First job with my 12VS

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

Here's some pics from the home-shop.....first project of this size at home....

getting used to the welder:


A few of the overall project:

[Vicegrip]

False bottom for a dumpster? I hope the dope smugglers that hired you don't see this thread!

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

HA!!!...Naw....its a for draining water out material so that it goes to the landfill dry which makes it non-hazzardous waste and saves cost in weight....still have a lot more work to do - have to put in drain ports and sides will get similar treatment and screen floor / expanded metal sides have to go in....when it's all done we figure it will be about 1/3 of the cost of buying one factory made.

[Flyingpig]

Id rethink the screen bottom or use of expanded metal. Thats just a great way to make the load stick and not unload mo matter how high you tip it. How about solid sheet floor with several holes instead? I like the idea of letting the rain water out.

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

It should work fine since we basicly copied all the spec's -- right off the sales cut sheet of the factory made ones ....the other factor is (that I didn't mention before) is you put a fabric liner "bag" inside which will also help it slide out.

[LA Weld]

What setting did you run at?

I have one getting ready for it first run next week and was wondering what you used as a starting point.

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

I'm sure some of the real pro's around here will be able to tell ya better how to get setup right, and maybe I'm running pretty far out of those parameters, but this is what I did........I started with the settings listed inside the lid on the VS and had trouble getting a good start on the arc, had a lot of spiutting and wire skipping around. So, I adjusted the supply power the Trailblazer up some and the wire speed up a lot got it going with good starting and consistant beads. The VS reads about 31 volts when idling, but goes down around 25 when welding. The wire speed is up around 315. That's when it all started looking like that top picture bead.

[LA Weld]

Thanks for the heads up. I really like using the the RC feeder with the Trailblazer this setup will be on a Bobcat and I need to get used to it so prictice time is this week in a non structural job.
Thanks again.

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

Here's a little more: