Stryco blade welder

There are three ways to accommodate different blade sizes:

1) Use fixed pressure and vary the current. 2) Use fixed current and vary the pressure. 3) Vary the current and pressure.

Control of the weld cycle may be done by a timer, either of fixed duration or one that varies with blade size, or by switching off the primary power based on the movment of the jaws as the weld upset occurs. The later method is more precise and seems to be the method of choice on some of the better blade welders.

Your welder appears to be a fixed current, variable pressure, timer controlled system. And given that it is a 220VAC it may be rated for 3/4" or 1" blades. Assuming that 1 on the pressure dial is the lowest pressure and 6 is the greatest, position 6 would be used for a 3/4" blade and 1 for a 1/4". When the pressure is correct for the width blade there will be minimal sparks and an even upset along the weld. Experiment with a 1/2" blade and you'll find the "sweet spot" pretty quickly. Where the pressure dial winds up for a 1/2" blade will give you a good idea where other blades need to be welded.

In my experience with home made welders (I've built four) a large shower of sparks indicates an excessive current/insufficient pressure relationship.

It is really important the the ends of the blade be squared off and match before welding. This is best done by flipping one end of the blade, holding them together and grinding both at the same time. Ground this way any error when grinding will cancel out when the ends of blade are oriented normally in the welder jaws.

It sounds like you may have never used a blade welder before. And if that's the case surely one of your clients has one and an experienced tech. It would be well worth your time to watch someone weld a blade correctly. You'll see what a proper weld looks like and will be able to "dial" yours in.

FYI: Stryco still exists and makes blade welders. There's nothing on their site

about older models, but you might try contacting them for info on this one.

Normally annealing is done with the jaws open. And it is really important to shade the jaw area so that you can see what's happening. The guy that taught me used to turn the lights in the vicinity of the welder off and use the built in work light on the welder for setup and turn it off when annealing. In a darkened area you just barely want to see a glimmer of dull red at the weld.

The test for proper annealing is to flex the blade at the weld. If it breaks it wasn't properly annealed. Note that it isn't necessary to be able to bend the blade back on itself, although a fully annealed weld will survive this. A modest bend, say around 90deg, without breaking is good enough.

Rating? None listed on the data plate, but the last time I had blades welded, the shop used one very nearly the same and he was welding 1" blades with it.

Gunner

"To be civilized is to restrain the ability to commit mayhem. To be incapable of committing mayhem is not the mark of the civilized, merely the domesticated." - Trefor Thomas

heavy...geeeze.

shield

making

Pumpkin

civilized,

I don't know anyting about welders, but I am amazed at the odd bits of Science Fiction that you toss about. I haven't thought of Mannshein Drives since Highschool. A lifetime ago. No I am have to track down the Grimes series. I think machine tools would be a cheaper hobby. Terry

I'm not familiar with this model. I have used a Do-All built into the saw at work. It is a fantastic welder, and produces a weld that outlasts the rest of the blade, and with as little flash to be ground off the weld as could ever be possible.

I lucked into a German blade welder on eBay. It is not quite as good as the Do-All, but it does work. More sparks, way more upset and flash, so it takes a fair bit of grinding to get it back to the same thickness as the blade. Some of these welds last a long time, some fail after a few minutes of cutting. So, I'm still getting all the settings right.

But, anyway, the welder I have has a multi-position knob that sets the weld current, in about 6 steps. It also has a knob that sets the jaw pressure for welding or annealing (2 pos). It also opens the jaws about

1/4" wider when in the anneal position. Both welders can easily get the blade up to dull red in about 5 seconds when annealing. Only the very center gets red, as the jaws draw heat off at the sides. Both of these welders, as far as I know, use a mechanical latch that allows one weld cycle until the jaws move together a certain distance. You then hold the weld button until the weld has cooled. If you take your finger off the weld button too soon, the jaws pull the weld apart. So, they don't "time" the weld, they zap it until the springs "upset" the blade.

Jon

The data plate says this is an 18 amp (at 220vac 1ph) or 4KW welder.

Gunner

"To be civilized is to restrain the ability to commit mayhem. To be incapable of committing mayhem is not the mark of the civilized, merely the domesticated." - Trefor Thomas

"This is Liberty Hall. You may spit on the mat and call the cat a bastard"

Gunner, with around 6000 books in the library..and a large percentage of them being Ace Doubles

"To be civilized is to restrain the ability to commit mayhem. To be incapable of committing mayhem is not the mark of the civilized, merely the domesticated." - Trefor Thomas

OK, I am going to have to find out where you live, and a time when you won't be home, and a BIG truck to haul all those books away in. Your tools, pets, and guns are safe, but those books, that is a differnt story! Terry

Come over when Im home and Ill help you load....

Gunner

"To be civilized is to restrain the ability to commit mayhem. To be incapable of committing mayhem is not the mark of the civilized, merely the domesticated." - Trefor Thomas

I missed the staff meeting but the minutes show Gunner wrote back on Mon, 13 Dec 2004 19:23:39 GMT in misc.survivalism :

Its a trap Terry. First he helps you start loading the truck, then he points out a "good one" the next thing you know, it's dark and you haven't finished the book, and there are three more on your knee, and "how did it get to be election day already?" Rogue librarians are going to hijack you and your cargo, and you'll never be heard from again. Put to work chipping away in a federal quandary....

There is a variant - he shows you a good book, drives away with the truck, drops the load in a storage building, picks up his load.....returns in time for the next book and next heavy load needing transfer. :-)

Martin

I should have mentioned..for every 100 books, you are obligated to take one cat or puppy.

