Anything welding

For the caps, could you make some cap covers that fasten down to the carrier with a cable? Good enough for casual theives I think.

 

First day of tig welding aluminum and stainless was a huge fail lol not even gonna post pictures. I'm practicing on thin stuff (1/16) for both because I'll mainly be doing exhaust and intercooler piping for my build. Any tips?

 

Not without pics...you are among friends.

With that said, no tips from me, since I don't TIG. Lol.

 

Everyone has opinions. I’ve seen very experienced welders give some really bad advice. Practice and find what works for you. I’ve been in the field for +two decades and what works for me doesn’t always work for the next guy.
For SS keep your amps as low as possible once you have a puddle. If you dwell too long or use too much amperage you’ll overheat the base metal causing what some guys call “sugar”. Looks like black sand. It’s “technical name” is chromium carbide precipitation.
This means you’ve dissolved the chromium (where most of the corrosion resistance comes from) out of solution and causes it to bond with carbon. This greatly reduces corrosion resistance along the grain boundaries.
This is why you see some SS exhausts with slightly rusty welds. Usually means the guy overheated the weld.
So with SS as soon as you see your puddle wet out get moving.
As for aluminum it absorbs your heat quickly so hit it with the amps and get it wetting out ASAP. Add filler and get moving.
As for filler metal a good starting point is using a filler rod close in diameter as the base metal thickness. For example if you’re welding 1/16 then try to use a 1/16” diameter filler rod.
Don’t get frustrated it takes most welders lots of practice. A lucky few catch on naturally and some really never get it.
If you have any questions at all feel free to ask.

 

that’s a good idea. I think I’m gonna make some sort of piece with a couple bullet hinges from the bottom that hinges up over the caps and tops of the Jerry cans and latches into the top piece where I can lock it with a small padlock at the top

 

Yeah that was what I was imagining first, wasn't sure how much security you're going for.

I hope those pieces have dimples. Dimples make everything better.

 

haha im gonna put dimples on the dimple’s dimples for you

 

Earlier today while out on the shop trying to get motivated to clean up a bit. I had idea to help keep a couple of the wrenches.for the die grinder and the angle grinders handy.



Took a couple short pieces of filler rod and bent them into a S shape with one end being squares off to fit in one of the unusable holes(due to the leg bolts) in the table.

 

Building my HC bumper and deciding where to cut. I realize that the body line under the taillight has a slight downward slope and isn’t parallel with the bed rails. My OCD has me going back and forth for which line to follow. Either way one of the two lines will appear to be off, just need to figure out which one will bother me less.




forgive the shitty meme.

 

Was a good day to box some mounts.

 

Huge thanks for this you pretty much described the issues I was having with ss. I was blowing through the aluminum and I was using too thick a filler. Going back to the weld supply tomorrow to pick up 1/16 filler. I accidentally grabbed 3/32 filler and didn't realize it till I started welding and it would stick in the puddle. I'll try some more tomorrow. Thanks again man.

 

Lol ill give you one on aluminum that I just ran flat not welding anything together haha. You can see my failed tack weld and blow through hahaha

 

Practice on some thicker material and get that down... then move onto the more difficult/thinner stuff

 

You did remember to switch polarity and tungsten depending what flavor you were using.

Sometimes it is the simple things.

If your doing butt welds in thin material using a copper back strip makes it much easier .

Thicker material is some what easier till you get your muscle memory .

 

Yes for both. I did experience a much easier weld when I was doing thick mild steel (1/4") so I understand that thinner stuff is harder. I just figured I would start out with the stuff I'm going to be working with most.

 

Once you get more practiced you’ll likely be able to use that 3/32 or maybe even 1/8 “ on 1/16 base metal but til you get the hang of it a bit better stick with that 1:1 rule (filler rod diameter to base metal)

 

I am also just learning TIG. On my Al attempts, I have learned that anything close to the edge of the piece...DANGER! Gets hot really quick. Gotta get off the pedal. Even if I am just parallel to the edge, not heading for it, I gotta be careful.

Also, I heard Jody on Tips and Tricks give a good sound bite: "get it hot right away and get moving quick". I think I was guilty of trying to start too slowly with less heat, basically being too cautious was actually hurting my attempts.

 

Yeah my foot is still getting accustomed to controlling the heat. Coming from mig so my brain needs to adjust lol. I used my mig yesterday and was looking for the foot pedal hahaha.

 

Picked up the thinner filler. Gonna try again later tonight or tomorrow.

 

Looking for preferences on welding wire for Mig. I usually use whatever I have on hand but I have some time to do a little more research.

Usually weld with .035" but may be interested in playing with .030" to see how it goes.