this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2025
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Decided to make a sierpinski's tetrahedron as a first REAL project! I built a shitty angleiron workbench (with an old door ziptied onto it as the tabletop) before but I'm actually trying this time so it's different

170 welds completed so far crab-party !! So, only 346 left to go!!... doggirl-tears

This was a really good idea until I remembered how complex fractals are, like GIRL, DUH, fuck was I thinking hahaha

Its REALLY scuffed though, I'm talkin like using my stick welder to melt a half inch off the end off of the pieces I had precut to make it shorter so it will fit in the actual dimensions needed, I've been holding the smallest (~2") pieces with a wrench and holding it in place freehand. It's been a lot of fun so far, and I'm definitely improving as I go, I weld my welding stick to my stock way less often now, and achieve arc much more reliably too, which is cool to see my own progress within the project!

I hurt my shoulder a bit ago so I haven't been able to do much lately, but welding is pretty low impact in that I mostly just sit on a folding chair in my driveway next to my shitty workbench lol

Have some more views!

When it's done it'll look like this image I found on google

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[–] Hestia@hexbear.net 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (12 children)

A small thing that will help a lot is getting a steel wire brush and scrubbing the site of the weld before you try to strike the arc. It clears the area of the oxide layer and makes it easier to start and get a cleaner weld.

Have you been beveling the weld locations?

[–] QuillQuote@hexbear.net 4 points 4 days ago (9 children)

oh HELL no I haven't haha, my main focus was to stay as on grid as possible with the structure, but I've been doing most of it without any prep on the materials

[–] Hestia@hexbear.net 4 points 4 days ago (8 children)

Ah, okay. If you take a grinder to the edge of the material to create a little bevel, it can help get a better penetration on the weld and get a bit of a flatter weld. You’d have to lower your heat a bit and change the angle to redirect the heat towards where the metal is thickest though.

You’re probably fine as is, it doesn’t look like the material is that thick, but with thicker material a small bevel of 1/3-1/2 of the thickness can help a lot.

[–] Hestia@hexbear.net 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

(I’m gonna try and reel in my excitement on having someone to rant to about welding now.) doggirl-smart

[–] QuillQuote@hexbear.net 3 points 4 days ago
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