Hi all - newb here....
First of all - great forum - I did lots of reading which saved me making a mistake of buying another SIP
I bought a SIP a few years ago when I decided it would be a great idea to restore a classic Mini. I replaced most of the boot floor before I found the rest of the rust, gave up, sold the car for scrap and the welder for not much more
I have a carport, built with 50mm box section, which I'm about to stick a door on to turn it into a garage. However, the front upright is showing signs of corrosion in the bottom few inches, so I want to beef it up before I hang any more weight off it. Chopping out the corroded section is not an option, due to the weight already on top of it, so I need to plate it. The foot of the box section is on some 5mm plate, which in turn is bolted into the concrete.
Access is good (although its clearly at ground level), so I've got the idea of welding a couple of 100 - 150mm long sections of 40mm (about 3mm thick) angle to opposite corners of the box section. This is slightly smaller than the box section, so the two sections of angle won't actually touch each other around the box section, meaning I'll get two vertical welds on each piece of angle, as well as around the upper and lower ends.
However, budget restraints mean I've only managed to run to a Clarke 110EN and reading up on this forum shows that 3mm is probably a little over its limit. I've read up about V grooves and root gaps, but I can't see how this would apply when plating on top of an existing box section.
So - my question - can anyone help with any techniques to maximise the effectiveness and durability of my repair?
FYI, prior to making a rather scruffy job of replacing the boot floor of the Mini, my only welding experience was a couple of weeks of MMA at college, thirty years previously, although I was told by my tutor at the time that my work was very good (he thought I'd done it before, but in reality, it was my first time)
Thanks in advance
First of all - great forum - I did lots of reading which saved me making a mistake of buying another SIP
I bought a SIP a few years ago when I decided it would be a great idea to restore a classic Mini. I replaced most of the boot floor before I found the rest of the rust, gave up, sold the car for scrap and the welder for not much more
I have a carport, built with 50mm box section, which I'm about to stick a door on to turn it into a garage. However, the front upright is showing signs of corrosion in the bottom few inches, so I want to beef it up before I hang any more weight off it. Chopping out the corroded section is not an option, due to the weight already on top of it, so I need to plate it. The foot of the box section is on some 5mm plate, which in turn is bolted into the concrete.
Access is good (although its clearly at ground level), so I've got the idea of welding a couple of 100 - 150mm long sections of 40mm (about 3mm thick) angle to opposite corners of the box section. This is slightly smaller than the box section, so the two sections of angle won't actually touch each other around the box section, meaning I'll get two vertical welds on each piece of angle, as well as around the upper and lower ends.
However, budget restraints mean I've only managed to run to a Clarke 110EN and reading up on this forum shows that 3mm is probably a little over its limit. I've read up about V grooves and root gaps, but I can't see how this would apply when plating on top of an existing box section.
So - my question - can anyone help with any techniques to maximise the effectiveness and durability of my repair?
FYI, prior to making a rather scruffy job of replacing the boot floor of the Mini, my only welding experience was a couple of weeks of MMA at college, thirty years previously, although I was told by my tutor at the time that my work was very good (he thought I'd done it before, but in reality, it was my first time)
Thanks in advance
