together.
Interestingly, nearly every place I've ever worked, someone has walked
in the door looking for a job claiming they can. Not a one has ever
produced such an example of welding skill, nor have the ones hired, been
willing to demonstrate.

Damn sure, if I could butt weld two beer cans together, I'd be bringing
a sample to the interview!
Jon

Ahhhh, I think the issue is finding the Beer can butts to weld.

The butt is the part with the asshole, and in my experience, the
asshole is usually the guy holding the beer can while it goes from
full to empty.


But more seriously, the trick is probably to use some really old
fashioned beer cans, i.e. pre aluminum, or at least pre the aluminum
foil they are able to make them out of now.


jk

On 3/7/2012 1:57 PM, Gunner Asch wrote:
....

Ayup. Though Im more likely to try welding the rims of Monster cans
together. Those *******s are indeed aluminum foil. Ive busted holes in
the cans while loading them in the truck..and never piercing the thin
plastic bags they were in.
....

These guys do it routinely...

Belfab was a subsidiary of Babcock & Wilcox when I was in the Nuclear
Power Generation Group many, many moons ago. They were our supplier for
the incore detector assemblies at that time. Since were spun off when
B&W exited the full-service nuclear vendor and sold the fuels and reload
business to Areva.

http://www.techneticsgroup.com/products/bellows/edge-welded-metal-bellows/

One one trip to their facilities (Daytona Beach) the were fabricating a
set of bellows for NASA for the Apollo program I believe. They were
simply incredible--about 1/2" diameter collapsed 1/4" thick a whisper
of air in the open end and they would expand almost a foot. Constructed
by welded flanges--one couldn't see the weld seam under the microscope...

Truly amazing...

--

On Wed, 07 Mar 2012 08:45:57 -0800, Jon Anderson
wrote:

On 3/6/2012 1:28 PM, Gunner Asch wrote:

Ive had some intererst in welding beer cans together.....G

Post a pic if you pull it off. I've been the best TIG welder at most
shops I've worked at, and I can't butt weld two beer cans together.
Interestingly, nearly every place I've ever worked, someone has walked
in the door looking for a job claiming they can. Not a one has ever
produced such an example of welding skill, nor have the ones hired, been
willing to demonstrate.

Damn sure, if I could butt weld two beer cans together, I'd be bringing
a sample to the interview!


Jon

I worked with a guy that could weld aluminum coke cans. He mentioned
it one day and I said the same thing that you did, so he showed me.
You need a machine that can be accurately controlled to very low
currents. you need filler rod that is about the same thickness as the
can, he used narrow pieces cut from another can. You also need a
really close fitted, or overlapped joint. Grind and polish a very long
taper on the electrode and start the arc on a piece of thicker
aluminum, or copper, then move to the can. He didn't weld the entire
circumference but he did weld a half, three-quarters, of an inch.
enough to prove he could do it.
(I have never tried it myself though :-)


--
Cheers,

John B.

On 3/7/2012 10:40 PM, John B. wrote:

You need a machine that can be accurately controlled to very low
currents. you need filler rod that is about the same thickness as the
can, he used narrow pieces cut from another can. You also need a
really close fitted, or overlapped joint. Grind and polish a very long
taper on the electrode and start the arc on a piece of thicker
aluminum, or copper, then move to the can. He didn't weld the entire
circumference but he did weld a half, three-quarters, of an inch.
enough to prove he could do it.
(I have never tried it myself though :-)

That's impressive. I've never said it can't be done, just that I've
never seen it done nor an example. But the guys that claimed to do it,
said they just butted two cans together, which leaves a deep vee joint
really, and a hell of a lot of surface area relative to metal thickness.


Jon