When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Location: Detroit (the part with no rules or laws)
Posts: 5,677
Total Cats: 800
I'm confused, why won't the receptacle accept 10s? The wiring is labeled it should say exactly what it is. 10s should absolutely fit in a 50a plug. Unless you mean they're too small. At 50a you should be using 6s. But yeah. That adapter is acceptable. That old receptacle looks like it's had some loaded breaks in its lifetime.
Edit* yeah I just looked 50a plugs can take 10-4g wire... But at 50a I recommend 6s. 10s should be okay at 30a.
I'm confused, why won't the receptacle accept 10s? The wiring is labeled it should say exactly what it is. 10s should absolutely fit in a 50a plug. Unless you mean they're too small. At 50a you should be using 6s. But yeah. That adapter is acceptable. That old receptacle looks like it's had some loaded breaks in its lifetime.
In the pics above with my giant thumbnail, the silver set screw is down as far as it will go... a 10ga wire would be the proverbial "hotdog down a hallway". The extension cord claims 6ga pure copper (for $100, it better be) and now I can move the welder all over the garage and driveway instead of next to the plug with the 4ft cord it ships with.
In the pics above with my giant thumbnail, the silver set screw is down as far as it will go... a 10ga wire would be the proverbial "hotdog down a hallway". The extension cord claims 6ga pure copper (for $100, it better be) and now I can move the welder all over the garage and driveway instead of next to the plug with the 4ft cord it ships with.
I am honestly a little bit surprised that such a cable is sold commercially, but hey! You should be good to go.
About four years ago, I accompanied the family (from FL) on a two week RV trip. This was their first long-distance trip in a then-new 32' Jayco Redhawk, and as I'm the mechanic / electrician in the family, they asked me to take a couple of weeks off so I could fly down and accompany them.
The itinerary had us staying for a few days in Houston, at my cousin's house, as my godson was graduating from high school and we wanted to be there. They got clearance to park the rig in their driveway, and petitioned me to come up with a way to plug it in while there, so that they could have air conditioning and such. They know the basic "Rules of using electricity in an RV," but don't fully comprehend the intricacies.
So I called ahead, and had Ana send me a photo of the dryer socket in her laundry room (my sister had already negotiated its use with her), and... it's a ******* 10-30. (Her house is apparently older than I'd thought.)
Thus, I built this abomination:
And it worked. Lots of happy, non-electrocuted Cubans, and a few gringos:
I just did a welding job in an early 1900s house on **** and tube. That was interesting.
Interesting, indeed. You don't see a lot of that stuff intact anymore. Any idea whether any of it was still live?
My own house (built in 1908) was originally strung with K&T. There are still some porcelain insulators in various locations, though to the best of my ability to detect, all of the original wiring appears to have been torn-out during a remodel in the 1950s. So I have quite a lot of cloth-insulated wire in place, but it's all of the BX variety so far as I can tell.
I hate working with that ****. I mean, it was fine when it was new, but after 70 years, the rubber has gotten pretty damn brittle.
I'm not sure what's more annoying; that, or the fact that all of the 2x4s in this place are actually 2 inches by 4 inches, meaning that modern lumber doesn't line up with it.
EDIT: I should mention that there is actually one sawmill just outside of Chicago which specializes in making vintage lumber. They produce wood which is dimensionally-compatible with the tens of thousands of old houses in the area. That's such an amazingly cool specialty which I would never have thought of.
Location: Detroit (the part with no rules or laws)
Posts: 5,677
Total Cats: 800
It sure is / was. Equipped with screw in fuses and all!
My grandpa bought the house in the early 40s. It has a nice view of the Detroit river and Canada across it. My grandma very recently passed away, at the age of 92. And my grandpa who is still alive long since moved out. With her passing myself, the uncles and cousins have been renovating it. We're all tradesmen and are doing the majority of the work ourselves. My uncle Jim a retired electrician has been slowly replacing it all the wiring.
Because the home is on the historical registry we have to keep it period correct.
Starting heavy reno in the "attic" / maids quarters.
I have a ton of pictures but don't want to clog up the thread.
The Amish will sell you rough cut dimensional boards too, usually pretty cheap.
It sure is / was. Equipped with screw in fuses and all!
(...)
Starting heavy reno in the "attic" / maids quarters.
(....)
I have a ton of pictures but don't want to clog up the thread.
Your Maid's quarters are my bedroom, angled ceiling and all.
My absolute favorite feature about the house I live in now is encapsulated in this photo:
That's on the port side, just fore of center. Basically just outside the interior wall of the master bedroom, but you have to really be determined to get to that spot.
Yes, it is what it looks like.
