Welcome, Erik!! That sounds like a pretty nice metal shop in your garage. I would love to have a mill and lathe at my house. Do you have different setups on your 4 oxy/ace carts? What kind of projects do you like the most to stick weld together?

The four O/A carts are:
(1) large (300 Series) torch + gas welding filler rods,
(2) medium (100 Series) torch + LFB & brazing flux,
(3) straight (i.e. dedicated cutting) torch, and
(4) aviation torch.

You should try to bring in a knee mill & engine lathe! I would not be fulfilled without these. Having said that, the benchtop mill & 10” swing lathe don’t see much use.

As far as favorite thing to stick weld, that is easy to answer: Sch 40 carbon steel pipe with 6010 root, & 7018 fill & cap, done on a rollout wheel. I am sure that this is life’s greatest pleasure.

I have a lathe I am trying to rebuild and I'm on the lookout for a mill.... I agree with you on the greatest pleasure. Pipe welding with 7018 cap is such a rewarding thing to do! Could you explain what an aviation torch is?

It is a *very* small gas welding torch. The gas cylinders are also pretty small.

…usually used for brazing metal items with a small mass.

Wow, you are close! My cell is (707)293-8973, & I spend all weekends in the shop. I hope that you can think of some reason to meet up with me & do metalworking in one of our shops. I very often work with another guy in the shop.

Nowadays, I spend most of my time fabricating pipe & plate coupons, as well as practicing any welding process on sheet, plate, pipe or tubing coupons in flat, horizontal or vertical positions.

I will get in touch in a month or so. I am still recovering from a fairly large surgery and then 2 months of radiation and slowly getting my strength back. 707-484-5536

Looking forward to it. Feel better!

Welcome, Jacob. You are very lucky that you get to do fabrication at your job! My TIG welder & also DC stick welder maxes out at 210A, so I see you have more power available to you on your AC stick welder.

My job is pretty awesome, I'm fortunate to be doing something that I really enjoy and that I'm able to learn lots in the process. I work best when I have a variety of things to do so that I'm not stuck doing one thing all the time. I get to do a lot of wiring and electrical, lot of wrench turning, and a lot of fabrication. 90% mild steel with aluminum and occasionally some stainless thrown in.

I've never maxed out the stick welder, generally run 1/8" electrode. On the TIG side at home I'm usually working with 1/8" aluminum and up to 1/4" mild steel. Occasionally I'll get a random project of thicker mild steel. I do have a cast iron cider press that I'm repairing now, so I'm playing with some SilBro.

What kind of things do you get to spin on the lathe? I would love to get another lathe and mill, just can't justify it now.