For steel I have a small assortment of magnetic holders for quickly positioning pieces for welding. Put a tack or two on, check the angles and finish the weld.
Um... how do I do that for aluminum? Modeling clay?
I have a pretty stout welding table that is sheared square with the corners cut off, so I locate off the table edges a lot. I use several of those corner clamps, but they are not real square. I also have some of the cheapo cast iron right angle blocks that I clamp to the work with C clamps. C clamps are the backbone of what I use. The Vise Grip welding clamps are good too.
Most of what I do is TIG welding and the magnetic clamps cause major arc blow for me, so I never got to liking them much for steel.
BobH
And for TIG that can't stand a magnet to be near by ?
Same issue as Aluminum I suspect.
I have items the size of a thumb and have to do T TIG joint - the flat is on the bottom with a rising shape - small joint area. All I can figure is sacrificial clips that hold but overheat and go bad.
Maybe I can spot weld and then forget the clip. ?
Martin
Mart> For steel I have a small assortment of magnetic holders for quickly
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I bought a Miller handheld 220V spot welder used and it is very cool! I folded up some sheetmetal boxes and spot welded them together and the results looked pretty professional. If you are doing small work, the
120V one would probably be fine. The 220V version will blow holes in the work if you are not quick and the work spotless clean.Bob
I keep an assortment of short bits of angle iron and some small spring and screw clamps.
A guy can NEVER have too many guns, tools or clamps. I've got clamps that I use once every two years. But when I need them, I'm not goofing around jerry rigging. Also, if one does much work at all, they should just make up some special clamps for that particular job. It really helps to put out a good final product.
Steve
THAT, I can relate too. I've got a whole drawer full of wrenches I've bent with a torch and hammer or shaved with a grinder or both for special applications. Some I've only used once. The first one I can think of was a special offset to reach the carb /manifold bolts on a Ford Granada when I was a teenager. I have used that wrench once or twice since, but I always cursed its awkwardly bent angle. LOL. That is the one good application for el cheapo wrenches. One off, custom bent, one time use special applications. Everybody should have a couple sets of them.
I bet. I have a ton of misc clamps for various things, and one I've found amazingly helpful are the heavy bar clamps usually used for wood working... after I take off the plastic non-marring cups and put them in a drawer.
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