I've learned to appreciate my Mig welder but .....

[sergelabonte]

I have learn the slow but pleasant way for the last 12 years, and from a cart for my welder to fixing a few pieces, and building a useful trailer from almost scratch.

Although my knowledge of welding techniques is incomplete i assumed I had enough confidence for another unique project yet simple project.

I have an outside boiler made of 1/4" boiler plating now 8 years of use, it has developed a leak at the door structure and I thought it would be a simple welding challenge.

But after a few pass at trying to seal this weak point but it has been a dreadful detail I don't grasp about why the welding will not blend into the door cage portion and not fully seal this corner of the boiler.

This final weld looks ok ( kind of ) but is leaks because the base ( door cage ) will not bind to the base part, I cannot get a good melt of the base .

What did I miss ...... ?



A want to learn amateur welder.

Cheers

Serge

 

[BrokenBiker]

might be a daft question, but what material are you trying to weld? Are you certain it is steel?

the pictures also look as if you haven't cleaned any of the weld area back to good metal before welding it, which will cause a few issues

what thickness is the material?

 

[sergelabonte]

The boiler is constructed from 1/4 inch boiler plate steel.

This is the design of the latest models , I just read that there may be stainless steel in some parts I will inquire. It could explain why the welding would not bind to the cage/door wall. I have been using mild steel only for this repair.

As to the cleanliness, I believe I understand that part, but the challenge is that there is a lot of rust from the fact this leak was occurring for a few seasons before I truly understood the problem and rust has built up a few layers on door/cage part . I do grind down to metal where I weld as best as possible. Access is a bit restrictive for grinder. On this note, the rust would tell me it is not stainless steel. But I will inquire with my maintenance/installer .

PS. a daft question ..... this is a term I do not know or a typo ?

Serge L

 

[BrokenBiker]

welding stainless steel with a mild steel filler, on the most part, is not an issue apart from corrosion later on.

you need to clean back to bare steel at least an inch all around the weld area in my opinion, remove any chance of contamination from the rust.

what amp welder do you have? 1/4 inch steel is quite thick and a hobby welder would struggle, approximately 200+ amps is needed for a full penetration weld, although 150 would probably do for this purpose.

after all that we come down to techniqu. If you are getting good fusion at the top and not the bottom maybe your torch angle is a bit wrong, needs to be at 45 degrees between the two parts being welded with a slight push angle in the direction of travel (unless you are pulling the puddle)

resist the urge to weave unless you have to, it lowers penetration

 

[Rig Pig]

Grind it out to good clean steel, putting some heat in with a blow lamp will help. What diameter wire are you using and what size welding plant? If you have a stick welder use that instead.

 

[sergelabonte]

welding stainless steel with a mild steel filler, on the most part, is not an issue apart from corrosion later on.

you need to clean back to bare steel at least an inch all around the weld area in my opinion, remove any chance of contamination from the rust.

what amp welder do you have? 1/4 inch steel is quite thick and a hobby welder would struggle, approximately 200+ amps is needed for a full penetration weld, although 150 would probably do for this purpose.

after all that we come down to techniqu. If you are getting good fusion at the top and not the bottom maybe your torch angle is a bit wrong, needs to be at 45 degrees between the two parts being welded with a slight push angle in the direction of travel (unless you are pulling the puddle)

resist the urge to weave unless you have to, it lowers penetration

Well it appears my welding was not as bad as I presented it at the beginning, when inspecting and later correcting my problem area, I found it to be a much smaller portion of the welding to have a weakness ( water would manage to get thru a small crack and yes the cause was rust ( not cleaned enough ) I now understand better. My final pass at correcting seams to have done the job right.

Thank-You for the good tips.

PS " Broken biker " is I assume riding , what kind of ride do you have ?