Bench

[GrahamHggins]

Hello there. Got a tonne of questions to get through.

But I'll limit them.

Here's my first mild steel bench. 30mm angle 3mm
Box legs are 4mm I think.

1. Joining the box legs I found tough. I burnt holes in edges.
How do I avoid this?

2. Do I weld all sides?

3. I'd like to blacken it, best way to go about this...

I'll leave it at that for now.
Thanks in advance
Graham

 

[GrahamHggins]

Pic attached...

 

[MoreWellie]

Hi Graham

welcome to the forum

We would need a bit more information before giving advice

what sort of loads do you want to put on the bench as that will decide how strong you need it to be

are you sure about the leg thickness, from the hole in your final picture it looks a lot thinner than 4mm?

I presume you are arc welding, what machine, rods and settings are you using?

 

[GrahamHggins]

Hi MoreWellie.

Its a seating bench (1-2 people) - and Mig welded. Settings were about 2 or 3 on amps

 

[cumbriasteve]

I would have thought the box section was 2mm or perhaps 3mm wall thickness.

mig should be fine on any well matched joints and you either have the machine set too high or running the weld too slow.

I would always weld box section fully at all joints regardless of use, failure to do so will see the evil metal rot attack at speed.

Settings of 2 or 3 mean nothing if we don't know what machine you are using

 

[nickk]

a nice way to blacken,heat the joints & quench/smother in waste/soluble oil.

 

[GrahamHggins]

Yes I think I may have had feed set low, that makes sense.

I guess I just need to practice more.

But can I blacken the steel somehow - or disguise the welds.?
Or is it a case of just tidy welds needed.

 

[Kent]

Chill blocks will prevent holes at the end copper is best run the bead right off the end. Common problem welding rsa of 3 mm or so it's better to have this issue than to run to cold though

 

[IrishDave]

How do you guys go about blackening larger objects just out of curiosity and keeping with this thread?

I'm thinking a large container with lots of waste oil?

 

[Kent]

You can brush it on rather than dip it's just a faff
Just take care putting large hot objects in lots of oil - it could be nasty if it ignights

 

[GrahamHggins]

I'll try the waste oil.

What are chill blocks?

 

[Kent]

Heat sinks basically but for this a bit of copper buzz bar is ideal clamp it tother underside of the joint and run straight off the end with the weld - it will prevent that key hole blowing out at the end

Don't worry you won't weld the copper to the steel