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I've been seriously looking at the same welder, and also the HTP Invertig 201 which is similar. I want to get a TIG that will do auto restoration and repair work, and some other things. Hobby and farm kind of stuff. I've currently got a Hypertherm PMX600 plasma cutter and a Miller AC/DC stick welder, but I am not good enough with stick to do sheet metal. <br>
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I began thinking about a MIG, but have been leaning toward a TIG now, just having a hard time swallowing the price. I am my own worst enemy when it comes to cost. I keep bidding myself higher: If I am going to spring for MIG, for a bit more I can do DC TIG, but with DC only I can't do aluminum, I don't have a lot of need for aluminum, but figure I would use it more than I realize if I had it... etc. etc. AC TIG is definitely a serious price point, most of them are over $2k. The ones that are not modern inverter technology are very heavy! 140 pounds to 250 pounds typically, while the newer inverter types are 40 to 70 pounds for 200 amp welders. Wish I could find a screaming deal on one of these Dynastys. The HTP has 99 memorys for the settings, which would be pretty handy for a welder with this many options.

Experience with new Inverter Welder
Parts and Repair
Replies 4 Post by tomrscott

Been pretty busy, didn't notice this message till now. If you still have this Hypertherm, send me a private message and I might be able to help you.

Buying a dead Hypertherm 600
Parts and Repair
Replies 13 Post by tomrscott

I believe you can use any port you like for the low pressure return line, as long as it IS a low pressure point in the system. If what you are talking about is a power beyond port, the port that passes fluid when the spools are centered, that needs to go to any remaining users of fluid power, unless you are the last device on the circuit, and then you would normally block the power beyond function and allow that fluid and work fluid to go back to the return to tank.

Top and Tilt
Operating and Attachments
Replies 19 Post by tomrscott

Well unless someone out there pops-up who has found a few laying around, looks like I am going to have to make some banjo fittings on the lathe. I will still take all I can get as it will save me a lot of lathe time, but I went ahead today and bought a chunk of steel 3/4" X 2" by two feet long to fabricate some banjos from.

Felt good to support the local steel shop; family owned for two generations (Newberg Steel, Newberg Oregon). Real nice people, and it looks like their business is doing well despite the skyrocketing steel prices. They've expanded the shop with a lot of tools and welding gear, as well as some pre-fabricated parts for making trailers (axles, fenders, hitches, lighting, plans, etc.). I am always pleased to see a small family business thriving. Last thing I bought from them, several years ago, was a heavy pipe for a regulation basketball backstop support (5"OD, 1/4" wall, 16' long), and I hardly recognized the place this time. Now that I've got a new welder and plasma cutter, I'm sure I'll be giving them more business, and I was just thrilled to see them doing so well.

The final straw, deciding to fab the banjos, was that I decided I want to make a special one with two tubing ports rotated 90 degrees apart for the low pressure "return to tank" line. It will save making up a braze TEE, and will actually make the plumbing layout a bit nicer. Not very much extra work to do once I'm making a regular one.

I will try to remember to take some pictures of the process and post them for anyone interested. Several four jaw chuck tool setups, and a boring-bar bit-holder for the inside bore. Getting a spherical profile on the body is an imperfect process on a hand-lathe (compared to a CNC), two non-linear functions on two separate hand cranks at the same time, but with a little care it can be good enough. I may get lazy and just do a diagonal chamfer.

Anyway, thanks for all the suggestions.

Cheers!

Power-Beyond unused leftover banjo hydraulic lines
John Deere Tractors
Replies 13 Post by tomrscott

Brief update:

Stealing what time I could from other responsibilities, with the unseasonably warm dry weather we've had in Portland lately, I managed to get all 42 disks cut out in the last couple weeks. Since the plate these were cut from had lots of plates and brackets welded to the surface, which required gouging out welds to remove, it left many of the disks with significant surface grinding to clean them up so they will lay flat. After chipping the slag off, and grinding the surface welds, and grinding some rough edges, sanding off a few rust spots and some loose paint, I've now gotten over two thirds fully cleaned up and primed with rust preventive. Just another ten or a dozen disks to finish cleaning up, drill the holes, and some finish yellow paint, and I'll soon post some pictures of the finished product. (Tractors here are green with yellow wheels <grin>)

Plasma cutters rule!

Oh, came up with a clever way to justify a bunch of stick welding practice (which I sorely need) without wasting any material. The bottom disk in each wheel will rest against the wheel lugs, which means there would be some waste space around the lugs bolt heads. And, a by-product of cutting 42 circles out of a rectangle is a whole bunch of small pieces of scrap in various diamonds and triangles. What I plan to do is take the two worst disks surfaces and scrape the paint and rust off, then accurately layout where the lug bolt heads will hit, and weld on scraps and weld bead padding to full up the space on the bottom side of those first two disks (one on each side). I can weld a chunk of scrap onto a disk, letting it overhang the circumference, and then trim it flush with the circle jig, weld another next to it, cut a scrap to fit the spaces, and fill with padding. It won't matter if some of it is ugly, everything adds weight, nothing goes to waste, and I would get lots of practice.

My biggest struggle stick welding is remembering to keep moving the stick in to the bead as it burns up. It tends to get away from me and I get to long an arc. But I am very new to it.

More pics soon!

Big Plasma Cutting Job tractor weights
Parts and Repair
Replies 5 Post by tomrscott

I like that rule of thumb: 1 amp for each mil of thickness...

But what if you are welding a piece of 1/8" to a piece of 1/2", do you set it for the 1/8" thickness, on the theory that they weld only has to penetrate 1/8" into the 1/2" piece?

First practice welds
Parts and Repair
Replies 21 Post by tomrscott

I guess I am going to go for a slightly used Miller Thunderbolt AC/DC. Looks like new brand new, checked out by a top service shop. $300

Dumb question TIG vs MIG
Parts and Repair
Replies 8 Post by tomrscott

I agree with others here, genuine shop manuals are spendy, but typically worth having. I got the Technical manual and Parts manual for my JD790, and the total tab came to $230. One is not much good without the other. The Technical manual covers 670, 770, 790, 870, 970, and 1070 ($150), but the parts manual only covers the 790 ($80). I gulped when I found out the price, but didn't hesitate. After just a couple weeks, they've already been very helpful. Corrected some mis-information I had gotten from a mechanic, and answered several questions I had.

Want a John Deere service manual
John Deere Tractors
Replies 16 Post by tomrscott

Just to follow up in case someone else is interested. I finally decided the only way to be sure about the correct thread was to buy one of the banjo bolts from JD and measure it. I could have just taken one out of my tractor, but then I'd be into the job and didn't want to dump the trans/hydr fluid and all until I had the parts to plumb up the new TNT installation.

It turns out, as I was guessing, that the banjo bolts are the same thread as an SAE8, 3/4" x 16 TPI. An appropriate replacement is an SAE8 straight thread O-ring fitting. I verified this with a high quality thread gauge and by threading an SAE8 threaded cap onto it. I thought there was some chance that this could be a BSPP thread, but the thread gauge confirmed that it is an Amarican thread, the BSPP threads have a slightly different tooth angle that is distinctly visible with a thread gauge.

The other odd thing in the hydraulic plumbing in the 790 is the steel tubing pressure lines from the pump to the SCV valve and from the SCV to the FEL couplings. The tubing measures .485" OD. Normally hydraulic tubing is measured in even OD sizes, 1/4" 5/16", 3/8", 7/16", or 1/2". This makes it 0.015" shy of 1/2" even with a coat. It is also not quite a metric size, about 0.012" smaller than 12mm. Seems odd, can't understand what this size is? It turns out that the return to tank line that I want to tee into will be pretty awkward to replace with other fittings. I was kind of planning to just cut this line open and put a compression tee in the middle of it for the new tank return line, but I don't think a 1/2" compression fitting will squeeze down enough to bite into tubing this small.

Other options:
1) Make some custom brazed TEEs with the .485" braze slip fittings on the ends and maybe a standard SAE8 port in the middle?
2) Replace the line I need to tee into with a new 1/2" line with SAE8 all around. This is fine in theory, but both ends of this line are in a pretty awkward locations for spinning on SAE8 ells. One virtue of the banjo fitting is that it takes almost no clearance to spin the banjo bolt in with the banjo tubing oriented any direction needed. All you need is enough clearance for a box wrench. With an ell fitting you have to have about 1" clearance around the port for a full 360 degrees to thread the ell into the port.
3) I suppose I might be able to cut the existing line open, put 37 degree flares on the .485" tubing ends, and use a JIC tee for 1/2" tubing?

Something to comtemplate some more.

Banjo Hydraulic fittings question
Operating and Attachments
Replies 2 Post by tomrscott

Murf,

I think you are missing the point. If you re-read the quote from Weatherhead, or better yet, follow the link and read the entire section from them. The point is NOT that "the seals have improved", Weatherhead is specifically warning that the current industry-standard Buna-N seals are not appropriate for use with some synthetics.

