Magnetic Tuber Assembly
 

I am home alone for this very boring and long christmas eve and was thinking of a new and innovative way of assembling a tube chassis. What if you could create an electro magnet that is on an aligator clamp or a clip of some sort. You just hook the clamp on the farthest piece away from the joint you are heating/welding. It would hold it were you want the piece and would allow you to put some pressure on the joint before it moves,maybe even move the whole assembly before the joint.

Would you guys think this would help in assembly, it might make the process easier becuase I am upto 4 vises and 13 clamps just for brazing chassis. Or would it add to the madness we go through to create a piece of artwork.

All open opinions welcome, good or bad.

sounds good in theory , maybe attach the magnet to a piece of sheet metal and build the tuber on top of the sheet metal

That sounds good also, I just need to make it so I can braze directly on top of the sheet metal. Maybe I could make a 1 foot by 1 foot square and make it 4 inchs deep. Then fill the the box with sand to help disperse the heat, lastly cap it with sheet metal. Seems like a cool idea to me, thanks for the input, and this is why I love the forums.

one thing ive found, the high heat (1500+ degrees) from teh mapp gas, remove the magnetic properties from the magnet. ive had this happen several times. the magnets just turn into paper weights after they get that heat a few times. no magnet attraction left. now these werent welding magnets, just ordinary "wal mart" magnets.

So simple, it is brilliant!!!"thumbsup"

Just went out to the shop just to see how much "pull" a couple of pieces of brakeline would have with small angle magnets attached to each of them...............and they held. On 3/16", there is enough pull between them to keep the joint tight while brazing. With the small magnets I tested, 5/16"+ line lost most of it's pull, but there is still some there.

I, for one, know I have tried to braze many joints with nothing but friction and gravity holding the two pieces together, and I know how frustrating it is when the pieces shift as they heat up. Just a couple of simple magnets will help with this in the future!

Thanks for the tip!!"thumbsup"

i make tattoo machines , and i'll use magnets to hold the frame in place tack it with a mig welder than remove the magnets and fill in the rest with brazing, welding magnets have metal plates on each side to diffuse the heat

Cool, I am glad they actually have welding magnets it means the concept has been used before and succesfully for someone to produce them. work. Huh, I guess it is good sometimes to be bored, it makes you wonder what things were invented with someone being bored. Thanks Robb for going out and checking it made me start drawing up a design for a pad, there is no use building something when you can overbuild it."thumbsup"

Hopefully this will help me build my next tuber, i am ordering an AX-10 in two days.

Another idea would be to use aluminum to braze on. I use a scrap piece of aluminum stud(for buildings) to braze on top of, the braze won't stick to it no matter what. And the space from the stud allows it to sit off the wooden workbench I work on so the heat doesn't scorch the wood. Maybe just use the magnets attached to the piece your working on instead of your work place?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93898
i have these they are great for small stuff

I have about 20' of aluminum stud in basement and I might just order some of those magnets, I have on a couple of occasions had to heat up and adjust my joints from them being misaligned(sp). There is nothing like being on a laptop next to the Christmas tree on Christmas morning(technically) from boredom.

I missed this one, I am going to make an electro magnet so maybe it wont get effected. The power source will be well away from the area of brazing.

Unless i misread and you weren't intending on using magnets to hold these aluminum "studs" together.

No maybe to hold my work up off the bench or to put the electro magnetic steel sheet on top of. Thanks for the thought
and info.

By the way in response to your user sub caption, 301 is where it is at!

these magnets melt when you heat them up with mapp gas.


also ive tried to braze with some magnets that were the fridge and they bursted into a hundreds of small pieces when they got hot. lucky it didnt take out my eyes:lol:

You can do this, but a tack is all you will get. The magnetic field interferes with the electrical current flow to the weld. It makes it spit.:x

A magnetic coil is only as good as the coating on the wire. Most coatings break down at 200C or less, which is much lower than the currie point of a ceramic magnet (demagging temp). It would have to be removed from the heat to work with brazing, and as hitman said it will mess with the welding arc.