I was assembling a box yesterday. One for a coolant oil catch pan on my mini milling machine. I had a friend with a 9' brake bend the .100 aluminum for me, and I welded it up. While its not up to you guy's standards I am very happy with it. It doesn't look like a shade tree welder like myself did it. I brushed the aluminum, set my machine, made a bunch of 1 inch holding welds, and filled it in. Without all the great advice from this group I'm quite sure I would instead be swearing about all the molten aluminum splattered on the floor of my shop instead. My only real bad spots (and they are not all that bad) are where I wasn't able to follow the seam accurately because I could not brace my hands while making the weld.
Thanks Guys
Aug 25, 2010
4 Replies
A "good" weld is technically any weld that holds.
Steve
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Agree:
Good weld = functional, solid, buy not pretty
Cosmetic weld = pretty
I've found that my welds can pass all the technical standards in the shipyard's non-destructive test procedures and still be hideous looking. Pretty welds are nice, but not actually necessary. Unless the weld will be out in the open and everyone will know who did it....
But then, after you run a few tens of miles of wire, you'll prolly be making pretty welds without thinking about it.
"Bob La Londe" wrote
Did not realize you were in Yuma, duh. We moved to southern Utah from Las Vegas three years ago. It is pretty hot here in summer, and cold in winter, with snow and ice. Things will get condensed, even though it is dry. I did have spools of wire go rusty on me in Vegas, tho, even as dry as it is there. I think it's just special circumstances involving the garage/container/shed/whatever relative to a good rain, or a few days humid.
Steve
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