Your positive comments and suggestions are much appreciated. This tank is turning out so much better than I ever imagined it might.
Gnu, yes those are baffles. Dan felt they would help hold the two sides in alignment and make it easier to join the top and bottom pieces. I think it's a real good idea. He has done everything he could to make this a successful experience for me and it has been, leaving me with the feeling that "yes, I can learn to weld, too." That's the mark of a good teacher, to enable and inspire.
2door, Dan told me that about overlapping the welds, but it is good to have that reinforced. I'll do that. And I was careful to mark down right on the tank the amperage (2) and wire speed (40) as it seems just right for these gauges of metal. I want the welds to penetrate into the steel, but don't want to blow through and make problems for myself. I can also see that with flux core wire it is important to stop often enough to clean up the tip and keep slag out of the way. I'm beginning to think that I may be able to make this tight enough to not need a sealer inside. I'm going to try!
Tooljunkie, I remember babbit bearings from old cars. A mix of tin and lead, isn't it? So yes, your suggestion about the correction fluid to keep the solder from where you don't want it is noted. We also will use aluminum bolts while soldering the acorn nuts as solder won't stick to the aluminum. I'm not familiar with the T you mention , but can roughly picture it and can see how it would help to keep the hand holding the stinger where you want it. I'm going to mull that one over some as I can use all the hep I can get. Straight CO2, eh? I'll look in to that. Any way to save money and still get the job done. Lucky guy having your own lathe. If I'm not too old to learn that kind of machine work, I'm certainly too poor, but it sure would be a nice thing to have and know how to use it. Then a milling machine, band saw, heavy duty drill press, finger brake, etc. Ha! So many toys to ask Santa for...
SB
Gnu, yes those are baffles. Dan felt they would help hold the two sides in alignment and make it easier to join the top and bottom pieces. I think it's a real good idea. He has done everything he could to make this a successful experience for me and it has been, leaving me with the feeling that "yes, I can learn to weld, too." That's the mark of a good teacher, to enable and inspire.
2door, Dan told me that about overlapping the welds, but it is good to have that reinforced. I'll do that. And I was careful to mark down right on the tank the amperage (2) and wire speed (40) as it seems just right for these gauges of metal. I want the welds to penetrate into the steel, but don't want to blow through and make problems for myself. I can also see that with flux core wire it is important to stop often enough to clean up the tip and keep slag out of the way. I'm beginning to think that I may be able to make this tight enough to not need a sealer inside. I'm going to try!
Tooljunkie, I remember babbit bearings from old cars. A mix of tin and lead, isn't it? So yes, your suggestion about the correction fluid to keep the solder from where you don't want it is noted. We also will use aluminum bolts while soldering the acorn nuts as solder won't stick to the aluminum. I'm not familiar with the T you mention , but can roughly picture it and can see how it would help to keep the hand holding the stinger where you want it. I'm going to mull that one over some as I can use all the hep I can get. Straight CO2, eh? I'll look in to that. Any way to save money and still get the job done. Lucky guy having your own lathe. If I'm not too old to learn that kind of machine work, I'm certainly too poor, but it sure would be a nice thing to have and know how to use it. Then a milling machine, band saw, heavy duty drill press, finger brake, etc. Ha! So many toys to ask Santa for...
SB
