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I managed to plant vegetables and keep them alive and growing well in to June. I make the same attempt every year, so this is a record for me. On a more serio
by DoubleGlazing 6y ago
I managed to plant vegetables and keep them alive and growing well in to June.
I make the same attempt every year, so this is a record for me.
On a more serious note, I had plans when the lockdown began. I wanted to build some kind of a "robot" as an educational venture. Do some redecorating, learn Unity and figure out how to use the TIG welder I bough one night when I was drunk. In reality what has happened is that my children's school, after school club, their sports clubs and Scout groups have given them so many lockdown "challenges" I haven't had time to do anything because I'm in charge of them because my wife has to lock herself away from 9 to 5 to do teletherapy.
- grogenaut 6y agoTig welding is great way to essentially meditate, similar to painting, once you figure it out that is. Start with lines on 1/4" steel flat bars.
- jmpman 6y agoI find oxy/acetylene welding super meditative. The sound blocks everything out, putting you in a pink noise cocoon.
- DoubleGlazing 6y agoI have a fairly basic stick welder which I have used on a few occasions to do a few basic repairs and and make some metal supports for storage boxes. I don't have a particular need for a TIG welder, but I bought it so I suppose I should find something useful to do with it. Problem is, I'm more of a woodworker.
- grogenaut 6y agoThe main reason for tig is small stuff, exotic stuff, and stuff where you just want the welds to be gorgeous, eg if you're going for that nasa look. The goal for mig is to hot glue some metal together. My friend does woodworking and loves making legs out of rebar/etc with the mig welder.
- DoubleGlazing 6y agoI should have got MIG then. A nice weld is beautiful to look at, but my needs are more practical. Still, I'll give it a go. My son wants to build a "mecha arm" with all sorts of spy features. This might be a good excuse to learn how to use it.
- maxsun 6y agoOne of my favorite after school activities as a kid was playing with Lego’s Mindstorm robot kits — if your kids have any interest, it could be a fun (and productive imo) way to have your interests meet in the middle :).
- DoubleGlazing 6y agoMy son is a Lego obsessive, but he doesn't really go in for the more technical stuff like Mindstorms or Technic - he thinks it is overpriced and prefers to use Scratch and an Arduion to make machines and the like. The irony is that he owns about €1000 of Lego bricks. He spent half his first communion money on Lego (€300), we made him put the rest in to the credit union. Since them he has told us he has become atheist as science makes more sense, but he'll still do his confirmation to get more money to buy Lego. Hmm....
- elihu 6y agoTIG is fun. I've been learning to weld aluminum recently, with no prior welding experience. Mostly from watching YouTube, but I've gotten a bit of advice from random people I know who know how to weld.
- xfan009 6y agoAluminium welding is somewhat hazardous to my understanding. If I remember from talking with a metal smith in my family, it can give off some pretty noxious fumes. Apparently it can even yield Arsenic and Florine fumes (CDC website mentioned those, among others). Again, if I recall correctly, something like a full-face P100 acid-gas mask is usually enough.