Looking for easy Mac boarding in campground

[K9Kampers]

I got started by taking a class at a nearby community college... "Welding for the artist". It covered brazing, stick, MIG, TIG, torch cutting, plasma cutting, and blacksmithing. After that, I invested in a MIG welder and do mostly art and yard fabrication projects. For simplicity, I use my MIG gasless. A lot of ideas for the boat but I've not yet ventured into SS.

[Bilgemaster]

Give me the list of stuff to buy - I don't know nothin bout welding but I'm willing to give it a try.

What welder should I get? and what other things do I need?

I can only weld certain metals. right? Is there an online place that will tell me what to do the first time I fire up that welder? I'm gonna try it - I have a lot of stuff I could make.

Not the greatest welder available, but if you just want to give it a whirl, you can pick up one of these little guys for just about a hundred semolians at Harbor Freight (they frequently go on sale for much less than even that from time to time...I think I paid $78 for mine):



Though it comes with a little hand-held eye protection thing, while you're there, you would also do well to get yourself a proper welding mask (about $40) and some leather welding gloves (about $10) whose cuffs go up over the forearms a bit...That is, unless you want to blindly smell someone nearby barbecueing, and realize you're the main course.

If you find you really LIKE welding...and my hunch is you might...you can always get a bigger and more powerful 220 volt rig. There's always a few on Craigslist. But this little Harbor Freight fellow has it's own virtues. For one thing, you can plug it into a regular wall outlet. You won't need a special 220 outlet, like the one your clothes dryer might use. There are also LOTS of YouTube videos about using them and easily modding them to be all they can be. For example, some folks swap out the flux-cored wire that comes with the unit for a premium brand like Lincoln, and report far better results. Others fuss around with its wire-feeding gear or replace its tip.

Anyway, if you want to just give welding a try, there you go.

[BOAT]

IF I LEARN TO WELD I CAN MAKE PARTS FOR YOU GUYS!

[Ponaldpe]

[quote="BOAT"]IF I LEARN TO WELD I CAN MAKE PARTS FOR YOU GUYS![/quo


Yes You can make me that Island in The Florida Keys.

[Sumner]

A good article on welding stainless with a mig....

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/su ... lders.aspx

Note that at the end of the article they recommend a different gas mixture than what you normally use with a mig, but one can probably ignore that to some degree if they are welling to accept the results.

I use my TIG on SS but a good TIG with bottles and other items is going to run you over $2000. The up side is that you can now also weld aluminum easily. Down side is that it isn't as easy to learn on as the mig and not as easy to weld some items if you are welding in awkward positions. I started with a stick welder and then got a 110 mig (good for body work) and then my current 220 mig, which I can use for body work and trust on heavier materials (1/8th and up). Then I bought the Lincoln Precision 225 TIG I also have. I use the TIG whenever I can and for all aluminum and SS. I see it has gone up about $400 since I bought mine but a friend of mine found a used one at a good price.

I've stuck with Miller and Lincoln and have been very happy with both. They work and give good results,

Sumner

============================
1300 miles to the Bahamas and back -- 2015

The MacGregor 26-S

The Endeavour 37

Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

[C Buchs]

My brother and I bought a Miller that can run on 110V and 220V. It has a separate gun for running gas for stainless work. I haven't used that functionality yet.

Jeff

[BOAT]

Can you weld steel to aluminum?

[Sumner]

Can you weld steel to aluminum?

Yes, but I don't think you and I will be doing it ...

http://www.esabna.com/us/en/education/b ... -steel.cfm

Sumner

============================
1300 miles to the Bahamas and back -- 2015

The MacGregor 26-S

The Endeavour 37

Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

[BOAT]

Uhhh, I think I will take that as a NO.

I was wondering if I could make this part with a welder:



It's an aluminum bar with a steel fitting on it:



They go together like this:



Guess I can't do it.

[Bilgemaster]

Back to the topic at hand, namely "Looking for easy Mac boarding in campground," just as a followup to my earlier posting about my non-standard swim ladder mounted to port of the port rudder, it now sounds to me like some of you might rather have some sort of step ladder leading up to the transom in mind.

