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Four questions form novice to welding

Thanks in advance for the input

Here it goes:

  1. Are flux coated steel arc welding electrodes no good for oxyacet welding?. I tried a few I got with poor results. The electrode does not add easily to the puddle and in fact it often sticks to the base metal. Of course it could be my nil experience in welding, but I'm intriged.

  1. I bought some no name cheapie goggles. The lenses are plastic with a greenbluish hue, supposedly compliant with ANSI Z87.1. These cut effectively the flames's bright, but I found i could not see well the workpieces. I went out and got new goggles, brand name, these have a pane of thick green glass, clearly marked shade 5 and ANSI, DIN and ISO compliant, rated for arc welding. With these, noticeably clearer, I can see much better the work, the puddle, the flame structure is visible and now I even can see the regulators' gauges!. However, there is more light from the flame coming through, on occasions slightly dazzling, sp. when lighting the torch. I have noticed no eye discomfort or pain so far, but I weld/cut for just about 1 hr every other day. Do I need to be concerned about my eyes?

  2. What does it mean "do not wear contact lenses when welding"? I use contacts and of course I slip the goggles on when welding. The lenses still have not fused to my eyeballs. What is the deal with this warning?

  1. Suppose I cut steel pieces with torch. If I want to weld/braze them along the cutting lines, do the cut pieces need to receive some treatment prior to the welding?

Happy New Year everybody, BTW

Mongke

Reply to
mongke
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But what about temper? If the metal gets so hot when cutting, wouldn't it affect the strenght in the area just along the cut?

Mongke

Reply to
mongke

O.K.

Happy New Year!

Mongke

Reply to
mongke

no good is correct, use plain rod for gas, even a coat hanger will be better. the flux coating is vaporized in the arc and shields the puddle from the atmosphere. in a gas flame, the flux does nothing good and probably gets incorporated into the puddle. the gas itself is the shield, thus no flux needed (for steel).

if the cut is "proper", ie, clean and w/o slag, it is ready to weld. for brazing? i dunno, probably need to brush or grind it, get it all bright. good luck, --Loren

Reply to
Loren Coe

if you are truly a newbie, not using exotic metals, welding mild steel, stop worrying. tempering is something to worry about later, and it is done after welding is completed. --Loren

Reply to
Loren Coe

Adding to Lorens comments:- The heat required for brazing is enough to affect the temper of almost any steel (even HSS if you aren't careful, ask how I found out!).

If you wanted to braze pieces that you had cut with an oxy-acetylene torch, you would almost certainly have to grind or file them to get the edges clean and flat enough to get a good brazed joint (about 0.005" max gap). You would probably want to clean them up with an angle grinder before gas welding as well.

Have fun

Mark Rand RTFM

Reply to
Mark Rand

I went out and got new goggles, brand name, these have a pane

Number 5 lens seems too light for arc welding. I use #5 for oxy-acet. welding.

Reply to
Jim Kovar

Heck, if you're using brass filler, you're only about 500 degrees from the quenching temperature, as I recall. Come to think of it, I bet you could do some furnace brazing with copper filler on HSS and get it to come out right... Unless the Cu diffuses into the metal or something...

Tim

-- "That's for the courts to decide." - Homer Simpson Website @

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Reply to
Tim Williams

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