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Earl from Edmonton

Earl Wong

Earl Wong

Active Member
Go Oilers!, Hello, Lucky to have come across this forum by chance while searching for an Atlas 7B Metal Shaper. I love the old Atlas machines, currently in my shop are an Atlas 1020 Drill press, Atlas MFC Horizontal Mill, Atlas 10 inch Lathe, all fully reconditioned and used for my projects. I also have a Craftex CX706 Lathe, Miller Diversion 180 Tig, Lincoln mig, and various metal working tools and benders.
I took machining and welding courses through NAIT, but primarily gained my experience as a fabricator for a Nascar West Team located in St. Albert. I also stayed at a Holiday Inn Express once, so that should make me a competent hobby machinist. My full time job is Director of Service for a GM Dealership in Edmonton. Looking forward to sharing ideas and learning from this site.
 
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Welcome Earl. Wow, sounds like you have some interesting background on many fronts. Did you do the Atlas re-builds yourself?
Always interested to see project pics of any kind so feel to post some when you're ready.
 
Hey Earl,

I know where there's a small Southbend shaper that I'm hoping to someday convince the owner to sell. Have any shots of your restored machines?

-Eric
 
EricB said:
Hey Earl,

I know where there's a small Southbend shaper that I'm hoping to someday convince the owner to sell. Have any shots of your restored machines?

-Eric
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I know where one is too. In my garage under a bunch of other projects. One of my current projects is rebuilding a 10" or 11" shaper. The piece of 4140 I've been cutting on is for a new clapper box.
 
PeterT said:
Welcome Earl. Wow, sounds like you have some interesting background on many fronts. Did you do the Atlas re-builds yourself?
Always interested to see project pics of any kind so feel to post some when you're ready.
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Thanks Peter, Heres a few pics, I'll also post pics of the restoration process in another section
 

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Welcome to the group, can I ask what you think of the Miller TIG the 180? Trying to buy one in Calgary right now for 1200$
 
Dogpounder said:
Welcome to the group, can I ask what you think of the Miller TIG the 180? Trying to buy one in Calgary right now for 1200$
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I really like it because of its simplicity, no need to worry about frequency, ac balance etc.. just select material and thickness then start welding. If I were doing more aluminum welding and was getting really picky on weld bead appearance I would consider a different machine. For the type of fabrication I do it suits my needs very well. I build a lot of custom aluminum fuel tanks in all different sizes and so mostly do corner bead welds which turn out nice. The machine can run on 110 or 220, as I don't have 220 in my garage yet I haven't really tested its capabilities. The material I usually use is 6061 or 5052 .125 aluminum using 75% Argon and 25% Helium and welds without any problem. The only thing that is a little annoying about it is the cooling fan is quite loud and comes on as soon as you start welding, but I have gotten used to it. Nice machine, that's a great price you would get it for. By the way... Nice Fish! Love fishing too.
 
Earl Wong said:
Go Oilers!, Hello, Lucky to have come across this forum by chance while searching for an Atlas 7B Metal Shaper. I love the old Atlas machines, currently in my shop are an Atlas 1020 Drill press, Atlas MFC Horizontal Mill, Atlas 10 inch Lathe, all fully reconditioned and used for my projects. I also have a Craftex CX706 Lathe, Miller Diversion 180 Tig, Lincoln mig, and various metal working tools and benders.
I took machining and welding courses through NAIT, but primarily gained my experience as a fabricator for a Nascar West Team located in St. Albert. I also stayed at a Holiday Inn Express once, so that should make me a competent hobby machinist. My full time job is Director of Service for a GM Dealership in Edmonton. Looking forward to sharing ideas and learning from this site.
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Welcome Earl. You made it on this forum just under the wire. We were about to invoke a no-Oilers rule. ;)
 
Earl, what kind of thickness were your 6061 fuel tanks? Or maybe worded another way, if a guy was more 'thin gauge' orientated, would there be specific TIG features to look for? When I took my SAIT intro evening course last year (on Miller 2xx?) the instructor was kind of saying some of the 'other' brands like Everlast & models being discussed were actually evolving better boards & controls than some of the established names. But I didn't quite get what knobs & whistles specifically. And then there's aspect of torch handle & assembly. Some apparently offer broader selection of smaller heads & lighter cable/hose & more styles. I'm still not sure myself if handles are brand specific or can anything plug into a box as long as it has XYZ type socket? I got a similar read on some YouTube channels where guys were doing thin gage stuff on import welders. And of course everything on YouTube is 101% real :)
 
According to welding tips and tricks the everlast seems to be one of the favorite welders of choice.
 
PeterT said:
Earl, what kind of thickness were your 6061 fuel tanks? Or maybe worded another way, if a guy was more 'thin gauge' orientated, would there be specific TIG features to look for? When I took my SAIT intro evening course last year (on Miller 2xx?) the instructor was kind of saying some of the 'other' brands like Everlast & models being discussed were actually evolving better boards & controls than some of the established names. But I didn't quite get what knobs & whistles specifically. And then there's aspect of torch handle & assembly. Some apparently offer broader selection of smaller heads & lighter cable/hose & more styles. I'm still not sure myself if handles are brand specific or can anything plug into a box as long as it has XYZ type socket? I got a similar read on some YouTube channels where guys were doing thin gage stuff on import welders. And of course everything on YouTube is 101% real :)
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Peter, the thickest material I work with is .125 with 6061 usually for tanks that will be stationary, for custom fuel tanks on atv's sleds etc i always go to 5052 .063 thick because of its mechanical properties. I chose the Miller Diversion 180 primarily because I needed to start welding and make parts without a lot of experimentation. It's basically the "automatic transmission" of tig welders. The beauty about tig is you can weld thin gauge material without burning through. I've welded 22 gauge (.030) cold rolled steel. Getting back to the Miller, I also chose it because it has high frequency start (vs. scratch start), and it was an inverter based machine. My best advise if your starting out on tig, keep it simple, don't get too caught up on bells and whistles, most any tig setup will weld thin material. Machines are always advancing and I do believe that Miller and Lincoln are the slowest to advance. Everlast, Esab and others are gaining, German made tig and mig welders have unbelievable technologies and addresses a lot of the little annoying things people put up with.
Again keep it simple when your starting out. You don't need a huge selection of collets, cups, torches or tungsten.
My machine came with a W7 torch, I just changed the back cup for a smaller tungsten to get into close areas.
I primarily use one set up, 1/16 2% ceriated tungsten with a #7 gas lens using 75% argon 25% helium mix for my aluminum work. The helium makes any welder on steroids when welding aluminum. Since I only have 110 power supply currently this is a huge advantage. I do have 5 types of filler rod though, for different materials i weld. You can customize most machines with accessories to your liking whether it be brand specific or aftermarket.
The one accessory I plan for mine is a wireless foot pedal that's offered by Miller. Hope that helps.
 
Hey Earl,
The fish is a Permit, native to the Caribbean. I fish in southern Mexico/Belize for them every year in November, you should join our little group! Missed the welder by a day. It would have been perfect addition to the forge/shop/garage. Fishing on the Bow river is picking up looking forward to a good season of drifting and Jetting on it.
 
Dogpounder said:
Hey Earl,
The fish is a Permit, native to the Caribbean. I fish in southern Mexico/Belize for them every year in November, you should join our little group! Missed the welder by a day. It would have been perfect addition to the forge/shop/garage. Fishing on the Bow river is picking up looking forward to a good season of drifting and Jetting on it.
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Oh my God... we should be on another forum as well, I learned to fly fish on the Bow, also have an Explorer Jet boat where I usually go on the Athabasca to catch walleyes!
 
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