http://www.tinmantech.com/html/kent_white.html

Look around, read FAQ's and check out the torch.

Flame gear on, literally.

 

My welding teacher made us start out in oxy fuel. He said its a basic skill that you should have before you start any kind of welding. True story.

 

Dude...there's people that still are blacksmiths, heating metal and hammering it inso various shapes...but that doesn't mean that it's still a viable method of manufacturing today. It's simply a trade that some still use.

Off that site:
"In addition, his Oxy-acetylene Aluminum Welding System was recently rated by professional aircraft welders as superior to what was used in the past, including WWII military aircraft. "

This only means that oxy-acetylene welding is better than it was in the 40's.

As a means of production on any medium or large scale, I believe oxy-acetylene welding is a an obsolete skill. I may be proven wrong here by a link or two of something...which is fine. If you find some products that are still manufactured this way, I'm interested in seeing them. This is not a point I care to argue, as I do welcome the chance to be proven wrong here. I'm interested in hearing about it if this is still being used on any large scale.

I know a lot of guys disagree with me, but I don't think it's a good method for a starter to learn on. It's typical that people will think the way they learned is the best... however I don't feel that way. I started on stick welding, then to oxy-acetylene. This was in high school. I think the only thing I gained from it is the ability to say that I did it. I don't feel that it helped me with any other welding process. If it were up to me, as an instructor, I'd leave it as one of the last things in a welding course...just so the person could say that they had done it when they completed the course.

 

hehehe whats oxy whos a whats it hehehe

i have seen the sultan get out the torch for various things here and there

 

Yeah most entry level welding classes start out teaching on oxy-act. As far as welding it is going obsolete. As far as cutting metal it's still one of the best and cheapest ways to cut, especially really thick metal. And it's a lot more practical to bring a oxy-act setup that you can just spark up, then to try to drag a portable welder with a power source.

 

Don't take this wrong.But guys that do sheetmetal(allum.)for drag cars still gas weld ,Oops I mean Oxy-acet. weld The stuff that have to weld and form.Because its closer to the same after they weld it .

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RMF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Don't take this wrong.But guys that do sheetmetal(allum.)for drag cars still gas weld ,Oops I mean Oxy-acet. weld The stuff that have to weld and form.Because its closer to the same after they weld it . </TD></TR></TABLE>

Not disputing you here, I just want to see what kind of work can be done for this. I suck at body work, and it seems that you'd have a lot more warpage problems than with a little HH125 or something that can weld with very minimal heat input.
Surely somebody's got a webpage of this being done, and in progress. I have heard that many of the hot rod builders use it also...but I havn't seen how they do.

I don't think I'd do it if it were me, as although this method is often seen as crappy welding, it's not nearly as easy as it appears. These guys doing it on body work must be damn good with it.

 

Its not real easy .In fact its kinda like brazing.There is no bead .But when your done .You can beat the **** out of it .And it won't break off like when you heliarc
thin allum.I watched a guy name Mel Swain from Calif. build a 58 pontoon fender
testa rossa.All out of allum.and he gas welded all the allum. body.And it was perfect.

 

i dont know when i first took myh welding class we learned on the oxy ace, and it acctually helped out when i took the the tig classes, sort of the same princaple.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Engloid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

it seems that you'd have a lot more warpage problems than with a little HH125 or something that can weld with very minimal heat input.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes, the larger heat-affected-zone is about the biggest negative I see, and the fluxes...but for someone like me who can't afford a TIG or even a good Mig (aren't HH140's around $450?), being able to join aluminum or pretty much any metal ( prob. not Ti, dunno for sure) for &lt;$300 is pretty attractive, in addition to the other uses around the home shop for the rig. In the old days, I worked at a shop were our guy fabbed all the exhaust systems with his torch. He made it look so easy. Jesse Urive...RIP.

 

being able to efficiently weld with torch and rods is a very respectable skill, i had to spend the first 6 months of learning how to weld using fire and rod and its very difficult campared to most other welding types