Moving woodstove up stairs

[Ryder]

I have had a pellet stove in my basement since we bought our used house 5 years ago. It wasn't trustworthy and it needed electricity and special pellets to function. It is heavy and awkward to move so I came up with a way to move it by myself safely. I welded together a cart or dolly out of recycled steel and mounted a small boat trailer winch on the front. I anchored the cable to a stake I pounded into the front yard and towed the old stove up the stairs and lowered a HEAVY box type simple wood burning stove down the stairs. I now use the pellet stove in my shop where I watch it while it is burning and have a safe woodburning stove that I can heat and cook on in my basement.

[opsec]

Welding is a real handy skill to have. I want to learn how, but there isn't even one welding school or even a class at a community college where I live.

[Ryder]

By all means find out about welding. Arc welders you can plug into a electric dryer plug in are cheap. If anyone passes thru Montana I can show you how to stick, wirefeed and gas weld all pretty quickly. On this project I just made welding saved lots of time and buying fasteners and it lets me prototype build quick and dirty.

[opsec]

What part of Montana are you in? I may be passing though there sometime in the next two weeks.

I knew a guy from Alaska, he told me that you can arc weld using the alternator on your car, a set of jumper cables and a coat hanger.

[liberty404]

Opsec, the quality of the metal used as the electrode in arc welding, and the cleanliness of the metal surfaces are critical to the strength of the resulting weld.  A coat hanger wire electrode will result in a weak weld.  The surfaces to be joined must be completely clean of paint, oil, grease, solder, or any other contaminant (including the oil that human skin produces).  Home Depo (and similar stores) sells a beginner's book, supplies, and equipment for arc or gas welding.

[opsec]

I got the impression that this was a desperation method. He was telling me about welding rebar onto the bottom of snow machine skis to keep them from getting ground down by the ice at -40.

[Dame]

Well, if he lived to talk about it, it obviously worked.  They used to use nylon stalkings as emergency fan belts as well.

[Publius]

Welding is a real handy skill to have. I want to learn how, but there isn't even one welding school or even a class at a community college where I live.

How about Technical Colleges? Just for fun I went to Aiken Tech, in South Carolina to learn to weld and run a machine shop. I don't do any of that for a living, just wanted to learn. I would be rusty, but a book on it and some trial and error would bring it back.

Maybe Vocational Schools. http://www.rwm.org/rwm/

[opsec]

Thanks for the website. They show no welding schools in Nevada, and the only machinist school is a distance learning outfit. I've got it in my favorites menu.

[eaglemedic]

Opsec,

I learned by doing. First I bought a small wire welder, a century model. It can run on 110v household power. No gas needed. You can even get aluminum tips and wire to use in it. Mainly for steel. I can weld up to 1/4 inch in a few passes. I welded together a 4-wheeler ramp and have been using it for 10 years. You can get the same model from Sears/craftsman in their name although it is actually a Century welder.
Just get a couple books and some steel to practice on and have a ball.
You really don't need the big expensive welders, save those for specialty jobs or the pro,  for a homeowner you just need a simple wire welder. Under $250 !

[opsec]

Cool. I've seen generators that you can put on your car engine in place of the alternator that can power a welder. They aren't cheap though.