Welding Tips and Tricks

Howdy,

signed up here since as a hobbyist weldor, I found myself getting directed to the site on my frequent Google searches, and liked the place.

Currently OA welding some bike exhaust headers in 304; was having some issues (turned out to be the flap wheel on the grinder - the "cleaning" implement was bringing contamination to the party!). What little experience I have has been with TIG, so it's fun to try somethin' new.

Now, off to go melt more metal.

*for those of you outside the Seattle area, Mountlake Terrace is 5 mi. N of the Seattle city limit, boasting one postal code, but two, count 'em two grocery stores

-WN

Welcome, and hopefully you'll get plenty information here!

I'm down in the south end of Pierce county, in a small community that sprawls across two or three zip codes, and no particular city center to count the grocery stores located within.

Welcome, carfarmer.

I'm welding 304 bike exhaust at the moment too, but with Tig. Would love to see pics of the results you are getting with OA.


Cheers,


Kym

You might want dramamine first... am learning how to gas weld.

Wish it was easy like TIG!

Anyway, I ran out and snapped a couple cell phone pics. .06" wall 304 tube, .045" R308L filler rod, both sides of tube coated with Solar Flux B, and a little on the filler rod, too.
You might want dramamine first... am learning how to gas weld.

Wish it was easy like TIG!

Anyway, I ran out and snapped a couple cell phone pics. .06" wall 304 tube, .045" R308L filler rod, both sides of tube coated with Solar Flux B, and a little on the filler rod, too.

What I learned: a thin coat works okay; globbing it on too thick (especially on the top surface) makes a bunch of crud that boils on top of the metal and kinda gets in the way. On the inside of the tube, I don't think a little extra will hurt. The filler wets in and flows nicer with a thin coat, too. I found that it was noticable if I ran past where the rod was fluxed.

I had a couple pinholes I found after the sections were welded together where I had no access to the inside of the weld. I took a small carbide burr on a Dremel, and poked a 3-4mm hole thru @ the pinhole. Then, I loaded as much flux as possible thru the hole; that seemed to work ok.

Hope this helps. BTW, what kind of bike are you working on?

-WN

Welcome to the forum.