Metal advice needed

Ignoramus2738 fired this volley in news:mO6dnfDm8LI2SCbOnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

If you use GMAW mode, sure! GMAW requires virtually no cleanup, no flux chipping, little spatter, and nice, clean welds with good penetration on metal of the appropriate thickness to the wire size and amperage of the machine.

You can also MIG aluminum. Although it's not as good as a TIG job, it will go faster. It doesn't work as well through a stinger as it does with a reel gun (not even with a Teflon liner in the hose).

For the sort of welding you do, stick is probably best. But when you have that odd job that would be hard or time-consuming to clean up, consider MIG, and save yourself a lot of after-welding labor.

Is acetylene a good/better choice for welding small parts?

-jsw

That's the idea. Flux the hole. Flux coated rod. Heat it up and apply spelter - it will suck into the hole like a kid with a milkshake.

Drill press makes short work of the hole.

I've seen a lot of "pretty" Mig welds that were not worth the scrap value of the wire used to create them.

Mig is a lazy man's welder. Don't need to keep changing electrodes. As far as I can tell it has no other advantage for most applications.

Well, there is that. I prefer Tig for the fussy stuff. (I don't tig myself, but 2 good friends look after the little tig work I need (my partner in the plane TIGed the entire fuselage)

Not needing a 240V outlet is a big advantage for a homeowner. Is any other method as good for autobody repair?

-jsw

snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Sure, but for small but NOT 'fussy' parts, MIG is the quick way to a good joint with minimal cleanup. TIG has the disadvantage (for the average guy) of requiring both expensive setups and a lot of practice to do well. I have _tried_ to teach several guys TIG, and they just couldn't ever get the puddle-dip-dip technique. They'd either blow holes in the work, or just podge the filler on the surface. (note on that, if you can fusion weld with O-A, then the learning curve for TIG is much shorter)

MIG is a lot more forgiving for the guy who doesn't have the experience or the investment, even if it does take a _little_ practice to get a nice weld with good penetration.

I've seen guys who could TIG 0.005" shim stock to 1" plate, but I never developed quite that degree of control over the puddle.

Lloyd

I've done a fair amount of O/A fusion welding over the decades, and still do some. Gotta get my torches overhauled. I find both my eysight and my fine motor controls have deteriorated making tig welding a bit more challenging

My building partner is a genuine artiste with the tig torch on Aluminum, stainless, ChroMo, and mild steel. My hangar mate is also a terrific Tig welder ( and phosphour bronze brazer) -

Gas sheilded welding of either stripe is an advantage for aluminum and stainless - for sure. But we were talking mild steel - where I'll still use the stick welder or the O/A torch for most welds (and get my friends to tig the fussy stuff - like fussy body patches - and the AL and stainless stuff. I "braze" aluminum with the torch too, on non-critical stuff (even aluminum bike carrier rack for the camper, and canoe rack for the van roof-rack)

TIG. The joints virtually dissappear.

Not at my TIG skill level.

I've used only MIG on vehicles because of the dealer's and shop manual's advice about protecting the electronics. My MIG applies only about 22VDC, the stick welder goes over 80 and I don't have adequate equipment to measure the high frequency voltage from the TIG.

-jsw

As with any weldment, it depends on what you want for the finished product. Strength? Looks? Both? MIG does have flaws, cold lap and lack of penetration/fusion being the biggest. Unless you use FCAW, and then, you get a lot of spatter at times. Whatever you welded with 7018, I would trust ten times than if you had welded it with MIG, ask the guy who had his spare tire arrangement pass him on the Interstate.

As with learning to braze small items to make intricate or small things, it depends on what you are doing, and what you want the final outcome to be. I have seen some of those sculptures that guys do in gas, and cut out leaves from sheets of materials, and they are just beautiful. Yeah, it's welding, but only slightly.

Steve

Some of the new pulse MIG is amazing.

Steve

If I understand what you are making, you do not need to vee the joint. Just space the parts with about an 1/8th gap. And you do not need to worry about slag inclusions. The part has no stress on it.

Getting a good solid weld on a very short space is hard, but in this case a crappy ugly weld is good enough.

Dan

Gunner Asch on Tue, 08 Jul 2014 06:12:54 -0700 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

As the instructor in the welding class pointed out - with stick, you need at most a 60% rated powered supply. That is, a powered supply that can run for six minutes straight in a ten minute cycle before it overheats. Which is just about the maximum time you can weld with a stick before it is too short and needs to be replaced. Wire feed, OTOH, can run without "time out" to replace a stick, get some coffee, have smoke, etc.

Natcherally, Welders like stick, and managers like wirefeed. B-)

Except when they won't do the job - for various values of "do the job". (I.e., How many units need to be welded before automating the process pays off?)

-- pyotr filipivich "With Age comes Wisdom. Although more often, Age travels alone."

" snipped-for-privacy@krl.org" fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:

But, Don, in keeping with the "haven't you just gone out to the shop to make a somethin'" philosophy, WHY would you do a crappy job just to "get by".

If you're already spending more of your labor than the part is worth, make it nice.

That was why I recommended brazing. It's strong, it's easy, and it's _pretty_. Slap a shot of rattle-can on it, and it would look like it was forged from a single piece.

Lloyd

Hmm. Interesting. I'll have to get some brazing rod and try that with my little HF tigger. I hadn't thought to braze with a TIG.

Larry Jaques fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

It's just a torch, Larry. A damned clean one, without any hydrogen or carbon in the flame.

Lloyd