Metal advice needed

Jul 07, 2014 73 Replies

My philosophy is to make a part when it takes less time than trying to find an already made part. I am about ten miles from any industrial supply, so I tend to make things instead of buying. I make things strong enough for t he use they will get. If you stick weld the rod to the bar with a gap and then flip it over and run another bead , you are likely to have a slag incl usion. But the part will probably last longer than I will. Would not rec ommend doing it if there was any stress or it was made from steel that is n otch sensitive.

Dan

" snipped-for-privacy@krl.org" fired this volley in news:fb0a500f- snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:

That may be your philosophy, but that's not the one Steve expressed (not mine, either. "Do it well, or don't do it at all" is mine). Per Steve, it's a craft and a diversion from day-to-day. That's a good enough excuse, by itself, to do a good job.

Lloyd

Yes, that 7018, if it is there, it will hold.

i

Bit late to the party (thread) here. I will add that i don't use MIG where high forces are involved. its just too easy to have a nice lookin' weld with poor penetration using MIG.

Karl Townsend fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I assume that means with someone who doesn't weld. Right?

LLoyd

I feel exactly the same. If I have a 7018 weld, and it looks half decent, I am completely assured that it will hold as well as anything.

i

In a situation where all welds are x-rayed I'll fully trust a wirefeed weld. In robot welded structures, I'll pretty well trust a wirefeed weld. If I know for sure that a welder is an excellent welder, I'll trust a wirefeed weld if he can show me a test cupon of the same type of weld with proper penetration.

When learning to MIG weld I was aware of the ability to make good looking but poor welds, so I learned to weld with it properly. My MIG welds have the proper penetration and are as strong as other types of weld using the same materials. It seems to me that learning to MIG weld properly would be a good idea. Besides, it's fun. It is the only method with which I can write my name legibly. Eric

And what if you are operating in the real world?

Where you do not have an X ray machine?

i

Well, it's an inert-gas-covered arc weld, but I see what you mean. I love the purr of the tigger machines. Ayup, gonna have to try it.

ROTFLMAO. I dared not bring that up. Thanks for the laugh.

+1. A couple guys at Flynn's (Frame and Collision, where I wrenched) could really TIG up a nice fender from discrete panels and make it look 'factory'.

Yeah, 80% of the people who bought MIGs for their garage.

Silly boy. He means he wouldn't trust a MIG without an X-ray, unless he knew the welder was good -and- gets a coupon to grind for verification. It's his way of saying "No way, Jose!", I think.

Iggy, on our pipeline jogs a welder had to pass two inspections. One was the certification that he had to pass to satisfy the client and a second, after he go to the job site to satisfy our welding superintendent.... and we still had weld defects found when they xrayed the pipeline.

. Ayup, gonna have to try it.

It is just a torch, but with a very high temperature. So it does not work well with ordinary brazing rod. The high temperature boils the zinc. Get some silicon bronze rod. It works really well.

Dan

If you do the welding and watch the puddle, you can know if a mig weld is good.

Like Clare said. He would trust a mig weld done by a welder that has demonstrated that he is a good welder.

But if you are not sure that you can tell that you are getting good penetration by watching the puddle, then you had better have a way of testing. I trust my mig welds especially the ones made with dual shield wire.

Dan

Oh, yeah. That's a given.

LOL!

To me it is horses for courses. The weld needs to be adequate for the job. One could make these parts from stainless steel and tig weld them. They would look great and work well, but for this job it would be wasted time and money.

Dan

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

Don't heat the rod, Don, heat the work.

Brazing is _soldering_. I normally don't even have the rod in the 'zone' until the work is hot enough to flow the filler.

LLoyd

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