Welding at Sea

[Mr B]

Hahahahahaha, Got you all.

I am not a Boilermaker,

I am a Fully Qualified Engineering Blacksmith, Master craft of all the Blacktrades.

I was a fully Qualified Boilermaker in my second year,and I did 5 of them.
Fully Qualified Practising Engineer, My Quolls allow me to write the Books Theoretical engineers learn from.
Ship wright
Metalurgist
Heat treater,
Forger, I have Forged Train Railway axles, 2 ton each. Under steam hammers.
DLI Welder.
The list goes on,
I dont put horse shoes on Horsies, I am not a Farrier, But I do make the shoes,
I was the last year of this trade, They have not taught this curriculum since,

I dont usually get cranky, But passing on bad information gets up my nose chronically, Especially when its wrong or ill advised,

For you Northern people or those not in OZ,

A Tafe College is a Technical College that do part and full time and evening courses, They have excellent training facilities, They are also run by the Govt,
They teach every thing and then some,
The Tafe college will teach the OP about all the safety issues associated with welding,

As for two Boilys getting wound up,
Many many years ago, The union put on an annual Boilermakers picnic day,
It was the first and last, Hahahahaha

Boilershops and Heavy Engineering shops are too dangerous to have agro happening, so a picnic was a great place to have a few beers and then take out all your pent up aggression for the year,
All in brawl,
Hence we dont have any more Boily picnics, Hahahaha

Have a nice day Peoples, May good weather always shine on your Boat.

[olaf hart]

Originally Posted by Mr B

First off, do a Welding course at Tafe,
That will teach you the basics of welding,
Your necks on the line, welding is not just pick up the welder and go for it,
You do need to know what your doing, a basic course might be 6 months, Minimum, I just dont know,

Dont be like the idiot in the welding add, use long sleeved shirt and cover your body where ever the rays can hit exposed skin, and do not look at the pretty light with your eyes, it will burn your eyeballs out, near instantly. and the pain is horrendous for days.

CIG have a portable stick welder, commonly called a Caddy, Weldskill 170 amp, its a new release, excellent power output, for around $400-00, will run a Low hydrogen 4mm stick with ease, about 0ne foot long X 5 inches wide X about 8 inches high, Will weld whatever you need on a boat, it should run on your boats generator, very light and comes with a shoulder strap. and the welding cables as a package, Any welding supply place close to you will show you it,
A small packet of CIG Weldcraft, Weldall electrodes, .25 or .35 thick, they will weld all materials that you might need to weld, keep them very dry, about $80-00 per packet.

I bought the one with the full TIG attachement, but thats a tad over $800-00, same size welder, but does a lot more things. you dont need that one,
I use this one for on/site work. I am an on/site Boilermaker/DLI Welder full time,

If you want to cut a patch out, use a 5 inch grinder with 1.5 thick cut off wheel, cheaper than Oxy or a Plasma,
All dollars are in Aussie dollars,

Just found one on aussie ebay, new, $Aus280 including freight and warranty.
Thanks for the recommendation.

[bangkaboat]

Harry,
Don't get too wide-eyed at all of this, if you know any welders you can pick up enough skill to do your own repairs & mods after about 5 -6 weeks worth of one on one. It takes some basic knowledge & a lot of practice! There is a ton of info. on the internet about welding on boats &, most importantly, not over-welding them. If you don't know someone who welds I might know someone in your area, just pm me. The safety aspects are, of course, important so doing a course is a good thing, but practice is key.

Mr B, never heard of an "engineering blacksmith" before, must be an aussie-specific thing.

[FUTURE DAYS]

Thanks for the info Mr B...yes I do remember the blacksmith's banging away while the horse stood on 3 legs..!! I will get down to Newcastle on the weekend and go see CIG and have a look, also will make enquiries regards TAFE course in welding....will get back to you in a few days... Collingwood for the flag!!!

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by bangkaboat

Harry,
Don't get too wide-eyed at all of this, if you know any welders you can pick up enough skill to do your own repairs & mods after about 5 -6 weeks worth of one on one. It takes some basic knowledge & a lot of practice! There is a ton of info. on the internet about welding on boats &, most importantly, not over-welding them. If you don't know someone who welds I might know someone in your area, just pm me. The safety aspects are, of course, important so doing a course is a good thing, but practice is key.

Mr B, never heard of an "engineering blacksmith" before, must be an aussie-specific thing.

