Another Bolt-On Tool
Above is my metal shear from Vevor. Claims to be adequate for 0.125 plate. Maybe the shear can do that, but it's going to need someone closer to Superman than me if so. I had to make the adapter plate (and some machined spacers, visible where it bolts to the plate) to allow this to be bolted down on the work table. Another tool that is super handy when it's needed, but good to get out of the way when not.
Next up: English Wheel
Tank Trials and Tribulations
One of the challenges of being a DIY home welder is getting argon shielding gas supplied in some reasonably economical and convenient way. If you're a full time pro shop you work out a lease arrangement with one of the big chain suppliers and they come around in their truck to drop off full tanks and haul away empty ones on a regular schedule. If you're a garagiste, it's not so easy. The two big suppliers in my area have an anticompetitive arrangement whereby they agreed between themselves not to supply tanks larger than 80 cu ft except to their lease customers. I don't think they've ever heard of anti-trust law because they aren't the least bit shy about explaining this cozy little conspiracy to anyone who will listen. The lease arrangement sucks for DIY people because if you don't do much welding for a period of time, you have to keep paying for the tank just to sit there in your garage. 80 cu ft is not a terrible size to sit around and provide shielding gas for sporadic small projects, but even if you weld in your garden shed you'll occasionally have a big project that involves 3 or 4 days of welding. If your tank is 80 cu ft or less you're guaranteed to run out of shielding gas at the most inconvenient possible point in your project.
Pops racer has had this orphan 330 cu ft argon cylinder sitting around in his shop for at least 20 years. Nobody even knows where it came from. The big chain suppliers won't deal with anyone's tanks other than their own and places like Tractor Supply will gawk in slack-jawed horror if you bring in one of these monsters. Thus the orphan tank sitting unused for decades.
But after a lot of calling around I found a local family owned welding supply place that does take orphan tanks in trade if you're willing to pay a $45 test fee (they don't want to use a tank unless it is proven safe, which... yeah, no objections to that policy). Better yet, once you pay that fee and exchange your old tank of unproven provenance, the one you take home will have a current test stamp and you can make further exchanges without the extra fee. Best of all their exchange fee for 330 cu ft is the same as the big boys charge for 80 cu ft. More than 4x the amount of argon for the same price. I am not a certified financial planner, but this sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
The only downside is that this outfit is located smack in the middle of downtown Indy, so it's a bit of a traffic nightmare getting there. However, as Friendly Eddie the Noble Gasses Man himself said, "It's out of your way, but you won't have to come down here but a quarter how often you used to."
Above is from a welding practice kit you can get on Amazon. It's trickier than it looks, because you're welding on sharp outside corners over a gap that is equal to or wider than the thickness of the material. And the numbers punched in the sides create little areas of poor heat dispersion so you're going along OK and then suddenly burn yourself a big ugly hole. Also, it's very small pinpoint work. Above is about as good as I can do with these things. If they were more economical I'd buy another set but they're pretty expensive for practice material.
In general I would describe my progress thusly: I am not really making progress in producing attractive looking welds. But I am making progress producing adequate welds in increasingly difficult circumstances - like outside corners, dissimilar thickness materials, old metal in poor condition, and strange shapes.