I know what you mean. I can’t picture a time when I would need to do this myself, but seeing how it’s done, and explained so well, really makes it an approachable task if you have the right tools.

I was kinda thinking the same thing , them half ass wedge dogs aint worth the headache, cant go wrong with a screw dog

Half clamp method should be the only way to go. Can do some SERIOUS seam lining with that sumbitch, 1. Plate and dog method can bend the material/ fit up unevenly, 2. Ratcheting bolts is for the mechanics at Midas, not metal fabricators, 37 years though, definitely got some fat respect for you

@@jims4877 Iam a NDT guy. So think x ray, PT,MT,UT stuff . Iam not a CWI but getting ready to take the test in 2022. So hopefully. I will be a CWI soon. You do not need to have a welding back ground to learn how to do NDT to inspect welds and other industrial bits. It helps but it is not a requirement. NDT has its own skillsets to do the job correctly, just as welding in all of its facets have there own skillsets.

@@jims4877 I am a LII in RT,PT,MT and limted in LII in UT. So that means I can only do thickness and defect scans. I have 17 years in it and just fell right into. I went to high school with the owners sons and I started 2 days after I graduate. Haha I am looking at starting a side hustle with welding and who knows where it goes. Just being open to options and pivot points in my life. So as getting into NDT , hmm 🤔 there are a couple ways . But I will make some other suggestions first. If you work for a company start asking questions about QA/QC. A lot of folks dont want to do it and you can fall into that way. If you are a code welder ,your experience can be very valuable. Get in nice with them dudes. Ask if you could see some of the code books if you get in a more friendly and familiar relationship with those folks. Also with that “code” are indifferent to if the welds are easy or hard to do. If the welder is having a bad day or a good day. My job is to look at the code. I cant add to the code . I cant take away from the code. So with that if i can morally and ethically help somone out , I will. My other suggestion is that you look into getting your CWI. There are many different jobs that fall under the CWI. You could be in an office looking at WPS all day or out in the field climbing pipe racks. But for the most part it’s probably going to be easier on your body. You are just basically making sure the cake( the weld and welding) is being baked by professionals and following the The recipe with the correct ingredients. Its a hard test and you should spend 1-2 years reading up on all the bits of a cwi. You can googles weld .com / Jason Becker talking about that on youtube. Also his arcjunkies podcast as well. He has aws stuff on there as well. Its a hard and expensive test but it will and can open up doors for you. I have talked to and worked with i CWI’s that are older and do it as a side hustle still in their 70-80’s. As for the NDT stuff, you can go to school for it . You can try to get into somone QC program and they will send you for training. You could also try to get into an entry level position mostly as an RT assistant/ hand for a company as well. I dont suggest this as you will more than likley take a pay cut and the bigger labs are hit or miss to work for. You have Team, Acureen, and Mistraus group as the big ones. It might be better to find a mom and pop shop or a mom and pop shop that got bigger such as integrity testing labs that is based out of DE. So NDT can be you climbing towers and pipe racks all day doing your job or sitting all day till its time to go home. It can be just 8 hour days or you are doing 16 hour days and random calls to shoot x ray in the middle of the night and on other folks lunch breaks. Just like in welding you could be sitting at a bench and welding like 2 scoket welds and thats it . Or you could be welding up 7-sch 40 6” cs and have to get them hydro in the same day. Also depending on the company and the culture, it could be hard to get your hours for your certs. Certs are based on education and on the job training hours. Some labs will only give you like one or two certs. If you get an in house cert its only good for that company you work for, unless you get some ASNT certs on your own. Thats one reason I suggest the CWI. Its your card, not the company. As switching labs/ company. Becomes this grey area for certs and re certing . Also the IRRSP card. That card always you do run a x ray job. Any questions just ask dude. That was a brief description on how to go about it. You can look on reddit as well. You can ask me and I can do my best to help you find the answers. Good luck dude! ( FOR THE LOVE OF GOD JUST GO AFTER THE CWI 😅😅😅)

@@jims4877 I have been using SI certs with there online CWI course. I have learned a lot. I am also very good at self study. Take 1-2 years to really hammer your stuff and go from there. Iam taking the d1.1 as well. Good luck dude!

@@jims4877 nope , you need the latest version of D1.1 2020 if you are going to take it to d1.1. I think they make a new one every 5 years. That old code book is still good though, cuz folks still can build to the older versions . Its like 680 ish if you are not a aws memeber. If you are a member which is like a 100 bucks , its like 480 I think. You are alwasy going to have to pay AWS in some way . But its a small amount of money you pay in comparison of what you can. Make with a cwi .

@@jims4877 well do the one that you are more comfortable with dude. That will be the one for you. Sounds like you are well rounded. Iam sure you can get in with a QC/QA group for some of the companies you work at, even more so after you get the CWI dude!

Can’t wait man fire them up and let me hear them lol.

Actually they need to add weight to the reared of the combine. When they go down the road from field to field with the header on the backend begins to bounce. Those rear axles weren’t built to take the bounce.

I read your email the other day I’m glad I could be of service in getting you into this field. What motor do you have in the truck? And what brand of crane is on it? I thought about the grinding part I could have done a little Time lapse that was on me. Good luck with your schooling the only advice I can give you don’t get discourage with all the tests. I failed a lot of plate and pipe tests before I got one to pass. I don’t know how long you’ve been Welding but remember that hood time is a good thing but weld as much as you can outside the booths.

@@EEJester1586 For sure. Engine is Cat 3208. Ill have to look at Crane again.

@@the_boatswain I gotch good deal I like the old mechanical motors better than the new electronic ones.

You should check out “ IC Weld” the equipment guru!

I can try. In a perfect world I would have braced both the top and the bottom the same way. A strong back Will take care of compression or tension given the right orientation which is an upright. I didn’t do it on this job because the bottom I think had clearance issues. Can’t always do what you want. So in the Welding world we call it ductility meaning that something can move so far before it fails or causes problems that I can’t spring back. You want things to move but not so much that they fail it’s kind of a balance that you have to kind of work out. The revision on the new combines had a strong back mounted on top from the factory that’s one reason I put that one in there. I hope that clears that up somewhat.

Search Texas tig or stig welding

Yeah it’s Texas tig. It’s frowned upon in the welding world but it’s a good technique if you could tell I was right on the edge of that joint and if I were to try to weld that gap it would’ve just kept blowing out. I use it quite a bit to be honest for certain applications it works great just know that what you’re doing is not a code if you know you’re gonna be grind it out or is a non-critical place it’s good.

The little wedges I was using are Williams wedges. I bought them from welding supply store but you can get them off of Amazon they make a couple of different sizes those were 4 inch I’ve got 6 inch 2 inch and long 9 inches. The big wedges you saw one of them was a log splitting wedge the other one is a homemade one and it’s my favorite it’s made out of mild steel and is the perfect size it is 1-1/2 by 1-1/2 by 9 if you know somebody with a burn table or a track torch and if you can find some inch and a half plate I’ll tell you that’s the best one I’ve ever seen.

⁵65

@@slickrick8562 I'm sorry, what do you mean?

Make your own out of mild steel, they need to bite, also make pairs at different angles, fast and slow wedges, you can move anything with a wedge.

I thought about that too. If it was any wider I would have Diamond notched it. Very good point though you definitely know your stuff.

fish plate

All welders are different my machine burns on the hot side but 110 is good on 1/8” if your burning out of position.