Coupons... what to do?

[RhymesWithBob]

So over the months, I've been practicing on some coupons. They're about 1/2" to 5/8" thick, 6" long, some are 5" wide, others are about 3" wide.

With the break in the heat today, I was cleaning up around the place, and have about 20 pounds of this stuff.

What do I do with it? I guess I could scrap it, but not sure it'd be worth my time/fuel. It's too ugly to use as "art" lol.

Suggestions, please.

[Broccoli1]

Start a Scrap bin/buckets and when you get enough, it will be worth the time and gas.

I took some of my scrap and it came to $36.00 bux and it really wasn't that much stuff, granted the Scrap yard is pretty close so not a lot in gas or time but it paid for a few brews.

[RhymesWithBob]

Yeah, I took one of those old extra large milk crates, flipped it upside down, put a piece of 3/4 ply under it, added casters, then threw the scrap in there.

There's a scrap place about 7 miles from me. Will probably call to see what the going rate is.

[Fat Bastard]

[wippin' boy]

throw it piece at time in the old ladies trunk
when you see the car start to sag, send her to the scrapper and tell her to spend the money
reward to follow

[Boostinjdm]

If you've only got 20 lbs, you haven't practiced much.



'

[Drf255]

You didn't mention material type.

You can sell on eBay as welding practice coupons.

I bought 5# of aluminum coupons on eBay from Insterno. That's how I learned alum TIG.

You'd be surprised to see how little coupons are advertised for sale. Im sure there's a market out there for them.

[RhymesWithBob]

Originally Posted by Boostinjdm

If you've only got 20 lbs, you haven't practiced much.



'

True. That's about 4 hours worth of practice.

[DSW]

Depends a lot on what you are doing. The tech school cuts a lot of the coupons up and reuses them. This is especially true wit ones used for outside corner and T joints. Lap welds no so much if the students do what they are told and form a set of steps vs simply doing one weld on a pair of coupons and then tossing it in the scrap barrel. This also gives the students practice cutting with OA and plasma.

3/8" bevel plates usually get recut about 1/2" back and used again as well. Most times the guys screw up the roots, and there really isn't all that much that's "wrong" with the coupons and a quick pass with the track torch adjusted to cut 1/4" smaller than the original will clean up the pieces. Once the bevel coupons are really too small to use, they can be used for basic stick practice on other joints like Laps and T's

Being smart and thinking a bit when you go to weld will allow you to maximize your materials and reduce the amount of "scrap" that you have to toss.

[kcb37]

I would agree with all of the above.
If you have room start a scrap pile. Kinda a problem for me as I am in the city, but I can hide most of it so I am fine.
Currently my big money maker will be an S10 axle I got for free, it's all cut up so only the internals will be any good. Otherwise I have scraps of swing set pieces, nuts/bolts, small pieces left from projects, etc...
I have also been given a rim off a Dodge pickup, 20" so it has a little weight.
Sometimes telling people you take in scrap will help you collect. On the same note just like taking yours in going to pickup a washer or dryer is not worth the gas money for what you get back.

Something to consider is how much money you will get to the distance you have to drive. I do not go looking for scrap, just have a few people that will give me stuff when I am at their house, or at work.

Also like said if you can cut it up more and practice with it, or sell it for practice go for it. Just sell it for more then scrap prices.

[slow6i]

If you have the means / time, cut the weld out + the HAZ and re-weld on them! put that expensive steel to good use!