I’m not a real welder, mister

[Polecat]

Ok, so I still have the job of welding my RSL thumb onto my little Bobcat E10, I finally dug out my cheap Aldi ark welder (don’t laugh) I know some will say it’s a toy welder, but I did a bit of a repair on my cement mixer, after a bit of a practice run on some scrap metal as I have never welded before, ever.
First thing I did was to throw away the stupid hand held welding shield it came with, as I couldn’t see jack sh1t out of it, & i got myself a auto darkening one, yey now I could see what I wanted to butcher with my welding abilities, which is zero.
The welder was 80amp middle aisle special buy back in 2015 it came with about 8 various rods & I have used about three 6013, my welds look like I have sneezed on them, not good, so I need more practice.

When I come to weld the thumb on I believe I need 7018 rods, is this right, but is the welder amperage good enough to do 7018 rods & to penetrate into the dipper arm & thumb metal, the thumb metal is 10mm & I guess it would be high tensile steel.

 

[Smiffy]

Ok, so I still have the job of welding my RSL thumb onto my little Bobcat E10, I finally dug out my cheap Aldi ark welder (don’t laugh) I know some will say it’s a toy welder, but I did a bit of a repair on my cement mixer, after a bit of a practice run on some scrap metal as I have never welded before, ever.
First thing I did was to throw away the stupid hand held welding shield it came with, as I couldn’t see jack sh1t out of it, & i got myself a auto darkening one, yey now I could see what I wanted to butcher with my welding abilities, which is zero.
The welder was 80amp middle aisle special buy back in 2015 it came with about 8 various rods & I have used about three 6013, my welds look like I have sneezed on them, not good, so I need more practice.

When I come to weld the thumb on I believe I need 7018 rods, is this right, but is the welder amperage good enough to do 7018 rods & to penetrate into the dipper arm & thumb metal, the thumb metal is 10mm & I guess it would be high tensile steel.

Is it a buzz box with a big central dial on the front or an inverter with the little dial for the amps. I don't think the buzz box will run 7018 rods from memory.
80 amps will also pretty much restrict you to 2.5mm rods so you will be there forever. If you see much welding in your future I thoroughly recommend speaking to r tech. And getting a bigger machine. Especially if you have a buzz box.
I'm not a great welder but a modern inverter welder is so easy to use.

 

[6feetdown]

Ok, so I still have the job of welding my RSL thumb onto my little Bobcat E10, I finally dug out my cheap Aldi ark welder (don’t laugh) I know some will say it’s a toy welder, but I did a bit of a repair on my cement mixer, after a bit of a practice run on some scrap metal as I have never welded before, ever.
First thing I did was to throw away the stupid hand held welding shield it came with, as I couldn’t see jack sh1t out of it, & i got myself a auto darkening one, yey now I could see what I wanted to butcher with my welding abilities, which is zero.
The welder was 80amp middle aisle special buy back in 2015 it came with about 8 various rods & I have used about three 6013, my welds look like I have sneezed on them, not good, so I need more practice.

When I come to weld the thumb on I believe I need 7018 rods, is this right, but is the welder amperage good enough to do 7018 rods & to penetrate into the dipper arm & thumb metal, the thumb metal is 10mm & I guess it would be high tensile steel.

I finally bit the bullet last week on a Warrior 250 they do a smaller 1 which is similar money to an r tech, plus is British made and they do all the servicing spares etc.
Tidy guys too as I collected mine

 

[Vinpetrol]

Ok, so I still have the job of welding my RSL thumb onto my little Bobcat E10, I finally dug out my cheap Aldi ark welder (don’t laugh) I know some will say it’s a toy welder, but I did a bit of a repair on my cement mixer, after a bit of a practice run on some scrap metal as I have never welded before, ever.
First thing I did was to throw away the stupid hand held welding shield it came with, as I couldn’t see jack sh1t out of it, & i got myself a auto darkening one, yey now I could see what I wanted to butcher with my welding abilities, which is zero.
The welder was 80amp middle aisle special buy back in 2015 it came with about 8 various rods & I have used about three 6013, my welds look like I have sneezed on them, not good, so I need more practice.

When I come to weld the thumb on I believe I need 7018 rods, is this right, but is the welder amperage good enough to do 7018 rods & to penetrate into the dipper arm & thumb metal, the thumb metal is 10mm & I guess it would be high tensile steel.

When I looked at this I had to check it wasn’t one of my old posts . I could have written this word for word and the only lie would have been my welder is parweld !

