Flamingsteel.com

TOOL TRICKS FROM MY WELDING STUDIO

by Roy Mackey

     Hey here are a few of my tool tricks in my studio that work very well. Before I go any further though I would like to give a big round of applause to Rare Earth Magnets!! They really are a metalworkers godsend! Almost every tool I have is graced with one of them. They are priceless and keep all my tools within fingers reach. My biggest obstical here is space. A common problem for a lot of us pre-lottery winners.

     A lot of the tools and tricks I have set up here in my studio are specifically for my needs.  IE: I have low benches and thus low stools, use only tig and oxy/acet torches and thus not much smoke or sparks. Also because I grind and weld metal about 25 feet from my fridge and kitchen it creates other problems that most welders do not need to worry about. We really do live in our "shop" here which may sound fun but can get a little trying if you don't like everything you eat or sleep on to be covered in iron dust !!!! Thus a lot of these tricks might not be of much value to most. Just the same they have sure helped out here.

Feb/5/2012 

   Here is a old and somewhat rusty cabinet I picked up awhile back off a nice lady and apparently fan of vintage stuff as her "home" sounded like a real vintage classic to say the least. She gave me a good deal so I had no choice but to dragit home. The bottom base, about two inches up on one side was rusted right off so it looked like the leaning tower of junk. I guess I could have looked for a better one but it looked like a fun challenge. Not only that being an artist I am already well versed at wasting time in neat and fun ways. Thus I cut the rest of the base off to leveler up a bit. Then I welded up a base to fit tight around the bottom of it. Next I sat it on this old steel stand I made a few years ago and no longer use.

    This is going to be a great cabinet for my storage locker to sort and store nuts, bolts, pipe fittings, gold coins and bits of plutonium I picked up off this Russian guy cheap one time. I am telling you I swear a guy could get rich by just designing some way to sort stuff for cheap. Every shop in North America needs small parts and bolts storage. Up until now there onlly two types of designers working on this... crack heads who think shop space is free and that everyone has thousands of square feet to waste. These are the same guys who design shop vac's to take up more space than a full sized fridge and usually with such round odd ball shapes you can't put nothinig on top of them. The other group are some retired lawyers who think every guy with a small shop is as rich as they are. Thus can spend thousands to store their rusty old bolt collection. This is a low cost alternative to that and will actually work quite well.

     Needless to say I did have to hit it with a bit of polish and fine steel wool to pull out the patina a little more. Now it is off to storage to have and hold all my valuables!

Feb/4/2012     Here is a recent score I discovered awhile back while surfing the beast. Good ole pickling vinegar! It is now my all time favorite shop liquid next to lacquer thinner. Why becase it is cheap and eats off cad plating and galvanizing off of steel !!!!!!! Check out this washer above. I soaked exactly one half of this washer in vinegar for a couple of hours or so. Viola cad-be-gone on the top... cad-still-there on the bottom! Now I can weld it without killing myself or anything outside of my exhaust fan.

     I now strip most of my new nuts, bolts and washers using this. Especially one I am using to fix up old vintage tools. After all to me nothing makes them look worse than new shiny bolts. Thus I just pop em in the vinegar for a few hours and like magic it is gone. Now I would not recommend using the vinegar afterwards on your french fries. Just the same it sure cleans off the plating nice and easy... for cheap!! This gallon only cost me six bucks. Now I know it would be easier to just buy un-plated bolts and nuts but accountants will not allow most stores to stock un-plated ones in case they don't sell well.

     The best part is the fact it does not etch or frost up the steel like some rust removers do if you leave it in too long. The vinegar leaves the oringal metal looking like new. I have even left some in there for a day or more and all I noticed is that they tend to go black but two seconds on the wire wheel and they look brand new. No more breathing toxic and deadly cad fumes!!

