Great work SKC, my next big tool investment will be a TIG, with aims to use it as well as you do!

@ Deano, Thanks man. Yeah i only weld as a hobby as i work in an office as an engineer all day. But i dont own a TV, so in between dinner and hanging out with the missus i am able to zap a few things together :)
We shall definitely see how it goes with panels. In this build, i am unable to strip the car down to bare metal, so mainly ill be replacing the guts...then in a year or so when i lease a slightly bigger place, ill be able to do a little more panel stuff.
My gf's dad told me to make Cromo frames, but alas....i believe Baum (absolutely stunning bikes) down in Geelong have that market covered :P

@ 2L Scort, totally! that would be awesome. You will enjoy it!
Dont get a cheap chinesium one though. Because there is a big difference in performance between something cheap and something half decent. A decent machine (Like an everlast, lincoln or miller) is also far more enjoyable to use.
I paid $800 for a Miller Maxstar 150HF second hand and it works far better than my mate's similarly priced new chinese thingo.
Do you already have a mig? In my humble opinion id get one of those first, as they are so much more versatile as tigging generally means a whole lot more surface prep that you can skip with the MIG.
For example, i wiped the paint off that square tubing with acetone, hit it with a flapper and then once more right before welding with acetone to ensure i got good crisp welds. If i had a mig, a rough hit with the flapper and id be sweet.

(I am not a boiler maker, pipe welder or fabricator by trade, i just took welding school classes and have an interest in it....so my opinion is best taken with a grain of salt :) )

don't worry SKC, only our old bmx's will have welded frames soon.Unless you can weld carbon, I think the writing is on the wall regarding bike frames.
 
Good advice on the welder, I learnt from others here about getting a good brand, and brought a Lincoln combination Mig/Tig/Arc/oxy. So far I have just been using gasless mig only, but have done a gate, welding trolley,2 workbenches, a short bench mounted folder press, some custom brackets for the shed, and some rust panels on the escort.
 
Its addictive and very rewarding.
 
No tv? How do you watch Survivor?

SKC
@ 2L Scort, totally! that would be awesome. You will enjoy it!
Dont get a cheap chinesium one though. Because there is a big difference in performance between something cheap and something half decent. A decent machine (Like an everlast, lincoln or miller) is also far more enjoyable to use.
I paid $800 for a Miller Maxstar 150HF second hand and it works far better than my mate's similarly priced new chinese thingo.
Do you already have a mig? In my humble opinion id get one of those first, as they are so much more versatile as tigging generally means a whole lot more surface prep that you can skip with the MIG.
For example, i wiped the paint off that square tubing with acetone, hit it with a flapper and then once more right before welding with acetone to ensure i got good crisp welds. If i had a mig, a rough hit with the flapper and id be sweet.

(I am not a boiler maker, pipe welder or fabricator by trade, i just took welding school classes and have an interest in it....so my opinion is best taken with a grain of salt :) )

Thanks for the tip,
I am liking the Everlast range.  Sometimes nearing a decision a cheaper option can sometimes cloud the judgement process so its good to hear real stories.
Yes current got a Unimig 240 which covers most of my needs but have that burning desire to be able to Tig Alloy at some stage in life though.
 
Cheers

Hey Deano,

Funny you say. There is actually a mob in the UK called Curtis bikes that oxy braze BMX and MTB frames...amazing stuff. Ah carbon, the way of the future they say! So they say.
I love the stuff, and have had quite a few experiences with it. During my 3rd and 4th years of uni i was part of a group that obtained a truckload (literally an industrial freezer, in the back of a truck) of prepreg carbon off perhaps the largest aero manufacturer in melbourne. We used it to build a few FSAE car chassis that were baked for us by a V8 super car team. I then spent 2 years with a mob in Thomastown making composite tooling and prototype parts using various reinforcements (fancy word for cloth) and matrices (fancy word for...resin). It has great properties, but........gosh nothing beats the flying sparks, the darth vader look with the welding mask, and the flashes of UV emitted during welding when it comes to cool factor. Work in a composites shop, and you may get raided for looking like your cooking drugs.

That is awesome! Lincolns are beaut! And I'm rather envious that you can use yours for all the processes.
you're right, there is something oddly therapeutic about watching a puddle closely. Plus, on these cold winter evenings, it warms you up too! except when you lean to close and something catches alight (that may have happened to me over the weekend...)
It sounds like you're really able to make things exactly how you want. Thats friggen awesome!

Oh, I have a tv....just no antenna. I actually watch a movie, maybe once a fortnight on netflix through the tv.
It's not that i purposely try not to watch it. The glare at work means that i can only look into a screen for 4 hours or so a day before my eyes actually tear up. So I'm forced to do other things.
Haha, does Survivor still exist?

2L Scort,

You seen Bob Moffat on weld.com?
He welds nearly everything, using an Everlast.....they are amazing machines!
Oooooh yeah Ally is awesome! What projects are you hoping to tig ally for?

sorry for totally polluting your thread SKC (and others), if we were on a US forum i'm sure we'd be told to get a room.
A friend of mine worked on Swinbournes SAE car a couple of years ago,  so I saw some of the engineering details.
Actually he found me some industrial foam blocks  (I make rc yachts also) so I could shape and glass up the attached trimaran.I haven't got to the vac bagging stage, and usually work with epoxy and polyester depending on the project, but would love to have a play with some carbon one day, it's on the bucket list.
 
Anyhow, I'm glad to see theres another build thread to follow, as you have probably found out, there's quite a few friendly blokes willing to share their knowledge along the way.
 

Very very nice Deano! I love that tri-maran.
Meh, forum topics are totally allowed to go off on a tangent every now and then.
Very very exciting, you should totally give it a go oneday. Play with Carbon was one of the sponsors of Swinnie and have some very good and affordable products! Who'd you know in the team if i may ask?

Absolutely, there are some seriously supporting and nice fellas on this forum. Its great!

So i had a few arvos to finish that dang stand. I had to make a few tweaks but it came up well.
Turned out to be a sweet little welding experiment for stainless. I even rigged up a makeshift turntable to do a few fillet welds....just for the fun of it.
The CG is spot on, so you basically undoe the set screw (an M10 bolt) rotate as desired and then do the set screw up. Rock solid and most importantly compact!

Mate, you need to do an update!!
 
Matt