see that is why I said are you sure it is stainless. usually stainless if preserved for applications that are constantly in contact with liquids , moisture, or where corrosion is prohibited or must be minimized.
wheel chair does not fall into any of the above. same as a bicycle, motorcycle, or a car. it may see rain at most.
I did not think thay would make a wheelchair out of stainless tubing unless custom made special order - ( for superman ) $$$$
Well, you were 101% correct. :)
I could have found that out for myself by simply sticking a magnet on the thing. Teach me to trust tech support, that will! :)
I think I'm still going to lobby for sending it out to a professional shop. I don't do badly at flux-core, OA, or stick, but I'm still a wannabee welder-in-training on MIG and don't know the first thing about TIG compared to folks who do it day in and day out. That, and our "welding area" being cluttered with a few dozen pallets of stock equipment, makes the job even more difficult.
I'm learning the skills to be value-added for the wheelchair shop.
I have no problem making up oxygen tank carriers, ventilator trays, footrest extensions, etc, even adding stiffeners to weak points to accomodate spasticity, but this one is for a fairly heavy guy who tends to slouch against the backrest -- hard.
I still can't quite figure why the manufacturer didn't gusset the backrest attachments to the seat frame. I would have on a chair that's advertised as designed for users up to 500 pounds. :)
I hear ya..... you need to feel comfortable with the welding process, however if you can do flux core and O/A, MIG is actually easier, and much cleaner than fluxcore.
lot of folks got scared away from MIG due to that some claimes that MIG give poor penetration. - cold - it could be
what I have learned is that you need to respect/ trust your mig capability. example , don't try to weld a 1/4 plate with a 110 V MIG in single pass. at the same time I believe that a 110V mig would do just about anything on a wheel chair.
with that being said, I seem to have adapted a system and it works well for me. (MIG) I read the label on the machine ans see what the manufacture reccomends for metal thickness. I adjust it slightly higher , some times to the next setting or somewhere in between. run a test bead, and in 99 % of time get very satisfactory weld with good penetration. I also have to say that the machine I use currently , has double capacity of the thicknes I weld. miller 251 welding 1/4 " at the most. I had some trouble with miller 175. joining 2 1/4 inch plates.
there is a few indicators (for me ) that the weld is sound. (I don't have X-ray)
very little or no spatter around it , I never use anti-spatter spray on the metal. nice weld bead, no porosity the edges of the bead fuse in to the base metal , rather than gap up.
in my early welding days I used the method where I burned through the metal , than adjust it back a bit . than as I moved to heavier metal , it got harder than impossible. started with lincoln 135, miller 175 , miller 251, i am ok for a while.
I am going for classes on TIG.
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