I did much of the original welding of the slit track and brackets back in '74, '75, was it? It was easier for a kid to scramble around up there, and under Bruce's watchful eye I didn't burn up too many rods, or put any holes in the sheet metal. I think Bruce himself and Jerry Montgomery did a lot of welding, too. I have an old "buzz box" welder that still works well. And Bruce is still the King of arc welding. But welding technology has come a long way since then, and this time around I would recommend a wire-feed type. Small, inexpensive units are readily available these days from several dealers. I'm not young anymore and would rather let a more experienced welder do the work if one can be found. I also have a small pneumatic needle scaler for cleaning joints and removing slag and I volunteer it. My portable 6-HP compressor will run it intermittantly for short stints. Welding will take care of all the inter-gore joints, but we'll still need the expertise of the roofing and coating people for the ring base flashing, as well as any leaks around the slit cover. On Wed, Mar 7, 2012 at 7:35 AM, Kim <kimharch@cut.net> wrote:
Do we have any welders in the club? I also feel foolish for not having thought of welding, but that's why two (or many) heads are better than one. And Chuck makes a good point: Please, please be safe and erect safe scaffolding and/or tie-off properly. Nothing at SPOC is worth a single tragic accident.