Welding Project 3 legged Shop Stool Part2

This quick welding project is part 2 of a Video where we are making a 3 legged adjustable height shop stool.

In last weeks video, I got the base done with the legs cut and welded so now its time to make a seat.

I had a round piece of 16 ga sheet ( thats 1/6" or 1.6mm thick) that was plasma cut and left over from another welding project.

Also, I used several pieces of .040" (1mm) thick stainless pieces that I had leftover from another project and the roll diameter was close enough for what I am making.

See Part 1 here ...in case you missed it.

No matter what type of welding project you are doing, in order to get a decent looking tig welds, make sure to clean the dross from any plasma cut edge with a grinder/sander. ( plasma cut surfaces weld like crap, and for tig welding, its just no fun to weld over plasma cut surfaces)

After a bit of tweaking, the rolled pieces of stainless fit ok enough to go ahead and tack them to the round piece to stiffen up the seat.

Here is a tip for tack welding thin sheet metal...

I set amperage to around one and a half or even twice what I would normally use to weld the joint and make quick burst tack welds.

Then, using either a foot pedal or a torch switch, I hold the tip of the tungsten really close and make sure its pointed right on the joint...and give a quick bump of amperage and make a small tack that usually does not penetrate thru and does not warp.

As far as distortion goes, this method of tack welding has worked very well for me. Some metals like Aluminum sometimes crack using small quick fusion tacks like this unless you melt plenty of the corner into the tack... but for stainless or other steels, it works great.

Once there are plenty of tack welds, ( the thinner the metal, the more frequent the tacks need to be) weld using minimal heat while still being able to travel quickly.

getting in and getting out quickly helps to prevent melt thru and distortion.

.....and this is where pulsing can help.

Click here to read my interview with Brent Williams about pulse tig, AC waveshape applications, tig torches, tungsten electrodes,and more...

(Brent recently left his position at Millers Tig Division and is doing welding consulting now.)

I experimented with 2 pps for the outside corner joint with background set to 33% and pulse time set to 33% also. and it worked pretty well.

So...How about that home made tool made from an old piece of crap screwdriver? It really helps with thin sheet metal welding projects.

Have you ever tried to put a thin sheet metal patch on a duct, or other rolled shape? If you have , then you know its hard to get a good fit with no gaps. Gaps are a problem when you are trying to limit distortion, and have a nice neat and small weld.

This home made hold down tool with the copper or copper alloy on the tip serves as a mini chill bar and lets you hold down a lap or outside corner joint tight while you get a tack weld right next to it. Its handy, takes about 10 minutes to make and it works.

High speed pulse tig.

I dont always pulse. In fact, most of the time, I dont use pulse. But when I do, I like to pulse at either around 1 or 2 pps ....or I jump all the way up to 30 or higher.

Pulse rates 10pps are especially annoying to me.

Pulse rates of 30 or more dont bother my eyes or brain housing. After a long day of tig welding, that is pretty important.

You might be thinking the 33 pps is so high ..that its just the same as tig welding with no pulse at all. ...and you would be wrong.

Pulsing at 33 pulses per second makes a difference in much the same way a roto hammer drill works for drilling concrete. Its not the only way to do it, but it does sure does make quite a difference.

Once I welded up the seat, I welded a nut to the underside along with some scrap pieces of 3/8" round stock and I tacked it all up using silicon bronze filler rod.

I dont really think all those round stock braces were needed since welding the lip really stiffened the seat up but with all that bracing, But with the bracing, I am pretty sure it will hold up for years.

And how about that Stool Softener joke? Was that lame or what?

Hey, I gotta have a bit of fun every now and then and the YouTube comments will be fun to read.

I did wind up cutting up a shop floor pad that I got at a yard sale for a dollar. Two pieces stacked seems to be soft enough for my Butt.

I dont sit still for very long.

see more tig welding project videos