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Marfa Low Crown

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Everything posted by Marfa Low Crown

  1. Visor blonde on the back row can eat crackers in my bed anytime
  2. Thread title had me thinking Mona Lisa but instead I got this Anyways, I would gladly touch that thing's balls.
  3. Well... in a dream world I'd love to get a 300-400 amp engine-driven bruiser that would allow me to carbon arc gouge but that's champagne desires on a beer budget. The reality is that for most of what I do right now, I'm usually welding 1/8 rods around 125amps or less. A pull start Lincoln or Hobart would be completely adequate here & more in my current budget anyways. I just wish there was more room to grow with a machine like that. We had a Bobcat 250 at my last ranch job. I wish I could say it was great but there was 'something' wrong with it. We replaced the rheostat, we replaced the leads, and it just didn't weld right unless you ran it wide open. You couldn't weld anything thinner than 1/8 steel with it and even with that you had to boogie or you were blowing through. I'm sure they're good machines... that one was a refurb so who knows what it had been through.
  4. A little follow up on the Azul family of games... | Acquired Azul Summer Pavilion recently and we've played three games so far. That's not enough sessions to do more than scratch the surface and allow for just a brief overview because this game is a 500lb gorilla compared to regular Azul. Whew... where to begin? Like the original, Summer Pavilion has a back story and it too means nothing in the game. If you've played regular Azul you'll see some similarities but there's a whole other order of mental olympics that this game requires over its little brother. You're still collecting and organizing tiles but the inclusion of wild card tiles combined with much, much, deeper scoring opportunities opens up an entire new level of thinking and strategy. The wild card tiles change by round, which requires deeper planning and strategy, and there's a bonus board of tiles you can draw from after successfully surrounding pillars, statues, and windows on your board.... and that also adds to the complexity. They've 'fixed' a thing or two in this one. In the original game drawing first from the discard pile, thus allowing you to go first the next round, is a very powerful...sometimes too powerful advantage. In Summer Pavilion it'll cost you a lot more points to do it and the game also starts you off at 5 points instead of 0 which is more fair. They provide a place to put spent tiles ( the Big Ben looking tower) whereas regular Azul made you provide a bag or a bowl or some place to put a growing pile of spent tiles. The game also ends in 6 rounds whereas regular Azul has no defined ending by number of rounds... although I don't think we've played any regular Azul games beyond 5-6 rounds either. In this one, though, 6 rounds doesn't feel like enough time so there's a bit of a crunch as you near the end. Anyways that's about it on the technicals for now. The games take longer, the silences between players are longer (probably because we're all still learning), and at least on the surface as a new player you have enough to worry about that interfering with other players is a secondary concern. I'm sure that a better understanding of the game as time goes on will open a lot more things up. 1-2 games of Summer Pavilion is enough to make your brain ask for a break whereas we'll regularly session 3-5 games of Azul.
  5. Hey man, that's a good looking 6011 downhill weld on the elbow if I'm guessing the process right. Nice.. Pipe is tricky... that rod angle is changing. Awesome project... damn welding that box from the inside I bet you ate fire the f'n whole time. That takes welding discipline...and pain tolerance. From the heat affected zone it looks you covered just about all of it too. That's a great project .. did you shore up the broken I-Beam at all? Saw that too. Anyways.. much respect.. especially any man who smokes a whole turkey with a bicycle pump in hand. Teach me your ways.
  6. Heh...yeah, it fell off the cart while I was snapping that picture. Tell you what though, they were really accommodating at Harbor Freight. We didn't have the receipt and a couple of other snags but they came through for us anyways. These really are just hobby / light fab machines though. Been geeking out to the Fronius TransSteel 2200 ( or anything Fronius makes) but they're pretty proud of their stuff $. I want an engine welder so badly but I'm priced out of a brand new one atm and I'm not a mechanic... can't risk buying someone else's problem in getting a used one.
  7. Okay... a little follow up on Harbor Freight's Vulcan 225 stick welder... So not even 5 days after giving it a reasonably favorable review here I managed to rag out the shop's Vulcan 225. When I'm not fabricating I'm stacking beads and trying to stay sharp in the 1-4G positions. More or less overnight the Vulcan started to doo doo... sputtering arcs, weak arc force, beads way too cold for the amperage it was set at.. and no amount of adjusting the amps delivered a proper bead. It was too hot or too cold. If 7018 wasn't trying to burn through the work piece or dog dicking on 3G then it wasn't tying in at all and I had cold, peaked, beads. That's on DCEP.. the machine wouldn't run AC at any amperage. Again, it darn near happened overnight. My guess?... less than 100 hours of actual arc time under load.. folks I think it's more like 75 hours on the machine. The machine was barely a year old. Yikes. For whomever this helps, this is a moment where buying the extended warranty makes a lot of sense and fortunately we did. I think it's $65 for three years and the way I go, I can already tell you the replacement isn't even going to see its first birthday. I don't mind rolling on Harbor Freight's dime. I'm respectful to equipment and strict on the duty cycle but there are just so many hours in a machine like this. Anyways just some honest feedback for anyone considering the Vulcan 225.