I think the question is, are the current crop of synthetics modified in ways that prevent them from harming Buna-N seals?

I am would guess the answer is yes, but thought it was worth asking anyway.

Concern about Synthetics and O-Rings
Parts and Repair
Replies 9 Post by tomrscott

Hardwood,

What did you decide? I am seriously considering buying a slightly smaller one myself. I may just rent it, but I can see future jobs coming up if I went ahead and got one.

Plasma Cutters
Parts and Repair
Replies 19 Post by tomrscott

Murf,

You may well be correct that JD uses these a lot of places, and I have seen them at the dealer and at a Wilco locally, but always in larger sizes. However my JD790 and the 419 FEL both came from the dealer with 3/8" lines and standard ISO-A couplers in the 3/8" -06 size, not the JD style with a steep tapered tip.

Which Hydraulic Disconnects to Use
Operating and Attachments
Replies 13 Post by tomrscott

DK35vince,

Thanks for adding that. I appreciate hearing the experiences of others. I have no choice but to try to learn from the experiences of others. Once I get something, I'm going to be stuck with it.

Did your grading consist mainly of crowning a road, or something else? Did you do much digging a drainage ditch along the road edge with a tilted blade?

Have you read the thread of the guy who used two side link cylinders because he wasn't happy with a 5" cylinder? I don't recall but it might have been at another tractor forum I hang out at some. They had a single collected posting with links to a dozen or so long threads, all on the subject of TNT. Tons of information.

email me if you want more info.
tomrscott at sterlink dot net (figure it out... please no spam)

Best value top and tilt JD790
Operating and Attachments
Replies 18 Post by tomrscott

kyvette,

Of course you recognize that your situation is atypical of the majority of folks buying fasteners for home and farm projects. I dare say the vast bulk of the low grade hardware is moved through Home Depot, Lowes, Ace, and a few others.

With your resource available, I wouldn't have asked the question in the first place. I mourn the passing of the days when products were marketed by more objective criteria. My dad (who's 87 now) tells me he remembers when car ads told things like how many square inches of braking surface per pound they had. Can't you just see the gorgeous model coming on camera in a TV car commercial to tell you the grade of steel used or something? Today its all about how a product makes you feel.

Online site for hardware strength
Tractor Projects
Replies 16 Post by tomrscott

A service tech at a local JD dealer, a guy that has been pretty helpful, while we were talking about the loader, happened to mention to be careful when lifting something heavy, especially trying to get something unstuck, that it is important to get a straight bite on the object so that the left and right arms lift approximately equally. <br>
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He said he has seen a couple 419's come in with a permanent twist in the loader frame from putting extreme uneven stress on it. He didn't really know exactly what the guy was doing when it got tweaked, but it may be worth being careful about. This is out of hundreds that this guy has probably seen, he has seen a couple, so it doesn't sound like a terribly chronic problem, but I respect the guy enough to pay attention. <br>
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He did say that one guy had tried to jack his 790 hydraulics up to something like 3800 psi and that was undoubtedly one of the ones that got bent. <br>
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This might be particularly worth paying attention to if you put in a pressure relief shim kit to raise the hydraulic presssure even to 2500. <br>
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For whatever it is worth, I'm going to be kind of careful about lopsided lifting. YMMV

Warning about tweaking the 419 FEL
John Deere Tractors
Replies 2 Post by tomrscott

Forgive me for a completely different approach, but is there really some reason that you couldn't just bend the tubing and weld it on without cutting it open? If I am envisioning correctly what you are describing, this would just give you a 360 degree rolled edge instead of a 180 degree rolled edge? Seems like a better design all the way around.

Just a thought.

converting wood band saw to metal
Parts and Repair
Replies 11 Post by tomrscott

So do tell, what percentage less than the new ones are the barely used ones going for on ebay? Plasma cutters that is.

Large amount of cutting best way
Parts and Repair
Replies 23 Post by tomrscott

re: "They moved the price down far enough for me to take a chance on it so I bought it. I picked it up today."

What did you end up paying for it if you don't mind my asking?

- Another cheapskate that would love to have a trencher but can't afford the prices they go for new.

3ph trencher
Operating and Attachments
Replies 14 Post by tomrscott

Did you ever get a response or help with that tractor? It has been a long time. Where are you located?

1946b john deere tractor
Antique Tractors
Replies 3 Post by tomrscott

I have the assy drawing, but I assumed there must be some directions. The diagram doesn't have any text just some numbers that must have been referenced in some sort of text instructions.

Thanks!

Anyone Put MP19826 kit on JD790
Operating and Attachments
Replies 7 Post by tomrscott