damn welder/ing

[JakeH]

hi guys, just having a rant really!

im a self taught welder (home and a bit at college when tutor would let me) and im finding it quite difficult welding the chassis up, must have done more grinding than welding the last few day.

having the worst eyes on earth dosnt help either, i have to get as close as possible to where im welding so i can see it properly, otherwise everything is just a blur! can be quite difficult with the mask on your face in some places (especially the rear framework)

anyways was wondering if anyone has any tips and tricks that will probably help me?

also does anyone use an air die grinder? if so what make are you using and is it any good, need to invest in one but dont want to accidentally buy a pile of rubbish!

any help much appreciated

Cheers

Jake

[deezee]

Practise is king for welding. Get your technique right and the equipment set up properly. Spend some time doing lots of test welds. I had to do some welds on my chassis blind.... just no space to get my head in to see what I was doing.

[Talonmotorsport]

Mask. If you have a cheap 1 shade (darkness) lens make sure it's the right one for you, too dark you can't see any thing and to light and you'll end up with mild arc eye. If you can strech to it buy an auto tint helmet found on ebay for £35-50(ish). Don't be affraid to stick your head right into the job to see what your doing.

Hands. Sounds silly but a good pair of welding gluntlets will give you better welds as you can hold the tourch by the swan neck. Hold the tourch at 30' -45' so you can see the wire on the job and you need to push the weld not drag it where possible. run your left hand across the surface and let your right follow, straight welds are done with stable hands. For long welds don't forget to breahe!

Gas. If you can get your hands on a pub bottle of C02 it will be a much nicer experiance as you won't get as frustraited when your 6th tiny on expires. If you've got access to C02/argon mix it will look alot better with less splatter.

Welder. The more money spent here the easier it is to learn. A cheap 130amp welder looks good from a budget point of view but it makes for a difficult learning curve. The wire feed motors are not the best and by the time you've learnt it's quirks you may have finished the chassis. My MIG was £700 new 8 years ago and still going strong (fingers crossed) the money it has saved me in car repairs ie MOT welding and the varies things it has helped me fabricate has probably earnt me £20-30,000 in the time I've owned it.

Testing. Weld two pieces of tube together in a T shape and allow to cool. Hold it in a very good vice and smack it with your fav bashing stick (hammer) if the steel tears around the weld then it's a good'un. If the weld comes apart like a scab then you don't have enough penetration ie not enough heat on both surfaces for the filler wire to melt to. Try moving the tourch by 1-2mm up and down like a sawing machine .

[JakeH]

cheers guys, its just the more hard to reach welds that im struggling with, my welds good when i can get to them and see what im doing.

its the rear framework thats causing me problems really,simply because there is a lot of tubes in such a small space! a lot of grinding and re-welding to do but will get there eventually!

Cheers

Jake

[flyerncle]

I know this may sound silly but make sure you weld in the right direction ie left to right if left handed and vice versa if right handed so the weld is behind the filler and not heaped up in front and I find it helpfull to support the cable and this takes the weight off your hands a little and when I used to arc weld long runs,put the cable over the shoulder to take the weight off.

And as said practice and a good mask are king.

[minicountryman1961]

Originally Posted by JakeH

having the worst eyes on earth doesn't help either, i have to get as close as possible to where I'm welding so i can see it properly

Welding supply shops sell magnifier lenses for welding hoods. I also wear reading glasses sometimes when welding. How much magnification I need varies depending on how close my face is to the action. If I am able to get close, I need more, if there are tubes in the way I need less. This is a function of getting older, our eyeball lenses get stiffer and don't adjust as well as they did when we were younger.

Try a number of glasses of differing magnification till you can see well at the distance you are working. You will be amazed at the difference it makes.

[deezee]

If your doing the rear frame, don't waste time dressing welds that you'll never see, or don't need to be flat.

[aerosam]

Originally Posted by JakeH

also does anyone use an air die grinder? if so what make are you using and is it any good, need to invest in one but dont want to accidentally buy a pile of rubbish!

Depends what you want one for really, for dressing welds they're simply not big enough, no matter what make you buy. Try a small air angle grinder , they tend to be more powerful and more up to the job. Make sure you have a good air supply or you'll spend most of your time waiting for your compressor to recharge.

[les g]

i use a die grinder quite a lot at work
its all about the quality of the arbour
expect to pay £30/40 for a real quality one it will last for ages
the stones are really only any good for polishing and light removal of metal
for removing weld you need to the best you can find ....
and as Sam says a good compressor is essential
they only cut well when really spinning flat out no point trying to use them when the compressor is recharging itself
for continuous grinding you need a compressor that can keep up with the tool
cheers les g

[AshG]

Little tip for getting in the tight spots. Geta new gas shroud for your welder. Take the old one and bash it with a hammer so that it is oval shape. You can then use the oval shaped gas shroud to get in all those little tricky tight spots.