Peening a weld

Most people can do 2 kinds of welds with a wire-feed welder - a pretty one that doesn't hold, or an ugly one that does.. Oh, there is the third, even more common one - the UGLY one that doesn't hold.

Takes a bit of know-how and a lot of practice to make a smooth and solid weld with a wire-feed welder.

O/A is almost the same as TIG. Kill two birds with one stone and get an O/A torch.

i

One of the "secrets of the welding trade" is a can of flat black spray paint. A quick squirt of black paint makes the poorest weld look good :-)

John B. fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

With that approach, Bondo would make it look "NASA quality".

If I send something out (like the occasional micro-TIG'd job with sub-

1/16" welds, or a casting that has to be toasted for 24 hours before welding), It comes back as clean metal. Anybody paints it... they CLEAN it again!

Lloyd

The black paint if for YOUR welds :-)

John B. fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I only have to worry about weld quality if I send work out.

I DO screw up welds, now and again, but if I do, I grind it out, and start over.

Even good professional weldors occasionally mess up. It's what they do AFTER they mess one up that separates professionals from the hacks.

My Dad was a professional steam vessel weldor before WWII. In his job, "mess up" meant ONE slag inclusion or bubble inside an inch thick weld, which they X-rayed to inspect. Find one? Grind it out!

Lloyd

Sounds like my uncle Tommy. Welded for years on that Alaskan pipeline.

That is also typical of gas transmission lines :-)