pre-heating for welding?

[inVERt'D]

I did welding in a fab shop for a few years. I think you guys are over thinking this. Or is it over dissecting.

Matter of perspective I suppose. If I take the trouble to design something, cut and fit all the pieces, and weld it all up, I don't want it to distort in a way I didn't anticipate, let alone turn into a wonky tribute to my folly. That's frustrating. I prefer tributes to my folly to turn out the way I planned them.:homer:

[curtis]

Don't get me wrong, the advice you gave him is perfect. But he is doing a battery box and some sheet metal. So I think if he just does short welds and hooks them together it will work for what he is doing.

You do great welds, but what you do takes a little more finesse than what he is trying to do.

[RAT]

what you do takes a little more finesse than what he is trying to do.

Vat is zis French verd you shpeak off? Finesse? Sounds like a brand off cat foodt...

[inVERt'D]

Thanks Curtis! Yeah I didn't know what he had in mind when I posted the bulk of that blah-blah. A bit too much for a battery box made of angle iron and strap. Like I said, by the time I got back to finish my post, I had missed some pertinent new info. I thought the question was more of a more general nature. When you're trying to do some things, distortion can be a big deal, and it can be surprising.

[inVERt'D]

Vat is zis French verd you shpeak off? Finesse? Sounds like a brand off cat foodt...

For me, making a weld is like making love to a beautiful woman...

[curtis]

For me, making a weld is like making love to a beautiful woman...

It shows in your work.

[inVERt'D]

It shows in your work.

Why thank you, Curtis


I think the OP may be AWOL?

[daniel_buck]

oi, what's going on here!? LOL I grab a few beers and spend some quality time in the garage, and here yall are messing around in my thread!! haha!

Wow, I'm really surprised you managed to significantly warp the 3/8" flat bar with the 110V MIG. How many passes and how much warpage? Got a photo?.

I was kinda thinking the same thing, I thought there would be no way I'd warp it, but it happened! IT was just one pass, but on both sides of the angle iron. Probably completely unnecessary, but because I don't get to weld as often as I'd like to, I weld up both sides when I can.

I think I have a photo before I welded the rest of it up. If not, I'll have the tray out to paint it this weekend, I'll grab a photo then.

[daniel_buck]

The first photo here, this is the one that bent the most. The bottom flat bar is 3/8", which is the piece that bowed a bit. And the angle iron is 1/8". Probably over kill, but I welded it all around (get any practice in that I can!)




The other two photos, show a bent piece of 3/8" flat bar, welded up to another piece of 1/8" angle iron. Here, I bent the flat bar and tack welded the angle iron to match the angle of the frame, and still keep the top side of the angle iron level. But after I did all the final welds, the angle was off! Something bent.

Granted, yes, the battery sits just fine in there, it's not that big of a deal. But since I'm doing more and more of this metal work, I'd like to try and get better at it, learn when somethings going to bend, and how much

(edit) Oh and it may not look like I cleaned the metal in these photos, but I put a wire wheel on my bench grinder to all the edges and sides of the metal pieces that got welded, to remove the mill scale. I think I need a heavier wire wheel though, I don't think I got all the way down to bare steel in some of the pieces.

[RAT]

Daniel,
Too much weld for that small part. You don't have to wrap the part in weld, especially if its not strctural. Make short fast welds about 1/3 the length of the part. That is more than enough. Remember, even with the weakest weld wire, 1 inch of proper weld has a tensile strength of 18, 000 psi. You can tack weld that battery box and it will be more than strong enough.
Still weld it on all sides to support the part from torsional stress but use small welds. If I'm not making sense sorry. Cant draw on my phone.

[daniel_buck]

Oh and for the record, not 3/8", I'm stupid with fractions. it's 3/16"

And yea, I know the welds are over kill, tack welds probably would have been fine. But I don't get to weld all that often, so I take any opportunity to run some welds for practice, even if it doesn't need to be fully welded.

[Lumpy Grits]

DB, turn the heat up 1 notch.
Not seeing much 'penetration' in the bead.
Also, make a pass then let it cool then make another pass etc.
LG

[daniel_buck]

It's up all the way! Only way I can get more juice is to plug it into 220, but I don't have 220 power at my place :-\

For this particular instance, I was using .024 wire, normally with something thicker like this I would use .035, but I had the 024 in the machine already.

[Lumpy Grits]

Slow the feed down and work the 'puddle' more.
AR us'n a gas shield?
LG

[daniel_buck]

I'll try slowing the feed

Yes, I'm using the typical Argon/Co2 mix at around 10psi I think.