welding (was: Tranny woes)

[scirocco at powerlink.net (John C. Worden)]

I also took a class, just finished up a few weeks ago.  Check your local
high school or adult continuing education office, if such a thing exists, in
your area.  I learned quite a bit-learned how to ARC and MIG weld properly,
TIG, plasma cutter, properly oxy/accet. torch cutting and welding, welding
aluminum(pita), stainless, brazing, bending with sand and decorative metal
work(wrought iron look and ball peening).  All in all it was well worth the 
$60
or $70 it cost.  I recommend anyone interested in welding look into a class
like this.

John


At 06:50 PM 12/12/03 -0500, Allyn wrote:

>got any quick notes from that class... for say... mig+gas?
>i havent been able to find a good general guide as to adjusting settings
>(current and feed rate), as well as good techniques to use when welding from
>all angles (around seams of joining tubular steel sections together).
>
>Al
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "T. Reed" <treed2@wsu.edu>
>To: "Nate Mellom" <bronson@inwave.com>
>Cc: "Allyn" <amalventano@sc.rr.com>; "Scirocco list"
><scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
>Sent: Friday, December 12, 2003 3:24 PM
>Subject: welding (was: Tranny woes)
>
>
> > On Thu, 11 Dec 2003, Nate Mellom wrote:
> >
> > > No worries about the weld failing under torque?
> > >
> >
> > I think it's a common misconception that welds fail frequently.
> >
> > I took a welding class this past summer and the instructor really knew
> > what he was doing; he was an ARTIST when it came to welds and he had all
> > the knowledge, equipment, etc. He had years of experience and his own
> > company was making big money on a variety of special projects he was doing
> > for various companies and affluent individuals.
> >
> > Anyway, I had just welded two plates together with Oxy-Acetylene and had
> > them in a vice and was bending them back and forth trying (unsuccessfully)
> > to break the weld. He asked me what I was doing and I explained. Then he
> > told me that -good- welds (like the one I was trying to break) are as
> > strong as or stronger than the metal around them. In fact the plates I had
> > in the vice were bending next to the weld, not at it.
> >
> > I think a lot of random boobs in their garage with $50 welders try to weld
> > things and utterly fail to make a good weld; succeeding only at joining
> > the two pieces just enough so that they stay together. Then the "weld"
> > breaks and they come to the conclusion that welds are weak.
> >
> > It's important to have the proper current (too little and you will only
> > succeed at joining the outermost shell), the proper wire feed rate,
> > shielding gas if you don't use flux-core wire, the proper wire type for
> > the materials you're joining, AND good weld technique. If any one of
> > these isn't right, you may get a crappy weld that may or may not hold up.
> >
> > When you're welding steel (say, spider gears in a differential), assuming
> > you're using a monstrous machine with enough current, you should be able
> > to turn the whole cluster of gears in to one solid piece of steel that
> > will (essentially) never break. It's not like soldering when you're
> > joining things with an intermediate metal. The filler metal is generally
> > the same (or damn close) to the materials you're welding together. The
> > whole area gets molten and joins together in to one piece. Its like the
> > instructor said when somebody welded something together crooked and was
> > trying to put an arc on it while pulling it apart: "that's not coming
> > apart! go use the plasma cutter"
> >
> > -Toby
> >