Ask your WELDING questions here.

[Poolside]

Originally Posted by David R

88 Suzuki 600 broken exhaust bolt. I welded a few nuts to it with the SP-100 one of the first Lincoln 110 Volt Mig welders.

No joy, they kept twisting off.

Were you using a breaker bar or ratchet to turn those nuts? I've found that a T-bar is the way to go when trying to apply torque out near the end of a protruding stud.

A T-bar doesn't put any bending force into the stud, only torsion. In the situation of turning a nut that's welded-on out at the end of a stud, a ratchet or breaker bar applies both bending and torsion forces. That dual-direction force results in a break similar to how a tube of Pillsbury biscuits breaks open.

By related analogy, a tire can 100% turn, or 100% stop, but not at the same time.

[warewolf]

Gotta subscribe to this thread so I don't lose it!

Did my first welding the other day. Spent three hours watching youtube instructional vids amidst another three hours of practising.

[Megadeus]

I'm futzing my way through fabricating a few parts for my sidecar project and I have a question for the masses.

When butt welding two 3/4" steel rods end to end, do you grind a flat taper on each end to be welded? Or would you grind a conical taper ?

I can see the ease of welding into a flat tapered void versus a conical. Just pondering the difference.

[David R]

Originally Posted by Megadeus

I'm futzing my way through fabricating a few parts for my sidecar project and I have a question for the masses.

When butt welding two 3/4" steel rods end to end, do you grind a flat taper on each end to be welded? Or would you grind a conical taper ?

I can see the ease of welding into a flat tapered void versus a conical. Just pondering the difference.

Chisel point is easier. after the first weld double check straight. When done and its still hot, check for straight again.

David

[sailah]

Originally Posted by ridepjride

Bolt backed out of the rear sprocket and gouged the swingarm. For a proper repair, can this be built up by welding?

I'm far from an experienced welder but I did this for a buddy of mine on a DRZ

[clintnz]

Originally Posted by warewolf

Gotta subscribe to this thread so I don't lose it!

Did my first welding the other day. Spent three hours watching youtube instructional vids amidst another three hours of practising.

The Kiwi summer weather has been pretty good for sheltering in the shed & abusing some metal aye? What sort of machine have you got?

I've just been busy TIGging together some pannier racks for Nic's XT, tube is a bit fiddly but it's coming out ok for a learner. Not super pretty but I couldn't break my test welds so I must be doing something right.



This is 5/8 dia .065 wall 4130, the larger dia bits are just black pipe.



Lots to work on in terms of technique I know, but for my first serious tube welding project I'm fairly happy with 'strong & looks ok from a distance'

Cheers
Clint

[ridepjride]

Originally Posted by sailah

I'm far from an experienced welder but I did this for a buddy of mine on a DRZ

nice work

[mikejohn]

Hoping to get a house with a garage this summer, Which Tig welder is good for home use, looking to weld aluminum , 4130 steet and so on, mostly bike related stuff, I'll get a stick welder for mild steel

[David R]

To tig aluminum you need AC. Mild steel and alloys need DC. Most any DC welder will tig.

get as big as you can afford. :)

David

[warewolf]

Originally Posted by clintnz

The Kiwi summer weather has been pretty good for sheltering in the shed & abusing some metal aye? What sort of machine have you got?

I did it quite a few weeks ago, I needed to repair my trailer once I got the 200 fixed in order to take it out. If I had a spare minute I'd be happier riding not sheltering no matter the weather. Here it's been quite hot and extended dry so some forests are closed due to drought-induced fire risk.

Borrowed innathyzit's arc welder to start, but both he and Topo also offered Tig. I think I need Topo's fancy helmet or a different glass, as I just couldn't see where I was aiming to start. Main project next year is to rebuild my trailer, but I do have a couple of little jobs to do on the 640, such as pannier rails like yours.

[Twin-shocker]

Originally Posted by mikejohn

Hoping to get a house with a garage this summer, Which Tig welder is good for home use, looking to weld aluminum , 4130 steet and so on, mostly bike related stuff, I'll get a stick welder for mild steel

Unless you have a 3phase power supply, its probably better to be looking at an inverter type 240v AC/DC set. I would suggest 200 amp if you want to work with aluminum, and while a Chinese set will probably be fine for occasional use, its worth paying more for a name brand if you are looking at anything other than occasional use. Remember you will also need argon gas, and that using CK "gas saver" front end torch parts, will mean you use quite a lot less gas.

[Zoolion]

Originally Posted by mikejohn

Hoping to get a house with a garage this summer, Which Tig welder is good for home use, looking to weld aluminum , 4130 steet and so on, mostly bike related stuff, I'll get a stick welder for mild steel

As stated above, the chinese stuff is ok for occasional use. Miller, Lincoln and ESAB are supported well here in the US and have serviceability and reputation behind them. Also check our Thermal Arc. I have an Arcmaster 185 Inverter that has arc property controls as good as the Miller inverter and was about half the price. The thermal arcs are imported. Mine is Japanese but I think they are made in china now (the exception for chinese machines since they still have a great rep for reliability). The Thermal Arcs are used in a lot of industrial machine controlled welding processes.
Also as stated above, buy the biggest most featured machine you can justify. Used Miller Synchrowave 250 is a great machine for everything, although large and heavy and you need a 60 amp 220v circuit.
The inverter machines are also very efficient. The big transformers like the synchrowave can be pricey to run if you weld a lot.

[Strong Bad]

Originally Posted by David R

To tig aluminum you need AC.

Actually welding Aluminum with DC is more common than many realize. Space-X is building rockets & space craft with aluminum that has been DC Tig welded. Of course they also do some really fancy stuff like friction-stir welding

[mikejohn]

Originally Posted by Twin-shocker

Unless you have a 3phase power supply, its probably better to be looking at an inverter type 240v AC/DC set. I would suggest 200 amp if you want to work with aluminum, and while a Chinese set will probably be fine for occasional use, its worth paying more for a name brand if you are looking at anything other than occasional use. Remember you will also need argon gas, and that using CK "gas saver" front end torch parts, will mean you use quite a lot less gas.

I plan to save and get the good stuff, right now I do my welding where I work ( I'm a machinist). Just hoping to set up a small, very small side business, I want to add a LeBlonde lathe and Sharp/Brigdeport mill

[kirkster70]

I have a pretty interesting question that my brother-in-law posed to me last night...

He is a gun collector and restores old guns that previous owners have drilled for scopes, etc.

On late 1800 to early 1900 Winchester sporting arms, he has had weldors in his area fill the non-factory holes with TIG. Then he takes the factory blueing down to bare metal and then re-blues the entire gun. The repair cannot be seen in bare metal, but is very evident after blueing. Plus, he says that the filled hole is a harder metal than the proof steel of the rest of the gun.

So, anyone run across this? What would be a proper TIG filler to take the blueing like the rest of the metal?