Welding Tips and Tricks

Got another project out the door today, one of the more challenging ones lately. Really enjoy these projects every now and then. Instead of just grinding and running beads.

Its a 48" tree spade for a Bobcat, the guy running it hit the wrong button and dropped one of the spades while driving full speed on pavement. Completely twisted the 3/8" C Channel guide rail. I did try straightening but quickly gave up. Since the the blades need to slide smoothly up and down I figured my best bet was to chop it off and weld on a new section.

Once I got the angles right I held it together with a short arc root, ground out the tacks, and them welded it out with some 0.45 dual shield. Blend it back down, slap on some mismatched spray paint and call it good! Runs nice and smooth now, but man. Hope he doesn't do that again!



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JayWal wrote: Once I got the angles right I held it together with a short arc root, ground out the tacks, and them welded it out with some 0.45 dual shield. Blend it back down, slap on some mismatched spray paint and call it good! Runs nice and smooth now, but man. Hope he doesn't do that again!

May I ask, did you only weld that from the top side? I would be concerned at the stress on that connection when they dig a tree up as the top of the channel will bear directly on that seam. Might require more weld above the surface to prevent a future crack. Might.

I say this only due to a prior experience. The guy hung the channel on an overhead beam and bent it like a banana. Original repair was done as you described. Lasted until they tried to replant a mature tree at which point the channel cracked. I ground that out and poured FC in, and above on all 3 sides. Even ground a groove in from the back to pay some bead in there.

Now its entirely possible the first repair was not done as well as yours, but only making a polite inquiry and observation.

I beveled both ends to a knife edge, and tried to get as close as possible to 100% penetration, hence the short arc root. I did get some reinforcement through to the back side that I had to smooth down so I know I got full pen on pretty much all the the joint. I was simply trying to avoid having to grind and blend too much inside the C channel.

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Nice

turned out good