Welding Tips and Tricks

So, I'm putting together an Online Learning module for an industry body involved in construction. The deal is that I take care of the words, they supply and take care of everything else.

This is the photo that they have supplied as an example of 'welding as a construction system for steel framework'.

Oh dear.


Kym

Hell yea that's how it's done! lol

Yep.

Apparently one of steel's weaknesses in construction applications is that it can fail through fatigue. To demonstrate this, the e-learning group I am working with have included a close-up photo.

Of a fatigue crack.

On a bicycle frame.

An aluminium bicycle frame!





Kym

Wow there two for two!

Lucky you know where its at. So many companies let artists go wild with pictures and end up with terrible terrible content

weldin mike 27 wrote:Lucky you know where its at. So many companies let artists go wild with pictures and end up with terrible terrible content

Yes, I am sending this module back to its author for rewriting. The description of welding and its applications...there is just a lot of guesswork going on in this document, which is, after all, supposed to be part of an educational resource for industry professionals.

The scary thing is that, had this been handed to a writer with no knowledge of welding, the whole module would have been finalised with all mistakes built-in permanently. Wow.


Kym

That kind of weld perfectly illustrates the first steps in stick welding. Now once that's over with, throw the Satincrafts in the bin and buy some better rods, then throw those in the bin and buy a mig

Seriously my first welding table had joints on it like those. Once I got the bugs out of my welding I chopped it up and made a real welding table before anyone saw the first one.

the pic that sold a thousand grinding disc

Kym,

I've considered more than once become a technical writer or proofreader. I have the vocabulary and writing skills, and a knowledge of several crafts, so at times it seems a good fit for some side-money work. Then, I see nonsense like this.

That aluminum bicycle frame is actually a steel picket to a handrail in a balustrade, and whomever "welded" that pile of opossum manure should be whipped publicly.

Steve S

Now that the owner of that weld has obviously mastered welding steel together, he has taken his box of 6013 Satincrafts and the handy suitcase welder he bought at the hardware store and is now working on his first box trailer


Seriously, anyone here ever used Satincraft 13's. Is it just me or do they make welds like that for everyone? Someone once told me they were developed for automotive repair on body work i.e. fast welds on thin sheet metal. And somehow they just became a general purpose rod. Everything I've used since is significantly better.

MosquitoMoto wrote:Yep.

Apparently one of steel's weaknesses in construction applications is that it can fail through fatigue.

Can is the keyword, and its a strength, not weakness, of using Steel for structural. Steel has a fatigue limit, which mean if youre below that stress level it will hold forever.

Aluminium is also used for structural but doesnt have a fatigue limit. Meaning, it will fail due to fatigue sooner or later. If done correct time to failure is very long though.

Using the photos of the aluminium you describe isnt wrong but you need magnification pictures of the fractured surfaces to determine if its a fatigue failure or not.

I've seen awesome pipe caps done with satincraft13 plenty of times. I avoid it like the plague because I get bird poop every time. If I must use 6013 I will use WIA rods but its been a long time.


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Satincraft 6013s are ok for flat work, done a few "non critical" handrails at work(lead refinery), with a wide bevel with little to no land they lay in nice and flat. No need for a grind smooth after.
People say they dont make a strong weld but these get belted with 1T crust butts constantly hanging from a crane none have broken or cracked yet(done a few years ago).They do have one side plated in though, Ithink it was 75x5mm sq tube or whatever the aussie standard tube size is

I think 6013's need good prep to be successful and run them hot... in a easy position forget vertical up as they freeze to slowly imho.

I like satincraft 13s and use them regularly. But I suck at vertical so I can't comment. 12xps are a far better rod for verts though. I don't have enough spare cash to buy my preferred rods, so I make do with what I have got. (Murex, Esab and some free horrible Bohler ones)