Welding Tips and Tricks

Unfortunately I got stuck with the task of patching a couple small holes and cracks in an old beat up Cat e70b bucket at work.
I've done a temporary patch early this spring just so we could finish a job and its come time to fix it somewhat right. Any body got any tips for me like should I just clean it up and burn a plate in with 6011 or should I use 7018? Does the patch need to be anything special or just a somewhat matches sized piece of carbon steel? The only working welder here at the moment it a Lincoin 225 Ac so that kinda limits me.
Alright guys and gals thanks in advance for any info you can share with me
Jon

No expert but have you considered hard facing. If this isn't an option I'd clean it as much as possible and since you can only run AC I'd go with the 6011 and some 1/8" or 3/16"plate and weld it all around.

if it was me i would do the intial weld on the crack with 6011 and then go over it with some 7018-AC rods.

Patch material should be determined by factors like if this is a wear spot or if it's a stress point. I would also grind it out good. If it's a crack then grind it all the way through. Weld it with 6010 or 6011 and then cap it and layer over it with 7018.

Grind it, clean it. Spend a lot of time doing that. Get down to base metal. Make your root with your 6010, clean with a grinder - that might be the easiest way - top off with your 7018. On the reverse side, grind down to base metal, repeat the process. I know some of the other guys have suggested something like this, but that is my .02 cents!
Gary

If any of it is on the front of that bucket where it digs into the ground then you might wanna consider using hard facing rod. That stuff is ultra durable and made for tasks just like this. Just be aware that it will pop and ping and throw small pieces of metal at you for hours on end after you finish welding with it. It's not uncommon to have it still poping when you come back into work the next morning.

Boomer63 wrote:Grind it, clean it. Spend a lot of time doing that. Get down to base metal. Make your root with your 6010, clean with a grinder - that might be the easiest way - top off with your 7018. On the reverse side, grind down to base metal, repeat the process. I know some of the other guys have suggested something like this, but that is my .02 cents!
Gary

I could agree with 6010, but with an AC only stick welder, 6011 probably the next best thing.

Thanks for all the tips and advice guys I'm getting the bucket cleaned up in the next evening or 2 then I'm going to try to borrow my buddies diesel powered dc welder for a weekend. If I can get it I'm going to hit it with some 6010 then 7018s. None of the cracks or holes I currently know of are on the work face of the bucket but if I find any I'll look into the hard facing rods. I plan on running a few sticks of 1/4 x3 plate the with of the bucket for wear pads and to try to reinforce the corners where the steels running thin

most metals used on equipment are tempered steel so don't forget to preheat or you just might comeback the next day to see cracks.