Swimming pool????

Didn't read through all the pages I missed since the thread started but I think you should get a mig if you want to weld yourself a pool. The tig welder will take several lifetimes and a lot of argon gas which isn't cheap. Reminds me of when I used to try alloy my own bronze, then realized the price in propane wayyy nulliefied any savings I had planned to make.

 

The tig machine is just for now. If I go for this, I'll drop a few grand on the right mig machine.
Yeah, making bronze is BS when you can buy it ready to rock. If I had no other choice out in bfe, I could understand alloying it.

 

I like my little Hobart 140. Might upgrade to the 210 at some point, but much beyond that I'm not sure is really necessary. Very smooth welding. The 210 is around 900 bucks new. I picked up the 140 for 200 used with regulator and welding mask.

 

Ever try running 316 through it it?

 

Not yet, I need a CO2/argon mixed tank for that which I haven't bought yet. It runs regular wire through it for steel very well. I assume it would do the same for stainless?

 

I can't see why not. Up until a couple days ago, I had never welded SS. The only thing I know so far is it is welded with less heat and can warp like hell. Welding it with pulse seems like it should help big time with welding. Now, there is something called double pulse that I hear is even better! This week, I want to screw with pulse on my SS coupons with the TIG. If ya have never seen double pulse, watch around 6:41 in this video. Pretty wild shit. 5grand. This is running aluminum mig.

 

5g is a decent deposit on a premade pool. Not sure if its worth investing that kind of money for that machine when other machines would do it at a 5th or less the cost. Would be a fun new tool though! Too bad adding a pool won't increase the value/estimation of the house when/if it comes time to sell the place.

 

Don't care if it doesn't change the value, but reality it actuality does. Ya might have missed this part. Here in the US, a stainless hole in the ground costs DOUBLE what a gunite pool runs. If the next home owner doesn't want it, I'll dig it up and shove the deck in the hole and plant grass over it. If I can pull this off, you can bet I'll be one hell of a stainless steel welder and net some cool tools. Have you seen the stupid numbers digging a mudhole in shitville these clowns pull off. I wonder what would happen if I bothered to toss this up on Yt? I bet no one would care.

 

I wonder if this guy is available for lessons?

 

That video reminds me of my 8th grade Metals class final. I was making a branding iron for a farmer I knew. He was Irish & the iron was a 4 leaf clover, just for hanging on the wall or maybe branding some boxes.
Anyhow, I had everything cut & formed, clean & ready. I had never welded. The shop teacher could only let me use the arc welder after school & gave me 2.5 minute "class" on how to arc weld, then he left.
By the time I figured out what he didn't teach (ground placement) it was getting dark & thevpolice had been called because of suspicious activity going on at the Jr. High School. Made my first arc when 5-oh showed up. Had to shut it down.
The cops brought in the shop teacher for confirmation of my presence. Luckily he was still on his barstool at the bar around the corner.
Needless to say, mom was not pleased seeing me delivered home via police cruiser.
I got an A for effort.

 

Some of you have heard this one before... But when I was around 12yrs old.. My mother brought home a 120vt buzz box stick welder from a garage sale. (who does that??) Anyways, it even came with some sticks. It had no knobs, just an on/off switch. I looked around the garage for some metal and the only thing I found was my dads carpentry square. So I lit up on it and tried to make a bead. When he came out in the garage and saw what I was doing, he proceeded to kick my ass ALL OVER the front yard. THANKS MOM! So all this welding nonsense is HER FAULT!

 

FINALLY reached a warm body from a SS builder in colorado. Have a seat! 79grand for vessel only. 4K to ship. Where is the checkbook right? NOT!

They wanted it to be outta 12ga 316L for the shell, all tig welded, self contained shell and backed with 304 for the stiffeners. NO SALT and if you go chlorine, they highly recommend tile at the water line. Makes sense to me. Guy says they would rather avoid chlorine all together. Says they have seen pitting if the level gets too high. The recommended method is UV and something called clear comfort for bio control. For that price, I could hire a SS whiz and have cash left over for a couple of new cars. For now, the research continues.

 

So now you know stainless steel is not bulletproof.