 

[Polecat]

Yes it’s an old AC buzz box, new though cos i only unboxed it a week ago, proved the wife wrong though, when she said I would never use it, even if it’s 10 years later

I don’t see myself doing a lot of welding in the future, so I’m not looking to spend a lot, I was thinking more of what you can get off Amazon or Machine mart, what about these welders that do mig & ark in one neat little package.

 

[6feetdown]

Yes it’s an old AC buzz box, new though cos i only unboxed it a week ago, proved the wife wrong though, when she said I would never use it, even if it’s 10 years later

I don’t see myself doing a lot of welding in the future, so I’m not looking to spend a lot, I was thinking more of what you can get off Amazon or Machine mart, what about these welders that do mig & ark in one neat little package.

Same as me but buy once hopefully it will last

 

[Will_c]

Ok, so I still have the job of welding my RSL thumb onto my little Bobcat E10, I finally dug out my cheap Aldi ark welder (don’t laugh) I know some will say it’s a toy welder, but I did a bit of a repair on my cement mixer, after a bit of a practice run on some scrap metal as I have never welded before, ever.
First thing I did was to throw away the stupid hand held welding shield it came with, as I couldn’t see jack sh1t out of it, & i got myself a auto darkening one, yey now I could see what I wanted to butcher with my welding abilities, which is zero.
The welder was 80amp middle aisle special buy back in 2015 it came with about 8 various rods & I have used about three 6013, my welds look like I have sneezed on them, not good, so I need more practice.

When I come to weld the thumb on I believe I need 7018 rods, is this right, but is the welder amperage good enough to do 7018 rods & to penetrate into the dipper arm & thumb metal, the thumb metal is 10mm & I guess it would be high tensile steel.

With the thumb you’re fitting, is it a manual or hydraulic version? I’m curious how effective a thumb would actually be on a small 1-ton machine, as it’s not something you often see apart from on some of the Chinese machines.

 

[V8Druid]

Ok, so I still have the job of welding my RSL thumb onto my little Bobcat E10, I finally dug out my cheap Aldi ark welder (don’t laugh) I know some will say it’s a toy welder, but I did a bit of a repair on my cement mixer, after a bit of a practice run on some scrap metal as I have never welded before, ever.
First thing I did was to throw away the stupid hand held welding shield it came with, as I couldn’t see jack sh1t out of it, & i got myself a auto darkening one, yey now I could see what I wanted to butcher with my welding abilities, which is zero.
The welder was 80amp middle aisle special buy back in 2015 it came with about 8 various rods & I have used about three 6013, my welds look like I have sneezed on them, not good, so I need more practice.

When I come to weld the thumb on I believe I need 7018 rods, is this right, but is the welder amperage good enough to do 7018 rods & to penetrate into the dipper arm & thumb metal, the thumb metal is 10mm & I guess it would be high tensile steel.

you might manage to tack it in place ......... for someone with the necessary skills to do the job properly for you ... ...... other than that - don't waste your precious time ... good site welder'd have it on in a few hours for you - max.

 

[V8Druid]

I finally bit the bullet last week on a Warrior 250 they do a smaller 1 which is similar money to an r tech, plus is British made and they do all the servicing spares etc.
Tidy guys too as I collected mine

how're you getting on with it Andy ..... or you been too busy unpacking all yer new toys

 

[6feetdown]

how're you getting on with it Andy ..... or you been too busy unpacking all yer new toys

Not used it.
Gas bottle was empty so got a new 1 Friday.
Rcd keeps tripping it's an old 1 so hoping my mate will have a 32amp tomorrow in his stock

 

[Polecat]

With the thumb you’re fitting, is it a manual or hydraulic version? I’m curious how effective a thumb would actually be on a small 1-ton machine, as it’s not something you often see apart from on some of the Chinese machines.

It’s a manual thumb, it’s pretty difficult to get a hydraulic thumb for the E10 with the dipper being so short.

 

[Bri963]

Personally I’d take the stick off so you’re welding downhill. You’ll struggle to run 7018’s on the transformer as the open circuit voltage is too low. Nothing wrong with 6013’s and multiple passes, there’s a lot of repairs done on farms with 6013’s - don’t get sucked in by the guys on Welding Web and HEF, 6013’s available this side of the pond are a different kettle of fish, as long as you don buy them from Aldi, Lidl or Machine Mart. ESAB, Bohler, Murex will all do a way adequate job.

