Press Shelf

[Omniata]

Had a quick go today of making a shelf for a press, pics as follows:

Old one bent to buggary so went for thicker section.
Pity about the time of year though, went dark and so cold my disposable gas cylinder froze up ...

 

[Omniata]

I was hoping for a little feedback on the welds in the first two pics?

The previous table was about half to a third the thickness on all sections and the two right angled pieces joining them only appeared to be tacked together...

The new C channel is 8mm thick on the sides and 6mm thick on the web, 100mm high by 50mm wide, the flat steel bar cross sections are 6mm thick and the right angles are 4mm thick...

I prepped the ends by grinding to a 45° angle and leaving a 1mm to 2mm flat on the end faces...

 

[Paul.]

Hi
It looks like the weld is cold to be honest, my guess is that the machine is trying to work beyond its limits. that thickness of material is better welded with an electrode unless of course you have a pro mig set, this was a fillet I arc welded last week on site, off a 13 amp inverter, material is 100 x 50 x 6 PFC, If your going to be doing any amount of this type of work its worth having an arc welder, even a cheap buzz box is ok for diy stuff,
What does your shelf do, if its carrying any amount of weight or is safety related, a grind out and reweld might be wise.

 

[Omniata]

Bit awkward to grind out now

It's going to take a bit of weight on a 10 ton press, vast improvement on the old on though...
I cut through the welds on a few pieces of scrap and polished them up, seemed to go right through. I tried preheating the metal and I passed over the welds a second time to double up...

I was going to go over them with a stick on about 80A to 100A with 6013's to give a good second weld....

My friend bent the old one into a U shape and was stood at the side like an idiot when it split. He's still struggling to walk and has a very "black" leg...

Warned him it wasn't designed for that kind of stress but as usual "It's been fine before it'll be fine now..."

Sadly I can't afford a pro set at the minute and it was on the very top end of what my hobby mig's rated at...

So do you think grinding out and redoing would be the best bet ?
I always struggle welding into corners though any tips??

 

[Paul.]

You'll always need the amps up on an inside fillet weld like that, there's a lot of metal to heat up, if you can get in to grind out in to the root and then arc weld it that would be the best way, you can multi run it with stringers rather than a weave to build up some reinforcement, aim to get about 6 mm leg length on the finished fillet,

 

[Omniata]

Many thanks, seriously appreciated.

First major welding task in 8 months since my son was born so am a bit rusty...

 

[snowcat]

It will be a good idea to gusset the channel on the outside about 6" long where the arbor pushes (I'm guessing the middle) over wise Chanel has a habit of rolling, some 6mm plate will form a nice strong box, do the same on both sides.....

 

[Omniata]

Good idea, thought about it but wasn't sure it'd be worth it...

Many thanks...