A Day In The Office

Tooth

Tooth

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
Yesterday I stopped at James shop to take my lunch, he was putting heli hooks on the frame of the Hummer. He wasn't getting into his work he was actually getting onto his work:laugh and then I went and weld on a car trailer that had some stress cracks in the aluminum. Cracks be gone!:dance I'm going to let Jamie finish sanding it down putting the rivets in it and polishing it. Besides it's his trailer he owns it and he can polish on it till it shines like a diamond. Don't look at the light!
you can see the (HELI HOOKS) sticking up out of the hood of the Hummer in James pics. I really like my aluminum welder, but way different than welding steel.

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Iowa 409 Guy

Iowa 409 Guy

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 15
All I ever used to weld on aluminum was a stick welder... that's all we had. Welded mostly on truck boxes and raised the transom on my Jon boat. I remember there are lots of different compositions of aluminum and you had to use a stainless? wire wheel to clean the area. Also, you had to run the bead pretty fast.
 
Tooth

Tooth

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
Iowa 409 Guy said:
All I ever used to weld on aluminum was a stick welder... that's all we had. Welded mostly on truck boxes and raised the transom on my Jon boat. I remember there are lots of different compositions of aluminum and you had to use a stainless? wire wheel to clean the area. Also, you had to run the bead pretty fast.
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You have to use argon gas, and yes a stainless steel brush! Aluminum has to be scrubbed and cleaned or you get contamination explosions! For the spool gun you have to be at about a 15 degree angle and you always have to push your weld, and you have to move at twice the speed of a MIG welder. But once you get the hang of it it's like welding butter. I use Eagle brand aluminum etching wheel cleaner to clean the aluminum sometimes. It cleans aluminum really really good:good the only disadvantage with a spool gun is it's hard to weld thinner than 14 gauge.
 
Jim Sullivan

Jim Sullivan

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 10
I used a spool gun for welding aluminum for a while. It sure is much faster than tig. But I haven't used the spool gun since I got my tig welder.:)
 
Tooth

Tooth

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
Jim Sullivan said:
I used a spool gun for welding aluminum for a while. It sure is much faster than tig. But I haven't used the spool gun since I got my tig welder.:)
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JIM, I too use a TIG welder. I think I have it all covered! A lot of difference in all of them. I even have perfected the oxy acetylene welding too. Only thing hard to weld is rust and air.:dunno2:scratch
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Iowa 409 Guy

Iowa 409 Guy

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 15
Tooth said:
JIM, I to use a TIG welder. I think I have it all covered! A lot of difference in all of them. I even have perfected the oxy settling welding too. Only thing hard to weld is rust and air.:dunno2:scratch
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Oxygen acetylene welding...yep been there done that with the flux and the brazing rod. Got a laugh out of hard to weld rust and air. You need a "gap rod" otherwise known as a piece of rod introduced into the gap when putting the rod to the parent metal. Old school welding here, by the time we got around to modern wire welding ect, I was in the office. But i will say i have burnt up hundreds of pounds of Stoody 2110 and 7018 rod in my lifetime. Vertical, overhead, you name it. You wouldn't believe the story behind the welder I grew up with. I believe I've posted that before.
 
Tom Kochtanek

Tom Kochtanek

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 13
The LS6 went to Boonville and is now in Rick Ball's collection. I've heard there are some 50 cars now in his private collection. He's been buying SWC's lately and I think he now has more than a few of those.

I remember the night a bunch of guys pulled that Chevelle body off the frame in that garage in Ashland :).

James, i did see your Suburban parked outside of Mark's around 4:00 PM today, I was on the way to KC and trying to avoid that accident blocking traffic on westbound I-70. Couldn't stop, had the wifey and 3 year old grand daughter in tow :).

Cheers! TomK
 
Tooth

Tooth

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
Iowa 409 Guy said:
Oxygen acetylene welding...yep been there done that with the flux and the brazing rod. Got a laugh out of hard to weld rust and air. You need a "gap rod" otherwise known as a piece of rod introduced into the gap when putting the rod to the parent metal. Old school welding here, by the time we got around to modern wire welding ect, I was in the office. But i will say i have burnt up hundreds of pounds of Stoody 2110 and 7018 rod in my lifetime. Vertical, overhead, you name it. You wouldn't believe the story behind the welder I grew up with. I believe I've posted that before.
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Yes I'm aware of that Gap rod, I use that trick when I'm filling holes in body panels were the trim used to go...:good
 
Tooth

Tooth

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
Tom Kochtanek said:
The LS6 went to Boonville and is now in Rick Ball's collection. I've heard there are some 50 cars now in his private collection. He's been buying SWC's lately and I think he now has more than a few of those.

I remember the night a bunch of guys pulled that Chevelle body off the frame in that garage in Ashland :).

James, i did see your Suburban parked outside of Mark's around 4:00 PM today, I was on the way to KC and trying to avoid that accident blocking traffic on westbound I-70. Couldn't stop, had the wifey and 3 year old grand daughter in tow :).

Cheers! TomK
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My neighbor Roger Snodgrass sold his 63 split window Black on Black and his 69 L88 Black on Black 4 Speed vets to Rick a couple of years ago. We used to do a lot of cruising together when I had my 69 GS convertible Buick. Sadly I think Roger lost interest in old cars and Hot Rods:cry:cryblow
 
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Tom Kochtanek

Tom Kochtanek

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 13
Phil:

Once I saw the line of cars on the entrance to the I-70 freeway I took a detour thru SW Columbia and made my way on the back roads to the next exit West (old Highway 40). Oddly enough there were no cars behind us once we got on the freeway :). I noted the "gaper's block" on the East bound lane, people stopping to see the carnage. Looked like a passenger car, a truck hauling a huge trailer and an 18 wheeler traded some paint...

Tooth: Roger was one of the first guys to contact me when I purchased my SWC 20 years ago. He had that '63 fuelie and she had the '69 427 car. Didn't know it was an L88.
 
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