Which makes the "three on your knee" comment so poignent

Gunner

"To be civilized is to restrain the ability to commit mayhem. To be incapable of committing mayhem is not the mark of the civilized, merely the domesticated." - Trefor Thomas

I will only have to take 20 kittens, great, I will be out the week beteen Christmas and New Years. Right after I win the lottery. Only one little problem, I don't play the lottery. I figure that not buying a ticket only decreases my chance of winning by a very slight amount. Now if I could find a winning lottery ticket that would be cool. Not imposible, but unlikely. A friend was layed off about 10 years ago, Christmas was lookng grim. His young daughter picked up a "scratch off" lottery ticket spent the entire trip home looking at it, so my friend and his wife decided to relate how bad a choice buying lottery tickets was. Explained odds to her, As they arrived home, she commented, somehing similar to, know that winning is rare, that you stand a better chance of being hit by lightning, butif winning tickets are so rare why would someone thorugh a winner away. Her mom, assuming her daughter had misread it, asked to look at it, and freaked. It was a winner. 25K. After the moral debate what to do with the ticket, after all how do you find the original purchaser, they decided to wait a week or so to see if any news stories about lost wiing tickets ran, and when none did, the decided to cash it and put it away for their daugthrers college fund. The dauhgter, a mature 8 years, argued that her dad should use the money to get some addtional training. That she had 10- years before she could go, but her dad, and the family could realy benefit from his going to school. He got a AA degree, a much better job, and the daughter started college this fall. So you can win without playing, but all in all I would prefer to set my money on fire and watch it burn as to waste it on lottery tickets. This time of year the burning money would supply a little warmth. So as soon as I find a winning lottery ticket I will be heading out that way. Maybe we could combine our respective book collections and start a"really big" library, Terry

I will only have to take 20 kittens, great, I will be out the week beteen Christmas and New Years. Right after I win the lottery. Only one little problem, I don't play the lottery. I figure that not buying a ticket only decreases my chance of winning by a very slight amount. Now if I could find a winning lottery ticket that would be cool. Not imposible, but unlikely. A friend was layed off about 10 years ago, Christmas was lookng grim. His young daughter picked up a "scratch off" lottery ticket spent the entire trip home looking at it, so my friend and his wife decided to relate how bad a choice buying lottery tickets was. Explained odds to her, As they arrived home, she commented, somehing similar to, know that winning is rare, that you stand a better chance of being hit by lightning, butif winning tickets are so rare why would someone thorugh a winner away. Her mom, assuming her daughter had misread it, asked to look at it, and freaked. It was a winner. 25K. After the moral debate what to do with the ticket, after all how do you find the original purchaser, they decided to wait a week or so to see if any news stories about lost wiing tickets ran, and when none did, the decided to cash it and put it away for their daugthrers college fund. The dauhgter, a mature 8 years, argued that her dad should use the money to get some addtional training. That she had 10- years before she could go, but her dad, and the family could realy benefit from his going to school. He got a AA degree, a much better job, and the daughter started college this fall. So you can win without playing, but all in all I would prefer to set my money on fire and watch it burn as to waste it on lottery tickets. This time of year the burning money would supply a little warmth. So as soon as I find a winning lottery ticket I will be heading out that way. Maybe we could combine our respective book collections and start a"really big" library, Terry

Why do I have a mental picture of the sign in front of Farnhams Freehold..."...mind the mines, and those who are late returning books will be hung"

Gunner

"To be civilized is to restrain the ability to commit mayhem. To be incapable of committing mayhem is not the mark of the civilized, merely the domesticated." - Trefor Thomas

I missed the staff meeting but the minutes show Gunner wrote back on Tue, 14 Dec 2004 05:06:53 GMT in misc.survivalism :

I thought so. Gunner hands you a "interesting book". Then while you are distracted by that, he uses arcane Buddhist Gedi Minds tricks so you don't notice him emptying boxes of books, and filling them with cats. Then he sends you on your way, and when you get home, there you are with a herd of cats, and a bunch of books he didn't want: Tropic of Calculus, Great Buddhist Accountants of Belgium, the Collected Speeches of Albert Gore, The Joy of Sox, Ignorance for Dummies, and Breaking Machine tools for fun and tax write offs. Tricky people, these renegade Buddhist Furrballs.

tschus pyotr

I missed the staff meeting but the minutes show Gunner wrote back on Wed, 15 Dec 2004 17:55:10 GMT in misc.survivalism :

I'd have thought you would have used that for a back stop, or to level one of the machines. Or is that really what you dropped on your toe last spring?

But of course.

I use T1 plate for back stops, and normally use 1/8" aluminum plate for leveling via stacking.

Hummm it may have been a chip off the old block so to speak.

I wonder how much that check cost them to process?

Gunner

"Gunner, you are the same ridiculous liberal f--k you ever where." Scipio

I missed the staff meeting but the minutes show Gunner wrote back on Fri, 17 Dec 2004 08:37:25 GMT in misc.survivalism :

Well, there is that. [Obligatory metal working content.] But if you come across any more copies, let me know. I'm looking fro a cheap source of shielding for the home built reactor, and I want to save the lead for casting bullets.

Depends on whether they cashed it at the Buddhist Monastic Bank. I understand they had an account there. (Or was that the Mekong River Bank? The memory was seared, seared I tell you, into my memory I think - what were we talking about?) [1]

tschus pyotr

[1] All of a sudden I am recalling the early Bloom County strip, where in Milo is interviewing the fat Senator, who is pontificating, and asks "Ah.. what were we talking about?" and Milo says "You were about to explain how you laundered the kick-back money." "Ah yes,... ."