The Doc is in

[GoBigBlue1984]

Some time ago I sent a couple of Pistons to Al to tig up for me and a few weeks ago he sent them back.
First off Al does incredible work, he got excellent penetration and didn't burn through at all.
Great Job Al! I hope to do some more work with you in the near future.

Al roughed these down before sending them back. Here is the 395 piston when it showed up.

Here's the 395 piston in the lathe....

Finished product.......I may have to turn down the diameter a tad more but I'll check all that before this next 395 goes together.


Again, a great big thanks to Al, I owe ya one.
I'll add more to the thread once this build begins.

 

[Scotts_4x]

we'd need to see pictures of the beads before they got "roughed down" to truely judge if theyou were "incredible. " most weld jobs that go back to the customer ground off after welding when it's not asked for usually means it wasn't super nice before grinding. it does look like there's no porosity so the job was at least good enough for machining.

-scott

 

[GoBigBlue1984]

Uhhhh........I saw the beads before hand. I know a good tig job when I see it, I like to think I've tig'd up enough dies and punches and die steels in general to say.....hey, he did a nice job. And Al did a nice job.

 

[Scotts_4x]

ok, me too but I didn't see these ones only reason I have any latitude to speak is that I can also tell a good bead, when seen pre ground. I do a little tig welding myself

-scott

 

[GoBigBlue1984]

ok, me too but I didn't see these ones only reason I have any latitude to speak is that I can also tell a good bead, when seen pre ground. I do a little tig welding myself

-scott

I simply was showing some gratitude to Al and saying "hey look, this is a good dude, I appreciate what he did" that's it, never said he could tig up an aluminum box better/prettier than you.

 

[T.Roller]

ok, me too but I didn't see these ones only reason I have any latitude to speak is that I can also tell a good bead, when seen pre ground. I do a little tig welding myself

-scott

Wow

 

[Frogfarmer]

we'd need to see pictures of the beads before they got "roughed down" to truely judge if theyou were "incredible. " most weld jobs that go back to the customer ground off after welding when it's not asked for usually means it wasn't super nice before grinding. it does look like there's no porosity so the job was at least good enough for machining.

-scott

I don't need to see any before pics. The final machined piece turned out perfect. Great job Al.

 

[Guido Salvage]

Who is Al?

 

[GoBigBlue1984]

@drf255

 

[drf256]

Uhhhh........I saw the beads before hand. I know a good tig job when I see it, I like to think I've tig'd up enough dies and punches and die steels in general to say.....hey, he did a nice job. And Al did a nice job.

Thank You Brett.

ok, me too but I didn't see these ones only reason I have any latitude to speak is that I can also tell a good bead, when seen pre ground. I do a little tig welding myself

-scott

Zero offense taken. I can assure you that my beads were nowhere near as nice as yours for many reasons.

These were used pistons with lots of embedded impurities in the aluminum. I used 4047 which doesn't flow as nice as 4043/5356 alloy for me. Mostly, I don't have the skill level that you do.

I "rough cut" the pistons to insure that I reached the nominal height and diameter without porosity that Brett had asked for. I didn't rough them because I was embarrassed about my beads. As long as they worked, I could care less. But shipping him a piston and finding out that I had no way to repair an issue without more shipping back and forth would have bothered me.

 

[dall]

piston looks good even if was roughed down it is hard to keep something like that symetrical but looking at the "roughed down" picture you can see how clow to being symetrical the weld was great job al

 

[beaglebriar]

Thank You Brett.


Zero offense taken. I can assure you that my beads were nowhere near as nice as yours for many reasons.

These were used pistons with lots of embedded impurities in the aluminum. I used 4047 which doesn't flow as nice as 4043/5356 alloy for me. Mostly, I don't have the skill level that you do.

I "rough cut" the pistons to insure that I reached the nominal height and diameter without porosity that Brett had asked for. I didn't rough them because I was embarrassed about my beads. As long as they worked, I could care less. But shipping him a piston and finding out that I had no way to repair an issue without more shipping back and forth would have bothered me.

Your response makes perfect sense Al.

FYI- I have a welder friend that did a test weld on a piston for me. I'll explain his set up because it my help guys that want to attempt this.

What he uses is an electric motor attached to a right angle gear reduction (not sure of the ratio but I can get it if there's interest). Then he attached a lathe chuck to output shaft. I believe he has variable speed on the motor as well. It makes a nice turntable that he uses a lot for other jobs. Anyway the end result of the test piston was real nice. Now if I can get one to look as good as the OP's finished product we'll be in business.

 

[smokey7]

That is one hellova pop up piston. Holy cow her comes some comp numbers

 

[GoBigBlue1984]

The reality is material will probably come off this piston and or CC will get cut/altered. But this will give me a start. I've still yet to compare weight to a stock piston.

 

[mdavlee]

.035" will probably be plenty for a popup.

 

[GoBigBlue1984]

You are right mike. .035 is what I normally shoot for when turning a popup and drooping the jug. Wanted to do something geared towards the 028 super Pistons but x's 2-3 lol. Again this next 395 that will include this piston is experimental more than anything at this point. I've got some numbers in mind and just wanna see what she'll do. I can always take material off. It takes 5-10 minutes to set this piston up and cut it, so why not play a little.

 

[Redfin]

How tall is the piston now?

 

[Brush Ape]

First off Al does incredible work, he got excellent penetration and didn't burn through at all.

-ahem well ok. If you say so.

scott can stack dimes on a nice tight box I must say.

 

[GoBigBlue1984]

How tall is the piston now?

Popup is a shade under 4.5

 

[GoBigBlue1984]

-ahem well ok. If you say so.

scott can stack dimes on a nice tight box I must say.

Nothing turns me on more than stacking dimes on a nice tight box. Hell yeah man!!!! Stack them dimes Scott.