As it happens, I also have a similar sort of 3-step step ladder to K9kampers' shown here, but without that sort of flip-out paint stand platform bit. Mine's steps are all aluminum alloy, and so far it has been rugged enough to stand firm under my prodigious ribs-and-corn-fed girth without the shrieks of metal fatigue alarming nearby woodland creatures. It's a great little unit that I use to hop up over the side into my "Foundling" Com-Pac 16. I cannot now remember where I got it last year as an impulse buy for some mindnumbingly low final ultra-super-markdown-before-we-throw-it-into-the-dumpster price like $9...It could have been Lowes, Home Depot, Costco or even Walmart. I weirdly cannot now recall at all where I got it. I would love to show you an online picture of it, but cannot. Even though I know the name of the manufacturer ("Cosco," but not "Costco") and even scribbled down its model number, I can find no reference whatsoever to it anywhere on line. This is actually quite mysterious...It is as if I somehow got the last one in the Galaxy, after which all knowledge of its very existence was purged and expunged from the world mind: no web references...no reviews...no manufacturer blurbs...no ANSI certification notices...no recalls...nothing... It's almost as if that model never existed. Wɛird, Huh?...



Still, even though mine, like K9kampers', has a topmost cross-brace handhold part that slides nicely over my tow beast Durango's rear passenger seat headrest for nice and secure transport--almost like it was made for it--that handhold part is probably exactly NOT the feature you might be looking for in a transom entry step ladder, as opposed to over the side. No, you and the kids might prefer something you won't have to step or trip over, like this 3-step one, which you can pick up at an Ace Hardware for about $40...a nice solid-looking bit of gear that one could also use around the home off-season.

Of course, there are lots of fancier-schmancier items out there, even color-coordinated to your 26X, but you'll usually have to talk to some guy named Fong in Shanghai to get one:



I think the coolest of all, and potentially the most practical at a campsite, where good comfy chairs are always at a premium, might be some sort of folding aluminum tube version of Ben Franklin's famous combination chair-and-step-stool library chair things. Maybe "Boat" can weld us each up a few once he gets the hang of that new welder? Whattaya say, Boat? There are plenty of DIY guides for the wooden ones on YouTube. Get the gist from there and go to town!:



Anyhow, happy hunting!

[BOAT]

I still think it would be a lot cooler to weld up something for a ladder . .

[Highlander]

Well if u have a pick-up u could go with an electric lift tailgate

J

[Tomfoolery]

I taught both my sons to stick weld, using the 230A AC buzz box I bought when I was in high school in the 70's and have been dragging around with me for decades without using. They make their own workout equipment every so often.

Like this adjustable glute/ham-raise machine my younger one built.



And this push sled my older one built that he and his whole college baseball team ended up using (strength coach wanted him to build another for official use).



Younger one, hard at work. Green/yellow Linde welding machine is at the bottom-right. Boat crap is everywhere else.



You can't do SS with a buzz box, but the point is to get a DC wirefeed machine, some gas, and start practicing. You don't need high amperage for boat parts, it's all relatively thin material with small fillet welds primarily, so small wire and low current is the order of the day.

And the suggestion to take some lessons at the local trade school or community college is a good one. It'll shorten the learning curve, at the very least, but you'll learn things about welds and welding that you may never pick up without real instruction.

[Bilgemaster]

Well, in case anyone's hankering for one of those little Harbor Freight flux-wire welders, just to give it a try, there's a coupon to pick one up for just $89.99 with a free flashlight or a pack of little microfiber towels or some batteries, good for the next few days (until January 2nd) right here, with another coupon with a welding mask on sale for just $39 and with other freebies ending tomorrow (December 29th) found here.

[Bilgemaster]

Happy New Year Folks! Just as a followup, earlier I mentioned a nice little Werner aluminum step ladder for boarding Macs from the stern for about 40 bucks. Well, it seems they're now on sale at Ace Hardware for just $29.99 until the end January 2017. So, there you go. Werner's a thoroughly decent quality brand name product likely to last a lifetime or longer, and It might be handy around the house off-season, too.