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Title: Performance Welding Handbook (Motorbooks Workshop)
ISBN: 0760321728
Author:
Richard Finch
Publicate Date: 2005-03-04
Publish: 2005-03-04
List Price: $25.95
Average Customer Rating: 3.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $9.00
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $9.00
Amazon Merchant Price: $17.13
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Not always accurate
Even though the book on Performance Welding was very informative, it was not entirely accurate. Since he spent a lot of time telling us how most welding books are based on old information, he should have been more careful to be completely accurate. He tells us that Chromoly (4130)tubing cannot be bronze brazed. However bronze brazing has been successfully used in the bicycle industry for more than 50 years. You simply have to build a fillet at the joint. Bronze is about 1/6th as strong as the steel, so you need a fillet of bronze about 6 times the thicknes of the steel to get the same strength. The reason most welders don't know this is because MIG and TIG welding are faster and more commonly used for this type of welding.
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2: Thin on details
It's decent advice but it's very much an overview not a step by step how-to, it's worth reading as what it is but it will not teach you to weld, no book can do that.
Let me sum this book up for you: Make sure your pieces fit together tightly, make sure they are super clean, shop local if you can, buy brand names, go to tent sales, buy high end equipment if you can or used if you can't afford new, TIG welding is the best option, get a TIG welder that supports square wave and lots of adjustability made by a major brand name, practice on scrap, and ask lots of questions at your local welding supply dealer.
There are lots of pictures of good aircraft welds but not a whole lot of detail on doing them, very few diagrams or charts but lots of pictures of tubes welded together by different methods.
The book assumes you already know how to weld at times and assumes you don't at others. I think the author knows full well what the book is and what he wrote and would agree it can't teach you to weld, you actually have to get a welder and some scrap metal and just try it.
Let me make the author's main point again, if you're not doing high volume production welding you should probably use a TIG welder.
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3: Fantastic and comprehensive book
I like the Motorbooks Workshop books. They are all well written, have very illustrative color photos, and are well organized. This particular book is a handy supplement to the Welder's Handbook by Finch (same author, and some of the same information). While "Performance Welding" covers some more detail about the function and technique of many welding methods, the "Welder's Handbook" has a few projects thrown in with plans.
From this particular book I've learned a few tricks about jigging, and discovered a few things I didn't know. I made a few things out of sheet metal from duct work that one might find at the home hardware super duper mart. I tacked together a box made of this stuff which is all galvanized. A few days later I'm flipping through the book and learned that welding galvanized metal is bad - the ionized zinc forms a fume cloud of little nanoparticles that one shouldn't breathe. Extended contact leads to poisoning. Whoops. But I also learned that with proper ventillation, it's okay to weld galvanized metals but I should definitely be more careful.
One thing I've learned a lot about, which I only vaguely knew until now, is what to look for in a TIG welder. I learned with MIG and continue to use MIG, but the control of a TIG welder would help dramatically. The extensive discussion of TIG, including TIG methods for stainless, aluminum, and magnesium, is very helpful.
Also, I am now more interested in the other techniques that I passed by on my learning curve. For one, gas welding seems to have benefits that I overlooked. And I've also learned that much of the work I do could easily be accomplished by good ol' arc welding with better affordability.
If you are a beginning to intermediate welder, you will probably find this book useful.
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4: Performance Welding Handbook
Excellent book for those wanting to know the finer details of TIG and the types of work it is suited to. Also gives a good idea of what a really good weld should look like. Excellent photographs and nice layout. Overall, a good reference guide.
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5: All about the author, not much about welding
If you wanted to know all about what a wonderful guy the author is and want to see photos of everything he has ever worked on by all means buy this book. If you want good information and clearly written procedures and saftey practices buy another. Here's one example: In a side note unter TIG welding, the author says "Be very careful when welding magneseum, as it can catch fire and not be extinguished by nornal means. Consult Chapter 12 on saftey for more information"OK- turn to chapter 12... and there is no information on what to do with a metal fire. Before anyone tries welding mag engine blocks or wheels or anything they should know that if the part catches fire spraying a normal ABC fire extinguisher will not put it out, that it burns hot enoutgh to cause steel to catch fire, and that spraying water on it can cause an explosion as the fire can be hot enough to split water into hydrogen and Oxygen. This is not mentioned in the book. There are many more cases of the information you need shunted aside for personal anecdotes of the authors or the pages and pages of poor-quality filler photos that show off everything the author has ever worked on. Don't buy it.
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