Made a Welding Square. Also, Anchorlube review

[epicfail48]

Been trying to do a project or so a week, to keep myself from going insane at home. Last week i welded up a table out of some scrap steel, and then remembered that im a garbage welder. Part of my problem is fixturing, i cant ever seem to get my bits and pieces to sit still long enough to get them welded in place. The other problem is a Harbor Freight flux core welder. Ive tried tacking pieces together, those magnet angle blocks, MacGuyvering contraptions out of C clamps and 123 blocks, just couldnt get something to work.

Decided i needed a nice, beefy hunk o block to clamp the pieces to. First thought was one of those right angle clamps doodads, like they use for making picture frames, but even the welding specific ones look kinda chintzy. Something like the FIreball Tool squares looked a lot better, but uhh, theyre pretty proud of those huh. Cant justify $100 for a pair of the small ones, or stomach it. Sure as hell can make one.

A better welder wouldve just welded together some angle iron, but if i could manage to weld together 2 lengths of angle iron and have them be A) square and B) not look like i just pointed a chicken rear at the joint i wouldnt be making this, now would I? Ordered in a piece of 1/2" hot rolled plate, did a bit of slicing and dicing. Nothing fancy, just a basic L shape with some flat bar on either leg as a clamping surface. Measures bout 6"x6", clamping face is about 2" on the outside, some clearance cuts to give near full access to the corner to be welded. Came out pretty rigid, should make a nice clamping surface to hold the size of pieces im likely to weld, namely 1" square tube. Added bonus, itll serve double duty as a try square or home defense tool. Sucker probably weighs 6 pounds or so.

Regarding the Anchorlube review, the stars aligned recently; I finally ran out of the bottle of dark thread cutting oil ive been using as a general purpose cutting fluid, Menards didnt have any of the dark oil, i didnt feel like going to Home Depot and i found out that the company that makes Anchorlube will actually send you a small trial bottle for free. Been on my "i should try that stuff" list for a while, and i do enjoy free. Turns out im pretty fond of the Anchorlube too, its good stuff. Used it making the square, cutting the hot roll it did just as well as the oil ever did, but with way less mess. No oil everywhere, cleanup was just wiping it off with a rag, no residue. No smoke either, thats a huge plus. The smell of cutting oil doesnt really bother me, but i dont really like breathing a cloud of it in. The Anchorlube just kinda steams if it gets really hot, and the smell is actually kinda plesant, almost like a laundry detergent or something. Makes sense given its soap based. Anyways, i like it and it works excellent for the kind of work i do, ill be ordering a bigger bottle once the trial bottle runs empty.

And no, im not planning on welding a plastic level to a piece of square tube. Yet. Just grabbed whatever was closest for the example picture

[Arcane]

That looks really good.

[SVS]

Plus one!

Been admiring the fireball stuff myself lately. The 12” cast iron mega square is on my wish list.

[Tungsten dipper]

Plus one!

Been admiring the fireball stuff myself lately. The 12” cast iron mega square is on my wish list.

I have the mega square made out of cast aluminum, and love it. It doesn't keep the welds from pulling though.

[BCRider]

….And no, I'm not planning on welding a plastic level to a piece of square tube. Yet. Just grabbed whatever was closest for the example picture

Glad you pointed that out.. I was thinking "No wonder he's having issues with this whole welding thing.... " 😁

The corner clamp looks great! I'm sure you'll get lots of use out of that for years to come.

And I'm with you on the idea of luck playing a part in trying to weld such things when you're an infrequent HSM'er type welder. Of all the skills we build from our shop time I find that welding is one which requires more of a "feel" than most both for laying nice clean and effective beads and for second guessing which way the welds will pull the metal for stuff like this. I suspect that you are much like me where I'd have to try welding 2 or 3 sets before I figured out the right "fudge angle" to get them to come out straight in all ways.

[epicfail48]

Glad you pointed that out.. I was thinking "No wonder he's having issues with this whole welding thing.... " 😁

The corner clamp looks great! I'm sure you'll get lots of use out of that for years to come.

And I'm with you on the idea of luck playing a part in trying to weld such things when you're an infrequent HSM'er type welder. Of all the skills we build from our shop time I find that welding is one which requires more of a "feel" than most both for laying nice clean and effective beads and for second guessing which way the welds will pull the metal for stuff like this. I suspect that you are much like me where I'd have to try welding 2 or 3 sets before I figured out the right "fudge angle" to get them to come out straight in all ways.

Honestly, i blame the welder for a solid half of my welding issues.Performance off the thing is wildly inconsistent, so even if im all warmed up and remembering how to move, i can to the exact same thing and get different results on the bead. Still ends with things stuck together, but looks like crap.

