weld vs bend

I wanted a swivel mount for a retracting airhose reel I got at HF on a halfprice sale.

A $2 door hinge might have sufficed here. Nevermind that.

Pls refer to photo of this air hose swivel mount at

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The "obvious" way to make such a thing is by bending the 1/4" x 1 HRS parts, but I can't bend 1/4" steel with any precision even with heat. That's not to say it can't be done, I'm just no good at it.

I made tabs and pre-drilled them 1/2" with holes located accurately by drilling them in the mill. I then clamped the bits to be assembled to a 1-1/2 x 1 x 8 copper bar I found as "drop" at the metalmonger. I'd zinged a chamfer on one corner of said bar on the belt sander. I use that copper bar a lot as an aid to welding.

I filled the open corner of the parts clamped to the copper bar with weld. The welds only took a few seconds to make. I used MIG but a buzzbox stick welder would have worked as well, albeit with more smoke, slag and spatter.

The pin is .4975 dia. It was nominally 1/2" CRS rodstock from the ironmonger, I chucked it up and laid a file and then some strip emery paper on it till it was shiny and a bit less than .500 dia. The head was made of 3/4" CRS with a hole zinged in with a 2-flute

1/2" mill in the tailstock chuck. Said head is then secured to the pin with Loctite 680.

It took only two judicious hits with a brass hammer to make this job work like a safe hinge, one hit on each piece after welding. I inserted the pin, noted the extremes of misalignment with the hole on the other end, licked my finger to test the wind and hit it. Bingo first try both times.

Then I zinc plated the lot.

It feels like the hinge on the door of a safe. Yes, Jeff Wisnia, I'm still and agan gilding turds and enjoying every minute of it.

My point here is to note that we hobby metalworkers may well use different approaches than make any sense in a shop that must turn a profit. Joy is in the fit and function, having fun is job 1.

Reply to
Don Foreman
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And that's the thing I'd like to hear about. Want to tell us about your plating setup?

Could be Jeff doesn't understand the mindset of people like us. I'm the kind that will take another 1/64" cut off the length of a stud when framing a wall. Did it today, in fact. It's sort of a disease!

That, and turning out a job you can be proud of. Like you, I like my projects to not only work, but look good, too. That was one of the keys to my success in running a small job shop for years.

Real cool, Don.

Harold

Reply to
Harold & Susan Vordos

I'm glad I am not the only one. I am now working on a roof on one of my rentals. It had saggy rafters and unable to find anyone that had a solution to the rafter sag, I made truss rods to pull them up.

I made these from 1/4 rod. I welded a tab on one end and threaded the other end. An angle iron bracket and a few lag screws and when I tightened the nut the rafter trued up.

A close inspection of the other 5 units shows the same problem so I suspect that I will be doing this again. Next one I do I think I will rig it so I don't need to drill through the ceiling to bolt the rafters and thus avoid all of the sheet rock repairs.

Reply to
Roger Shoaf

Jeff just likes to tease me because he is inordinately clever at finding dirt-simple fixes while I typically make a project out of almost everything.

The plating is done in a plastic bucket using stuff from Caswell.

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It costs a few bux to get set up, but the stuff lasts for years. Zinc plating is very easy to do. I just bought the chemicals and a zinc anode from Caswell, used my own bucket. You need a source of DC current. If you have a variac, a battery charger works well. It takes about .02 amps per square inch of workpiece. Zinc runs at low voltage -- about 3 volts. I use a surplus electronics bench supply. I very seldom need more than 1 amp. This hinge ran at 0.6 amps.

I zinc plate about everything I make out of steel that'll fit in the bucket, particularly if there will be metal-to-metal contact. I just put a cover on the bucket when it isn't in use. You can put as much zinc on as you want, which may be far more than you get on "hardware store" hardware. I'd liken hardware store zinc plate to about 2 minutes in the bucket: just enough so it doesn't rust on the shelf at the store. . I give most things about 45 minutes in the bucket.

For even more protecti>

Reply to
Don Foreman

Thanks, Don. I'm very familiar with plating from the perspective of having it done by others, but desire to eventually do my own. My previous requirements were all to Mil spec , so it precluded my doing any of it because it all had to be from certified sources. I was engaged in defense and aero-space work.

I have a large rectifier, 3 phase, solid state, that came from the same shop that used to do my plating. I will eventually set up in a building set aside for plating. I'd like to do zinc and nickel. I've already done cyanide gold and copper on a couple of items. Quite satisfying to see the end result.

I agree, typical zinc plating does nothing more than prevent rusting for the short term. I'm more interested in a better job so there's long term protection. Here in Western Washington it's not uncommon for hardware (nuts, washers, etc.) to rust after the first exposure to rain, and we get plenty of it. Looks to me like a quick dip in hydrochloric (muriatic) acid followed by a rinse and you'd be ready to plate with such items.

I appreciate your input.

Harold

Reply to
Harold & Susan Vordos

Don Foreman wrote: ... > I zinc plate about everything I make out of steel that'll fit in the > bucket, ...

Yeah, I'd like to do that.

I looked at Caswell's zinc plating kit:

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It looks like I have most of the stuff in the kit (buckets, degreaser, heater, abrasive wheel, & power supply). And I have plenty of zinc, so I guess what I'd need is their "Copy Cad® /Zinc Solution" and the "Zinc Brightener". Yes? What about their plating manual? I'd rather not spend the $22 if the zinc plating is as easy as it seems.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Engelhardt

Hey that "Gilding a turd" is just one of several silly expressions I like to use. Another is "There's a strong smell of stupid about this", and I find myself using that one more and more lately.

And when I have the time I do "overdo" things too, witness my project of a couple of years ago installing over 40+ different design antique doorknobs onto the knob sets in our home. I spent quite a few bucks buying old knobs on eBay over half a year's time. The antique knobs don't work any better than the smooth shiny Schlage ones they replaced, but they do add a touch of nostalgic class to the place, even if its noticed mainly by me.

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And FWIW, unless my memory is wrong, I think that the lathe toolholder in the second photo on that page was a custom made present to me from Don when I complained to him about chatter while using a cutoff tool held in the lantern style toolholder which came with that old Stark lathe when I bought it from some guy's widow circa 1970.

Happy Holidays guys,

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

Instead of zinc plating, why not try the old military plating called Parkerizing ? It is easy to do and resists rust. It can be done on steel only tho.

Roger

Reply to
Roger

Parkerizing is yet another process that I'd enjoy exploring. Do you happen to have any useful information concerning the methods in which it is done? If not, can you recommend a source?

Thanks,

Harold

Reply to
Harold & Susan Vordos

That looks like a fairly sturdy vise in the picture. My method for bending mild steel flat stock that's about 1/4" involves a big 3-4 lb hammer. I don't always choose bending, since it can be considered abusive to the vise. The important factor, I've found, is to apply the most force that's practical just above the vise jaw. If that requires using a piece of scrap as a drift, then I'll let the drift contact the workpiece just above the jaw, until the bend advances to the point where the hammer face can contact the bend area directly. To finish the bend, the last blows are straight down, and this creates a sharp inside corner, no radius. Sideways taps get the bent tang aligned. Like your example, I use MIG for cut pieces.

The times when I nearly always cut and join are when I'm working with aluminum over 1/16". No fancy welding equipment for this, so I use the aluminum repair rods and a MAPP torch. This works fine for mounting brackets and numerous other applications.

WB .............

Reply to
Wild Bill

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