Ok Gentleman, Any good site is a growing process and we all want what is appropriate and beneficial to all within the entire scope of our hobby. What we don't want is a site with sub forums which will or are worthless. I would like for everybody to put their 2 cents in about a sub section for welding as this topic "is" a necessity for the serious caster and I personally feel it will be extremely beneficial not only to the registered members but draw guest to our site with the potential of creating new member's as well. So what sayeth the committee? Yay or Nay?
Yup. Welding is a necessary evil in the casting world for most. I haven't checked out all the subsections. Possibly "The Shop" section, all things relevant to the working of metal. This could include the machinists stuff, welding stuff, cutting and working of metals. ..........just a thought. A dedicate welding only section is a good one. No reason to break it down further than that. I bet 80% of us weld either with tig, mig or stick.
A welding section wouldn't make me any more or less attracted to this site. I come here and to AA for casting and foundry related dialogue. We form, braze, and weld metal every day at the day-job. There are plenty of welding forums but not casting forums. When it comes to welding the common materials such as steels, stainless steels, and aluminum all of that is well covered and there is a lot of information and support out their for the hobbyist from both equipment manufacturers and third party forums. Cast aluminum and iron also get some play at those sites but when it comes to welding the less common casting alloys such as bronzes and precious metals not-so-much. I do kind of enjoy the machine building section at AA just to see what everyone is up to. Also depends on David's intent for the site.....focused on casting or jack of all trades. Best, Kelly
Kelly, Do you know what information is out there on the web for welding bronze? TRY NOTHING! ABSOFRIGGENLUTLY NOTHING ! The closest you can come to is some clown decorating a motorcycle frame welds with the gold stuff. The only people that weld (not braze, not tig braze bronze onto steel) actual silicon bronze is US. If you cast bronze in any artistic ability, it really is an essential part of the process. Perhaps a post processing or final finishing subsection could fit the bill. This could entail, welding, sand blasting, polishing, PATINAS, plating, attaching bases, assembly and so on. Forums with 30 subsections suck and I get that, while a dedicated welding subsection is not needed for those that don't weld, the rest of the above processes should be needed for just about everyone here. As much as I'd like to see a welding section, I think this would be a great compromise. I tried asking questions about bronze welding on weldingweb and all I got was dumb looks are still free. If we get a post processing section, you can bet, I'll be the first guy on the internet to roll with some good bronze welding stuff as this seems to be a dark secret in the artist world. (god only knows why??? Artists are weird like that) Who knows, I might even spring for a better video camera rig.
Yes which is what I was suggesting in my comment that managing the materials les traveled and more germane to castings would IMO be more appropriate, and the additions you suggest are sensible to concentrate the number of sub-forums to a reasonable number. Best, Kelly
Nice this should be a good spot to put all the patina/welding knowledge. We definitely needed that. Have you chosen moderators and added stickies yet?
There are a couple moderators lurking... Not much for them to mod yet though. The software does a really good job of filtering out spam. Moderators can sticky threads they think are long standing sources of information.
At some point I would prefer great threads moved to a HALL OF FAME section, Locked, so we do no have 15 stickys so you literally have to go to the second page to even see what is going on... V/r HT1 P.S... my 2 cents probably less then valuable
Good idea HT. Well, if we have a Hall of Fame, shouldn't we have a Hall of Shame? All the No No's a caster should seriously avoid doing?
Id be up for a welding subsection. I dont know much about stick or mig but weld a bit of bronze in non-structural work. I sculpt and cast bronzes and couldnt find much out in the tinterweb of any use when i first started out. By the sounds of what Jason is saying things havent improved much over time. Most of what i have learned is from foundries sharing their knowledge and personal trial and error. I would be willing to chip in some (limited) knowledge/experience for what its worth. John
I dont like the hall of shame idea. It would deter potential members from joining if they saw their work in a hall of shame. We all started somewhere, and hopefully improved ourselves as time and expense allowed
Ok, Ok How about the "Hall of Knowledge"? Sound better? Once the new people get to know us here they would completely understand we're ALL slightly off our rockers.
Only tig im afraid. Mainly for joining small sections of bronze to make larger pieces that would be too much hassle to cast large. And patching up casting flaws ........ but obviously i hardly ever have to do that cos I am THAT Good! John
lol... That's good to hear. I have an O/A rig, but I only using that for copper pipe work on hvac. I'd like to see your TIG tricks so I can put them in my bag too.
