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Lance M · 08-24-2011, 08:25 PM

I'd use a good quality made in the USA wire. Thee are many choices. Most guys have their own preferences. The guys at the welding supply store here in town only sell one brand. It has been working for me.

ND10CentCan · 08-24-2011, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Top

Some interesting pictures would be nice

I am not a good or even mediocre photographer so I won't even claim to be even passable or have anything interesting but will put some up when we have something to show for the work. My husband is still welding the crossmembers up and he was showing me tonight how he is working the welds on each one. He also showed how once he ground the welds down on the top of the frame, it looks like it is all one piece of metal. That part was reallly interesting and I think he really likes this welding stuff. And he didn't think he would ever be interested in welding. It was when he started in on the tensile strengths of different metals that I started to drift....away....

So I promise to put up pictures once there is something to show, and hopefully that won't be too long from now. I don't want to bore people too much with every detail but I will add something down the road. My paint and primer is on order so now and I guarantee that process will be interesting because normally I end up wearing as much paint as what I was attempting to coat. Watch for pictures of someone covered in chassis black paint....and I won't take it at night either.
Sandy

Darkspeed · 08-24-2011, 08:31 PM

The lincoln inter shield flux wire at lowes / homedepot is pretty good . Most of what they carry is .035 wire. Works fine in a Hobart

ND10CentCan · 08-24-2011, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darkspeed

It is much better to brush on. If you have any surface rust / powdery residue it will disturb this into the paint when brushed. If sprayed the paint can float on this layer of contamination and peel off in sheets at a later date. Brush brush brush!

Thanks Darkspeed,
I was hoping a brush would work because I prefer to use a brush and don't want to get into spraying equipment and all that stuff. Simple works well for a Norwegian trying to work on an AS for the very first time.
Sandy

**Kevin245** · 08-24-2011, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ND10CentCan

Next question:
My husband has been using Hobart wire in his welder and has gone through a fair amount of it. Does it matter if he goes to something not made by Hobart or should he stick to the one brand only? Does anyone know if there are differences in quality between the name brands and the more generic brands? Thanks for your help. More questions to follow...guaranteed.
Sandy

The brand doesn't matter as long as it's a reputable label. ESAB, Lincoln, Hobart are just a few brands, and there are several others that will work just as well. Not sure if you're using a hard, or cored wire Just stick with the same grade (ER70S-X, E71T1-X, etc.) and shielding gas combination if it's worked well for you so far.

ND10CentCan · 08-24-2011, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin245

The brand doesn't matter as long as it's a reputable label. ESAB, Lincoln, Hobart are just a few brands, and there are several others that will work just as well. Not sure if you're using a hard, or cored wire Just stick with the same grade (ER70S-X, E71T1-X, etc.) and shielding gas combination if it's worked well for you so far.

Thanks Kevin,
I was concerned about the quality too and didn't want to try anything without checking here first. I will watch for the American products as Top suggested and also the same grade as you suggest. I don't know what is the hard (is that the sticks?) or the cored but he has a spool of wire on his machine that he is using so I am going to guess that means cored. I appreciate your feedback and information.
Sandy

phoyt · 08-25-2011, 07:20 AM

Hi there,

Glad to hear you are seeing progress finally! :-) My project has been a great excuse to buy tools I've always wanted. I did what you guys did, I bought a nice Hobart welder and did it myself. I've just welded the replacement outriggers on my frame. The welds are ugly as can be but I'm sure they will hold. I've stayed with just the Hobart line of flux core .030 wire because that is what is sold by the farm store where I bought the equipment and it seems a good place to start.

I've been welding every evening since I bought the beast and having a blast with it. There aren't two pieces of scrape steel within sight that haven't been touched by the new welder.

Oh, I also chose a Hobart because they are 100% made in the US. I'm annoyed with Harbor Fright at the moment, that air rivet gun I bought worked for about 10 rivets before it quit functioning entirely. I had to break out the hand driven version so there was no way I'd consider a welder from Harbor Fright.

Pete

ND10CentCan · 08-25-2011, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phoyt

Hi there,

Glad to hear you are seeing progress finally! :-) My project has been a great excuse to buy tools I've always wanted. I did what you guys did, I bought a nice Hobart welder and did it myself. I've just welded the replacement outriggers on my frame. The welds are ugly as can be but I'm sure they will hold. I've stayed with just the Hobart line of flux core .030 wire because that is what is sold by the farm store where I bought the equipment and it seems a good place to start.

I've been welding every evening since I bought the beast and having a blast with it. There aren't two pieces of scrape steel within sight that haven't been touched by the new welder.

Oh, I also chose a Hobart because they are 100% made in the US. I'm annoyed with Harbor Fright at the moment, that air rivet gun I bought worked for about 10 rivets before it quit functioning entirely. I had to break out the hand driven version so there was no way I'd consider a welder from Harbor Fright.

Pete

I say we are keeping the economy going with our DYI for AS and tool purchases. Somebody has to save the US from collapse and we are doing our part

. Plus I think no one really gets too many tools do they? Is there such a thing?

Next issue is the welding tanks are down to 50% or so and the welder is "acting funny" so my husband thinks he needs to refill the tanks tomorrow. Hopefully that takes care of it. He is having a good time with it and he likes it much more than he thought he would.
Sandy

Darkspeed · 08-25-2011, 07:55 PM

He knows that you can't weld with a cover gas ( tanks ) in the wind right?

