Welding practice

[Hybrid]

i pride myself on my welding and respect all good welders immensely.
however...
yesterday i was shown something pretty funny at work

take a toothbrush(preferably ergonomic handle), pull out all the bristles and file end of brush square with small radii on corners.

clean the area to be welded thoroughly with a wire brush.

apply a generous fillet of silicone to the area to be welded.

use the toothbrush to form the desired fillet size and pool pattern.

allow to cool, wire brush and paint.

you now have a perfect looking imitation fillet weld.


one thing i am learning in my apprenticeship is there are two types of tradesmen. those whome you should look to to learn from and those who put out trade to shame.

I think my body/engine mounts would fall off if I just did a silicone fillet weld.

[bru21]

i pride myself on my welding and respect all good welders immensely.

amen bro.

i use both and feel a well used arc is often better than a mig on flats but up hill arc takes great skill where a mig is a no brainer.

however for an 'L' plater try (although a tad weaker than a good skilled vertical weld better than another poor attempt)

set the current a little high say 20% over. get you rod hot on a bit of steel clamped near the weld till it ignightes quickly. then on the clean surface give a full tack at the bottom for about 4 seconds, quickly chip the flux and repeat half overlapping above. try to be quick to retain heat.

its not an ideal method but will work

hope this helps bru

[V8Patrol]

one thing i am learning in my apprenticeship is there are two types of tradesmen. those whom you should look to to learn from and those who put out trade to shame.

I recall that one of my early employers used a simmilar "tip" to 99% of the welds done in the shop.

He INSISTED that bog, yep good old body filla, was applied to each weld to give it a uniform and neaty finished product look....... We applied it with our finger, nothing flash like a tooth brush !
The bog wasnt sanded or touched in anyway after it was applied it was simply painted over in metal primer and I must admit it looked quite neat in its appearance/finish.

I also know he later got into a heap of trouble after a structal beam fell appart onsite.......
Apparently it had been tack welded only and someone else had then applied the traditional smear of bog without looking at it correctly.... I know he still does the bog thing to this day even after such a big opps !

He's the only one that I know of that has the bog thing as part of his normal practice other than panel beaters.......come to think of it there could be a major time saving factor to be had here, betta duck down to supercheap !

Kingy

[mickbeny]

Hi all...The welds i do get Xrayed,If i bogged them they would fail and then i would lose my job.


peace...