The Impecunious Engineer

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The Impecunious Engineer

This topic has 34 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated 11 January 2011 at 17:05 by ChrisH.

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3 November 2010 at 20:39 #58084
Sub Mandrel
Participant
@submandrel
Can I suggest that we build on the fine hints and tips thread with a sort of bargain hunter thread?

Went to Aldi tonight and picked up a 3 piece step drill set (TiN coated HSS) and a set of 10 diamond files for £4.99 each. The files are a bit crude and only 60% of the blade is coated, but they are larger than the more usual ‘fine needle file’ type, and should be good for initial shap of hard materials.

Also they have an arc welder set for just £35 – if you buy one check it works as soon as you get it home and keep the receipt (don’t ask…)

Neil

P.S. I also pesuaded the SO to get me a USB microscope for my birthday, and I suppose I could use it for inspecting small parts…
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3 November 2010 at 20:39 #30307
Sub Mandrel
Participant
@submandrel
Ways of saving Money
5 November 2010 at 10:06 #58198
Howard Jones
Participant
@howardjones35282
Steve aka wombat was once at an auction of machinery and since all the attractive items had gone the crowd had thinned out appreciably.

well up came a pallett load of phosphor bronze offcuts and dregs. all usable stuff but all around 6 inches diameter. when no one else had bid Steve put his finger up and said “five bucks”. the auctioneer looked at him and looked at him. then said “do I have any advance on five bucks?” “do I have any advance on five bucks?!!!” “going once, going twice, going three times, sold to the man for five bucks”

later in the afternoon as steve was wondering just how he would get the heaped pallet load home a chap walked past and muttered “god that’s what I bloody need, hey mate what did you pay for the lot?”

“five bucks”

“what!! there must be nearly $5,000 worth of bronze there”

it eventuated that the guy was desperate to replace the guide rollers on his factory forklift.

he paid steve $50 quite happily for two 6 inch diameter offcuts.

the moral of the story is that sitting behind a computer may not get you the bargains.

sometimes you have to be in the right place at the right time with the five bucks.

Edited By Howard Jones on 05/11/2010 10:09:32
5 November 2010 at 13:35 #58212
John Haine
Participant
@johnhaine32865
Aldi USB microscope + Proxon drill with XY table = travelling microscope. Made one earlier this year, useful for measuring things like lathe tool tip radius.
5 November 2010 at 13:53 #58213
Tomk
Participant
@tomk39956
Howard had a similar experience at an auction a few years ago. Seen this and it was at the end of the auction. I bought it for £2 including comission. It fits onto my myford cross slide.
5 November 2010 at 19:04 #58234
Ian Abbott
Participant
@ianabbott31222
Picked up one of those welders from LIDL a couple of years ago for using around the farm, where it’ll get beaten up pretty quickly. It’s an AC unit, I think, but works ok. The thing to watch is the duty cycle. After a minute or so welding, it needs a day to cool down and reset.

No, I’m not joking, 24 hours to reset.

Ian
5 November 2010 at 21:52 #58243
Sub Mandrel
Participant
@submandrel
Wow that’s nice Tom. What is it?

I bought a similar price welder from Machine Mart . I learned to weld with it getting a 28 year-old Bedford van through its MOT (the quote was £300 for the job because it was hard to get at!) It need about 10 minute cool down every 4 or 5 sticks, but I just use the smallest stick size.

My stepson has bought an auto-darkening helmet – I think it will improve my ‘chunky’ results a fair bit!

Neil
5 November 2010 at 22:21 #58251
Tomk
Participant
@tomk39956
Stub Mandrel

It is for turning radi on the lathe . It is used for ball turning. There is more pictures in one of my albums.
5 November 2010 at 22:22 #58252
Nicholas Farr
Participant
@nicholasfarr14254
Hi Neil and Ian, I’ve got an old SIP one, I bought back in 1985, it was just the same 4 or 5 rods and then a pot of tea and biscuits. I bent up a piece of thin sheet with a gap at the bottom, put a fan out of a big old daisy wheel printer in the middle so it blows up through the welder and then attached the the whole caboodle onto the bottom of the welder using the casing screws ( with the fan connected to the 240 input of course) and hey presto I could use 12 to 15 rods on the trot.

Regards Nick.
5 November 2010 at 22:58 #58254
KWIL
Participant
@kwil
Well that will be a “Turbo” welder then! Cooling fans are usually around the 120mm size when fitted.

Edited By KWIL on 05/11/2010 22:59:25
6 November 2010 at 10:05 #58267
Gordon W
Participant
@gordonw
Just a bit more on cheap welders, mine is about 40 years old now, last year I got round to improving it- drill large cooling holes in base and side, make feet so bottom is well clear of bench, fit cooling fan. Huge improvement. last year bought a bench drill from large DIY place for about half price, end of line jobby. Had to see manager and sign a paper not to sue them, because instruction book was missing.
6 November 2010 at 11:31 #58274
Nicholas Farr
Participant
@nicholasfarr14254
Hi, for those who are interested I have put some pics up of my “Turbo” welder as Kwil has tagged it. Kwil the fan has an airflow port of 112mm.

