Good morning!!!!

   / Good morning!!!! #61,272  
Fuel filter picked up and installed, MMM put on and front lawns (and wood yard !) all mowed.

Took about 2.4 hours per the hour meter and I was mowing the short direction so it probably took a little longer than it would have had I mowed the long direction (due to more turns)

Having some iced coffee and taking a little break ... in a few I'll drop the MMM and stick the FEL on and head up to the shop to start on the repair to the SSQA.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #61,273  
RS, how do you adjust the valves on a Kubota? - or is this a question that if i have to ask I should get a mechanic to do it?
 
   / Good morning!!!! #61,274  
Wx not conducive to my plans, oh well, maybe tomorrow. Piddling around instead.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #61,275  
I have two good things to say.
I did not burn or electrocute myself and I did not burn down my barn.
Beyond that, it's all questionable.

Due to thin metal on deck I made one wide crack much worse, thankfully all of this is being covered in fresh metal
so none of it is visible. Good training ground. Tomorrow I will start again without sweat running in my eyes and with eyes focused
on the cracks. I seemed to hit everything but the target for awhile...
Rather dreadful actually.
Well, can only improve. And the metal despite looking gruesome is much stronger than it was.
Am thinking I need some of RNG's Bondo now to fill in those holes.
Not sure that would hold up to mower deck vibration.

I first practiced on small parts like the first pic. That went fairly well.
Ugly, but welded. But then the mower deck started to dissolve and I knew it was time to quit.
 

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   / Good morning!!!! #61,276  
We had a broken kitchen chair years ago that had broken (thin metal tubing frame). No problem says I, welded it up like a pro with Lincoln ac stick welder.. Just a little more and I'm done... yep, you guessed it, blew a hole that took the better part of an hour to repair.. It takes time and patience to get it right consistently.

Some of the best acetylene welding I ever did was right after Pa welded something and the regulators were still set perfect. I could never get them just right, he had lots of experience.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #61,277  
Not bad for a first try, Drew. Reminds me of a summer job tryout where I was supposed to stick weld garbage dumpsters. Spend most of the morning filling holes, and was told not to come back after lunch! :laughing:

That finished weld on the right does show that you're getting the hang of it. It is very difficult to stick weld cracks on thin sheet like that, so you're trying to learn on a job that challenges even experts. Minimum thickness to weld easily is 1/8" in my experience. I don't know if that application would allow it, but you could put a steel backing strip underneath the weld on the left and it would make repairing the crack much easier. Harbor Freight makes something they call a weld spoon that is supposed to serve the same purpose but not become part of the weld. Looks like it might work, but I've never used one.

What diameter of electrode are you using? Try 1/16" if you haven't already.

The problem is that once the weld pool gets too large, surface tension can no longer hold it in place and you get a hole. The trick is to get the arc going, create the pool, then pull the electrode away from the work to decrease the heat and let the pool shrink and solidify, then move forward a tiny bit and lower the electrode back down put more metal into the pool. Repeat that to stitch your way along the weld. It takes practice to pull back enough to drop the heat without letting the arc go out. If you don't want to move up, you can also move forward along the seam away from the pool, let it solidify, then move back onto it to create another overlapping pool.

Here's a pretty good summary of stick welding technique, along with a thickness chart at the bottom.
Arc Welding aka Shielded metal arc Welding

And here's a little calculator that'll help you set the welding current and pick a good electrode:
Stick Welding Calculator - MillerWelds

Thin sheet like that is where MIG welding really shines because it's so easy to start the weld, make a pool, then just let go of the trigger to let it solidify. Move forward a bit, pull the trigger, and repeat so you end up with a series of overlapping spots.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #61,278  
Good evening all. 72F this morning, overcast,calm and .9 in rain in the gauge. Had 2 waves of heavy rain last night and lost power for a few minutes. Sky started to clear to partly cloud about noon, wind stayed moderate and high temp was 94F. Slow start this morning, clean kitchen, bike ride, the work on billing.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #61,279  
72 outside this AM. Looks to be another wet day today. Yesterday the cloud cover and slight drizzle on and off made it a bust day for lawn mowers. Today looks the same.
Have a great day all. Be safe.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #61,280  
2017-08-15, 0354

51 right now...you know Fall is coming when the nights are getting this cool. High in the mid to upper 70's and, maybe, a thunderstorm.

Welding takes a lot of practice for most of us, Drew. You'll get better. As far as the cracks extending, it may pay to stop drill at the end of the crack before you weld...distribute the thermal stresses.
When I first used stick welding, I tended to freeze the electrode to the work piece. After twisting around trying to break it loose...I tended to raise the shield and that's when it would break loose. This normally resulted in an arc flash.
 

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