[AFR_Autoworks]

Welding roll cage.

That looks great Hollywood. You mentioned you were using 2T for this? How are you getting the nice flat dimes? Looks great! I am also assuming this is 4130?

[Hollywood1]

Thanks Big Gear Head! Nhra tech coming to look at cage, answer some questions and look at welds. Hopefully he will like everything. John

[Hollywood1]

Afr-here is another picture view. The weld is somewhat flat but this image shows it a little better of the profile. Step and pause technique, no pulse, and complete penetration to the mild steel tubing. If a person doesn't have color on anything that you weld, than your heat range is off or you need better gas coverage. The first picture I showed is not represented well by the camera. That other weld has all the colors of a rainbow so to speak. Chromoly should have the blue purple straw color as well or you are cooking the base metal into the weld.

[Hollywood1]

Here is a stainless header flange showing the colors.

[melsdad]

Here is my project for the day. I built a cart for my Thunderbolt. I TIG welded everything for the practice. I got a long way to go but I really enjoy it so far. Here is a few shots of my welds. I will take any advice your willing to give.





Brian

[melsdad]

Here is my project for the day. I built a cart for my Thunderbolt. I TIG welded everything for the practice. I got a long way to go but I really enjoy it so far. Here is a few shots of my welds. I will take any advice your willing to give.





Brian

[big gear head]

Looks like you need to add a little more wire to the welds. Some of them are undercut a little. It all comes with practice. You are doing good. Keep it up.

[melsdad]

The 90 deg. Corner joint for the handle is just a fusion weld. My welds are mostly gray. I was running 110 amps with gas set at about 18cfh. I'm guessing I'm not moving fast enough. Am I thinking correctly?

Brian

[melsdad]

Here is a fit up pic of the corner joint.


Brian

[melsdad]

Here is a fit up pic of the corner joint.


Brian

[Braehill]

Brian,
While learning to weld we try to get our welds to look consistent and seems to be easier to do without adding filler. That only works for a small few things that require welding. Learning how to add the filler is a key part of tig welding.You need to pay close attention to the puddle forming behind the arc while adding filler to the very leading edge only. The filler will be drawn in to the puddle and do 2 things, it fills it and cools it. The other thing that filler does is, it adds a few other metals to the mix which draw impurities out of the molten metal.

While you're welding Carbon steel you'll see a bright shiny red dot swirling around the puddle, it's an island of Silicon, some call it the Devil's eye. Try to keep this island in front of the arc throughout the whole weld. It's carrying impurities with it and when you terminate the weld you want them to be on top and cool there, not in the weld. If they're trapped within the weld puddle when you terminate you'll get a little volcano.

Keep a note pad handy and write down what works and more importantly, what doesn't. To be a good welder requires you to become a student of the weld itself. If something changes in the weld usually you should be able to go back and find something that you're doing differently. It sometimes can be the smallest thing.

You're doing fine though and with some time with your face glued to a helmet you'd be where you want to be.

Len

[big gear head]

Usually a fusion weld is no where near as strong as a weld with filler added. It's usually a bad idea. On the outside of your corner joint it's not too bad because it's easier to get full penetration. On the inside of the corner joint you need more filler than you would need on a flat area. Remember that the weld must be at least as thick as the thinnest part of the material that you are welding. If you are getting 100% penetration then you don't need a lot of filler. If you are not getting 100% penetration then you need more filler to make the weld thicker.

For the gray areas, if you need to go slow you can try pulsing. This helps with overheating.

[LtBadd]

Here is a fit up pic of the corner joint.


Brian

Brian, that fit up looks about as good as it can be, well done.
At the end of some of your welds you see what looks like a tit, some call it a butthole, as you taper off the amperage try moving the torch in a small circle to keep the puddle moving as it reduces in size, this will help to prevent this and the it'll look better.

[GreinTime]

Lol I've never called it a tit or a butthole, but I will now hahahahaha

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[Otto Nobedder]

Lol I've never called it a tit or a butthole, but I will now hahahahaha

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

If you stop too fast and leave a crater, it's a butthole. If you tail off too slow and leave a li'l mound, that's a tit.

Tits are preferred (naturally ), as you can just knock them off with a file.

Steve S

[LtBadd]

Lol I've never called it a tit or a butthole, but I will now hahahahaha

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

If you stop too fast and leave a crater, it's a butthole. If you tail off too slow and leave a li'l mound, that's a tit.

Tits are preferred (naturally ), as you can just knock them off with a file.

Steve S

Steve, thanks for the clarity, and the tip

[Arno]

Tits are preferred (naturally ), as you can just knock them off with a file.

Wow! That's a sentence that can be (ab)used out of context!

Bye, Arno.

[melsdad]

Brian,
While learning to weld we try to get our welds to look consistent and seems to be easier to do without adding filler. That only works for a small few things that require welding. Learning how to add the filler is a key part of tig welding.You need to pay close attention to the puddle forming behind the arc while adding filler to the very leading edge only. The filler will be drawn in to the puddle and do 2 things, it fills it and cools it. The other thing that filler does is, it adds a few other metals to the mix which draw impurities out of the molten metal.