     The Ultimate Welding Stool

     Here is another one of my welding chairs I rigged up. This one is an old 1905 Massey cast iron one. Tin one are no comparison to these for comfort. Absolutely incredible. This one here does not have the hydrolic quick adjust but is not a big deal. Originally I had it mounted on a cheapo Cambodia tire base. It was a light flimsy piece of landfill and is partially to blame for the chip I put in this seat. It slipped out from underneath me and chipped out a piece when it hit the floor. I was mad for three weeks... My own stupidity for having anything from that place in my studio I guess. Just the same I managed to tig-braze the chip back in place. At least the comfort of this beauty was not affected . I could sit on this all day. The nice thing is when welding sparks land on it they do not smell like burning plastic. Totally fire proof and completely comfortable. You would have to actually sit on this to see what I mean. Try it at our next open studio if you are in the area. I only charge a dollar to try it out!! : )

Jan/11/2012   

     Herez my Meco Midget torch. Yes what a beauty this thing is. If you gas weld much then this is one gem you have to get. It may be small but this torch is incredible. Got some 1/4" plate you need gas welded? No problem at all I have done it a couple of times. The main body is slightly bigger than a box of matches but don't let the size fool you. This one is right in there with my top four torches. I have a set up where I can spark up six different torches (one at a time of course) with out having to pull wrenches. It even has a fuel saver on it. I will be posting some pics of that once I finish the changes I have planned for it. Anyway if you want one of these beauties or you just want to see the God of weldings website check out this link:

www.tinmantech.com

     Seriously this Kent guy is incredible and his site is huge inspiration if you like gas welding. It is one of my favorite sites when it  comes to gas welding for sure!!! He has got cool stuff and knows what he is talking about. If I ever grow up get a life, haircut and a real job I will be ordering more goodies from him for sure. I have ordered from him in the past and have always got very fast and friendly service. Definately a place you want to go back to.

Jan/12/2012

     Here is my recent purchase from the God of Gas welding's site above. Super flexible gas hose. Man what a dream this hose is to work with!!! How did I ever live without it up until now? It is absolutely incredible. In fact I just ordered two more sets. Man If I would have only had the brains and cash when I first started gas welding 30 years ago. I would have bought nothing but the best. I feel sorry for all those victims out there who get boned every day out of their hard earned cash for cheapo imorted tools. Not only do they send their childs job overseas but they end up with tools that barely work in comparison and make learning to use the tool properly twice as hard. On top of that cheap tools are dangerous and expensive since you have to buy them more than once as they rarely last long. Not only that a wise man once told me that you can't do good work with cheap tools. Good tools and good quality go hand in hand.

The Ultimate Gas Torch Finally Determined!!!

     Yes everyone it is true... the ultimate gas torch award as determined by me is.... ALL SIX. Yes by having six different gas torches you cover all your bases and always have the right one or at least your preference for the right job. Do you have to be rich? Nope I scored half of mine for next to nothing on craigslist. You see gas welding is something you have to learn to do Not like the iPhone which is self explanitory. Because of this most people would rather just buy a mig and to hell with the rest. Easier to just push one button and if you get good at it you likely don't need anything else anyway.

     But some people just like the older methods and yes they have advantages. Anyway I am not one of those guys who rants and raves about how great one torch is over all the others. Almost all my favorite torches have their pros and cons. That's why I presently have the six torches hooked up ready to go. Of course I have the Meco Midget above, then the Cobra (Dillon), the Meco Aviator Jet, the Smiths Airline, the Victor J100, and the Smith Little Torch. I also got an extra Cobra, actually this one is older thus a Dillon that I might hook up later for just cutting. They do make a sweet straight line cut. Too much hassle to switch back and forth from cutting to welding with the one torch especially when I have the PlasmaCam sitting there ready to go.

Dec/11/2011

Bolt Sorting Finally Solved

     Here is my latest edition to my welding area. My bolt sorter bin. I scored this old 70 drawer card file cabinet for a good price and figured out it would make an excellent sorter bin. Sure enough it works like a dang. Check out the pics below to see how you can do something similar to make your own. In fact if you had some ambition you could use the idea to get rich, meet chicks and travel the world without having to kill people to do it.