My salt water idea was tongue in cheek. We've had lot's of problems with chloride cracking over the years with stainless steels.

As the cost of building goes up and the cost of maintenance and operation goes up it really is prudent to reassess.

 

Yeah.. so much I drew this up last night in sketchup. lol The lines on the floor and wall represent the individual sheets. Here is 10sheets of 5x10. This is my first try with sketchup, the online version sucks big time so I found the downloadable file.

 

Whats wrong with the old concrete + rebar + tiles to finish approach again? Rent a back hoe, dig a pit, prep ground and pour concrete. Probably could get it done for 5-10 k all said and done.

 

It's not 5-10k... It's 40K+ I have highly expansive soil and seen too many gunite pools here with bad leaks. In addition, the marcite coating rarely lasts longer than 7 years here before it starts cracking and falling off. That's 10k here to replace. Chemicals, here is where fiberglass beats out concrete. Concrete pools are not easy on the wallet compared to fiberglass. With the exception of the huge initial cost of stainless, there isn't a single thing I can think of that beats SS. After you spend half a lifetime BRUSHING the walls of a gunite pool, you'll never want to do it again. The roughness is a magnet for green shit to grow. Been there, got that t-shirt, never again.

 

This guy made his pool from cinder blocks and rebar/concrete.

Total cost was $3000.

If you like you can line the inside with plastic sheeting for another couple thousand. It won't degrade very quickly. Our plastic lining in our pool has lasted at least 20 years and looks brand new. Just be sure it doesn't get pierced or you're effed because finding the leak is next to impossible.

Here are pool liners you can install yourself:
https://www.poolwarehouse.com/how-to-install-a-swimming-pool-liner/

 

No offense man.. but we had vinyl pools when I was a kid. They were shit and the florida sun destroyed them in 3yrs. One we moved away from and the other we ripped out and went gunite. They might be fine if you live up north where the sun isn't so intense. You can get away with homemade block pools in some other countries, but code would be so far up my ass I'd be tasting leather with that atrocity in that video. That clown's numbers are from 1975. My pump alone is going to run me $700, hell the damn SS light is almost $500. You price out concrete block lately? Hell, a 2x4 in my HD is almost 5bucks! (not that I buy their crappy lumber)

That photo above represents and I am not joking here.. less that 10grand in stainless steel! Yes it's a simple box. That's all the wife and I need or want. If it's around 8000 gallons, I won't hesitate to flip on a 400k btu heater in the middle of winter and make that sucker 90degrees! I haven't done the math yet, but my buddy had a 18k gallon pool and it would go from 45-90 pretty much OVERNIGHT. I'm thinking solar full time and augment that with the jet engine when it needs a kick in the pants. One thing I learned from pools in the past... If the sucker is less than 86degrees, I'm not going in it. Another plus with being not stupid big or odd ball shape is a cover. Wait for it..... SLIDING DECK! I've got a 10ft easement inside my fence due to underground utilities... (gas, electric, cable and phone) so I cannot go large. BUT, I can run a set of tracks extending behind the pool over the easement. Only thing left to decide is do we want it on a remote control?

 

Now you're talking. I love that sliding deck. It really helps keep debris and neighbor's kids out. And once you get the water warm it will be a great insulator. Make it like a drawer slide and you don't need an unsightly track.

For a turbo water heater let's see a waste oil burner into a stainless steel jacket. Line the jacket with firebrick to get a hot spot and you have to pump a lot of water to keep the discharge temperature down. 130F on free oil would make a fine fine winter spa.

I still think if that's the size pool you want you can put in select fill and a liner pool with your deck-cover and never worry about the liner under sun attack. But you want a stainless pool and can afford it so why go cheap?

 

A waste oil burner would be the catzazz. I literally have an endless supply of free used motor oil. Let's save that one for a later date. I have plenty on my plate with trying to figure out how to weld 2miles of SS. Maybe I can sub that job out to you Andy?

I have no problem with parting with the money, yet I want the most bang for my buck. Would this be a lot of work? You bet! I just have this sneaky feeling I can pull this off for 20k-25K. SS is superior to concrete and vinyl. Wouldn't be the first time I've given the finger to the man and saved a fortune and won't be the last.