How are my welds looking?

[Muddy Beast]

Thanks for the tips guys! This is exactly the info I was looking for.
I picked up some 1/8th thick angled steel and two 1x4 3/16th thick steel strips so I can weld them together and maybe hack it off later to use on my bumper. But what would be the best temp setting to use? And when I grind the metal, should I weld just the top piece and side of what I'm welding or do I have to weld both sides, and also how far around the welding area should I clean?

~Scott

 

[vjarman]

you can never clean too much. i'm not the best welder at all, hell i'm only 19 but i have been doin it for 8 years at my dads work and on my junk so my welds have gotten better. i have a lincoln electric 110 welder and its just not the same as a good 220 welder, but if thats all you have access to then you will be able to use it for alot of things. i was always taught to do the c pattern or even small circles, running the puddle back over the weld already just a little bit. sure you'll get it, just takes time. haha.
V.J.

 

[vjarman]

oh and if you are welding two different thickness metals, put more of the heat(puddle) on the thicker metal. the puddle will draw over to the thinner metal.
V.J.

 

[Muddy Beast]

Ok I welded a little tonight. It's 1/8th to 3/16th steel, I cleaned it with a grinder and went to town at max temp and 8 line speed (I tried 9, but it got out of hand, 8 was a sweet spot).

What do you think?

~Scott

 

[vjarman]

from what i can tell in the pictures it looks like you are getting better with the "technique". more practice and they will look better then ever! great job man!
V.J.

 

[Muddy Beast]

Yeah like you I'm young, at 18 I figure I have plenty of time to learn. However I'm happy with how these turned out. The other side, although it's hard to tell from the pics, did penetrate decently (I can see the metal conjoined) however I'd like to see more penetration...should I just spend more time on the weld?

Also, for my bumper, is it OK to weld both sides of a weld (like say I weld the other side of this practice strip)?

~Scott

 

[Kiefer316]

I think im gonna have to get me one of these just for some small stuff... I wanna start welding so i get good at it... I say those second set of welds looks as good as my first few beads... Good job...

 

[AIbandit]

The beads are looking better but your penetrations not so hot. Double sided welding is duable, I dont know the specifics.

 

[kndrewa]

im glad you have taken on this task

 

[WTF]

I can't tell for sure, but in my (amatuer) opinion it looks like those welds are a little bit cold (not fully penetrated). You may have a tad too much line feed which would in-turn make you move too fast over the weld. .
You might try and see what happens with your penetration when you bump down the line speed. is your wire feed control tapped or infinitely variable?

Again, welding a joint with two different thickness materials is not as easy as if it were the same material on both sides.

you're definitely moving in the right direction here; keep at it.

 

[Muddy Beast]

kndrewa, what do you mean exactly? haha

And WTF, thanks...I'll give the slower line speed a shot!

~Scott

 

[Muddy Beast]

Ok another question...how should I go about doing D-ring tabs for my bumper? Should I buy the 3/4" thick tabs from AJs? And how do I go about welding such thick metal to my 3/16th bumper plates?

I plan to have the tabs go through the bumper and to the tubes that go into the frame rail.

~Scott

 

[xj92]

You could tack weld them in place and have somebody with a bigger machine finish weld them, or you could preheat the area with a torch prior to welding.

 

[nosigma]

Tack them in place and have a pro weld them in. They will become high speed projectiles if the welds break, its really bad if someone tries to snatch your rig.

This may be a little basic but use about 1/4 inch stick out and about 15 degrees angle on the mig gun (leading or following the weld direction). The best thing I ever did was to spend hours welding with flux core laying feet of practice welds. Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Use a sanding disc then use a STAINLESS brush, then clean it with acetone, mineral spirits or some sort of volitile cleaner to get all the oils off (including finger oils). On a 110 welder, especially with thinner materials this pays huge dividends. As you probably know dont go too slow, this doesnt build up penetration it just stacks up the bead. With flux core weld an inch or two then stop and clean it again.

John

edit: oh and get the volatiles far far away before you use the welder.

 

[Muddy Beast]

Hey Muddy Beast,
I work for a Solidworks reseller and I thought you might be interested in this:

http://www.solidworks.com/sw/esp/eng...s_package.html

For the time being SolidWorks is letting people have a free copy of the software to use. The caveat here is that if you make any drawings they will print with a watermark so you aren't using free software for commercial apps however the idea behind it is to play with it for personal stuff and hone your skills.

I can't post this in the forum because I am not a :: memeber yet (just joined the forum today) so if you want to relay this information into the thread it could probably help other people too.

Thanks,
John

Got that in my PM box for those who are interested.

~Scott

 

[kndrewa]

i mean its awesome, i wish i was learning how to weld, and i needed to say something to subscribe to this thread so i dont loose good info.

: )

 

[Muddy Beast]

i mean its awesome, i wish i was learning how to weld, and i needed to say something to subscribe to this thread so i dont loose good info.

: )

There ya go. Yeah I'm surprized I didn't find one thread with all the stuff this one has given. It's good guys are willing to help teach people a new skill even when they're 1000's of miles away.

~Scott

 

[xcm]

nice improvement. it looks like your using too much wire. if you use too much wire, it just builds up on top of the joint, instead of replacing it. despite what people say, its not metal gloo.

if you turn down your wire speed, you will get welds that are sub-flush where they meet the rest of the metal.... yours definately have an upward bump....

 

[Muddy Beast]

So what line speed would you guys recommend starting at for 3/16th material? The manual doesn't say much but it seems like 7-8 would be a good speed on max.

I've started the work on my bumper, grinding/cutting the shapes, using a drill press to make mounts, cutting everything up...I just need to start making welds. But before I weld anything important I plan on putting some practice beads on the unimportant things (like boxing the ends of tube, etc.).

Also, will 1/8th steel be attiquet for the side supports on a rear bumper? (The pieces that go directly under folded quarter panels) It's all my local steel shop carries in 1x4 flavor. I cant see myself hitting it hard, I just figure it'll become a hi-lift point...but you guys tell me.

~Scott

 

[asp]

it varies welding unit to welding unit and with what heat you're on. i agree with what was said about them looking a little cold. you can tell because the weld should look like it flows right into the material you're welding, not just sitting on top. there are places where it looks like both. if you had it on 8 i would try 6-8. if you slow the feed rate down, it will help because you can just "dump" the heat in by moving your hand slower. i hope that makes sense.

i noticed you're welding one thing to another using the "fillet" technique. don't worry about wasting all the steel, just run beads right on the surface of whatever you're practicing.

FWIW, if i were to do a bumper it would be at least 3/16" but probably 1/4" but it all depends how it gets tied in. (solution: find another steel shop)

once again, i hope that helped.