I got sick of writing my name on bits of scrap and sticking them together at random angles like some kind of weird sculpture, so I decided to try something useful with the MIG tonight.
I had a couple of old speaker stands in the scrap box. I had been using them to clamp my work light to, but they had a crappy bolt and washer assembly to hold the base on and kept falling apart. So I decided to ditch the bolt, nut and washers and weld them together (if I could).
The base is about 4mm thick and looks like cast iron, but is actually steel when you get the paint off. The uprights are thin steel tube, about 20mm in diameter and with walls about 0.8 - 1mm thick. To be honest I wasn't really very hopeful that it would work - but what the heck, it would be interesting to try.
I tried a little test on the base at a low power setting, but it was obvious that nothing was going to stick. So I just wound it up to 3/4 and hoped for the best.
With the base on the table I held the upright firmly in place and did a little tack to see what would happen - I started on the tube and held it just long enough to get a weld going, then rolled down onto the base. I held it there quite a bit longer to try and get some heat into the base, and kind of worked away from the tube to stop it getting too hot.
It looked OK! So I carefully turned it around and did the same on the other side. Once I had 4 tacks done, it actually felt solid and I managed to drop it on the floor without it breaking. Success!
There probably isn't very good penetration into the base (although it did get the paint burning on the back). I wouldn't trust it to hold up the Firth Bridge, but I think it will do nicely for a stand to clamp my work light to!
After that I played around filling in the gaps, and yes I did blow a hole in the tube (and filled it again). I tried a few different techniques, and it ended up uglier, but it's not breaking.
OK, so the experienced welders here are probably laughing, and I'll probably look back in a few years and say "gawd, that's awful!" but right now I am pleased as punch. First useful weld!
Any comments on technique welcome. I'm basically following the 'learn by doing' method here. I'm having a great time though - I think I'm hooked.
I had a couple of old speaker stands in the scrap box. I had been using them to clamp my work light to, but they had a crappy bolt and washer assembly to hold the base on and kept falling apart. So I decided to ditch the bolt, nut and washers and weld them together (if I could).
The base is about 4mm thick and looks like cast iron, but is actually steel when you get the paint off. The uprights are thin steel tube, about 20mm in diameter and with walls about 0.8 - 1mm thick. To be honest I wasn't really very hopeful that it would work - but what the heck, it would be interesting to try.
I tried a little test on the base at a low power setting, but it was obvious that nothing was going to stick. So I just wound it up to 3/4 and hoped for the best.
With the base on the table I held the upright firmly in place and did a little tack to see what would happen - I started on the tube and held it just long enough to get a weld going, then rolled down onto the base. I held it there quite a bit longer to try and get some heat into the base, and kind of worked away from the tube to stop it getting too hot.
It looked OK! So I carefully turned it around and did the same on the other side. Once I had 4 tacks done, it actually felt solid and I managed to drop it on the floor without it breaking. Success!
There probably isn't very good penetration into the base (although it did get the paint burning on the back). I wouldn't trust it to hold up the Firth Bridge, but I think it will do nicely for a stand to clamp my work light to!
After that I played around filling in the gaps, and yes I did blow a hole in the tube (and filled it again). I tried a few different techniques, and it ended up uglier, but it's not breaking.
OK, so the experienced welders here are probably laughing, and I'll probably look back in a few years and say "gawd, that's awful!" but right now I am pleased as punch. First useful weld!
Any comments on technique welcome. I'm basically following the 'learn by doing' method here. I'm having a great time though - I think I'm hooked.
