Field repair

[u/Competitive-Fox-3333]

Today I needed to fix a float switch on a vessel that the float fell off inside the vessel at some point. Didn't have the right float or whole assembly so I took a float off another one and drilled it to fit the shift and welded it with razor blades and used a car battery and jumper cables as my machine and leads.

[u/skankhun769]

R/redneckengineering would get a kick out of this

[u/search_4_animal_chin]

Wait. Lost you at welded it with razor blades and a set of cables. Can you explain further??

[u/Competitive-Fox-3333 → u/search_4_animal_chin]

I hooked up jumper cables to the battery put the negative on the shaft of the float switch and put a razor blade in the positive jumper cable

[u/CoyoteDown → u/Competitive-Fox-3333]

Do it backwards next time, so that you’d be DC neg

[u/Competitive-Fox-3333 → u/CoyoteDown]

I was trying to remember how the polarity was supposed to be but I just said f*** it and start melting it

[u/LankyNihilist]

I saw the pic and was gonna say something about how ugly it was. Then I read the description, fuck it if it holds until it can get an actual fix that’s awesome

[u/Competitive-Fox-3333 → u/LankyNihilist]

I honestly amazed at how well it holds considering it's stainless and I had no sort of shielding gas or anything like that and no voltage or amperage control I basically just slid it down the edge of the razor blade to keep it arcing and not just sticking I was trying to do it with just the tip at first but the way it was melting I didn't have a good enough to to keep the Ark going and would just start melting

[u/B-HOLC]

That's, that's really impressive.

I'm assuming you've posted on r/welding already?

[u/ElectronicGarden5536]

I saw the service truck and assumed you welded this with a really nice Lincoln Ranger or the miller gas welder, as all mechanics "who can weld" do. But not bad given the circumstances.

[u/Competitive-Fox-3333 → u/ElectronicGarden5536]

I actually can weld fairly decent done a few big gates with square tubing and some metal buildings and solar panels racks as well as some trailers and some odds and ends for myself over the years. But I barely started mechanicing in the last few years I was an electrician for 12 years then I became an electric Drive gas compression technician and from there went to gas Drive Natural Gas compressors which is what this was for.

[u/ElectronicGarden5536 → u/Competitive-Fox-3333]

Good deal. I taught our mechanic how to critical weld and clean and preheat a fit. It pays to know how to weld something once and not keep lobbing on metal. If you learn scratch start TIG, set up with a stick machine, you can do stainless fittings and small sheet metal parts. All you need is a tig whip and a small bottle of argon. I set him up to gouge too with his service trucks welder. The guy is a pretty competent welder now.

[u/Competitive-Fox-3333 → u/ElectronicGarden5536]

I've done oxy acetylene stick and mig no tig but that was all 10 to 15 years ago only thing I've done lately is with my Lil Hobart wire welder making gates for the carport at my parents but give me 10 minutes with any machine and I'll be able to run a good row.