Not a complete hack

No pictures yet. First attempt sucked. On the outside, the weld looks OK but I'm not penetrating into the sleeve. First problem was my gap was to tight. It's a tight 1/8th when it should have been closer to 3/16ths. My bevel is about 45 degrees. I forgot to mention that the spec also calls for pulse...

On vacation. Never done this before but might be required to do it soon so off to the scrap pile for something to do a test joint with. The specification calls for a 60 degree bevel, a sleeve and one material thickness gap. Haven't done any aluminum for over a year so this will be interesting. Wish ...

What got me thinking or perhaps over thinking this is how my friend interfaces his spool gun with his diesel powered stick welding machine. He bought this rig probably 25 years ago. I assume he must have some interface between the power source and the spool gun. I would guess this interface would ha...

Stick welding it's amps. Tig welding it's amps. Plasma cutting it's amps. Why is MIG welding volts?

I don't know if I missed it reading through this thread but because my machine does both AC and DC I bought a box of 7018AC specific rod to try and never did. I think I read elsewhere that the AC specific rod can be used on DC as well. Will it work well on DC? I'll grab some scrap and go both ways w...

Better then my first ones

Nothing wrong with removing a section of the bed, replace the few crossmembers, weld the bed section back on. A plasma with straight edge, or cutting wheel on a 7" grinder, will make a clean cut that is easy to weld back together. That's a option that I had not considered and a damn good one a...

Nothing wrong with removing a section of the bed, replace the few crossmembers, weld the bed section back on. A plasma with straight edge, or cutting wheel on a 7" grinder, will make a clean cut that is easy to weld back together. That's a option that I had not considered and a damn good one a...

Oh, and then the next decision to make is how to stick it together. It's going to have to be done outside where it is usually breezy. Probably to much wind for mig. I have never done flux core so I may buy some and try some overhead test fillets or just stick weld. Done very little stick in the past...

Might have a small rot project to repair. Have to repair or replace some 2 inch square tubing cross members on a flat bead. After looking at this I think cutting them out and replacing them is probably not cost effective. They support the bed on top of the main frame. The bed would have to be comple...

Might even try freezing it before the flap disk. That might allow it to sand off without smearing. The harder you press it with a grinder the hotter it gets and starts to soften then smear.

Powder coating is tougher then I thought. Tried scraping it off with and without heat and just made a mess. Tried my 4" grinder with a wheel and the paint smeared like snot. Going to Harbor Freight today and buy some cheap flap disks to try so if they load up with snot I won't mind throwing the...

I had two of them that went up in a building fire (not my fault). I loved those little migs. Not the most powerful but extremely user friendly. On the machine there was only two knobs One to select between weld or stitch and the other for steel or aluminum. The gun had a potentiometer for wire speed...

Never thought about this much as I never have done any titanium but could you buy a cheap Harbor Freight sand blasting cabinet and modify it into a small part welding chamber?

If I do this job I'll be forced to buy a new TIG torch. This big 250 amp water cooled torch sucks for working on small projects in tight quarters Need a nice 150-200 amp air cooled flex-loc with that nice small flex cable. The cable on the torch I have is like a vacuum cleaner hose.

If you are successful and you manage to get it retested and certified, then you might be placing yourself ahead of the coming curve for future repairs like this. That kind of experience could be very profitable. Might not be the path your planning on, but money talks. Been there, done that turning ...

Like this

I have a offer in on this car based on worst case. If and when it gets here, the first thing that happens is the door and rocker panel come off and 8 measurements will be taken. If those 8 measurements jive, I will be doing minor surgery and not a transplant. A transplant includes a lot of cutting a...

Try AL without filler once. ;) Don't worry-tacks without filler I have done a few times and found out real quick why not to. Got an inch into a butt joint and I heard a pop and about half way down it turned into a lap joint. T-joint on aluminum I wouldn't do but if it wasn't critical outside corner...

This is a very rough sketch of what I plan on removing from the OEM frame for access to straighten it out. I think it can be done with no problem and in under a day. The alternative is remove the engine cradle, suspension, drivers side interior, floor, cross members and supports. Then sawzall the fr...

OK I only have one picture so ask 3 or 4 more times and it might help. The yellow line is where it is. The red line is where it's supposed to be. I know exactly how I'm going to attempt the repair. How to do it is not the issue. It will be a sleeved repair using ER 5356 filler rod. I'm just looking ...

Hey, I just a dumbass country boy my self. Right click on the picture and save it to "my pictures" in a .jpg format. Open it in 'my pictures" and you will have the option to "zoom" it. In the picture you are seeing 100% of the damage.

IITYWYBMAD

Instead of cutting out a piece, would it be possible to weld in a correctly shaped piece that restores the original box section size of the frame. I'm not sure what the original frame looks like, so can't tell if the frame is just pushed in, or if it's also been increased in size vertically. Are yo...

click on the picture. It will open up to the full image. It is the only one I have at this time. If you can't see it, it's time to ditch the beer