No Mate, Its a thing of the past, Very few of us around these days, all retired or dead,
My course was ended in 1964, Yep. Im an old fart hahahahaha

The end of steam and electric welding mainly finished us off, New machinery made chains, etc,
Welding killed off riveting,
Boilermakers are just one part of it,
You can electric weld it faster than forging and forge welding could,

The mighty pies, I like you, Hahahaha

[twoblocktom]

This thread has opened my eyes to getting advice on the Internet. Wow !!!
Yes you can weld paperclips with a watch battery and you can also weld with a torch and a coat hanger ( at least you could when they made them quality wire)
You cam also " heat and beat" your repairs.
BUT
For the latest methods and best practices for seaworthy repairs to a boat built out of corten steel, chose your advisers carefully!
Quoting wikipedia:
(Using weathering steel in construction presents several challenges. Ensuring that weld-points weather at the same rate as the other materials may require special welding techniques or material)

[bdbcat]

Folks...

Moving along to Aluminum....

I have some experience with MIG/stick steel welding.

Now I have an Aluminum trawler that I would like to maintain myself.

Is there a practical (i.e. low cost) pulsed TIG AC setup that will run from a 12 KW 220 V generator onboard and that will handle vertical uphill work on 3/16" plate? How about these low cost inverter units? Any hope there?

Thanks
Dave

[Mr B]

The one I described above Dave, It does the lot, It will run off your generator.
It has pulse, and all the rest of the bells and whistles, Including Gauges and hoses, Tungsten Tips, Hand pieces, Totally Complete unit, Missing a bottle of argon only.

Tig is all positional, Mate, Hahahaha, Sorry, I have a sense of humour,
Yes it will do all you want.

Thats the $800-00 AUD one that I bought for myself. At that price I couldnt resist,
The $400-00 one is just a stick welder, Does not have any thing else and no pulse.
If you need more info, just ask,
I take it your in OZ,

[NeptunesTrident]

Aluminum is a diffrent creature. It has 60% of the heat dispensation of steel. This means you need more power, amps, to weld the same size aluminum as you would to weld steel. 3/16" plate, depending on configuration, is going to require more than 200 amps to ensure a good weld. No such thing as a cheap inverter that is aluminum capable.

Were I you, and I am not, I would get rid of the generator and replace it with a engine driven welder and get the push-pull wire feed mig gun and use the MIG option to weld the aluminum. Your going to need Argon with either MIG or TIG. The engine driven welder will give you the option to weld either way, and even give you the ability to weld steel. The engine driven welders will supply you with up to 12500 watts of AC power also. More than enough to supply you with your electric power at sea.

[bdbcat]

Mr B...

Nope, not in Oz. I may have the only private Al catamaran trawler in the states. Crowther design, build in Nova Scotia.

faq

Thanks
Dave

[bdbcat]

Neptunes Trident....

I hear you. If I were doing a lot of work, or build from scratch, then I would use a spool gun and MIG.

What I want to do is small crack repairs on deck fixtures, brackets, that sort of thing. (afloat). I don't care about productivity (i.e. speed). I have all the retired time in the world.

I do care about appearance and control.

Dave

[Cheechako]

I have been a weld engineer, managed and hired welders, been a welder in my younger days. Get a small Miller wire feed welder. It's amazing how small and powerful the invertor welders are now days. They can even run off 120volt in some models. Get the correct wire for Cor-ten, it's great material. We used to make commercial turbine exhausts out of the stuff. Prep any weld area real well though and weld immediately after prep.

[NeptunesTrident]

Originally Posted by Mr B

Hahahahahaha, Got you all.

I dont put horse shoes on Horsies, I am not a Farrier, But I do make the shoes,
I was the last year of this trade, They have not taught this curriculum since,

I beg to differ. We have one here in where I live. Just about 30 miles north of the city here. Oklahoma Farriers College Inc. A 2 year course.

[deepstar]

As a steel hull yachtie - just when were you planning on welding at sea ??

Just curious - not trying to be inflamatory

[NeptunesTrident]

BDBCAT,

Well, the point is not being faster. With a TIG, you weld aluminum with a rounded tungsten tip. You need different size tungsten for different size jobs. Lot of little parts, collet, collet bodies, ect., al. Forget the 120 volt small mig welders. Not enough amperage to run .030 wire with aluminum. If you are repairing a hull or structural componet, MIG is the way to go. If it is simply little odds and ends on deck, tig is fine. But you have to remember, aluminum, unlike steel, will not change colors as it gets hot. Care must be used to get enough heat to make a complete weld, but not heat it to the point it falls out, or blisters on the back side. Any full pin welds have to have the back side of the weld area purged or ground and back welded.