The Dysfunctional-Palooza Obnoxious Masshole BS Thread

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Have a good one all of you, going to be home alone and my crew is taking a long weekend, so I will be brewing at least one batch this weekend. Thinking I'll do a "calibration lager": 20#s pilsner malt & moderate noble hops, 30 ish IBUs.

Cooking off a local field grown turkey(darn, past my bed time.) Probably almost done, after it rests, apportion a couple large plates o meat & fixings. One to travel, one to stay.

Wife and college kid are going off on 7AM boat to mothra in law's place in longuyland, grad school kid coming in there by train & I won't see her, which is too bad.. I got to stay here(thank goodness) and take care of my gal's cats and chickens. I have to go to sister's in town, where my mom lives next door. Kind of weird not having wife and kids around for holiday, but we got two aging moms and it seems important we show up for ours this year, respectively.

I guess I can drag out the Gibson SG and the tube amp, and/or crank some old tunes on the stereo..

TLDR

Hope everyone has an awesome Thanksgiving today.
 
Another day of explaining Cranberry harvesting to people when they make fun of Ocean Spray commercials and my wife points out that I worked in the bogs from age 2-24.

Even more fun because the Thanksgiving roster is usually a crazy mix of my Navy/Marine friends, a random airline pilot or two stuck in town over the holiday on a layover and the in-laws, who are Russian Jews from New York.
 
Gotcha
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No “now now” needed. I have nothing against them at all and don’t wish then any ill-will remotely. It’s just been fascinating to watch.
 
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So I picked up an El Cheapo Harbor Freight MIG welder and I've been teaching myself how to weld. Most of my early welds looked like a camel with a really bad head cold sneezed on the joint but they're getting better. I've already used it to fix the grape arbor in the neighbors yard. (That was my excuse to go and buy the HF welder) What I really want to do is learn TIG welding so I can weld aluminum. Anyone know anything about that?
 
So I picked up an El Cheapo Harbor Freight MIG welder and I've been teaching myself how to weld. Most of my early welds looked like a camel with a really bad head cold sneezed on the joint but they're getting better. I've already used it to fix the grape arbor in the neighbors yard. (That was my excuse to go and buy the HF welder) What I really want to do is learn TIG welding so I can weld aluminum. Anyone know anything about that?

I have a TIG welder in my shop. I'm decent with it. Downside, I'm in VA for now.

My biggest reccomendation is to NOT buy HF for a TIG. By the time you fix all the gotcha's and blow out some expensive stuff you are at what a good Lincoln would cost you.

https://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/Equipment/Pages/product.aspx?product=K5126-1(LincolnElectric)

These go on sale a lot. I don't know how far from Rochester you are, but I went to Old Colony Regional Voc-Tech there, and we used to do Adult Education classes at night. Might be a vo tech nearby. TIG is one of those things you really need someone there vs "I watched a video on Youtoob"
 
This isn't mine, but this is the model I have. It weighs about 850 pounds.

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You can use either tig, mig or stick for AL. But you settings will be different than steel, and different shielding gas.
 
A spool gun definitely makes welding aluminum with a MIG much easier.
Add straight argon or an argon/helium mix and you're in business...

Cheers!
 
I have stick welded aluminum of Peterbilt semi truck cabs. Model 352 cabovers were pretty well known for cracking in a couple spots in the doghouse.. Required pre-heat, and it's not the sort of welding you'd do unless you are really comfortable with welding steel with a stick. Flux is kinda nasty and pain to clean as well.

Since about 10 years ago when I bought my TIG, I haven't bothered stick welding aluminum. Only TIG or MIG.
 
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