You are doing alot better Gazza with your $300 welder on aluminum than I am with my $300 welder on mild steel.
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Yep, definitely the hard top looks the goods Gazza.
I don't envy you in the stage your up to with the hull, I cut and ground mine all out before it was shopped out, horrible dusty prickly job !
But all looking good Gazza, great thread to follow.........
Col
Hey TRPM did u buy the same welder? i used the booklet/chart for 10 gauge thickness aluminium which is 3.5mm but the stuff i was welding was 3mm looks like it welds ok the start of each weld is going to be cold because its a mig weld as the weld goes on the wire feed changes because the alloy heats up and it causes the wire to sprayOriginally Posted by TheRealPoMo
Hey Col a few days ago when i ground down the old fiberglass i had a good scrub in the shower to try get rid of as much itch as possible that old fiberglass really is itchy stuff its crazy, the new glass i laid down is no where near as itchy i think it might be the poly resin with the chopped mat that causes the itch i went to bed scratching like crazy lol its worse in cold weather because u need to wear a jumper and the jumper rubs against the itchiness and makes it even worse
Forgot to let ya's know, when i set up this welder i went and bought a $35-$40 teflon liner for feeding the aluminium wire thru the torch came home installed it and cut it short i was having a real shitter of afternoon so than i put the steel liner back in basically how u get the machine from the shop strait out of the box, i installed the roll of aluminium wire and kept the cable strait
for anyone else considering buying the same machine
those welds look pretty good from this machine, thinking i might get me one of them and have a crack.
Duty cycle not the best Cat u can weld for 1 min and machine needs to cool down for 9mins each cycle its called a 10% duty cycle
The booklet says settings 4 and 7 for 3mm i found 4 and 9 worked better here are some cut and etch's of the welds
Looking at getting plywood for the keel from Mitre 10 DD non exterior grade so it has the WBP glue do u guys reckon DD will be and ok grade to use? Mark Bowdidge recommended using CD grade for his boats
i can either get it from Mitre 10 this stuff https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DD-PLYWO...u~Lh:rk:1:pf:0
or this stuff https://www.abbeytimber.com.au/produ...in-many-sizes/
going to run a string line front to back and take measurements now
Nah I dont think so Gazza - CIG unit from Supercheap for $300 odd with a helmet. It is a 140 amp unit tho so probably same insides. I did get a free cap tho...
Main issue is spatter. Can do 3mm steel seam weld ok but burn throughs on 1mm; which I expected given my novice rating. Bought it to play/practice only. Maybe I'll get good enough to use it on something practical one day. Sorry to hijack thread.
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I've have still been continuing with work on the cruise craft also Gazza. I've now completed the transom and glassed in all stringers apart from the keel (or maybe it's called a dagger stringer not sure). All seemed to go OK, I did get some air pockets at the top of the stringers, I though this was just the cloth not wanting to take the bend, but in hindsight I think it was combination of the fabric not liking the curve but also the end grain in the plywood sucking the resin out of the fabric. In any case not really concerned as it's not a structural location.
I'll be moving on to bulkheads, fuel tank coffin and floor now. I am putting in a new bulkhead that is full width and the full height across and at the height of the bunks where the cabin ends. This should help to keep the structural integrity once I cut the cabin off. Progress pics below.
Attachment 117911Attachment 117912
Here are those aluminium weld cuts and etched so u can see how it welds to see if u think its weld abilities are ok or not, for me the welder is a little champ and it will do the job i just need the spool gun for the welder
i have probably around 15mins use on the welders so still need to play around with it
not sure if i built my transom from the right plywood now i just called the shop i bought the plywood from and 25mm ply weighs 40kg that works out around 555kg per square meter its a little on the light side as far as weight goes and its only moisture resistance glue not water and boil proof glue i ...... up anyhow that just means i need to fully seal the hull with no excessive drill holes or anywhere for water to seep in
not sure if i should continue using the Okoume plywood or go with something that has WBP glue same price just one glue is moisture resistance and one is waterproof
the welds below are on 3mm material the bit i marked out as 1 and 2 is where i cut the weld, numbers 4 and 9 mean the settings on the welder i bought 4 being voltage 9 being wire feed speed (factory chart settings were 4 voltage and 7 wire feed speed)
Finally between showers the sun shows it's self this afternoon, cut two lengths of 2.4m of 25mm plywood it overlaps in the middle but i need to trim off the transom end for the perfect length, i got it carved out but i need to bevel the undersides
i went with non structural plywood with A bond glue
over cut the stringer by 10mm right along the cut side so once i bevel the edge it should be the right level
welds look good , im no expert just a backyarder but welds look uniform with good puddling, no splatter and good penetration, on 3mm too . id be very happy if i could do that on alloy.
Thanks Cat
More pics coming soon guys i'm going to at lease glue while its raining i'll glue the stringer down and glue the bottom sides but i think i better leave the glassing untill sunny days appear
Another hour one the Baron today i glassed capped the transom need to let it cure over night tomorrow i will sand and fair than hopefully i have a good day the following day to seal following that i will be able to sand the sealed coat than apply the transom undercoat it is all such a slow process
Think i ...... up i just made up a glue fairing mix of talc applied it to fill the cloth over the transom cap and its pissing down raining 1 hours after i finished i have a tarp over the boat but there are small holes on top of the transom, this shit never ends i wish this rain would go away it has been raining five to six weeks now
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