oxy/Acetelyne welding 1/2 inch steel

wrote: (clip) If it's just a waste of time to do it this way, would you recommend TIG or STICK? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ If you have TIG or stick, definitely an easier way to go. If you can't form a puddle, you need more heat. But, that's not your only problem. It's very tough to melt a piece of 1/2" steel on the flat, while, at the same time, not overheating the edge of the 3/16" material.

Recommend stick welding for this, you'd be done in 2 minutes. - GWE

I've OA welded pipe with 1/8 inch walls to 7/16 inch plate, partly to make a tamper, partly out of stubbornness. You've got to preheat the plate and watch your angle, but it works. I expect it's a pretty brittle, crystalline weld, but it's held up fine. If you're a glutton for practice, you can do a lot with OA--especially if you can't afford to buy more equipment.

Welding 1/2 inch steel plate with oxy/acet is going to be tough. MIG, TIG or Stick would all work much quicker. But if Oxy/acet is all you have...........

I would consider silver brazing you best option. Silver brazing is very strong if you have a lap joint. But even to silver braze, you need to insulate the 1/2 inch plate. If you can find some insulating firebrick lay the plate on it and lay more IFB on top of the plate. Add some fiberfrax or other insulating blanket material. You need to insulate all of the 1/2 inch plate except for the area right where you are welding or brazing.

And keep your eyes open for a used stick welder. For anything 1/4 inch thick and up, a stick welder will save you from using a lot of gas.

Dan

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:

Thanks for your advice everyone! Gonna buy that thermal arc so I can do both TIG and Stick and avoid more trips to the gas store. :)

Rick