I can't reach it. There's some structure in the way. I'm sure that if I said "**** these two spinal hernias" that I could probably contort my body enough to get to it, but... I kind of feel like it's a part of the legend of the house at this point.
I like to think that some electrician dropped it there in 1989, and got his *** chewed by his wife afterwards when he couldn't remember where he last saw it.
Car club trip to Tasmania ~20 years ago, we stayed in this big OLD house, drew straws for who got which room. GF and I drew the maid's (or was it maids'?) quarters, against sloping ceiling, entry through door maybe 1.5m high and sloped on one side against ceiling ... otherwise room quite adequate, at least the resident ghost left us alone!
Very envious Erat, lovely old house but should have been negcat as envy negative emotion ...
Sweet attempt to derail this thread... back to welding! FEAST YOUR EYES!!!
First stick weld on left... first flux-mig on right. Why in the hell would anybody ever stick? That **** was way harder! But not bad for my first beads ever.
Lessons learned:
1: It's tough to tell whats going on. My eyes have zero training to actually see whats going on. You can see that the flux bead isn't anywhere near straight... but I had no idea it wasn't straight until after.
2: Getting the proper settings is an artform. I couldn't tell bead-to-bead whether I should turn the power up or down based on results.
3: Keeping the stick properly aligned in 4 dimensions was tough... towards the end of my session I finally ran a single 3" bead the length of my coupon without lifting, but it looks like garbage.
4: Protective gear is no joke. I suppose TIG is a lot cleaner, but I did this all in short sleeves and never again. Also... that **** stays hot a lot longer than you think. I didn't actually burn myself, but it was stupid luck that I didn't.
5: I need at least three angle grinders ($15 Harbor Freight specials coming right up!)... cutoff/ grinder / flap / twisted wire... maybe four grinders. I probably did 20 disc swaps today on my single Dewalt cordless... went through two 5ah batteries.
6: I need an actual table... gonna make do with with the piece of c-channel I'm using as a base, but looking at cheap tables on Amazon to accelerate the learning curve to the point where I'll be able to make my own table/cart combo as a first project.
7: The extension cord I bought is no joke... thick as hell compared to the one on the welder.
Wait til you go from flux to gas. I could never get my flux welds right. Went to gas and what a difference. Stick has its place if the pieces are rusty.
6: I need an actual table... gonna make do with with the piece of c-channel I'm using as a base, but looking at cheap tables on Amazon to accelerate the learning curve to the point where I'll be able to make my own table/cart combo as a first project.
HF folding welding table is decent for the price. Not professional grade but does pretty well for the price point.
Location: Detroit (the part with no rules or laws)
Posts: 5,677
Total Cats: 800
Flux core is trash. Also don't buy HF wire, good name brand wire even flux core will be better. Solid core with gas is best.
Stick welding is fantastic, I almost always prefer it when doing down and dirty welding, especially in the field. But, I am sorta a welder.
Settings should be written inside the machine on the door. At least, on all the machines I've ever used, maybe in the manual. You can always look up a chart online to get a rough idea.
I always recommend a table with some mass, but a plate of steel is pricey these days. Otherwise, just practice, find actual stuff to weld instead of blanks. Fix stuff around the house or yard, that will speed up the learning curve.
6: I need an actual table... gonna make do with with the piece of c-channel I'm using as a base, but looking at cheap tables on Amazon to accelerate the learning curve to the point where I'll be able to make my own table/cart combo as a first project.
I weld on top of a thin aluminum sheet laid onto my workbench. The welder ground clamp doubles as a clamp to hold the sheet onto the workbench. No need for a dedicated welding table. That and a similar looking vice to the one you already have is all I've used to make all those manifolds and exhausts. Actually 95% of the time whatever I'm welding is clamped in the vice but you get my point.
MIG for tacking, TIG for everything else. Don't waste your time on the stick stuff.
I weld on top of a thin aluminum sheet laid onto my workbench. The welder ground clamp doubles as a clamp to hold the sheet onto the workbench. No need for a dedicated welding table. That and a similar looking vice to the one you already have, is all I've used to make all those manifolds and exhausts. Actually 95% of the time whatever I'm welding is clamped in the vice but you get my point.
MIG for tacking, TIG for everything else. Don't waste your time on the stick stuff.
I used a piece of metal on my normal wood work bench for years.
I second the MIG for tacking, TIG for everything else.
Always wear a welding jacket and gloves and 100% your mask. Welding sunburns suck. Being hot and sweaty sucks while welding. But it sucks the rest of the time when you aren't welding if you get sunburned.
Go find a local welding store and get some small bottles of gas.
HF welding carts work great. I have been using them for 10+ years now.
10-17-2023, 07:12 PM
0