  8. Now there's a guy who knows how to bring home the bacon.
  9. Both those guys, Bob and Jody, are excellent. Agree... and if you're going to watch YouTube videos watch theirs as they are actual instructors. Although he's kind of annoying, the ChuckE2009 kid is a total welding geek and he's got some good videos too. These are only my opinions but I think there are pros and cons to using videos as an instructional aid... my primary belief is they are a great resource if you're already receiving instruction. We've got a guy at the shop space (and I'll admit he's a little off to begin with) and he's entirely YouTube 'trained' in welding. King YouTube claims he's been watching videos for 9 years and although he sneaks into the shop late to practice his welds, I find his stuff lying around. I use his practice pieces as examples when instructing people because just about every error is there. It goes without saying he won't listen to anyone, I don't even try, but I know the reason he's not getting better no matter how many videos he watches is because he doesn't understand what he's doing wrong in the flesh. So again, it just comes back to having someone in the booth with you correcting little things... or... having someone there who can look at your welds and tell you what's right and what's wrong until you can read them and self-correct. Another downside to videos is that if you watch them long enough conflicting answers and approaches to things will start piling up. As a new welder you can really get confused and turned around and that's not ideal. Heck I got chewed out by my instructor for running 6011 in circles on a fillet one time but you'll find at least one video that says it's fine to do that. I found peace in relinquishing everything I thought I knew and just doing whatever the teacher told me to do... once you get a baseline of knowledge you can always go back and tweak how you want to do things. Even just a couple of hours would be time well spent with him
  10. Several folks on this thread are pretty critical of their welds (we all are) and I do have some thoughts on this : I've welded over 10 years and was self-taught. This is a path I do not recommend to anyone. In my case I was working as a hand and a ranch foreman threw me a box of electrodes, pointed to a broken gate with an SA 200 parked next to it, and said "Figure it out.". I've made just about every mistake you can make in welding and far more sinister, developed a pile of bad habits along the way. Bad habits get burned deeply into your muscle memory and they're a booger to get out of there. Ultimately this led me to welding school - Let's right the wrongs, let's re-learn this from the ground up with qualified in-person instruction, and let's do this the right way. Qualified, in-person, hands on instruction is how you're going to get better at this. Fast. You see... .the thing is... you can't see yourself welding. You can't see the little ticks in your movement that get your rod angle off... or that the reason your welds are laying down on you is that you're ever so slowly pulling the electrode towards you as you weld. And about 100 other things that someone standing over your shoulder will see about yourself that you don't.. and correct them until you are the one correcting yourself. I made more improvement in the first 2 weeks of welding school than I had in the 5 years prior just welding on my own. I'm not saying I'm an expert at this, I think we're all still learning, but I can lay a bead better than your average bear and I get stoked watching people learn and get better at this. Sound stick welds really come down to these 5 things : Proper electrode selection, proper current, proper arc length, proper travel speed, proper rod angle. Whether you're pursuing welding certifications or will remain a hobbyist the principles are the same. Naturally, not everyone has the time or the interest to go to welding school nor am I recommending that.... but for some of y'all that are looking to get your chops up a little, consider a short or even one day CE intro course if it's offered in your area. Get someone next to you telling you when you're long-arcing, or going too slow, or too fast. Maker spaces can be good for this if there's one in your city. If you're in / around the San Antonio area PM me and I can make a suggestion. Also people are often down on flux core MIG. Don't be. You can do A LOT with even a 110v flux core welder and there is no shame whatsoever in using one.
  11. The background iirc is you’re a Portuguese tile layer building a wall under the employ of the king. This is immaterial to the game however & the context is unimportant. Social interaction tends to revolve around bitching about the tiles & other players - “Ah! You asshole!” Is often heard during Azul gaming sessions ☺️ I wouldn’t say it’s too cerebral, anyone who has played qwirkle will find Azul to be a quick learn. The game calls for adaptive strategy each round as things you’re trying to do often will change based upon what other players are doing or what tiles come down. Anyways...can’t say enough about Azul give it a try sometime 👍
  12. If 2019 was any kind of predictor then my 2020 will probably look a lot like this...
  13. Thx, Roy.... I bought a propane tank as scrap and cut off the cap ends. The shop space I've got access to has a Harbor Freight Vulcan 225 AC/DC stick welder and it's....... a $500 machine. It pales in comparison to the larger Miller / Lincoln machines I've used but as long as you pay attention to the duty cycle, for basic fabrication the Vulcan is completely serviceable. For AC welding it balks a little unless you crank the amps and that's a knock on some of the other Vulcan machines as well. The Vulcan 225 doesn't run 6010 for shit but I've used a $4000 Miller dynasty that couldn't handle 6010 properly either. My understanding is Harbor Freight had this line of machines made to compete with Lincoln's AC/DC entry level crackerbox at a lower price. Having used both machines, the Lincoln costs a little more but I think it runs stick a little better... your arcs are more crisp and stable...and of course it's an American company and the money stays here. | The bowl is vented to allow for roaring wood fires but it would be a lot less wear and tear on it to fill the bowl with aggregate and put a propane ring in it. Lolz.. yeah the lip of that bowl with a wood fire going is hot enough to melt your shoes if you're dumb enough to rest them on the edge.. like I once did.
