Welding Tips and Tricks

Evening,

The reason I'm trying to weld on black steel is to fix a propane burner on to a Green Chile roaster. My plan is to cradle it on a piece of angle iron and weld in place on the tee's because that would be the only point of contact and also weld a piece of tube around the orifice so that air can be drawn from behind the orifice too. Judging by the name it sounds like it has a high carbon content.

I know I could use U-bolts, but I think that might look "tacky" being that this project is not for me.

The "black" part of the name is a description of the surface cover only, not metallurgical or anything. The black is paint (or something) to prevent rust. Clean down to shiny bare metal before welding and you should be good to go.

If those are threaded tees then I would recommend not welding them. If you want to weld it get some socket weld fittings. There designed for this and will give you a better result.

It is regular mild steel but has some kind of coating plus a layer of varnish or lacquer on it. That coating must be removed or you will have a nightmare trying to weld it. It doesn't sound like you are welding the tees and pipes togther, only tacking the tees to an angle cradle so you should be ok. It welds fine with the coating stripped off.

Thanks for the input,

After the "yes", "no's" even outside of this forum. I'm going to play it safe and fix it with U-Bolts.

For the next roasters I'll make manifolds and thread it for the all the brass fittings.

I looked into the socket weld fittings and found the right one.

That looks better. Another good option if your going to weld it is any of the forged steel fittings. You can get a half coupling that will save you just a little space over thread-olets.

It sounds as if you want a method of attachment as well?

There are several pipe standoff's on the market that would look very professional - or copy/modify a style that works better for you.

Dave is spot on! It may cost a bit more for the right fittings and supports but it makes things look professional. There's always a place for down, dirty, and quick.