Looking for hell hole welding advice |
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Looking for hell hole welding advice |
AndrewBlyholder |
Aug 15 2020, 12:36 PM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 109 Joined: 20-September 04 From: Richmond, CA Member No.: 2,791 |
Launching in my hell hole rust repair. Need some advice on the usual welding technique for patching.
Many of the patch parts have flanges that match the factory stampings. I assume the factory spot welded these things together. Is that correct? Don't have a spot welder, and probably couldn't reach most of these locations if I did. What's the usual technique then? Drill holes in the flanges and fill with rosette welds? Or just weld the edges of the flanges? I'm replacing some sections of the main longitudinal tubes under the battery. That tube was a double walled on both the inside and outside faces. The replacement panel I have from AA has the double wall spot welded onto it. But how do I go about getting both panels weld together at the butt joint where the patch meets the original? Grind/cut the outer face back a little bit more than the inner panel, weld the inner first, and then weld up the outer? Battery tray replacement questions: - The lower support has three flanges on it. The front and side flange are easily accessible for welding, but the rear flange is turned inward. Do you weld that one too or leave it unwelded? What did the factory do there? - The easy way to attach the battery tray to the support would be to weld them together first. Is that recommended? But if you do that, then there would be no way to weld the inward turned rear flange of the support. Thanks for any and all suggestions. Andrew Blyholder |
Superhawk996 |
Aug 23 2020, 03:36 PM
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#2
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914 Guru Group: Members Posts: 5,836 Joined: 25-August 18 From: Woods of N. Idaho Member No.: 22,428 Region Association: Galt's Gulch |
Before you go buy a MIG. Try a smaller tip.
Too much heat and burn though is usually a sign that you can go down a size or two on the tip. Likewise, make sure you're not running more than a couple of PSI of gas pressure. The pressure of the gas coming out the tip will tend to blow your puddle though on the thin stuff. People underestimate what can be done with OxyAcetylene. It welded up many war birds back in the day before MIG and TIG came into thier own. A torch can weld thin gauge aluminum (with flux) and will often have better penetration and will actually visually blend the weld better than either TIG or MIG. A good welder with the right setup can do amazing things with a torch. However, when it's all said and done, MIG is faster and easier to learn. |
AndrewBlyholder |
Aug 28 2020, 12:04 PM
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 109 Joined: 20-September 04 From: Richmond, CA Member No.: 2,791 |
Before you go buy a MIG. Try a smaller tip. Too much heat and burn though is usually a sign that you can go down a size or two on the tip. Likewise, make sure you're not running more than a couple of PSI of gas pressure. The pressure of the gas coming out the tip will tend to blow your puddle though on the thin stuff. People underestimate what can be done with OxyAcetylene. It welded up many war birds back in the day before MIG and TIG came into thier own. A torch can weld thin gauge aluminum (with flux) and will often have better penetration and will actually visually blend the weld better than either TIG or MIG. A good welder with the right setup can do amazing things with a torch. However, when it's all said and done, MIG is faster and easier to learn. Totally agree with you about the versatility of gas welding. Have you heard of Kent White? He's a big proponent of gas welding and particularly for aluminum. He worked at the Harrah's car collection in Reno for many years, restoring vintage race cars and such, and then after that was sold off and split up, he's moved into the Warbird airplane restoration area. He's a genius aluminum welder and fabricator. I've seen him several times doing lectures at the EAA Air Venture fly-in at Oshkosh. An inspiring craftsman. I did manage to borrow a MIG welder from a friend. Unfortunately, it wasn't feeding the wire smoothly and consistently, so it's hard to make good looking beads with it, but even with that issue, it's much better for getting a spot weld on with minimal heating of the panel. After a day of tolerating the feed problem, I then took the time to look at the wire feed roller and found it was slipping on it's drive shaft. Tightened down it's attachment bolt and it seems to be working much better now. Now only some of my beads look like shit instead of all of them. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) Andrew |
Superhawk996 |
Aug 28 2020, 04:32 PM
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#4
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914 Guru Group: Members Posts: 5,836 Joined: 25-August 18 From: Woods of N. Idaho Member No.: 22,428 Region Association: Galt's Gulch |
Have you heard of Kent White? He's a big proponent of gas welding and particularly for aluminum. He worked at the Harrah's car collection in Reno for many years, restoring vintage race cars and such, and then after that was sold off and split up, he's moved into the Warbird airplane restoration area. He's a genius aluminum welder and fabricator. I've seen him several times doing lectures at the EAA Air Venture fly-in at Oshkosh. An inspiring craftsman. Andrew Yup, Agree - Kent's work is awesome. I bought a set of his special lenses for welding aluminum with gas. They are pricey but worth every penny - you can really see the aluminum weld puddle clearly though the flux flare. His company TM Technologies also has some really awesome power hammers but they are way out of my price range. Maybe someday (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drooley.gif) https://www.tinmantech.com/about/kent-white-the-tin-man.php Cafe Racer gas welded tank I did a back around 2012 based on study of Kent's techniques, Ron Fournier Metal Fab book, and workshop that I attended that was given by one of Ron's former apprentices that now runs Voodoo Choppers. http://voodoochoppers.com/ Gas can do some awesome things. Never underestimate it! |
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