Welding past the capabilities of my welder.

[xoltri]

I have been building a go-kart off and on for the last couple years. It isn't much to look at yet since I have not had a welder, but I did do a bunch of prep work including making these bits (see picture) out of 1/4" steel for the spindles. These are used for hinges to support the rear frame that has suspension, and they are also what the front wheels will mount to for steering.

Now I finally bought a Clarke 125EN welder a couple weeks ago, so I am anxious to get to work.

The problem is my welder cannot do 1/4 inch. This is the only 1/4 inch thick metal on this project so I was hoping with a bunch of prep work it would be possible.

With a deep V groove on the back, preheating with a propane torch, flux wire, multiple passes, welding on both sides; is this possible to weld properly? Or is it so far out of the range of this welder as to be impossible?

I have seen the article on welding thick steel on this site which was pretty informative (this is an awesome site), but that was single pass. Does anyone here have real-world experience pushing the limits of their hobby welder to this extent?

 

[Drains]

Forget it on that thickness on yer wee mig. It could be done, but what a lot of hassle, and at the end of it, welds of dubious strength, and it's important for your application.

You need a stick welder. A few quid for the set - up to 100A, and some 2.5mm rods. A load of scrap to learn on, and you're away.

That's what i'd do if I had an underpowered Mig set.

 

[vaughanf]

Forget it on that thickness on yer wee mig. It could be done, but what a lot of hassle, and at the end of it, welds of dubious strength, and it's important for your application.

You need a stick welder. A few quid for the set - up to 100A, and some 2.5mm rods. A load of scrap to learn on, and you're away.

That's what i'd do if I had an underpowered Mig set.

That's what I did when I was faced with a similar situation. Worked a treat. Even a really cheap arc set, while not being that easy to use, should do the job you need it to.

 

[xoltri]

Well I gave it a go tonight. Keep in mind I have literally about 90 seconds of any type of welding under my belt. I do appreciate the advice so far. It was a tough enough job getting 'permission' from my wife to buy the welder I have so I have to try and make do.

I used some scraps to practice. First I ground a very deep V in the steel like this (didn't get an actual picture).

I have a magnet jig that i used to line up the pieces. I left about a 1/32 root gap. The pieces weren't perfectly at 90 degrees because one was lumpy from past welds, but this is just for practice.

I tacked the pieces at both ends so I could remove it from the jig, then I heated it for about a minute with the propane torch so I could feel the heat off of it from about 3 inches away with my hand (not sure if this makes a difference).

Then I went to town with the welder. I used a zig-zag pattern back and forth, pulled the torch with it pointing directly into the V and at about a 20 degree angle parallel with the V so I could see the pool.

It nearly filled it up in one pass, but I missed a spot a bit so I cleaned the slag and went over that part again. It did not penetrate all the way through so I followed up with a weld on the other side.

Here's what it looks like from the side that had the V:

I have a chop saw so I cut it in half perpendicular to the weld. Not sure exactly what to look for but it looks good (click for full size):



I tried breaking it with a 5lb sledge on concrete and I could not break it.

So let me know what you think. It was a bit of work, but less work than it would be to ask my wife for permission to by a second welder only 2 weeks since I got the first one.

 

[storm monkey]

V groove and welded both sides should do it. Even if you don't get full penetration, you should achieve enough combined throat thickness to take the stresses, but it looks like you have got all the way through anyway. Can you clean the weld up with a fine file (the section above), then spray with WD40 and take another picture. Should make it easier tell the weld material from the parent plate.

Phil

 

[xoltri]

Sure, I'll polish it up and take another picture.

 

[Hitch]

Looks like a tiny spot missed in the middle, but welded both sides, that looks like it'll be fine. Perhaps weld a touch further, to fill in the small crater at the end as you finish.

Depending on how they are fixed to the frames, you might even have the oppertunity to get a bit more around them where they mount...

 

[xoltri]

I polished them up and here they are. You can see an imperfection in the middle, maybe a slag inclusion? I'm sure with better technique I could get rid of that, maybe a better fitting V groove would help also.

 

[shenion]

Probably lack of fusion welding one side of the V and the weld pool just spilling over to the other side.

Looks good though. If it is gasless, it could be slag inclusion. That become more of a problem when you don't have enough heat to burn though it.