whm_fab
Motorsport engineering
- Messages
- 424
- Location
- in the shop
Hi Folks, I said id post this here to see what others thoughts are on the subject.
Naturally, as welders, im sure we all (well I do) inspect every weld I ever see, from hand railings in shopping centres to structural stuff etc, everywhere I turn in day to day life I look for welds if im bored
Anyway, over the last while this has bugged me more and more, and it finally came to a head a few weeks ago when I was being shown a new supercar chassis tub made from aluminium.
The guy was bashing on about there is only one person in the UK and one or two more in the factory certified to carry out these special welds and how fantastic they were…. The welds were HORRIFIC. There was soot, there was tungsten strikes, inconsistent beads, blobs, you name it.
And this is not a one off small sports car company, this is one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world. Unfortunately I couldn’t take any photos of course.
Again during the summer I went to a motorsport museum, and of course go around looking for welds, as being a motorsports welder and fabricator this is my field.
Take a look at these… am I the only one that thinks these should be better? I mean one is a Ducatti sportsbike, one of the most expensive sports bikes in the world, surely they could have got someone to do a more aesthetically pleasing weld on such a visible part of the bike? !
The rest are all F1 (yes F1!) exhausts etc, the most stringent engineering sport in the world – surely they can employ someone who can actually weld?!
I work from a workshop at the back of my parents’ house, and I would never ever turn out a weld like that to any customer. The parts are going on the most expensive racing cars in the world!
Ok granted some are old, early 90’s etc, but still the equipment was there to do some consistent welds.
Am I missing something? Do these engineering managers not care what it looks like once it doesn’t fail?
Naturally, as welders, im sure we all (well I do) inspect every weld I ever see, from hand railings in shopping centres to structural stuff etc, everywhere I turn in day to day life I look for welds if im bored
Anyway, over the last while this has bugged me more and more, and it finally came to a head a few weeks ago when I was being shown a new supercar chassis tub made from aluminium.
The guy was bashing on about there is only one person in the UK and one or two more in the factory certified to carry out these special welds and how fantastic they were…. The welds were HORRIFIC. There was soot, there was tungsten strikes, inconsistent beads, blobs, you name it.
And this is not a one off small sports car company, this is one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world. Unfortunately I couldn’t take any photos of course.
Again during the summer I went to a motorsport museum, and of course go around looking for welds, as being a motorsports welder and fabricator this is my field.
Take a look at these… am I the only one that thinks these should be better? I mean one is a Ducatti sportsbike, one of the most expensive sports bikes in the world, surely they could have got someone to do a more aesthetically pleasing weld on such a visible part of the bike? !
The rest are all F1 (yes F1!) exhausts etc, the most stringent engineering sport in the world – surely they can employ someone who can actually weld?!
I work from a workshop at the back of my parents’ house, and I would never ever turn out a weld like that to any customer. The parts are going on the most expensive racing cars in the world!
Ok granted some are old, early 90’s etc, but still the equipment was there to do some consistent welds.
Am I missing something? Do these engineering managers not care what it looks like once it doesn’t fail?
