Flex-core vertical weld

We have a set of bleachers that has a crack from water freezing in the pipes and it is a vertical crack that needs welding, I have a miller 135 that I will be using flux-core on, or should I use solid wire{MIG}. a breeze may be a factor. Do I weld from top to bottom or bottom to top? Also push or pulling? I can't seem to find the book that told me what to do... I does not soak in till I do something. My brain is on a need to know basis.

TIA Don

Reply to
Don D
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Flux core would be a better bet in open air.

You didn't say how thick the metal is.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

Sorry Ernie I just thought of that just as I sat down to read posts. The pipe looks 3/16" I know it is not 1/4 thick. I am going to try settings on the miller 135 @ 6/55 to start (recommended settings on the panel) after grinding off all the old paint and surface rust.

Reply to
Don D

The upright pipe I welded was getting pretty thin from the rust (1/16 if that) and I had to turn the welder down pretty low (4/45) on the settings, I should have gone down lower to fill the void but did not, having a 50' 12 gage and a 20' 12 gage extension cord I think was enough of a drain. The only thing I hate about flux is you normally can't weld on top of it unless you chip the slag off. I was paltzing fairly fast and slow with the trigger to get some metal on the pipe before it cooled and slaged up, then grind down with a 60 grit flap disc on my 4 1/2 grinder, then fill more doing this a few times. By the time I was done it looked pretty good I think. I did go through a lot of wire but I did not have a plate to weld over the rusted section. It sounded pretty solid when I tapped on the pipe after it cooled down. I do not think their 220v stick welder would have done that thin. Maybe they could. I am not up on stick welders on what they can do. The others been using a 6011 1/8 rod or the next size up I think.

I was please with what I did. I hope they are. Not bad for the first patching job...

We have a college rodeo coming in and I do not think the spectators would like to see a rusted out pipe holding them in their bleachers. They have to walk right by this support pipe. Maybe they will feel safer knowing it was patched.

Thanks for the e-mail sent to me from my first post helping me out.

Don

"Don D" wrote in message news:6T_ec.6268$ab3.867@fed1read02...

Reply to
Don D

Now they have a pipe welded-up by you holding them? Do you have a large umbrella insurance policy? Are all your assets in your wife's name?

Because I am not a pro weldor and am uncertain of the quality of my welds, I avoid making welds that other people's safety depends upon.

YMMV, of course. Bob

Reply to
Bob Engelhardt

And a pretty rusty/thin pipe, at that. I have similar concerns with this tale, though I also extend some not-merely-fiscal concern to the fans who might find (painfully) that this stucture is in less than great shape, which would then lead back to the fiscal question of who's covering your liability. Regardless of the possible perfection of your weld, if this pipe is rusted out that badly, what are the rest like? What's this one like away from the repaired area?

Bleacher collapses are generally pretty ugly, since they generally happen when the bleachers are full...

A quick consult with a competent structural engineer might be called for before this rodeo happens. Better to have the bleachers condemned than to find out that they should have been, after the fact.

Reply to
Ecnerwal

We did have the Bleachers inspected 2 years ago when we moved them over and reassembled. We sent every structure to a certified Welder to cut out and replace all the old rusted parts, then reassembled the bleachers after he done them. The city came over to inspect everything right down to the foundation. We did a over kill on everything according to the city engineers and gave us a clean inspection. We did a walk around this week and that was to only cracked pipe in the bleacher that we saw {2" long}. The pipe is about 1 3/4 X18" long on the edge of the bleacher second row up. The club looked over my work today and said it was pretty good to them. I will be sitting in that area myself and I can say I do trust the work I did, other wise I would not have done it.

"Ecnerwal" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@news.verizon.net...

Reply to
Don D

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