An Airplane Welding Class and Stuff

[Wyandot Jim]

Hey Guys,
Grandson and Son were here a couple weeks ago to do some work on the Piper Pacer project.
Thought it was about time to teach Grandson how to do some aircraft welding. Got him started with the Oxy-Acetylene on some .065 mild steel. He took to it like a duck to water. Son and I were amazed to say the least. The real test will be with the TIG machine. :wink: :wink: I have put on several welding classes and he did Great.

I also let him do some fabric work on the Pacer. He replaced an area about 3'x3' with new fabric on his own. All I did was tell him what and how to do it.



Built this seaplane door for the left side.




Did some on the new panel


recovered wing

 

[contender]

It's great to share such knowledge.
My dad left me with many words of wisdom.
"A good education is something nobody can steal from you. But it's a crime not to share it!"

It appears you are sharing your knowledge with a new generation & we'll all be better for it.

 

[Selena]

Jim,

I'm sending you my idiot brother, his TIG welder and his assorted collection of aircraft engines. You will benefit from the company of a fellow OMB and we will actually be able to use the homestead machine shed to store farm machinery.

Added thought: Should he start talking about parachutes or other idiocies in front of impressionable children just bop him once on the nose with a rolled up newspaper.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Selena,
UPS him and old aircraft parts to me and I will pay one way shipping.
Mailing address to follow.

 

[Selena]

Selena,
UPS him and old aircraft parts to me and I will pay one way shipping.
Mailing address to follow.

Trust me, you don't want all the parts unless you have about 40 acres to store them all. Settle for the engines. If the two of you manage to design a home brew airframe around his magician engine I don't want to know about it.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

WOW,
Sounds like your brother has a real gold mine.

A guy buy the name of Connie Edwards of Big Springs Texas just sold a Hanger full of junk, 6, bf-109s, P-51 and a bunch of engines for 15 MILLION. They were just left over JUNK from The 60s movie Battle Of Britton.

 

[Number9]

Jim..

Was it true in the past that you couldn't use tig on homebuilt?

 

[Selena]

WOW,
Sounds like your brother has a real gold mine.

A guy buy the name of Connie Edwards of Big Springs Texas just sold a Hanger full of junk, 6, bf-109s, P-51 and a bunch of engines for 15 MILLION. They were just left over JUNK from The 60s movie Battle Of Britton.

On $econd thought he only take$ half the engine$. Know anybody that want$ to buy a running magician engine V-12? I think he $aid it was made by Roll$ Royce.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Jim..

Was it true in the past that you couldn't use tig on homebuilt?

Not really. When a plane is licensed in Experimental in Homebuilt Category you can build it about anyway and use what you want.
What we now call TIG has been known as Heliarc
Russel Meredith of Northrop Aircraft perfected the process in 1941. Meredith named the process Heliarc because it used a tungsten electrode arc and helium as a shielding gas, most of the time we now use argon. The official American Welding Society term is gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW). TIG can be used on Certified aircraft also. Since most all the 4130 chrome moly aircraft tubing is less than .125 it doesn't need heat treated. Oxy-Acetylene doesn't need HT since you are doing it as you weld. O-A is also much easier to learn and not as much money needs to be invested in the rig. Stinson Aircraft used Elect-Arc on their planes.

I thought the only two things that I couldn't weld together was a Broken Heart and the Crack of Dawn . Then I tried using the TIG machine I need a weeeee bit more practice :wink:

Selena,

If it looks like this we can talk :wink:

 

[Tensaw]

Jim, it is great that you are teaching him things that will be valuable to him all his life.

I always wanted to learn to weld. I have always been handy. I'm a fairly good woodworker and furniture builder. And I have refurbished a few houses but never got around to learn how to weld.

 

[Number9]

I thought the only two things that I couldn't weld together was a Broken Heart and the Crack of Dawn . Then I tried using the TIG machine I need a weeeee bit more practice :wink:

All ya got'a do is hold your mouth right! :mrgreen:

Best at ya!
-Wayne

Grade 5(6-4) Titanium...
In the picture shows 5 separate pieces welded together(not counting handle).
Two small pieces to widen blade at hilt and finished flush..
Hilt and blade(not bent to 90)..
And gusset from hilt to blade.

 

[Selena]

I thought the only two things that I couldn't weld together was a Broken Heart and the Crack of Dawn . Then I tried using the TIG machine I need a weeeee bit more practice :wink:

All ya got'a do is hold your mouth right! :mrgreen:

Best at ya!
-Wayne

Grade 5(6-4) Titanium...
In the picture shows 5 separate pieces welded together(not counting handle).
Two small pieces to widen blade at hilt and finished flush..
Hilt and blade(not bent to 90)..
And gusset from hilt to blade.

Beautiful weld 9! I can stick two pieces of metal together but not nearly that uniform of a bead except with an electrode type.

Jim, it's not quite that modern looking but the lines are right. I'll ask him when he gets in. All I can remember he said it was from an old British bomber that some guy had bought for some kind of civilian delivery thing.

 

[Tweety Bird]

Boy, No.9, I'm jealous of anyone who can do work like that!

Jim, tell your grandson to get in the habit of wearing gloves when he's welding. I learned that lesson a month ago. I was just practicing a little and since I was only going to run a quick bead or two on some scrap, I didn't put all my gear on. I guess in my haste I missed cleaning things thoroughly and when it popped, I had some hot steel get between my wedding band and my finger.

Man, I dropped a lot of F-bombs over the next 15 seconds or so while I frantically shook my hand to try to flip that hot stuff out of place.

Good news is that since I couldn't wear the ring for a few weeks, we used it as an opportunity to get the ring re-sized. Mrs. Tweety screwed it back on my finger a few days ago with instructions to NEVER do that again.

 

[Number9]

What I hate to see is the guys on TV arc welding without gloves or sleeves!
My dermatologist told me that skin cancer was on the increase from welding.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Yea I'll bet that hurt a weeeeeeeeee bit. He had on a pair of my TIG gloves but they were to big so he was having a hard time feeding in the rod. I do wear gloves when I TIG or Arc weld. If you don't you will get a nice sun burn. Don't like wearing them when O-A. I have tried using the light cotton ones just to keep my rod had cool but no dice.

The reason it will pop is because the tip is dirty or to low of a flame for the tip size. The pop is due to the flame going back into the mixing barrel/tip.

 

[Tweety Bird]

Yeah, I tend to leave the gloves behind when I use my gas setup, too, but I plan to change my decades-old habit there. Of course, I only get my welders out a couple times a year so I'll probably take shortcuts again. (I know myself pretty well...)