How can I improve on this? Clarke 160TE

[MJG]

Hi all, I'm using my new Clarke 160TE welder, I used the settings someone posted up before to do some box-section and plate work on my car and now have had a go at welding a diff with it with a bit less success.

Welding the diff on a car, for those who don't know, is to lock both rear wheels so they spin together, great for drag racing, great for drifting You weld the 4 inner cogs together as best you can to keep them from twisting in opposite directions.

I encountered splatter, and some dark sooty welds with little penetration when everything was set to full.... So I turned it down to 3 - Low (3 - High is max), and 8 on wire feed (out of 10). It seemed to weld nicely but I still have a lot of splatter and it's far from perfect. Looking at it in reality it doesn't look bad, the gears melted away and the welds seem to be filleted into the parent metal at the edges mostly which indicates proper penetration.

Can anybody with more experience offer any advice to me? Perhaps I just didn't clean it well enough or held the torch too far away or something, access is tricky but with some cotton buds etc I could clean it better maybe. It was filled with oil but I washed thoroughly with white spirit and a brush, then wiped clean with blue roll, then rinsed with fairy liquid and water for ages, then more blue roll, then I tried intricately cleaning the gears I was to weld, there seemed to be a slight glaze of moisture on the surface of the teeth of the gears but generally it looked clean.

This picture shows it before final drying...

This is the first side (top right corner is where I got settings really bad to start so had to go over it)...

This is the 2nd side...

Any advice please on my welds? No advice on welded diffs as I love them and they are CHEEEAP.

 

[shenion]

8 on the wire speed seem high. I never used over 5.5 on my 130 on the max setting; but the speed varies some between units.

The gears will be impregnated with oil. Hard to clean. Some say to hit with a torch to "bubble out" the oil and burn it. Then clean with wire brush/solvent.

 

[MJG]

I don't have a torch unfortunately, but I agree I think I just need to get them a bit cleaner to help me out. I was using an angle-head brush like you'd use to scrub the pots, with white spirit in a spray bottle, used that lots, then wiped clean with blue roll as best I could, then more white spirit and scrubbing, then more blue roll, then soapy water rinse, then dry it off properly with blue roll (as best I could), then put some more liquid on ring gear and some water/fairy liquid in the bottom to prevent the sparks from settling on the seals in the bottom. It didn't FEEL like the cogs themselves were too dirty, judgjing by what dirty welding feels like on other stuff I've done, but looking at the brown spots there obviously was some crap still on there.

 

[mcfearn]

could you get a small die grinder in(dremmel etc)?,they do need heating up to remove all the soaked in oil if you really were to improve your weld.

 

[greyshirtguy]

I'm no expert, however I have learned that my 165 amp MIG will typically only have a enough heat to really "bite" into a maximum of 5-6mm thick sections (and that's only with a specially prepared V'd edges and small gap between pieces).

As the sections get thicker, a much larger percentage of the arc's "heat" gets conducted away/absorbed by the larger volume of metal. This has an impact on the penetration, quality and *strength* of the welded joint.

So, perhaps one other thing to consider is that the 160 may be somewhat under-powered to "neatly" weld those heavy sections of metal?

 

[MJG]

I would have thought welding a large sheet of 5mm plate for example, would have not too different a heat-sink effect to a small cog? The spider gears are only circa 50-60mm diameter, and I know that the larger welders I have used were not cranked right up when welding the diffs.

I obliterated a gear tooth when playing with the settings, just melted it away into a blob of weld, so I know it has the grunt, I think it's just down to settings, cleanliness, and technique. I have a friend who used to weld power stations and stuff and he's offered to come over and set up my welder to see if it can be done or not, I hope the answer is yes as welding diffs is an important task for a drifter like myself

I don't think I could get a dremel in etc, but could probably get a small toothbrush sized wirebrush in for the next time. I will also burn off the excess, I was going to do that anyway but for some reason didn't lol, I know a friend who's welded diffs before has given it all a light coat of brake cleaner then lit it to burn off the excess ****, as long as it doesn't burn too long obviously and damage the oil seals etc.

Oh, and another thing, I think I might buy some 1mm wire and tips to give me the best chance in future

 

[Richm]

agree with shenion, problem is metal being immerssed (spelt wrong probably) in oil,even hardened machined surfaces will absorb it and as soon as you heat it with welding it will expand and come out buggering up welds. Heat it as moch a you can with whatever kit you have.

 

[MJG]

OK sounds reasonable to me, I'll burn that stuff

 

[storm monkey]

The fact that its hardened, and probably quite a high carbon content steel isn't going to help either.

Phil

 

[MJG]

Set fire to it, upped power to max and max wire feed, it melted away the gear teeth easily and despite the pics looking worryingly similar to above, I can vouch that they really were well melted in Even the cast "cage" around the gears got some action, although it was trickier and gave some porosity it still melted under the full power 160 amps lol.

Obviously it has splatter which is to be brushed away but this is straight after welding piccies

Anybody got any other advice?

 

[malcolm]

I've just done one myself. Best tip I could offer is use anti-spatter spray on all the gears that still need to work after it's all welded. Brilliant stuff - not a bit of spatter stuck. Not sure how to remove all the little spatter balls that have fallen into the pinnion bearing. Maybe could have put something in there to catch them...



Didn't notice a problem with oil soaked up by the gears - it's not like cast iron welding. Photo was taken later after I'd tried to remove those spatter bsalls in the parts washer - was dry when I did the welding. Did find it tricky to get the torch in though. Had to have the torch quite some way from the weld and use a high wire speed. I was only welding 6/9 setting on a 185 amp welder (with 0.6 wire - oops) which would probably be no more than 130 amps.

Thanks for posting your photos MJG - made a useful reference on how to do the job.

 

[crayefish]

personally I would have taken the 2pin carrier out the diff housing and removed the crown wheel. its a bit of a hassle getting it off but its worth it not to damage the crown and pinion gears (ive rebuilt a lot diffs in the last 4 months and know that the slightest thing can cause em problems). also heat from a weld splatter (or the subsequent grinding off of the splatter) can affect the hardness and toughness (well lack of it) of the gear

just remember to check the backlash before you strip it so you know what to set it to when u rebuild it (or even better - check whats its supposed to be from the manual)

also the other thing to worry about is the balance of them - the slightest vibration due to the weld mass putting them out of balance can ruin your carrier bearings. you can check by setting up the carrier on a set of knife edges on the bearing surfaces and seeing which way up it settles. not so much a prob if you will be keeping the wheel speed down though

 

[zardoz]

Malcom Were you using the Portamig 185 ?

 

[malcolm]

Malcom Were you using the Portamig 185 ?

Yes, with argoshield gas and the 0.6 steel wire that happened to be in there.

 

[mrb]

The spatter you are encountering is a normal byproduct of welding with co2... if you use a premixed argon co2 mix (something like 92% argon and 8%co2) you will get much less spatter but then you will also get different penetration characteristics... co2 gives you wide and shallow penetration whereas an argon mix will give you a narrow and deep penetration.

The shiny brown stuff is also normal for welding with co2 and chips off easily but doesn't affect the finished weld. Its just the impurities in the parent metal, filler metal, and contaminants... we get it on brand new metal too.