    Here is what each drawer looks like. I used coroplast for the sides. Then using my cnc machine I cut out 340 steel divider plates... easier to have cnc machine to do that!!! Then as you can see in the pic below using an olfa knife I cut through the inner layer of the plastic on both sides and then just slid the diver into the slots. Worked like a dang and with a little effort can move them if needed. If you knew someone in the plastics business all they would have to do is make sheets of ribbed plastic. Some ribbed and some smooth and in sheets. You then pack the sheets home and cut them into strips like I cut the coroplast. It would be universal and easily made to fit any drawer. Could be used by anyone who has a screw loose like my Dad always said I did. Not any more though. I got all my loose screws neatly tucked away for easy access. Another neat/bad feature about these drawers is they pull right out. So if you are sleeping you have bolt soup on the floor, but if you want to take the drawer over to where you are working no problem. Nice and easy.

     Strange as it may seem if I won the lottery this would be the first thing I would grab when moving. In fact way before I took my cnc machine. This seems crazy I know but the truth is with millions it would be quicker for me to order the newer larger plasmacam and have it shipped to my new address that it would be to take this one all appart and move it myself to the new place. After all if you have millions money is no longer your issue... TIME is. To duplicate this cabinet with all the bits and pieces, a lot being vintage parts and pieces would take forever! I would rather spend my time else where like cutting up fresh stainless on my New PlasmaCam!!! Yes time is the new money then. You know now that I think of it I could use a little less time and a lot more money!!!

    Seventy drawers does not seem like that many until you try pulling them all out. It is amazing how long it takes!!! Needless to say it ate up a ton of loose bits around my studio.

     Here I am putting my vintage Beaver band saw to good use cutting the strips of coroplast. I kicked ideas around for this bin forever it seemed before coming up with this one. What makes it feasible is the fact I have a cnc machine to cut the plates. You could get away with something thicker for dividers like maybe masonite or something and then just cut it on your table saw. I think that crap comes quite thin also. Of course you would have to cut the slots out thicker also which would not be that bad. 

     Here is my home made tig holder. I made this one up out of pure frustration with those other useless puzzle holders. I think that is where I got the magnet base.... actually no I threw that one out. This one I got of a ground clamp thing. Anyway I added the pipe piece and now just drop the back piece of the torch into the pipe and viola. The nice thing with this is it is easy and the handle has some give to it. If you bump it then it just swings out of the way. It is very unlikely to fall out of this also. When you want it though you just lift it up and viola.

     This is another one of those get rich quick ideas. Go to China, get them to make it cheap, sell it to all the welders needing it, make a fortune, use that fortune to help pay your unemployed kids's way through life. At least you won't be getting handouts and can tell that old "we worked for a living when we were your age" story on them.

     Well if you are a seasoned welder by trade or not you probably already know how great Windex is for removing those stubborn stains from you welding bench or shop floor. It's also great as a pre-cleaner for greasy wrenches before you give them a good buffing with chrome polish on the buffing wheel.  One of my favorite uses of it though is for removing the greasy oil on fresh sheets of cold rolled steel. I used to always use lacquer thinner or solvent but it always left streaks no matter how much I used. Sure windex don't smell near as good as Lacquer  thinner but seriously no streaks, clean and oil free about twice as fast. It leaves the steel bone dry and residue free for treatment with metal etch or whatever. The only drawback with windex is the fact it's not flamible like lacquer thinner is. So needless you can't play around burning things every time you clean up your steel. Of course windex has that carcinogenic stink also which is likely not good for you.

     Yup a drill doctor, all plastic and in my studio!!! Well what can I say this tool is one of the cheapest tools I bought including the ones I picked up at garage sales. Why? Well like they say in the adds it pays for itself the day you buy it. How? Well the day or so after you figure out how to actually use the dang thing you can sharpen all your bits basically taking junk bits and making them into useable tools again. No more melting holes in metal. Done properly a freshly sharpened bit cuts like butter!!! This thing makes drilling holes in1/4 inch plate pure pleasure!! The agony it can save you is beyond belief.

     Like I mentioned this is not a tool that you can buy, quickly plug in and start using. It actually requires a little thinking to figure out... even if you never had to read directions before. Once you get the learning curve out of the way no problem. If you have a dull bit just pop it in here, move it over there then back here turn it a couple of times and sharp bit!!! Oh sure if you are Einstien you could sharpen them on your grinder. Most braggarts say its a piece of cake. Real people though know they are lying and it is bloody tricky. This thing does it perfectly. This is any small shops priority must have! $200. give or take but once you got it you got it. It's the last thing you want to buy but if you are smart then it is the first thing you NEED to buy. There are cheaper models but this one has perks their other models don't have so I opted for it.

