Thanks Nick,yes it was very informative.
Regards John McKenna
Welding equipment?
Moderators: John Dean, Moderator
PESSIMISM ALERT! 
There: I've been up-front about it.
I'm not a welder, but I have worked as labourer / 'boy' / assistant to fabrication welders, did 2/3 of the first year of a City and Guilds welding course (don't ask!) and have a MIG welder that I occasionally join bits of metal together with. I know enough about welding to know just how much I DON'T know.
If I was going to build a chrome-moly steel fuselage frame I'd consider either TIG or oxy/acetylene gas welding it together (assuming the latter is still acceptable these days). In either case I'd settle for just cutting the tubes, tacking it together and then working with a CAA approved welder to finally weld it all together, the welder doing the welding and me assisting / aligning etc.
Wouldn't let it put me off building a steel tube fuselage though, if that's the aircraft I wanted.
Mind you, the subsequent fabric work might put me off!
There: I've been up-front about it.
I'm not a welder, but I have worked as labourer / 'boy' / assistant to fabrication welders, did 2/3 of the first year of a City and Guilds welding course (don't ask!) and have a MIG welder that I occasionally join bits of metal together with. I know enough about welding to know just how much I DON'T know.
If I was going to build a chrome-moly steel fuselage frame I'd consider either TIG or oxy/acetylene gas welding it together (assuming the latter is still acceptable these days). In either case I'd settle for just cutting the tubes, tacking it together and then working with a CAA approved welder to finally weld it all together, the welder doing the welding and me assisting / aligning etc.
Wouldn't let it put me off building a steel tube fuselage though, if that's the aircraft I wanted.
Mind you, the subsequent fabric work might put me off!
Rob Swain
If the good Lord had intended man to fly, He would have given him more money.
If the good Lord had intended man to fly, He would have given him more money.
I did the one day welding course with Robin James. It was an excellent introduction and Robin is a fine and patient teacher. We mostly did gas welding, but did touch on MIG later in the day. I was an absolute beginner BTW. After I had blown lots of holes in the metal I was trying to weld with the MIG, Robin commented that if he ever went into business making colanders, I would be first on the list....
Roger Slater
015804
015804