  14. Also.. fuck you 6013. Nobody likes you and you should feel terrible.
  15. I appreciate that. There was a gap... the lip of the bowl vs. the greek key flat strap constituted an even up to 1/4" rise throughout the project. I really like E7014 here... it's a great blending rod. I think I came in around 110 amps. .. 7014 It sucks for big gap fill (porosity) but fuck if it doesn't lay down some brass. I love me some E7024 but that would have been too much in this situation also. That was a narrow lip between the bowl and the strap 7024 might have run away with it. 7018 would have been too slow... 6010-6011 too crude.. so here we are. So... that's a stick weld. E7014....I parked the arc on the bowl side and just when I saw it wash over.. I cranked the electrode over about 80 degrees to the other side.. Just on the high spots. the rest was a weave just to let the arc push hold it together. . Cheers. I love this shit.
  16. We've enjoyed a number of board / tile games over the last couple of years... Quirkle Hive Settlers of Catan Seikatsu Tak ..a couple more I can't think of of the top of my head Azul, however, has taken the cake and the other games are gathering dust. Azul just about has it all - endless replayability, strategy, a bit of random luck, fuckerating other players.. I mean I've just been blown away by what a great game it is.
  17. I think there was a welding thread(s) on teh shag but there doesn't seem to be one here on the new site. Any surlsters going to be lighting up in 2020? This is a fire bowl I recently finished building. I've got plans to do some more in the new year along with other art / furniture projects. Whatcha building this year?
  18. You're absolutely right and that's what I would tell UGA fans... both programs were in the same position at that time. With Mack we'd been passed up by the TCU's and Baylor's of the world and it was obvious he wasn't going to get it back...4-5 losses a year were going to be the new norm.
  19. Michigan is really in a pickle. I lived in Atlanta during Mark Richt's waning years, talked to a lot of UGA fans, and there are some parallels to the two situations. Really it just comes down to what everyone has already said - it seems obvious at this point that Harbaugh isn't going to get Michigan over the hump. Yet, they're bowling every year and winning a respectable 9-10 games....hell, at Iowa or Minnesota you'd get the stadium named after you.
  20. Girlfriend woke up briefly and it's not good..... Me: I have some questions Her: <eyes narrowing> I bet you do Me: I have no memory of paying the bar tab. Her: I paid it Me: Pizza... did I... where did that come from exactly? Her: You called it in and you walked in to pick it up Me: Did I eat any of it Her: Yes, right before you passed out on the couch.. which is one thing... but that was after you peed all over the toilet Me: I what? Her: Yep Me: Do you still love me? Her: Yes. No more rumpleminze.. K? Welp... a few years ago I had to part with jagermeister this way, too.. Me: Why are there 3 dirty pans on the stove? Did you get up extra early and make breakfast already Then girlfriend : <eyes narrowing> No. You did. Me: I what? Then girlfriend: You made a three course meal at 4am and woke me up for it Me: what? Then girlfriend: You were very sweet and polite but you also weren't taking no for an answer Me: jesus fucking christ Then girlfriend: Then you passed out in the hallway...so I left you there... and then you woke me up about 2 hours later to give me a wet towel Me: a what? Then girlfriend: Yeah, you were convinced I had bbq sauce on my fingers and you wanted to give me a hot towel. Me: Did I make bbq? Then girlfriend: No, you made omelettes. No more Jager... k?
  21. Fuck it. You're a godless r'n fuck hack if yoiu've never been to Texas. Fuck you. It's 520 AM in Texas and I just woke up. NO. I just came to. I don't remember paying the tab at the bar. At all. I don't remember picking up pizza... I just saw there's two boxes in the kitchen. How the fuck did that get there? I don't remember eating anything. I have no f'n idea what time I passed out. It's hours before my GF wakes up and can help me start to backtrack this shit. The last thing I remember is taking shots of ice cold christmas. Gotdammit. F'n Rumplemintz
  22. Merry new year to the finest collection of incorrigible bastards I’ve yet to encounter 🤘
  23. You look at Wisconsin over there and it's just all about snow and coeds with tree trunks for legs and having a head coach who looks like Greg Davis but doesn't fucking suck.
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