     Here is one of my more funner tricks. Each of the bottles I have filled with solvents. One regular paint thinner and the other lacquer thinner. I am always using lacquer thinner in my studio for cleaning up stuff. Partly because of the smell and partly because it pretty well disolves everything. On top of that it is highly flamable and thus extremely dangerous. This creates a bit of excitement in my life. Oh sure I am not convinced I would use it so much in a wood shop but for here its great. I got the bottles at some kitchen supply place. Of course you have to make sure that the solvent does not disolve them first. These two I have been using for years. They fit quite nicely inside the old soup cans. When things get a little boring around the studio I can always spark up a little fire for something to do. The nice thing about them is you can squirt out just the smallest amount of solvent if you need. This can save you an incredible amount of solvent over the year. Plus with pouring it out of the can you risk spilling the whole dang can! Of course if you are familiar with lacquer thinner it is not something you want to spill a gallon of all over the floor next to your furnace!!!!!!!! Ventilation is highly recommended when using that stuff if you don't want to be putting a new roof on your joint. Do I hear Bomb!!! 

     You know the nice thing about being a lazy artist with apparently more money than brains and a cnc machine is the fact you can fiddle around all day making useless stuff that means absolutely nothing. This here is a cnc cut ten gage plate steel razor blade dispensor. It has rare earth magnets on the back so it will stick to the cabinet below. I don't know about you but I love straight back razor blades. They are so handy for almost anything. I use tons of them always have. The nice thing about this dispensor is you just slide one or two out the bottom and away you go. No fiddling around trying to find the box of them. Once they are all gone you just open up a new box and slide it into the dispensor. I did make a little steel weight to help keep the blades from sticking up and not falling down.

     If this was made of plastic you could probably sell thousands of them since every shop would have to have one. If you have some of the ambition I lack you might want to run with this idea. I am sure it could make you a lot of money!!  

     Here is my latest solution for storing all sorts of odd ball tools, some bolts and screws and misc. other crap. Three vintage card file cabinets. It took awhile to come up with these three but was worth it. These are incredible since the drawers are over two feet deep. They have roller bearing slides and even when full of very heavy steel bits can be pulled out almost effortlessly. Now that I have this three quarters full I am guessing it weighs around 1500 lbs or more. It holds and sorts out an incredible amount of crap making it very easy to find. I bolted the cabinets together which makes them extremely stable. The previous wheels I tried on the dolly were rated at 250 lbs a wheel and basically froze up once the cabinets were loaded onto it without the drawers!! I then went back to these wheels and even loaded I can still move it around with a little effort.

     I am guessing that each drawer weighs between eighty and one hundred and twenty pounds. Though it was rather cheap to get this set up the contents are likely the most expensive part of my studio next to my cnc machine! If you don't think so just go to Hopeless depot and price a handfull of bolts and fittings!! Each of the white ish drawers three layers of the plano sorter bins, nine per drawer. This cabinet eats junk like no tomorrow!!! The best part is I can now actually find the stuff I have in it when I need that stuff !!!

     Here is another addition to my tool organization. This one is a real gem. It holds my vise, metal shear, one of my six bench grinders and my JD 2 tube notcher. Not to mention my bolt cutters, a small sledge hammer, and a hand made steel dustpan. None of these tools I use enough warrant them having their own station so to speak. This way I can just drag it out from the wall and then spin it to the tool I want to use. Ideal for our studio here with space being at a premium. The footprint is about 16" square.

     Finally, thanks to George here in Vancouver, I scored a pre-plastic non carcinogenic drill. It was one of his Dad's and goes way back there. Works like a dang. Not sure what I will do with the old plastic drill, likely throw it out since I have already used it a dozen times. Last time I used it it was making a strange grinding sound. 

     At one point I almost sold the shear but decided to clamp it to my bench to see if I would need it.... I could not believe how good it actually worked and how much I use it so it now stays. It is an old English model of some sort. Now normally the bench grinder would be a little low but I needed one lower for times I have a ton of parts to clean up and want to sit down while I do it. This works perfectly.  

     Luckily since I took the time to give this a nice patina it goes very well in our kitchen since we do still have some unused space in that area. Saves me cluttering up my actual welding area.     

     Check out the stool I made up for my cnc machine computer. This is no Iskea cheapo. The base is real cast aluminum off a very good quality office chair. It has the quick height adjust. The seat is a cast iron model off a 1905 Stoddart Hay Maker! Man on top of being fire proof you can sit on that sucker all day! I actually made up two one for my office desk also. They stopped making these seats out of cast iron around 1910 or so. After that they were stamped steel similar to the newer ones today.

     As you can see I have packed almost every inch with the tools that I use regularly. Since floor space is at a premium in our studio this has been a real score. It’s foot print is just over one foot square and yet holds a ton of tools, welding rods etc. Even though I have since added even more tools there are still places I can squeeze stuff in yet.

     All four sides holds tools of some sort. The pen and file holders etc have rare earth magnets on the bottoms which keeps them from falling off the ledge when I move them. Or if I want to move them to my bench the same thing.

     Like I said I have magnets mounted to almost all my tools. Even this air grinder. Since almost everything in my studio is metal including the floor finding a place to stick this tool is easy. The tape measures also have magnets.

     Yes the bic lighter has a magnet and so do the aluminum squares. The ones on the squares had to be countersunk flush.

     This here is a stand that I built for my JD2 tubing notcher. I got this notcher from none other than....

www.tricktools.com

They have a great website with reeel cool selection of top notch tools. I have ordered from them a few times and always got great service! I highly recommend these guys!! This notcher is top quality and makes beautiful notches. I previously tried a “Hail China” notcher but of course as usual that was just money down the drain. Most smart metal workers know cheep tools are just too expensive! Hell even I am learning that… slowly.

     And now the cheapest tool I ever bought! Words cannot describe this puppy. Once again the heroes at www.tricktools.com sold me this thing. I am not sure but think it was three hundred and something. Of course when it reached the Canadian border the government had to do a little skimming they call duty and taxes. After that I think it bumped the price up to right near $500.

     You may think that is a lot for a bench grinder but let me tell you this is no bench grinder… rest assured! Use one of these things twice and you will throw your bench grinder in the dumpster where it belongs! The left hand side had a typical bench grinding stone on it. I threw that out and installed this very dangerous cut off blade with no guard. Sure it is an accident waiting for a place to happen but does it work great for grinding slowly in tight places.

     Since I have been getting a grip on my suicidal tendencies I may rig up some kind of guard shortly. It could easily grab a loose flying wooly shirt in mere mila seconds. That of course would lead to a severe pummeling to the shirt wearers body.

     Just to note here that the belts on this tool never seem to wear out!!! Plus I think it would be impossible to shred, tear or break one! It seems I use them forever before changing them and they still remove metal fast right up until I do. This is great if you are cheap like me. I can’t even bring my self to throw out the old ones since they still work! Maybe a little slower than when new but what the hell. It is hard to imagine how much metal one belt will remove which makes this tool top value.

Click the underlined words below to buy!

www.tricktools.com

This is one of those tools that you hope your competition

does not find out about!!!

Here We Have The Almighty Dynabrade

These guys ROCK!

They make sanders, all kinds… and I’m not kidding!

www.dynabrade.com

          I highly recommend checking out this site and downloading their cataloge. What they make is beyond belief! This tool has been another one of my better investments. Right now it has a wider kind of polishing belt on it. Normally I have the half inch sanding belts on it. So far I have found the belts never seem to wear out. It takes off metal in hard to reach places like you would not believe. Changing belts is very fast/easy. This is seriously also one of those tools you don’t want your competition to find out about. : )

          Here is one of my most favourite time saving tools I have. Oh sure you may be thinking a grampa reaching tool but not the case. This thing can cut shop clean up time in half especially when you get good at it. It can easily pick a dime off the floor or quickly reach under your bench to pick up stuff. You can be reaching for something with one hand and something else with this at the same time. I installed rare earth magnets in the handle so I can having hanging from my loft railing for easy access. I use it all the time and not because I have to. I run 5k three or four times a week. Seriously once you use these a bit you will want one with-in reach.