Weld pulling the joint i cant blame on the welder of course, but i do try to mitigate that by tacking all sides of the joint and balancing the welds, thats what the clamping square is for actually. Holds the joint in place securely while still giving access, least thats the intent behind it. Wont help the welder woes, but fixturing is something ive noticed making mu life easier every time i do it. New welders a few projects down the line, ive got my eye on a TIG welders thats supposed to be pretty decent for a backyard hackjob

[BCRider]

As someone that recently traded off my very old giant size Miller AC-DC unit with the big transformer and front dial for a nice little stick-MIG-TIG 3way machine I can say for sure that the welder can make a big difference. The Miller was a really nice unit but I wanted to do more. Especially TIG. I later learned that I could just get a TIG torch and use scratch start but oh well.... that ship sailed. But even so and as nice as the Miller was with stick the new Thermal Dynamics runs the same rods more smoothly.

If your unit is a big transformer style you might consider cleaning it out. I think a lot of the issues with them can be how smoothly the core opens and closes and perhaps the effect of slag and other crud and corruption on the internals. If nothing else at least the handle or hand wheel will move more smoothly.

[darryl]

Nice project. Being assembled with bolts like that gives you the opportunity to assemble it with JB Weld. Take it apart, clean well, and re-assemble with JB. It just makes it even better.

[Dan Dubeau]

Nice job on the square. You made it nice enough to use on the mill as a little angle plate too lol.

[epicfail48]

Nice project. Being assembled with bolts like that gives you the opportunity to assemble it with JB Weld. Take it apart, clean well, and re-assemble with JB. It just makes it even better.

Nah, probably wont go that far. Dunno why id need to, but i like having the ability to take the plates off if needed, like if they ever get too scarred up from weld spatter. Plus, once my surface grinder is back running id like to go through and grind everything. No real need to, since in this case being as square and parallel as my mill can get is more than good enough, but still want to

Nice job on the square. You made it nice enough to use on the mill as a little angle plate too lol.

You know, i hadnt thought of that. Wouldnt work unfortunately, this is actually nearly bigger than i can get on my mill! Getting the holes drilled and tapped in the actual square portion was... lets ust say it required some fixturing that probably wouldve got me banned from an actual machine shop

[epicfail48]

Update on the Anchorlube side of this thread, found another positive; it doesnt cause rust, even when left to dry for several days. It drys up, but once it does its easy enough to wipe off with a rag. Seriously, im really liking this stuff. Need to see how well it does on aluminium, if it works as well as WD40 i might just order a gallon and never use anything else again

[quasi]

a gallon of Anchor Lube is pretty expensive.

[Fonzy4140]

Nice job on the square, will do just as well as any [fireball xl-5 {was a 1964 kids space cartoon lol!} ] I always put a light coat of MIG anti-spatter spray or paste on my welding jigs and tools used with any spatter producing welding like stick arc, or MIG.
Anchor lube is great for cutting and tapping tho pricey...It really is best for tough alloy,tool, and stainless steels...washes off the hands better than stinky sulfur cutting oils lol!

[Forestgnome]

Funny how two people can have different opinions on how a product works. I bought some Anchorlube for tapping aluminum based on recommendations in forums, and found it didn't work any better than WD40, and made quite a mess. It's kind of goopy. I think I ended up throwing it away.

[Glug]

a gallon of Anchor Lube is pretty expensive.

$52 shipped.. So $13/qt, 6.50 pint. So pretty reasonable. Great if you can split with friends. That splitting would be a great thing to coordinate on HSM, ideally with locals so there is no shipping expense.

Downside - it doesn't flow well in cold temps and if it freezes it separates. It doesn't flow like oil, it is thick. How safe is it? Safer, I guess. Maybe it is a soap or similar - the SDS does not need to disclose. After what happened to some people vaping, it is pretty clear we shouldn't allow vaporized anything into our lungs.

The solid wax based lubes are sometimes a great option. Though not necessarily low toxic, especially the more mysterious old stock (I have a bunch of that).

For young folk in the shop? From what we keep learning, they especially should stay away from the tradionally toxic or suspect stuff.

From the SDS:

Persistence and Degradability: Product is degradable. Unsealed will begin to degrade rapidly. Shelf life is three years if stored capped at room temperature.

Inhalation: No adverse effects expected at ambient temperatures. Inhalation of vapors and fumes from thermal decomposition may cause respiratory irritation.
Ingestion: Swallowing may cause gastrointestinal irritation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea.