It's not unknown for me to just build furniture. I'm building my own loft bed into the place I'm moving into in the near future.
I would love to do that if I had more time. I had a lot of fun building the loft I used in college. I think I'm going to make a bed frame for my next bed though. The one my dad built for me growing up was boss.
I also built all the tables that are at the place already, but they're very simple two-layer work benches, except for the kitchen table - Just a welded steel frame, with a layer of varnished MDF on top, and a layer of simply finished MDF on the bottom. I'll grab a picture sometime.
I can attest the one near the university is bullshit. Rym is right in saying their stuff is horribly overpriced. Although they have a couple awesome couches.
Oh, I didn't mean to imply that the price was too high. I meant equivalent in the sense of "a shelf/desk that is about twice as good for about twice the price".
I rather like much of their furniture, and our apartment has several shelves and such from them.
Dude, it's fuckin' easy as. It's just 3/4 inch box tube, welded to each other on flat sides, just four almost-an-inch straight welds per connection. A monkey could do it. I've been welding since I was knee-high, so I can do it and make it look nice, too.
I've been thinking of taking some welding classes so I can do stuff like that. Any advice?
Buy your on mask, and use it ALWAYS. Don't skimp or cheap out on a helmet, buy the best helmet you can afford - a newer, better helmet is a trip to the store away, but blindness is forever. Never, never, never look at welding flash without protection, retinal burns are fucking terrible. Wear the appropriate clothing - stout boots with a steel cap, long pants, long sleeves. Make sure that they're lace boots, too - nothing makes you dance like the fun feeling of a hot spark going down the side of your elastic-sided boots.
Be patient, but not timid or slow - if you rush it, you're going to get a thin, weak bead. Go too slow, you're going to blow holes. Don't be afraid - it makes a terrific noise and a horrible light, but you're fine. You're not going to hurt yourself unless you fuck up stupidly, and you're not stupid. This doesn't mean you shouldn't be careful - you're working with very high voltage. It will ruin your shit if you fuck with it. So don't fuck with it. And weld in a well-ventilated area, breathing that shit is no good.
Also, Mig Welding may indeed be baby mode welding, but if you can, learn and practice on the arc welder. It's harder, but master the Arc, and you'll be a better welder than if you started on a MIG. TIG welding is harder than it looks. ARC is caveman style, but the equipment is also the cheapest and easiest to get - you can weld with a car battery, jumper cables, and a rod or three, not that you should on a regular basis.
So... from what I hear welding has a pretty decent learning curve. I have no doubt I could do it eventually with enough practice, but aren't all the tools and such prohibitively expensive to make it a hobby?
So... from what I hear welding has a pretty decent learning curve. I have no doubt I could do it eventually with enough practice, but aren't all the tools and such prohibitively expensive to make it a hobby?
Not really, your main expense will be rods and practice metal. You can get a cheap arc welder+leads and clamps for a few hundred bucks, probably even cheaper in the US than here. Saftey equipment can be expensive, but you pay for it once, and good safety equipment worth it's weight in gold.
That helmet set me back about as much as a new arc - about 300 bucks - but goddamn if it's not one of the best welding helmets I've had on. It's a speedglas utility, and you can probably get them a lot cheaper, now.
I think the main expense will actually be my divorce proceedings when I end up welding long, long into the night. Also, thanks. I think I now have a new hobby and skill to pick up.
I had a high school teacher that thought that because I could draw and sculpt, I'd obviously be able weld some junk instruments into a statue, and dropped like two hundred pounds of scrap on me to bug me about every day.
Man, I don't even like taking stuff out of the oven. How the fuck am I supposed to do anything with this shit?
I can attest the one near the university is bullshit. Rym is right in saying their stuff is horribly overpriced. Although they have a couple awesome couches.
Oh, I didn't mean to imply that the price was too high. I meant equivalent in the sense of "a shelf/desk that is about twice as good for about twice the price".
I rather like much of their furniture, and our apartment has several shelves and such from them.
I was originally looking there for a bookcase since I desperately need one, but I just can't justify spending $800 on one. They have some cheaper ones but I'm not sure if they can handle my books.
