David Brown

Took our baby, David, for a short run to make sure everything is as it should be. Think I had dirt in the points as he was not sparking but then got some after fiddling about then it burst into life. Went down to some local wetlands then down to the local Coopy pub carport for a pic near the original stanchion of the old bridge which was of hot rivet construction. He still has a great amount of torque when turning corners slowly in top gear but accelerate away easily. 

Looks like a good for some open air fun

Petrol motors seem to give more dramas than diesel whem not used all the time

Still I surpose it gives you something to tinker with


Paul

Its ok to have to fix somethiung but when yu dont know for certain what was wrong and how was it fixed is annoying. I do and haVve been tinkering, a bloody lot of late. After our last road trip across to Peterborough Sa nad back I noticed some serious tyre wear mainly on the outside edge of the near side tyre on our single axle van. Slight wear on the inside edge of the off side. It runs slipper springs so only 2 bushes to repalce but has those stupid overlay ale where they use a straight axle across the springs but then weld stub axles on top. Jayco have a poor reputstion for either a bad jig or operator but either way it is usually a mis-aligned axle. 
Ordered and fitted new bushes and found the near side went straight in using the puller I built which doubled as the press to fit the new bush. Lifted the spring with axle still attached straight back into place no issues. The off side is where the fun started. Obvious signs of wear on the inner side of the bush once I managed to drop the spring with axle still attached, same as the other side. Changed the bush then the fun really started. I lifted the spring up and could get the shackle bolt started but the hole was not aligned on the inside. Tried a come along winch with little luck so I undid the U bolts and could then winch the spring into place but then the axle had to be winched back the opposite way to get it to go back together. Both centre bolts on the springs are good. 
Next I used my laser tape measure to check for square. Mounting points for the eye of the spring were exactly the same but off the backing plates there was 6mm difference. I could not get a good shot from the ends of the axles even with no weight on the springs as the chassis was on jack stands and attached to Bongo up front. So it is booked in at the truck wheel alignment place in Newcastle for early July. 
Ive  been playing around with the MIG welder again trying to improve my welds using it as my box trailer has more holes than a target at a rifle range. Im slowly winning in this department but room for improvement. It gets confusing when you read about or watch a video on the topic as they talk aout settings as if they are not important and mostly about technique. I printed a chart from another MIG wlder and started at those suggestions of 50v on #3 wire feed for 1.6mm metal and using 0.8mm wire. I went up a lot in voltage looking for penetration and got it oly to be told that MIG normally doesnt give penetration on a weld on flat steel but will on a butt join. Long story short the 50/3 seems to give the best result. Also using gas on the solid core wire with the gauge on 15. Nearly time to make a start on those holes.

I think welding is probably the hardest thing to offer advice for.  Every welder has different settings, and every job is different.  It does, however, sound like you are winning though, so keep at it!

All i can suggest is to run as much heat as you can without burning holes, and as much wire speed as you can without the gun trying to pop and jump back at you, and/or leave a fat lumpy weld that looks like a cornish pasty.

And if you are welding outside, or if the material is at all rusty, plenty of gas is a good thing.

I think the best advice i was given way back in high school, was to actually watch and follow the molten weld pool as you are welding, rather than just taking for granted that the welding is happening and perhaps be tending to concentrate more on where you are going ahead of the weld, instead. 

A good lens is paramount.  Every so often i will just have to stop because i can't see what i'm doing.  I will replace the lens, and then wonder why i didn't do it a week earlier!

Again, all just suggestions, as there are so many variables.

Brett.

 

Yes Bretts spot on

Or at least for me, plenty of gas if the material is not real flash

I build up wind guards out of old brown built shelving held together with vice grips

Remember to turn the gas on, plenty of crappy welds from me from this one

And a new lense if good but the most important thing with a lense is pull the clear contact off both sides of it, my mate was at the point if hanging up the mig gun as his eyes got older until I discovered this issue

He was a new man then

But generally full power on the amps, I find to have it hot enough to burn a hole and more stop start action on the trigger to prevent the hole gives good pentration

To fill holes etc on thin stuff, I back the amps, volts and of course the wire speed right off


Paul

Welding is like Painting

Preperation Preperation Preperation ​​​​​​​Preperation 

where the weld is needed buff off to bare metall
also buff off where the earth clamp goes
 by the time U get the amps n gas right on a practise U should be right to go
not forgetting to remove all slag  and clean if U gunna go over the weld again
BWEK
cya
​​​​​​​

Yes, I will persist n practise more. Started getting a game plan together for the trailer which is worse than I thought but that's always the case with rust. I do prefer to see penetrative rather than weld sitting on top so will be looking at upping the volts except where it is a butt weld the lower setting of 50/3 looks about right. Found some checker plate the right thickness for the one corner in the floor. Will be buying a needle gun scaler to help in cleaning up the rust scale.  

When welding watch the molten pool, make sure it is flowing onto both surfaces, if it is bulging go faster and if its hollow go slower then set the amps to nearly blowing holes at the speed you can work at, the rest is just practice, every welder is different every bit of metal is different and as Swishy said prep

While waiting for parts for the B&S engine I'm playing with, I decided to fit the brake light switch, bend up some tubing to run wires from dash to different then rough wire it while the paint dries on the cable clamps. 
These lights are stop tail lights but this style is usually tail only. I hot lucky when searching for them so bought them years ago, same as the switch. It's one of those jobs you do when a Round Tuit turns up.
Steve will recognise his old work light he kindly sent up to me.

The work lamp was always called a plough lamp or if you was a yanky a plow lamp

I always felt the plough lamp was on the wrong side on almost all tractors or hay balers were built backwards as the pickup on a baler means it works on the RHS of the tractor and mudguards etc are normally in the way

If your not a farmer you may not know that most of Australia's hay is baled at night when the dew comes in

The vast majority of Australia's hay is made on the inland side of the great divide

The dew has to be on the leaf to soften it as it just desolves im your fingers otherwise

They look like the lights on Massey Ferguson and Leyland tractors and no doubt countless other brands

I wonder if brake lights were on industrial tractors ?

Looks good Cobba


Paul