If it is windy use intershield wire and no welding cover gas. The core of the intershield when burned in the arc releases it's own cover gas.

ND10CentCan · 08-25-2011, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darkspeed

He knows that you can't weld with a cover gas ( tanks ) in the wind right?

If it is windy use intershield wire and no welding cover gas. The core of the intershield when burned in the arc releases it's own cover gas.

Thanks Darkspeed,
He is working inside the Rookery so there is no wind. He thinks it might be because the tanks are getting lower in gas but when he says it is not welding right or "funny", I am not exactly sure what that means. We will see if a reload on the gas makes a difference. Every day is an adventure when working on the Albatross. Keeps life interesting!
Sandy

Smartstream · 08-26-2011, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ND10CentCan

Thanks Darkspeed,
He is working inside the Rookery so there is no wind. He thinks it might be because the tanks are getting lower in gas but when he says it is not welding right or "funny", I am not exactly sure what that means. We will see if a reload on the gas makes a difference. Every day is an adventure when working on the Albatross. Keeps life interesting!
Sandy

Have him readjust the regulator. A single stage regulator will lose pressure/flow as the tank pressure drops. A two stage regulator will automatically adjust for the pressure drop. You can run the tanks until the internal pressure is equal to the regulator output.

Good luck, Dan

ND10CentCan · 08-31-2011, 06:08 PM

Here are a few photos of the frame progress to date. It is beginning to look like we might have a new frame done yet this year. The outriggers are all sitting in a box off to the side and waiting to be welded on. The frame paint is here and we should be putting that on soon depending upon the welding progress this weekend. Two of the tanks are here and the other one is on back order right now.

Sandy

ND10CentCan · 08-31-2011, 06:14 PM

Some delightful pictures of the multitudes of decals on the Albatross. I have many of them now removed and hope to get the rest off this weekend. There was a wonderful collection of vinyl, hard plastic, and petrified plastic letters and symbols applied to both sides.

Unfortunately, we may have to polish this long beast to erase the ghosts left by the decals. I am not even thinking about that part yet; let's get the frame done and then we can think putting the rest of the trailer together. One step forward and one day at a time.
Sandy

wasagachris · 08-31-2011, 06:22 PM

Hi Sandy, the frame looks good and is coming along nicely.Do yourself a favor and just have the tongue sandblasted. I had mine done for $20 and saved hours and hours of sanding.
I appreciate the shout out in the first decal picture. LOL.

**Kevin245** · 08-31-2011, 06:35 PM

Its good to see the progress you are making.

Nice looking sailboat. Another build of yours?

Kevin

Lance M · 08-31-2011, 07:30 PM

Nice to see the pics of the progress Sandy. Your man is doing a great job. Nice work area too. Looks great.

ND10CentCan · 08-31-2011, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wasagachris

Hi Sandy, the frame looks good and is coming along nicely.Do yourself a favor and just have the tongue sandblasted. I had mine done for $20 and saved hours and hours of sanding.
I appreciate the shout out in the first decal picture. LOL.

That was funny when I looked at it too. I thought you would see it and get a chuckle. It just happened to come off like that and I didn't notice until later that it said that when I looked at the picture.

Husband has already taken after the tongue with his sander. I can mention it to him if it doesn't come out very clean. He says there is quite a bit of rust on there so he doesn't want to use the same paint I got for the new frame. I am not sure what he would use on it if the rust remains.

This might be an opportunity to get another tool-a sand blaster- but that means more stuff to work around in the Rookery. We have to have room to work on it over the winter so don't want to get many more things in there. He has his two boats in there so we are going to have to loft them to get the Albatross in there. Can't imagine what would happen if one of the boats came down

. Maybe we won't go that direction after all.
Sandy

ND10CentCan · 08-31-2011, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Top

Nice to see the pics of the progress Sandy. Your man is doing a great job. Nice work area too. Looks great.

Thanks for that compliment. I will pass it along to him. He is working on it every night after work and all weekend so he is coming along slowly but steadily. Wasagachris recommended getting the tongue sand blasted but he has already started on it with his sander so we will see how it comes out. The sand blaster would have been a lot faster and I wish we had thought of that first. Every day sees some progress on it so that part is fun.

The work area-the Rookery-has been a journey from the slab being poured last October to the state it is in now. The loft area above is not finished yet because the guy I paid to tape and texture has sort of disappeared. His name has become the standard response in our house to anything we want to blow off doing as in "Yeah, I can get that done. Won't take me long. I'll come out and get that knocked down in no time" We haven't seen him in three weeks so I am not holding my breath he's coming back.

I guess the entire project is a journey and I am looking forward to the next stages as we get the tanks in and start to work on the insulation. We have to order our belly skin aluminum and trying to figure out how to get it attached without a real problem. One of those fancy frame racks that turn over would really come in handy about right now.

Stay tuned...more progress to come.
Sandy

ND10CentCan · 08-31-2011, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin245

Its good to see the progress you are making.

Nice looking sailboat. Another build of yours?

Kevin

Ah, what you are seeing Kevin is one of my husband's first loves and that is his Viking's Dream sailboat he built a couple of years ago. He has plans for another 8,965 more that he would like to build in different styles, lengths, and materials. That is his idea of an ideal retirement job but I am not sure where we would park all of the boats. He's not taking up all the room so we have to park the Albatross outside....No way is that happening after all the work that has gone and will go into this project.
Sandy