While you're welding Carbon steel you'll see a bright shiny red dot swirling around the puddle, it's an island of Silicon, some call it the Devil's eye. Try to keep this island in front of the arc throughout the whole weld. It's carrying impurities with it and when you terminate the weld you want them to be on top and cool there, not in the weld. If they're trapped within the weld puddle when you terminate you'll get a little volcano.

Keep a note pad handy and write down what works and more importantly, what doesn't. To be a good welder requires you to become a student of the weld itself. If something changes in the weld usually you should be able to go back and find something that you're doing differently. It sometimes can be the smallest thing.

You're doing fine though and with some time with your face glued to a helmet you'd be where you want to be.

Len

Thanks Len I appreciate the advice! I definitely need a lot more time running beads on plate for practice. I do have some notes written down for different settings I have tried. They would probably only make sense to me, but I guess that is all that matters.

[melsdad]

Usually a fusion weld is no where near as strong as a weld with filler added. It's usually a bad idea. On the outside of your corner joint it's not too bad because it's easier to get full penetration. On the inside of the corner joint you need more filler than you would need on a flat area. Remember that the weld must be at least as thick as the thinnest part of the material that you are welding. If you are getting 100% penetration then you don't need a lot of filler. If you are not getting 100% penetration then you need more filler to make the weld thicker.

For the gray areas, if you need to go slow you can try pulsing. This helps with overheating.

Thanks for the advise gear head! Makes a lot of sense.

As far as the gray color. Am I correct in thinking I am not moving fast enough?

Any advice on where to start with pulse settings? That was 3/4" black pipe I welded.

[AFR_Autoworks]

Grey welds can be caused by allot of things. Most of the time it is the material becoming too hot. When working with small pieces you will notice the material heat soaks quickly. Once that happens the weld will stay cherry hot and be grey. Weld color is caused by how hot the material is AFTER it is no longer shielded by argon. Just a few points of advice if you are looking for a more colourful weld. If you have not already, invest in a gas lense! Usually a #7 or#8 are great all around cups. This will help keep your welds shielded while they cool. Keep your tungsten sharp. You will notice that if you have any contamination in the tungsten the arc will fan out and not be focused. This puts more overall heat into the material and not the weld itself. Focus your arc on the puddle. You will be prone to focus your arc at the piece of metal you are trying to melt. It is best to keep it focused at the puddle and use the arc to move the puddle. Keep a slow and steady travel. This will depend on what you are welding. When I started out I would travel way too fast because I was scared to put too much heat into the material. By increasing travel speed you also decrease the amount of time your weld is shielded. It becomes a balancing act between travel speed, amperage and material thickness/ overall size. Others may have more to add or disagree with me. I am completely self taught so these are just things that I have found to be really helpful for myself. Just keep practicing. Tig is a real challenge. So many factors determine how your welds will turn out

[dirtmidget33]

.

Any advice on where to start with pulse settings? That was 3/4" black pipe I welded.

I wouldn't even worry about pulsing yet, learn to do it without pulse it takes practice. Watch all of Jody's TIG videos and get seat time it will come as your technique gets better and faster. Currently you are prolly welding slower and with less amps putting heat into it. With time you will weld faster and at higher amperage Which will result in shinier welds.

[big gear head]

If you have a foot pedal then just use it to pulse. Push it down and get the puddle the size you want it, add filler, back off of the pedal some, move forward a little and do it again. Kind of like making a string of tack welds without completely loosing the puddle. This can help keep heat down in areas where you need to move slow.

[Hollywood1]

Thanks for all the tips and advice Big Gear Head. On the subject of roll cage fabrication for people do I need to be worried about any liability if someone gets hurt in a wreck at the track? Figured u might be able to shed some insight as u have built a few. Thanks John

[LtBadd]

Thanks for all the tips and advice Big Gear Head. On the subject of roll cage fabrication for people do I need to be worried about any liability if someone gets hurt in a wreck at the track? Figured u might be able to shed some insight as u have built a few. Thanks John

YES! (screaming from the back of the auditorium )

[dirtmidget33]

On the subject of roll cage fabrication for people do I need to be worried about any liability if someone gets hurt in a wreck at the track? Figured u might be able to shed some insight as u have built a few. Thanks John

Hell yes you can be sued. Sorry but this one made me chuckle a bit. Guess you don't pay attention to a lot of stuff that comes with your parts. If you haven't noticed a lot of time when buying racecar parts there is a warning basically stating that motorsports are dangerous activity and company is not sure exactly how the customer will use the parts with a claim that they are not liable for how the customer uses said product. Most chassis manufacturers also have a similar document drew up. Get a lawyer have him draw one up for you. NOW THIS STILL COULD MAKE YOU LIABLE. This piece of paper is there to help you in case of lawsuits.

I have a similar document customer signs one that I keep. It also states on the signed copy that customer got a copy of the release form. Like I said this is to help you in a lawsuit does not mean you can't still be sued. Even far parts that where produced by a company I sold parts for I still had them sign my release even though that company included statement in with that part. If you are not aware of it you sign a similar form when signing into pit area.