Welding Squares

[Limburger]

Hello,

I couldn't keep these to my self, had to share. I'm a mechanic and also work alot with metal. Now i'm building my ''dream'' workbench with a square tube frame. I saw on youtube that Jason from Fireball Tool makes squares for these jobs. To square things up to each other in both directions, were you normally would tag and check with a square and adjust as needed. No need witch these things.
Man I couldn't make this frame faster or better without these.

The tabs make sure the pieces line up.

Really can recommend them, they are located in the USA but also ship from Czech Republic, I believe from Strong Hand Europe (I bought their clambs also).
www.fireballeu.com EU
Fireball Tool US

 

[--Tom--]

Nice I’ve had these on the wish list for a while but not been able to justify them. Good to hear they’re worth keeping in the list.

 

[clogs]

never needed anything like that in 50 years.....
have a couple of those magnetic welders squares when needed to hold the 3rd thing when welding.....I work alone...
easy enough to alow for welding pull, well after years of practice....

 

[dickm]

First "thing" we made on a welding course 40 years ago was something quite like that! It's still lying around somewhere and comes in handy occasionally, if I can find it.

 

[Limburger]

never needed anything like that in 50 years.....
have a couple of those magnetic welders squares when needed to hold the 3rd thing when welding.....I work alone...
easy enough to alow for welding pull, well after years of practice....

I also have them but they are always full of metal shavings. I bet when you use them you live it

 

[Fergie 307]

Know what you mean I use the magnetic ones too, and they do get a bit furry.

 

[Chris152]

Know what you mean I use the magnetic ones too, and they do get a bit furry.

Hi Fergie - I'm looking to get some kind of 90 degree clamps for a wheeling machine frame, and later for a Locost chassis (hopefully).
I've read about the magnets affecting the weld (it'll be MiG) - is that your experience? if so, do you think the weaker magnets would affect it less?
Thanks.

 

[Katomi woodsmith]

Funny op should show that image, when I did marine welding we made our own square blocks to hole joints
Now later in life I am doing much the same in my wood work, clamping set squares in place to hold joints square ....

 

[Sideways]

I'm looking to get some kind of 90 degree clamps for a wheeling machine frame, and later for a Locost chassis (hopefully).

How about simple non magnetic welders clamps ?
I bought a couple of these on ebay 2 years back and they are certainly robust.
Similar things, albeit smaller, are readily available.

 

[stevep]

Hi Fergie - I'm looking to get some kind of 90 degree clamps for a wheeling machine frame, and later for a Locost chassis (hopefully).
I've read about the magnets affecting the weld (it'll be MiG) - is that your experience? if so, do you think the weaker magnets would affect it less?
Thanks.

A magnet will attract the arc, it will try to pull it towards it. I can’t see it affecting the strength of the weld but happy to stand corrected ! At the end of the day, it’s for a workbench, it’s not a nuclear reactor so it should be fine ! Magnetic clamps are rarely used in any fab shops I’ve ever been in, and if they have, they’re only really used for tacking up, they get removed before fully welding.

 

[Fergie 307]

Stevep beat me to it. Fine to use just to tack stuff in place, then remove.
But you are better off using non magnetic and clamps.
You will be amazed the amount of crud the magnetic ones collect, and can actually be quite a pain to position as they try and pull somewhere you don't want. I have quite a few but can't remember the last time I used one.

 

[Chris152]

How about simple non magnetic welders clamps ?
I bought a couple of these on ebay 2 years back and they are certainly robust.
Similar things, albeit smaller, are readily available.View attachment 192676

That looks great Sideways - I'd seen the ones posted by the OP but very expensive for me - it seems we can get similar to yours, 300mm for about £34 each on ebay.
I guess two is better than one for each joint (clamped inside and outside, where possible)?

Thanks!

 

[Fergie 307]

For something like a bench you may not need to use clamps at all. If you have cut the parts nice and square then just hold them down on a bench using ordinary G clamps or whatever. Then put a tack at one end of the joint. Check it's square with an ordinary square. You can bend the tack slightly to fine tune it, then another tack at the other end of the joint to hold it and check again. If your bench is wood then just arrange the pieces so the bit you are going to weld is hanging off the edge.
You can apply the same principle to the whole thing.

 

[Chris152]

For something like a bench you may not need to use clamps at all. If you have cut the parts nice and square then just hold them down on a bench using ordinary G clamps or whatever. Then put a tack at one end of the joint. Check it's square with an ordinary square. You can bend the tack slightly to fine tune it, then another tack at the other end of the joint to hold it and check again. If your bench is wood then just arrange the pieces so the bit you are going to weld is hanging off the edge.
You can apply the same principle to the whole thing.

Thanks Fergie. It's not a bench, but a wheeling machine (/English wheel) so alignment is pretty crucial. If top and bottom wheels don't align it won't work properly. Here's a pic of the kind of thing:



The main frame we're making is of 100 x 100 x 5mm square section; we bought the wheel and anvils, but also need to make the anvil adjustment mechanism. So quite a lot of work (for us)! We're doing a fair bit of watching on general frame welding and will definitely take on board your suggestions.

 

[Fergie 307]

Nice piece of kit. I had a go on an old cast iron one once. The guy who owned it was a proper old school panel beater. He had a good laugh at my miserable efforts to dish a piece of scrap. Much harder than he made it look

 

[Fergie 307]

Interesting project. Do keep us posted on the progress.

 

[Sideways]

And I'm told you need to be very careful of your fingers while using one !

 

[Chris152]

Interesting project. Do keep us posted on the progress.

I'll start a thread on it - it'll give us a kick up the backside to get on with it! I bought the wheel and anvils for the lad's 21st in Spring, and shortly after the box section. The delay's been the welder, a Clarke 135, which he was thinking didn't have enough power for the job, but he recently welded 6mm sheet to a surface plate and got good penetration and I think that's changed his mind. Apparently (we're already beyond my understanding) with a channel ground into one of the joining faces, he can build the weld up properly in a couple of passes. Other options were stick and TiG, but stick's too inclined to warp (iirc) and tig painfully slow.

We laid the box section out on the floor yesterday to mark up the joins, so that's some progress! I'll put some pics in the Projects section once we have something.