 

[Smiffy]

Personally I’d take the stick off so you’re welding downhill. You’ll struggle to run 7018’s on the transformer as the open circuit voltage is too low. Nothing wrong with 6013’s and multiple passes, there’s a lot of repairs done on farms with 6013’s - don’t get sucked in by the guys on Welding Web and HEF, 6013’s available this side of the pond are a different kettle of fish, as long as you don buy them from Aldi, Lidl or Machine Mart. ESAB, Bohler, Murex will all do a way adequate job.

You should be able to get the dipper on that at a suitable angle without removing it?

 

[doobin]

As Druid says, get someone else to do it otherwise it'll fall off first time you try to pick something up.

There's a time and a place for learning to weld, and this isn't it IMHO. Especially with an 80 amp Lidl special.

 

[6feetdown]

As Druid says, get someone else to do it otherwise it'll fall off first time you try to pick something up.

There's a time and a place for learning to weld, and this isn't it IMHO. Especially with an 80 amp Lidl special.

Yeah definitely agree with that if it fails it could hurt someone or worse

 

[V8Druid]

Personally I’d take the stick off so you’re welding downhill. You’ll struggle to run 7018’s on the transformer as the open circuit voltage is too low. Nothing wrong with 6013’s and multiple passes, there’s a lot of repairs done on farms with 6013’s - don’t get sucked in by the guys on Welding Web and HEF, 6013’s available this side of the pond are a different kettle of fish, as long as you don't buy them from Aldi, Lidl or Machine Mart. ESAB, Bohler, Murex will all do a way adequate job.

totally agree with all that Bri, but with a MAX of 80A available (more like 60 in reality), unless he's running 2mm rods to 'get the burn' he has little chance of a successful job, especially as he's never welded before

 

[Bri963]

Agreed he’ll need to practice but it is doable. You’ll be surprised what I’ve done with a80 amp transformer and 2.5’s. Re taking the stick off, it’s a quick job and you can lay it at the easiest angle to weld,

 

[V8Druid]

Agreed he’ll need to practice but it is doable. You’ll be surprised what I’ve done with a80 amp transformer and 2.5’s. Re taking the stick off, it’s a quick job and you can lay it at the easiest angle to weld,

absolutely .. if the stick's an easy job to remove, I'd go down the same route .. can't beat having the weld faces down-hand to get the best possible angle and plenty of heat to get the penetration, which he's gonna need with the set available.
it is doable - but .. sounds like a lot of practise required first and plenty of overlaying runs to get the job secure

and no - I'd not be surprised at all Bri .. needs must, when it's all you have to hand
dare say we've both performed the odd 'miracle' with sod all suitable available

 

[Will_c]

It’s a manual thumb, it’s pretty difficult to get a hydraulic thumb for the E10 with the dipper being so short.

Yes, the worst part with manual thumbs is the fixed position and it being in the way most of the time . The limited space available to fit a cylinder also makes it quite challenging to convert one to hydraulic.

A pin-on hydraulic thumb that could be bolted into place without requiring any modifications to the machine would be a really nice solution. I think welding an eyelet onto the dipper is what puts a lot of people off fitting a thumb in the first place.
Over the summer I am going to have a look into designing a pin-on solution for a little Kubota U10 to see whether it would actually be possible. With the size of the cylinders involved, the forces aren’t hugely substantial.
I very quickly put together a rough concept of the bracket arrangement I’m thinking of — essentially replacing the bucket cylinder pin with a longer pin, then using a series of bolts to clamp/bolt the eyelet onto the dipper.

 

[V8Druid]

Yes, the worst part with manual thumbs is the fixed position and it being in the way most of the time . The limited space available to fit a cylinder also makes it quite challenging to convert one to hydraulic.

A pin-on hydraulic thumb that could be bolted into place without requiring any modifications to the machine would be a really nice solution. I think welding an eyelet onto the dipper is what puts a lot of people off fitting a thumb in the first place.
Over the summer I am going to have a look into designing a pin-on solution for a little Kubota U10 to see whether it would actually be possible. With the size of the cylinders involved, the forces aren’t hugely substantial.
I very quickly put together a rough concept of the bracket arrangement I’m thinking of — essentially replacing the bucket cylinder pin with a longer pin, then using a series of bolts to clamp/bolt the eyelet onto the dipper.

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that's the link end sorted, but still leaves the actual thumb pivot to position though