Custom Motorcycle Welding School

[giron]

can't wait till you start rolling cones and making titanium pipes

[Smoker]

Tried brazing the 1/16" filler rods. One was okay. One got brittle, and broke after welding. Need more practice. Deleted the finished pics by accident, then lost the pieces, as well.



Now have ideas for 2 sculptures. Not sure if either one will work out. Just experimenting with the TIG torch. First is an old school hot air balloon, then an old school air ship.

Ordered some brass tire valve parts to cut up and fabricate a burner. Should be here in a week. The air ship propeller is coming on a slow boat from China. Probably a month before it arrives.

Took a ridiculous amount of time to get the upper harness ring round and flat. Must have bent it a hundred times with my bare hands. Very happy the brazing went well. Looks like there's a small kink, but that's where the numbers are stamped.



Cut down the height of the basket today. Will try to add some rails around the top tomorrow.

[Smoker]

Had a problem with the Miller Dynasty 400 last week.

Couldn't get over about 8cfh when on AC. No matter how much I open the argon valve. No problems with DC-.

Instructor couldn't fix it. Had to go to a shitty booth. Hope I can figure out how to do a factory RESET by tomorrow night, so I can get back to my clean booth.

[Smoker]

Air ship propeller arrived fast.



Will start on the gondola while I'm figuring out how to mount the propeller.

[Smoker]

Been pretty quiet because I had some scary shit happen. As if the terminal cancer isn't enough.

About 3 weeks ago I was waiting outside for class to start. The sky was overcast. No visible clouds, just solid gray sky around 5pm. I look up at the sky and my entire visual field, both eyes, is completely covered with floaters. Hundreds of floaters. Not like dots. Like transparent gray worms and blobs.

Never seen or heard of this before. And I've been welding for about 8 months. I researched welding eye problems and didn't find this. So, lately in class, I've been just fabricating my little sculpture parts and a bit of TIG brazing.

I sent an email to a good eye surgeon that I know, but didn't hear back. About a week ago, I got another eye problem. Like a minor foriegn body or scratch. So, I went into urgent care. Was EXTREMELY lucky that the Chief of Ophthalmology was on call. I've done anesthesia for his cases hundreds of times in the past, so he took great care of me.

I knew the recent injury was not a big deal, but probably needed some antibiotic drops. Got those, all good. Now, the big issue. Are my eyes fucked from welding? Am I headed for cataract surgery or vitrectomy? I've spent thousands on all this welding stuff. Do I have to bail out now?

My medical knowledge is vast, but I don't know everything. Never heard of this. Chief said- "No way did welding for 8 months cause this." Evidently, it takes decades. Not uncommon for someone of my age that's near-sided. Probably never been in the correct light background to see it. Normally, I just notice a few floaters that are always visible.

Man, this scared the shit out of me, but I'm calming down. Can hardly wait to start bending & burning again!

[silverstrom]

Hoping for good things for you Pete. You've endured far more than most of us ever will and you still keep a positive outlook and push through your disease. Not many can do that.

Glad you're still here brother.

[Smoker]

Thanks, John!

Okay, so back to where I was. Trying out some brazing on very small parts.

These ER70 rods measure 0.059". Tried to add enough silicone bronze filler to flow completely around the rods. Without melting or burning the rods, of course. Already posted a pic of the setup.



First try was lumpy. Second try cracked in the middle. Must have got it too hot.

Still pleased with the results.

[rz500guytexas]

Sorry to hear. I am impressed with trying the welding. Never tried. Best wishes on the work and the eye thing. I am being revaluated in September with surgery decision at that point. Till then throttle therapy

[Smoker]

Sorry to hear. I am impressed with trying the welding. Never tried. Best wishes on the work and the eye thing. I am being revaluated in September with surgery decision at that point. Till then throttle therapy

Welding is definitely interesting and challenging. It's also been great to reduce my anxiety and depression about medical stuff. I'll get some more pics posted.

Hopefully, you have good medical care. You are one of my 2-stroke heros because of your vast knowledge, experience, and willingness to share. If you ever want to talk about surgery or anesthesia, PM me or just post up.

[rz500guytexas]

Cool will do. Right now I am good with check up in September. They do not seem too concerned so I have finally taken that attitude. Some days though your mind wonders. I am going to keep racing and doing track stuff as long as I can and want. Was like what Wayne Rainey said in his interview after riding the 500 at Goodwood that first evening. As soon as he was pushed off the start he forgot about everthing and it was just him and his old trusty bike that provided so much joy. I will post my favorite interview. Best wishes. COTA for my birthday on Sunday with both scooters

[Smoker]

Hope your birthday was a good one!

I'm always trying something new in my booth. If my torch isn't on, every student that walks by my booth looks in to see what I'm up to. Making some new friends, and having a good time.

So with those rods I TIG brazed, I applied the bronze on top and let it flow all around and onto the bottom. I was curious if I could control the flow, so I did a little experiment.

I placed a 1/16 inch rod onto an unwelded corner joint. Then applied silicone bronze to one side without letting it flow to the other side. Pics aren't very good, but the experiment worked great.

Bronze applied to one side.


No flow onto the other side.


I did more, but the pics aren't much to see.

[Smoker]

Some aluminum practice. Not cleaned up.

[Smoker]

Time for me to start working on good penetration.

Ran a bunch of beads on 1/16 inch steel with the home torch. Cranked up the amps. Did these non-stop, so the metal got very hot. Got penetration, but have a way to go, before making good dime stacks on the back of the weld. Usually, if I get good penetration, the bead isn't convex enough on the top. Will keep practicing.

[Straycat]

Looking good Smoker.

been promising myself that I'd go and take some welding classes. Now that things are opening up again, I need to get back after that. Always wanted to be able to weld

[Smoker]

Thanks, Straycat.

If you look at the last pic of aluminum practice, there's no cleaning/brushing off the oxide layer. Takes longer than welding, so I was skipping it. Didn't realize how important it is.

On tonight's aluminum, I scrubbed everything. Wasn't going for good looking beads. Just wanted to work on penetration. Went from 65 amps to 100 amps on 1/16" aluminum.

Feels like I'm on the right track.