I finally bought a house in Cave Country! W00T!!!

[Tracy]

I bought the optional thumb control, but I sit a lot out of necessity.

pedals are the way to go for bench work. If I did that more than once a year, I would use one. It is just every time I sit down at somebody else's machine, I have to figure out how it works all over again. For what I do, a pedal is worthless 90% of the time.

 

[The Chairman]

So maybe I have the electrodes switched? I'll check out that embarrassing possibility after a doctor's visit this am.

 

[The Chairman]

Another interesting idea... I think I'll have better control over the pedal if I turn it 180^o.

 

[Johnoly]

only you lift the pedal instead of pulling the flame back.

That's a GREAT analogy. It's easier to minimize big movements of your fingers by using your foot for that control. TIG is alot of tiny muscle memory control to get proper penetration depths

 

[Tracy]

Another interesting idea... I think I'll have better control over the pedal if I turn it 180^o.

Running it with your heel instead of your toe? It would work, but you are going to have some seriously sore calf muscles after a few hours welding.

 

[The Chairman]

Running it with your heel instead of your toe?

Just have the pedal backwards with my toe on the high part and the low part pointing away from me.

The point is to have it act like a gas pedal. My back is such that this action hurts a bit to get it "flat out". The toe is lower than the heel at full depression, and it's like I'm having to point my toe. Turning it around, my heel will be on the ground and always below the toe, even at full throttle. I just got back from running errands in Live Oak and test driving their Mustang Mach e. Wow. I'm sold. Just have to figure out how to pay for it. Pretty red with a light interior.

 

[-JD-]

^^^^ If only it was a PHEV!

When I want to get to ME or FL, I want to go straight-through. Bad enough when we have to stop for Fuel and potty breaks after 6 hour+.

An EV just won't cut it for distance unless you are an incremental traveler.


ETA: Oh they scoot. But nothing like the Lightning HP version does - freaking scary in 150 pickup configuration.

 

[Boarderguy]

Just have the pedal backwards with my toe on the high part and the low part pointing away from me.

The point is to have it act like a gas pedal. My back is such that this action hurts a bit to get it "flat out". The toe is lower than the heel at full depression, and it's like I'm having to point my toe. Turning it around, my heel will be on the ground and always below the toe, even at full throttle. I just got back from running errands in Live Oak and test driving their Mustang Mach e. Wow. I'm sold. Just have to figure out how to pay for it. Pretty red with a light interior.

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Are you high enough that ground water and river surge won't get to the battery on that? Check with your insurance carrier to see what they quote before you bite. I've heard and read a lot of stories about rates getting stupid in FL for E-vehicles

 

[The Chairman]

An EV just won't cut it for distance unless you are an incremental traveler.

Incremental? I fly to most of my dives. The Stang is really easy on my back, even better than my Edge. Te Lightening is far, far better than my T350, and almost as easy as my Edge, but not quite. Most of my driving is local, with plenty of time to top off the charge overnight. It will plug into the Tesla Network of chargers and takes about 20 minutes for a full charge. It has a measly 250 mile range. The Lariat version of the Lightening can have either a 250 or 350 range battery. I would opt for the latter. I kind of need a truck, but for the little I'll be driving it, it will be hard to justify $80K. The Mach e is $543K. The back is almost rested enough to go out and try things again. I'll check the cables first, positive ground and negative torch, and strike up the band, er torch.

FWIW, I bought a cheapie true color helmet from Vevor for $70. The brief time I got to use it yesterday, I was impressed. I could actually see easily which is not true of most helmets. It rivals my far more expensive Sentinal helmet. I even think it's more comfortable, but I might have to tweak the fit of my Sentinel a bit. The adjusting of the Vevor helmet was intuitive.

 

[The Chairman]

This is not my prettiest weld, nor is it my ugliest. I tried to weld below the 1/2" from yesterday, and it did not like that abused metal. Unfortunately, when I moved up to the upper section, I had a leg spasm and dipped the electrode. It's welded, but don't expect me to share a pic of it.

Yes, I had a negative ground, and a positive torch. You have to pay attention to the basics, especially on first set up. I saw the configuration on a YouTube vid, and just went with it. Pain forces you to try shortcuts, which always seem to become very long cuts. I didn't change anything else, and found that simply moving the pedal to be more under me, made all the difference there. I didn't use any filler here, just melting the edge of the caster into the angle iron leg. I have the lower 2 inches to finish this one, but it will probably be tomorrow for that. I'll swap electrodes and resharpen the one I balled for use another time. FWIW, I did scorch the bearing cup a tad, but the swivel is unimpeded.