Regards Nick.
6 November 2010 at 11:49 #58277
KWIL
Participant
@kwil
I have a couple of Draper 180A Turbo MMA welders, one is still brand new (unwanted gift) which I could be persuaded to part with. I prefer the big MIG welders but this is OK for most home based jobs along with the Oxy for finer work.
6 November 2010 at 20:26 #58308
Sub Mandrel
Participant
@submandrel
Mine has a fan already!

Doesn’t matter as I’m a big ‘fan’ of tea and biscuits too…

Neil
6 November 2010 at 20:38 #58312
Ian Abbott
Participant
@ianabbott31222
Out in the shed under the combine, with no fan avalable, we had to make do with the normally aspirated version of the LIDL welder. The first time, we had coffee, tried again, had lunch, then dinner, gave up for the day, came up to the shed at ten am the next morning and voila, there we were, another minute’s welding. I shed tears over the MIG that I’d sold for a song before leaving Canada for home.

Having said that, the LIDL unit works fine for small jobs where a two inch bead is it until the next time.

Ian
6 November 2010 at 20:47 #58313
Sub Mandrel
Participant
@submandrel
I have the idea of making a small lathe ‘for the fun of it’ and fabricating the bed from 3/8″ flat (I made a wooden pattern, but finding a someone to cast it…)

How big a rod can you get away with on these small welders plugged into an ordinary 13A socket, and what amperage rating can you use. Wiring into a 30A spur is feasible for me, but I’d rather not as it means no heating in the workshop for the duration!

Neil
7 November 2010 at 09:51 #58327
Gordon W
Participant
@gordonw
Stub_ small welders such as these will run 10G rods 3.2mm no problem at 100 amps or 12 G 2.5mm at 80 amps. I usually run small rod (2.5) at high current on such as 3/8″ black bar, then build up with more runs if required , to get penatration. NB I’m not a skilled welder and others will no-doubt tell you different.
7 November 2010 at 10:42 #58332
KWIL
Participant
@kwil
I run with 4mm rod when welding channel girders (100mm wide x 70mm) for machine handling frames and trolleys. Well within my 180 amps and no timing problems. Do not forget to prep the joints so you can get a good penetration.

Edited By KWIL on 07/11/2010 10:44:18
7 November 2010 at 11:20 #58334
ChrisH
Participant
@chrish
Bought a MMO – Millington Mail Order I believe – 140A arc welder back in the early 80’s. It may have been a SIP welder with a MMO badge, I don’t know. It’s a good machine anyway. Could get a while on it before it tripped on overtemp, but left for an hour and I would be back in business for a wee while before it tripped again – annoying. Then in the early 90’s fitted a 240v cooling fan out of an old computer inside the welder casing at the back, wired to come on when the power was turned on and bingo, no more over heating, worked a treat.

However, tried welding the other week after not having used it for about 4 years and a problem has surfaced. Either it trips the MCB immediately it’s switched on, or, if it doesn’t then it’s OK until it is switched off again. I don’t understand it at all but am not surprised – I never trust anything with wires coming out of it. Tried changing the MCB from a 16A to a 20A – the welder is all the MCB supplies – but no difference. So if anyone can shed any light as to what that problem may be I would be very grateful!
7 November 2010 at 12:23 #58341
Howard Jones
Participant
@howardjones35282
chris your problem is probably inrush. the current surge on first turning on.

most domestic circuit breakers expect something called a C inrush which will trip out with a welder. there is a D type which hangs in there longer before tripping and is welder compatible.

I have an electrician friend who has had a D type breaker in his van for nearly a year to fix my problem. havent caught up with him though.
7 November 2010 at 12:27 #58342
Steve Garnett
Participant
@stevegarnett62550
Could be you’ve just been lucky in the past, because what it sounds like is that you’ve got a typical domestic ‘A’ trip MCB, and these are notorious for tripping out for just about no reason at all. If a lightbulb blows, that’s often enough. There are other specifications available though from most MCB manufacturers (B, C & D) which allow much higher surges whilst still retaining the same long-term current rating, and it may well be a good idea to fit one of those instead, because the transformer in pretty much any welder has a pretty high switch-on surge current.
7 November 2010 at 13:37 #58345
ChrisH
Participant
@chrish
Howard, Steve,

Many thanks for your advice. I will see if I can get a ‘D’ type MCB. I suspected that it was the initial voltage surge on switching on that was causing the problem, which is why I tried a 20A job in a naive attempt to fix the problem.
8 November 2010 at 10:28 #58419
Ian S C
Participant
@iansc
Chris, is the fan still working, or has it got clogged up, maybe with spider webs. Ian S C
8 November 2010 at 18:22 #58445
Ian Abbott
Participant
@ianabbott31222
Speaking of LIDL’s good stuff, I was in there the other day and they had something like 10″ pots with four foot trees, labeled “Giant Bonsai Trees”.

Ian
8 November 2010 at 18:30 #58446
ChrisH
Participant
@chrish
Ian, Yes the fan is still working, could hear it before I then took the cover off to hunt further, as the first thing I thought about was dead spiders or some other insect shorting across something, but it was all clear.

I thought it must be the start current surge as I switched the welder on whilst holding the MCB in (don’t tell the H & S gestapo, they don’t understand real life) and she switched on no worries. Didn’t know about this C rush stuff, or such things as A, B, C and D type MCB’s, but you never stop learning and I do now!

Chris
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