EDIT: Actually they do have a couple that are $300 that I might consider.
I had a machinist once advise me to learn oxy first, but oxy rigs are about as much as a MIG rig, so that's kind of a barrier to entry.
The fact that I don't know any of those terms you're using just make me more excited to dive in.
Oxy-(something) - Oxygen-acetaline fuel welding/cutting or welder/cutter. Commonly called an Oxy torch, and yeah, they're harder than an ARC rig for welding(even I mostly use it for cutting, rather than welding) and generally more expensive to get set up with one.
MIG welding : Gas metal arc welding, Or Metal Inert Gas Welding, from which the name comes. A machine feeds wire and gas down a hose, supplying electricity to the metal to create the welding arc, and an inert gas to shield the weld from oxidization.
Also, another tip - drink a lot of water. You are going to sweat a LOT, it's very hot and thirsty work.
I think the main expense will actually be my divorce proceedings when I end up welding long, long into the night. Also, thanks. I think I now have a new hobby and skill to pick up.
In all seriousness, I do put my homebrew in those bottles. I just keep them in a very dark place, because I've gotta work with what I've got. I've got more than a handful of good brews under my belt, too, and while I know it's not ideal, I also know from experience that it works just fine, even if the solution is more arse than class.
Meet my friend, he kills families. I was actually looking for something more popular in a green bottle but the only beers I could think of that use them are lambics. I bet Churba knows of a few, where is that man when you need him?
How many people here use wall mounts for their TVs? I'm thinking of getting a wall mount instead of a new media tower. Then I can put the big electronics on top of the stand the TV was on.
I bet Churba knows of a few, where is that man when you need him?
Grolsch, Stella, Heineken, Dos Equis, Tsing Tao, Becks, Lech, everything from Spaten, Baltika.
Fun facts: Green bottles don't cause skunkiness, it's UV light that does it. Green bottles filter out less UV than brown bottles, but why the fuck are you keeping your beer in the sun, jackass?
Comments
I rather like much of their furniture, and our apartment has several shelves and such from them.
Be patient, but not timid or slow - if you rush it, you're going to get a thin, weak bead. Go too slow, you're going to blow holes. Don't be afraid - it makes a terrific noise and a horrible light, but you're fine. You're not going to hurt yourself unless you fuck up stupidly, and you're not stupid. This doesn't mean you shouldn't be careful - you're working with very high voltage. It will ruin your shit if you fuck with it. So don't fuck with it. And weld in a well-ventilated area, breathing that shit is no good.
Also, Mig Welding may indeed be baby mode welding, but if you can, learn and practice on the arc welder. It's harder, but master the Arc, and you'll be a better welder than if you started on a MIG. TIG welding is harder than it looks. ARC is caveman style, but the equipment is also the cheapest and easiest to get - you can weld with a car battery, jumper cables, and a rod or three, not that you should on a regular basis.
That helmet set me back about as much as a new arc - about 300 bucks - but goddamn if it's not one of the best welding helmets I've had on. It's a speedglas utility, and you can probably get them a lot cheaper, now.
Man, I don't even like taking stuff out of the oven. How the fuck am I supposed to do anything with this shit?
EDIT: Actually they do have a couple that are $300 that I might consider.
MIG welding : Gas metal arc welding, Or Metal Inert Gas Welding, from which the name comes. A machine feeds wire and gas down a hose, supplying electricity to the metal to create the welding arc, and an inert gas to shield the weld from oxidization.
Also, another tip - drink a lot of water. You are going to sweat a LOT, it's very hot and thirsty work.
In all seriousness, I do put my homebrew in those bottles. I just keep them in a very dark place, because I've gotta work with what I've got. I've got more than a handful of good brews under my belt, too, and while I know it's not ideal, I also know from experience that it works just fine, even if the solution is more arse than class.
Is part of my code.
I was actually looking for something more popular in a green bottle but the only beers I could think of that use them are lambics. I bet Churba knows of a few, where is that man when you need him?
Fun facts: Green bottles don't cause skunkiness, it's UV light that does it. Green bottles filter out less UV than brown bottles, but why the fuck are you keeping your beer in the sun, jackass?