          Here is a chisle and a center punch that I have attatched magnets to. I put the magnets on the tool and then covered in good quality shrink tube. After that I dipped the handle part in that rubber coating you use on tool handles. The magnets are sealed in and always there for sticking the thing to the side of the drill press or where ever you want it. Shrink tube along with that rubber junk you dip tool handles in are a couple of my favorite things to have around.

          This here is one real sweet tool to have and to hold in your collection. What I did here was found a pair of these little gripper things at a garage sale once. There were two attatched to a piece of aluminum with a pad of abestos or similar on it. Jewelers use them for holding small stuff while they solder or weld it. What I did was unscrew the gripper part and arm off the aluminum base. I then got a one inch rare earth magnet and steel cup. I screwed the cup onto the end of the arm, this was very easy since the end of the tube piece was already threaded so it could be attached to the aluminum. I then popped in the magnet and viola. Everytime I use these things I am amazed at how well you can manouver things around into position. Extremely handy for sure. I can use both of them to weld two real small pieces together also. Not something I use that often but when I need them there is no other solution!

          As long as you are dumb enough to try something stupid you can sometimes get great results! Surprisingly this cut turned out perfectly. I had to tighten up the bungees every so often to keep the feed pressure right but not a big deal. Needless to say being quarter inch it was one long cut aluminum or not.

          This modified shop vac was a real score. The Vacuum part I bought at home depot. I then cut the bottom out of it and attached it to a fifteen gallon drum. I then threw away the irritating hose has comes with most shop vacs and bought a 24 footer from Lee Valley tools. It is actually flexable! Not to mention it will reach to most corners of a small wood shop. I then mounted it in one corner of our live/work studio. Worked like a hot dam and rarely needed changing. In fact almost never due to the type of dust I suck up. Mostly fine metal dust, metal chips and typical city dust. None of which has much volume. Thus I went to a smaller more compact wall mount system. The best thing about it is the fact that it holds likely three times or more than the original version. On top of this the exhaust air can be plumbed right outside if you are real picky.  For wood dust and chips it is perfect.

     Here is a cool trick that only works if you have a steel floor and a lot of rare earth magnets!! The base has the magnets and sticks nicely to the floor. The fan is mounted on the Lee Valley flex thingy. The nice thing about this is you can place it anywhere and direct the fan exactly where you want to blow the toxic fumes over to the other side of the studio. I still need to mount a toggle switch on it instead of the cheapo iskea piece of junk. Great for when you want to direct a fan on hot parts to speed cooling also.

     Here is another real handy beast. It is a piece of one inch flat bar bent slightly and a one inch rare earth magnet cup and magnet attached to it. I keep this one on or near my bench grinder for those times I have something small to polish on the wire wheel. Works like a dang. Also if I am cleaning up a small piece I just cnc'd then I can use the handle part to knock off any remaining slag if there is any. Needless to the maget in the cup holds very well but if you push too hard then you end up launching the small and often sharp piece.

     Here is a tip holder I rigged up for my cobra...(Dillon..... for you older welders) torch. Once again the power of the rare earth magnet. Of course when the magnets are used in cahoots with a cup the power is even greater. The nice thing about this is I can stick it where ever I am welding so always have it close at hand. The tips thread onto bolts I sawed down and welded onto the bar. It is amazing how much fucking around crap like this takes to rig up but man the time it saves over the years is incredible.

     Here is one of the best scores we installed in our studio... a central vac!! The best thing is by mounting it up on the wall it does not take up any floor space. I plumbed in a hard pipe to the center of the studio and to the loft. We have one long hose which does the whole ground floor of our studio and another shorter one for our loft. One of the best things about this is the fact that after the air goes through the filter it gets plumbed right outside. That way when I am sucking up dust from radioactive materials or  other highly toxic, carcinogenic or even explosive stuff I know the fumes from those things are not going right back into our studio air. Now the one downfall of these systems is that a lot are quite noisey. Just the same though the incredible suction more than makes up for the noise factor. In fact small bolts or bits of melted plutonium are no problem at all. I may rig up a sound deadening barrier to tone it down a bit but for now it is not that big an issue. Another nice thing about this one is it only takes two seconds to open and dump out the bucket.