Anything welding

Wells Cargo has some interesting construction methods, it's all .120 tube.. Switched out to a 2 5/16 hitch.















Yes, that angle iron doubler is fully welded on the top..

 

The less weight the trailer is, the more payload. As long as it can support it, thinner steel is better.

 

Roger, roger - it was more so the fact that there was about 10 feet of wire underneath the welds.. Think someone was trying to fill a gap.

 

Switching couplers has got to be one of the worse jobs. Getting the old ones off is usually a big pain in the ass. A bit easier now with a plasma cutter, but still lots of work.

 

So Im looking for advice...

Im taking a class and Im currently attempting t-joints. Welding horizontal but the T is vertical if that makes sense. I can run a stringer as a root pass just fine each time. The instructor is very pleased with that. Tells me my angles look good and speed is smooth while penetration is solid. However, when I go to run my weave over the top, Im getting undercut along the top or vertical strap.

1/4 x 2 strap at a 90* angle
1/8 6013

Ive tried running as low as 105A but thats too cold and as hot as 130A causing greater undercut and splatter.

I know there is no 1 answer fix but Im looking for advice. When moving between that top and lower edge, Im pausing to allow buildup but Im not sure if the pause is too long or too short. Is my speed too slow entirely and I need to make shorter pauses and a tighter weave?

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

Cheers

 

yeah sorry.

Its a fillet we're doing 2F posistion

Im trying to upload pics at the moment

 

Pausing too long will lead to excessive reinforcement. Not sure how your instructor will view that. AWS doesn't like it, but in the real world I would accept excessive reinforcement. Pausing longer or tightening your weave can solve a lot of undercut, so experiment and see which works. I'm guessing it's both though.

 

Here are some pics of what I did tonight








The hot and cold only refers to the coupon being quenched or not. It is not referring to the amperage

 

Yeah, I know that arc length can really exaggerate the undercut. They made mention to the "Flame". I can see the flame, but dont think its possible to eliminate it other than jamming the rod into the flux. But doesn't that lead to inclusions?

 

It almost looking to me like you hug the bottom piece and need to come up further on the vertical piece. On a couple you didn't come out far enough on either piece so you have lack of fusion at the toe. I can't tell what size fillet you have, but make it wider if you can. Go faster through the middle and pause longer on the sides so you don't get a big crown.

 

so my dad's old century arc welder finally konked out this past weekend, and he is now in the market for a replacement since the old guy that was gonna work on it said it was so old he couldnt get parts for it. we most use it for farm equiptment repairs (not too many hopefully) and i built a bumper and i have made a few ladder stands before. so its not that it would see heavy traffic, but light to moderate i would say, this year is the most hours its seen in a while due to my bumper and some bracing on a bush hog we had to do, and may be what did it in. he said he noticed the braker was flipped and when he flipped it back on there was a pretty good pop, and then nothing.
he said he was gonna break down and buy a mig welder, the guy at the repair shop recomender a supply shop near where we live, but said they carry mostly chinese stuff (i assume they carry better brands he was just saying what he thought would be closer to dads price range, and i'm not sure what the brands are b/c i havent been in to window shop yet) but would be fine for what we use it for. he also said the price for a 250 amp would run around $1300 +/-. i decided before we went there i would check online to see what a comprable online price would be and found eastwood 250 mig for about $900. also found a hobart for $1500. So the supply shop is all but out of the question since for ~$100-$200 more we can get a good welder, or for ~$400-$500 less we could get possibly the same quality welder.
looking for input and any experience with the eastwood (which i have read is a lincoln clone, and i saw that on the internet so it must be true) and opinions on what yall would do in this situation.

 

So many people have asked this question; there's a lot of good information in here if you search..

That being said, it's not necessarily this welder vs this welder, or cheaper here than there..

Make a list of what you want to do, and what material you think you'll be working on with the machine - then go one lever higher than what you anticipate.

I know nothing about Eastwood. But I know a lot of the cheaper machines use inferior drive rolls, hard to find consumables and overall shitty performance. Same with MIG vs. flux core.. Think that question gets asked almost daily in here..

Evaluate what you'll be doing and go from there.

 

I love new fab..

Bender is pretty sweet, a little cumbersome at first - but I have a feeling I'll get a little faster at it. I'll convert it over to electric/hydro once I get back from Moab...

Really like working off of this strongback fixture. It's nice, because I can rotate is as needed.

Ready for tacking tomorrow (there's another hoop as well).

 

Man I need to learn to weld. Would be so convenient to everything.

 

Any reason to go with the TC cam tab gussets over just laying a bead behind the stock tabs?

 

Not that i can think of. A hell of a lot easier and faster those cam gussets are a pain in the ass to install unless your doing LT at the same time.

 

Thanks Jerry, they look to be a PITA, and don't seem to bring anything additional (that I can see) to the table. I will be removing the cams and LCAs at the same time to replace bushings and eccentrics as mine are seized and fubar, so seems like a good time to beef them up.

 

Sold my welder today, and the welder I was going to go buy was sold out from under me. Now I have projects to get done and no welder.

 

Oh man, that is so shitty!! Sorry to hear that. Isn't life ridic sometimes???

 

No kidding. It's been one thing after another recently. I'm getting frustrated.