Metal advice needed

SteveB fired this volley in news:lpd650$753$1 @speranza.aioe.org:

Steve, you're over-engineering. It's just a friggin' lynch pin. Go buy a whole double-handful of them at Tractor Supply for $10. They'll even come with snap-lock rings to automagically hold them in place without any extra baling wire. The ring also serves as a handle to turn and pull them when they get sticky in the hole.

You can make better use of your time running your bush hog than making lynch pins!

IF your time value doesn't matter, just stick them together with whatever method is handy, including brazing or O/A welding, and after defluxing, either paint them or don't. You don't have to heat treat a part that's under zero mechanical stress. Weather will eat them up faster than wear.

Lloyd

Lloyd , I think maybe you missed Steve's whole point . Just a WAG on my part , but ...

"Terry Coombs" fired this volley in news:aBvuv.277026$ snipped-for-privacy@fx29.iad:

Must have! I sure don't see any point in spending $5.00 to make an 80-cent part.

LLoyd

Just use 1018 steel and any welding process you like. Parts are soft non-heat treated steel so they hold the pin without cracking or breaking, might get beat up a bit but it don't matter. Remove 333 to reply. Randy

Zing ! or was that Whoosh ? Good one Steve , it went right over the heads of at least a couple of folks .

I'll post a picture, as it is in a place where just a common pin won't work, I believe. Maybe it will, or someone will have another alternative or part number. There are a number of these keepers on the tractor, so yes, I would like to just go buy a handful of them.

Today, I have to go to the cabin and change the kitchen faucet, and some motion lights. Will post this evening or tomorrow.

Steve

SteveB fired this volley in news:lpe9dq$ta1$1 @speranza.aioe.org:

They also have a sort of pin that looks a little like a large thumb screw. It has a round shank with a flat on one side and a keeper ball at the end, and an oval flat tang on the end so you can grasp it with thumb and a couple of fingers.

I can't think of many places where you couldn't fit a regular lynch pin, even if the bail wouldn't lock around the end of the pin -- but these don't have the bail, so they might fit better.

Still only a $1.50 or $2.00 each, even with the two moving parts (ball and spring).

Lloyd

SteveB fired this volley in news:lpe9dq$ta1$1 @speranza.aioe.org:

PS... you might also consider some short eye bolts, as being similar to what you have to make, maybe even with a nyloc nut on the other end to keep them from working loose.

Lloyd

Lloyd, Lloyd, Lloyd. How many people here go out in their shop, and spend hours building 1/8" widgets in their 12" jawwed cnc lathe? Well, in this group, not a lot, most are curmudgeons or political nutjobs. But there are still a few people who don't mind taking a break from SWMBO or Nancy Grace, and going to the man cave and making some chips. I would like to believe that there are still a few here who do make thinguses from spare parts and junk, rather than go buy overpriced Chinese crap, or find it difficult to make it to the store, or just find some of these exotic parts from out of production motors hard to find.

I do manage my time, but at times, find it worth the time and effort to just go out there, and make one like Dad would have done. My time is valuable, and I am a very important man, but not to that degree. If I ever reach that stage, I think a rethinking would be in order.

YMM(and probably does)V

Steve

I throw away NOTHING. I can scrounge up the parts, probably paid for five times over from different T&M jobs. A round trip to town is sixty miles, and at 15 mpg or so, I come up with $16. Plus, I could make some in less time than I'd spend out dodging uninsured impaired drivers in the 110 degree desert balm.

Steve

If the wire is already in the machine then MIG would be my first choice because of speed and looks. Then flux core, then 7018 or 7014.

I would space the rod about 1/8 inch from the bar so you get penetration. And then use what ever welding process is the most convenient. For me that would be SMAW 6013 rod as I have an AC stick welder next to the garage doo r and plugged in. Any other welder would take more time to plug it in , tu rn the gas on etc.

After welding one side, I would flip it over and weld the other side.

If the parts are mild steel , then heat treatment would have no effect.

Naturally if the parts are stainless steel, you would not use 6013 rod.

Dan

I love 7014, but to get any kind of a vee in there between the two parts, I find it difficult to get a good solid weld in a short space. I end up with slag inclusions, or burnthrough, or just slag. Yes, I will probably do it with .035" E70-S-6 and 75/25 mixed gas. Gives a nice appearance, but one must do root preparation, or get a cold lap weld.

Steve

SteveB fired this volley in news:lpf0mm$qdg$1 @speranza.aioe.org:

Steve, if "pretty" is the goal, braze it.

Easy, fast, and the nicest-looking weldment you'll get between any two pieces of metal. Plenty strong.

Lloyd

I'd just stick weld it. But then I have a LOT more stick welding experience tha wire feed experience and I can make a MUCH better job with a stick welder. A 6010 or 6011 "tack rod" would be a lot better than the 7018 or 7014 for the application. 6010 requires DC electrode positive to make a decent weld, so in most situations I'd be stuck with 6011 on a "buzz box" The application has no need for the extra strength of a 7000 series rod. And 7018 that hasn't been kept perfectly dry can be a trial. (like all Lo-Hiy rods)

Particularly if you drill the big peice to pretty well slip fit the round bar in - and sweat braze it. No need for a fillet braze in the application- particularly if all you are doing is holding the pin in the hole. You can make a very solid and almost invisible joint.

My point was that I personally find it difficult to get things "pretty" when there is only a short run of metal, or basically a spot to weld, doing it with a rod.

A friend of mine was an inspector on a job we were doing for Banister (the Alaska Pipeline people) through the Atchafalaya swamp. I asked Francis what made a good inspector. He said that the average human can spot 90% of bad welds just on appearance. After that, it gets internal and complicated. I have found that if a weld looks "pretty", it's most likely sound, and done with knowledge and skill.

Although, I have said (and offended some people by saying) that I could teach a chimpanzee to wirefeed in less than a day.

Steve

If you can stick weld that well, wirefeed should take you until lunch on a bad day to learn.

Steve

Would that be a flux coated rod, and getting it hot enough to flow like a solder joint? That sounds pretty nice. The hardest part would be getting the hole drilled in the flatbar.

Steve