Quote:
Originally Posted by SimmoW
Haha, I'm even stating to think that with a welder (I'm shocking at it, but it works...), 4 cut up would make a massive new project!
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SAFETY GEAR:
First: Full cotton overalls, not nylon, full arm and leg coverage, welding emits strong UV which leads to cancers and leukaemia. No nylon clothing, it goes up fast, another thing learnt from experience wearing nylon overalls in an employment position and being taught to weld as part of my job. My saviour was full cotton shorts under the nylon overalls or the family jewels would have been torched. This was many years before I studied fabrication engineering but I never forgot and had some severe burns on my hands from extinguishing the flames and melting nylon overalls.
Second: Good quality welding gloves.
Third: Work boots.
Fourth: Good woollen socks, nylon socks can leave nasty burns when slag flies down the boot (first hand scars and experience). Spats around the top of boots (gators) are good to stop slag entering boots.
A quality face shield and leave a cover on when chipping slag and grinding but I have a different shield for grinding so I don't pit my expensive mask.
DO NOT stand bare footed on wet grass while clamping steel in place with other bare foot and striking an arc. Lesson learnt early on while studying electrical and electronics engineering and I SHOULD have known better. I only did it once though, one bare foot in puddle, one bare foot on steel..
A new welding rod can be bent for convenience and you can hold the rod with a good glove to steady the welds to get a feel, good gloves you won't get burnt and it's easier than trying to strike a full length rod. I keep my small scrap rods fro doing tacks, it's easy to do. I also slap a piece of scrap on top for a striking plate, strike the rods on plate first to get heat then move immediately to the weld point. It does simplify welding with an arc welder.
A MIG is easier if you have access, gasless is good out in the paddock if it's not too breezy. Gas tends to do better welding (Argon mix) but no good with a breeze unless shielded from the wind. If you have access to a MIG and go gasless remember the polarity of the welder must be changed before switching from gas to gasless. An arc welder will do it, just try to maintain a constant ark length and hold the rod at approximately 15 degrees off upright perpendicular to the job for best results and arc rods are dragged not pushed while MIG is generally pushed but a lot of people will drag them too. [b]Like painting, a clean surface is the trick to good welding and if welding galvanised steel grind the galvanising off before welding because the sulphur fumes are highly toxic.
Weld DOES NOT burn through paint, grease and galvanising. It leaves inclusions in the weld and an added weakness. No paint, no oil or grease and definitely no galvanised coatings. If Gal is the required finish, cold gal painted on after welding is fine and always chip off the slag to see the quality of the weld, don't paint over it.
My best advice, a good welding mask, these electric things are great but not the cheapest Aldi things you can get. They too are probably OK if you have good eyes, for me I have a very expensive Uniimig mask from memory, an RWX8000 but my mask ranges from shade 5 right up to 13), not necessary for most Mig or arc welding but I need to get back into TIG which I haven't done for over 20 years since doing fabrication engineering. I used to excel on the TIG doing alloy.
Now my sight makes it terribly hard to see the weld pool so I do very little welding but have a go to $49 Aldi arc welder (reduced on special), a little inverter I use for just about everything because I can carry it on my little finger and weld 3/4" bar with ease. Thin materials are easy with it too if you understand frequent tacking where the tacks draw the heat from the line of weld as you move forward. My 200Amp Mig is not an inverter and weighs over 30KG and is heavy to lump around, gas or gasless. If I knew how to weld I'd weld up a trolley for it, lol.
https://www.weld.com.au/product/unim...v=6502139931c4
https://external-content.duckduckgo....efc&ipo=images
I also have a near identical other brand purchased from Repco on sale, also a very good mask and if my son and I are out playing together I always know his eyes are safe.
There's lots of tips available online for welding, more is not necessarily stronger and you can tell the quality of the job by the sound of the arc, unstable arc with constant varying distances between the tip and the job makes quite the spattering sound. A good weld you can hear the buzz of a steady arc. The tack welding of entire surfaces as often seen on youtube are not good welds and if you don't like the weld or think it's not strong enough it's easy to grind out and redo.
Maintaining a steady arc length comes with practice as does welding speed for the materials you're welding. I'm ALWAYS VERY rusty when I haven't done any welding for long periods which is often but I keep scrap thick plate here I can run a dozen or so welds along the length till I get my eye and hand in. It's easy ground off if the plate is needed for something.
Another tip, warm the rods up in a tray in the oven for 15 minutes at around 140-180 before welding they strike up easier (you can wrap them in foil to keep the heat in when taken out too) and never use old, wet rods. They too can be dried in an over to recover them and remove dampness but I don't remember times or temperatures but it's easy to find online.
Good luck!
