Advice please on some welds :)

[chunkolini]

Now that is what I call a freak bike.
Awsome.

Chunko'.

 

[Drains]

Nice bike faaluke. Always like a bit of NZ ingenuity mate .

The best advice I can give you, is ignore pedrobedro's advice (sorry p/b), and DONT grind the weld smooth. There's no advantage, and at worst, you end up removing the weld, and the joint breaks. If your fit-up is tight, penetration may be slight, so it's the reinforcement which is doing the work. So don't remove it.

Looking forward to more pics!

 

[Paul-n]

Hi there

have you seen this ?

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/rinard/framebuild.htm

Scroll down to the software and there is a mitre program that lets you put in the angles and tube sizes and you print out a pattern to tape onto the tube and cut to.

I know it is a little late for this project , but maybe for your next bike ?

regards Paul

p.s there is always another bike !

 

[chunkolini]

Aha Sheldon Brown, I had forgotten about his amazing website.
Dont go there. You will be stuck for hours finding out bout things you didn't even know existed. The link need to go in the Choppers thread.

Chunko'.

 

[Faaluke]

That's a pretty sweet site with the patterns! I will use that for sure next time for anything involving tube cheers for the link.

Drains, always room for a bit of kiwi ingenuity

 

[sapperb]

I agree with Alfaman, there can't be any space where the tubes meet. 95% of my welding and fabricating is using .120 x 1.5 mild steel tube. That is what i use for my off road truck projects. It is extremely important to do good prep work where the tube will join, i.e. notch the joint so it will fit perfectly with the other tube. Get the welding area perfectly clean. Here is a sample of my prep work.

 

[Paul-n]

I agree with Alfaman, there can't be any space where the tubes meet. 95% of my welding and fabricating is using .120 x 1.5 mild steel tube. That is what i use for my off road truck projects. It is extremely important to do good prep work where the tube will join, i.e. notch the joint so it will fit perfectly with the other tube. Get the welding area perfectly clean. Here is a sample of my prep work.

sapperb

Excellent can we see some finished welds ?

What do you weld it with.

regards Paul

 

[sapperb]

Thanks, this is the best pic that i have on my work computer, I currently have a Lincoln 125

 

[Paul-n]

Thanks, this is the best pic that i have on my work computer, I currently have a Lincoln 125

Sapperb

Sorry MIG or TIG ? unsure as there looks to be loads of Linoln 125's on google

regards Paul

 

[sapperb]

MIG, Gas

 

[Faaluke]

Nice! Yeah getting a tighter fit is something I will certainly be doing next time, that weld looks sweet. All comes down to experience and practise. And getting a boot up the ass in the right direction

 

[Popsicult]

The third picture looks a bit like the metal wasn't cleaned well enough before welding (I could be wrong though). It's so irritating to feel like your metal is clean and then have that happen!

 

[Faaluke]

*BUMP*

So I have finally found some time to continue with this project. I picked up some 2mm (I think) plate/sheet from a friendly engineer so used some for practice and made up my gussets with the rest. I did about 10 test welds adjusting the settings each time till I got it to what I hope was a good 'combo' of volts, current and wire speed. I put the test pieces in the vice and either the 2mm would eventually break or the tubing would tear, so seeing as I don't weigh 500kg I think that should be string enough. That was one test beads 10-20mm long.

How are the welds looking on what i've done now? Comments, advice, the usual :P

And an overall photo to give an idea of where I have put them.

Cheers

 

[sapperb]

looking alot better, just practice, practice and more practice.

 

[Faaluke]

Just thought i'd post the finished bike, finished it a couple weeks back. Just needs some fine tuning of the brakes and gears, but shes a runner!!

Thanks for all the advice along the way, it will all be used on future projects