Homestead mailing list

[Rob <becida AT comcast.net>]

I'm going thru some tvo files searching for the word "weld" & passing 
on the ones that look like they fit in with someone asking about 
welding. I knew a couple of people who went to the Navy welding 
school. Bryon told me they explained how it worked, showed how to 
make the arc & safety stuff then sent them to weld. They had lot's of 
practice, lot's and lot's of practice.

Rob
becida AT comcast.net
western WA state, where it's not snowing now!
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Date:   Mon, 08 Mar 1999 16:13:27 -0500
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From: Tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT roanoke.infi.net>
To: "homestead AT listserv.oit.unc.edu" <homestead AT listserv.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: More kitchen table businesses
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Many years ago a friend of mine had a very good welding shop and was
looking for production items he could add to his jobshop business.  A
thriving business is jewelry if you have something that is novel, is
cheap to produce, or both.

I took a half inch piece of cement asbestos board, drilled a linear
series of slightly overlapping and tilted indentations with a spade bit
(just large enough to accomodate pennies)  Forgot how many, but enough
to make a wristband when bent around a form.

My friend brazed or silver soldered (many years ago, forgot which) the
pennies together at the overlap (with a hand-held acetylene torch).  In
volume, this would be cheap and easy to automate, but you normally would
not make the investment until forced to do so to meet orders.

We had to shop around for plating and got some ridiculous quotes, but
finally found a shop which flashplated the bracelents with gold in one
version, nickel in another for six to seven cents apiece.  We also got
hold of a box salesman who make us up at very low cost some whiteboard
boxes with a white tissue paper lining---made a good display against a
velvet display board at craft shows.

I know our total cost was somewhat under fifty cents.  They wholesaled
at $2.50 and retailed between $4.95 and $8.95.  Still have two of them I
sent to my daughter, plus a piece of the old literature---don't know in
which storage box.

The friend is no more, welding fumes did the dirty work.  If you weld,
you must use good ventilation, but with a little caution, guerilla
advertising, some travel, this and similar items would add a lot to
homestead income.

Now you see a reason why I think a workshop is the best, most versatile
tool for making a homestead/small farm viable.  Note that flashplating,
which only takes a few seconds and almost no gold or silver, uses only a
few pennies of material.  Heavier plate, which must endure more than a
year or so, uses more and costs more.

Many low-cost, no-cost materials can be plated.  Scrap copper wire from
salvage shops, if chemically or electrocleaned, can be made into
interesting, novel flashplated jewelry.

Unless you are near a really big city with a lot of plating shops, you
might have to plate your own rings, bracelets, pendants, leaves, acorns,
seashells, figurines etc. (coat non-metallics with carbon powder first)

It takes plating solutions, anodes, cathodes, a controllable DC power
supply from an electronic parts supplier or radio/tv repair equipment
supplier---lots of books available on use,
the old Johnson Smith catalog even used to sell a little metallic brush,
clip and wire, with a can of metallic paste which you could use with
flashlight or car batteries to replate items like car emblems, door
handles etc.

You can also buy equipment from plating supply manufacturers or
assemblers---check their prices and specs for comparison---there are
hundred of them on the web.

To maintain proper current density in the plating solution, big pieces
such as automotive parts, motorcycle fenders, tanks, handlebars, take
bigger tanks and power supplies.

An added piece of advice.  If you plate and sell your own products no
one will bother you.  If you do custom plating you will run into all
sorts of zoning, permitting, EPA problems that an infant business really
does not need.  If you want to supply motorcycle shops, buy the parts,
plate and sell them---don't do custom plating in your own shop---you can
go to a customer's shop to do brushplating though...


http://www.beckerindustries.com/
http://www.webcom.com/gpsinc/GPS2.html
http://www.goldtouchinc.com/

http://www.protriminc.com/p4a.html
http://www.americangoldplating.com/Gold%20Platingsystems.HTM
http://www.goldfx.com/products.html

http://www.americangoldplating.com/10_amp_jewlers_gold_plating_syst.htm

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Date:   Sat, 31 Jul 1999 18:29:11 -0400
Reply-To: homestead AT listserv.oit.unc.edu
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From: tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT roanoke.infi.net>
To: homestead AT listserv.oit.unc.edu
Subject: Re: Welding Equipment Justification
References: <3.0.1.32.19971202165636.007ad390 AT crash.cts.com> 
<3.0.5.32.19990729203616.00841100 AT crash.cts.com>
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Don Bowen wrote:

> At 04:06 PM 7/29/1999 -0500, you wrote:
> >Hey Don, remember this?  It's from Dec 2, 1997!  (Boy, I really do
> >stockpile you guys' advice, and sometimes I can even find it, too!)
> >
> >Well, I'm in the process of finishing up the booklist for my website,
> >and I just can't identify this book.  Can't find it anywhere.  Could you
> >possibly give me a more complete title or author or both?  Or an ISBN #?
>
> Welders Handbook by Richard Finch.
> Published by HPBooks
> ISBN 1-55788-264-9
>
> Excellent book by a professional welder and Corvair racer.
>
> Don Bowen                       donb AT cts.com
> Valley Center, CA               Senior Software Engineer
>                                 C/C++, PERL, Java, embedded systems
>
> http://members.cts.com/crash/d/donb
> http://www.oldengine.org/members/ihc14

>>>tvoivozhd>>>after you've read Don's recommended book, see if you can find
Vol I and Vol II, "Arc Welded Projects" Published by The James F. Lincoln Arc
Welding Foundation", Cleveland, Ohio.  Library of Congress Catalog Card
Number 74-54347 (the number of Vol II, can't find Vol I)

All sorts of useful DIY projects for homestead use---trailers of all types,
hydraulic wood splitters, cattle squeeze-chute, sorghum cane mill, maple
syrup evaporator, log and fence-post debarker, spiral metal staircases etc.
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Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 13:22:00 -0400
From: tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT roanoke.infi.net>
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Don Bowen wrote:

> At 09:30 PM 6/11/2000 , you wrote:
> >Found this .... looks like a neat idea. A welder built into your truck.
> >
> >Rob
> >becidaa AT paulbunyan.net
> >
> >http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/on-boardwelder/
>
> Add the following and you will really be set for TEOTWAWKI
> http://www.off-road.com/jeep/tech/body/york/
>
> Don Bowen                       donb AT cts.com
> Valley Center, CA               Senior Software Engineer
> Internet development and software engineering

Tvoivozhd---damn---you guys left out the flotation gear and depth-charge
launcher.
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