dartfreak75
Restore it, Dont part it!
I am gonna have to get me some c channel stock to clamp down as a jig I tried using angle iron it just wont hold straight.
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dartfreak75
Restore it, Dont part it!
The thickness is 1/4 I will try will add more bevel and slow the speed down and try it again that's why I cut that piece to practice on I'm a noob at welding so I wanted to get some practice before the real things it's a harbor freight 125 flux core welder the heat is all the way up. I'm a little concerned it's not gonna be enough welder for this job but I'm gonna give it a try! Thanks alot guys for your advice I truly appreciate it!
dartfreak75
Restore it, Dont part it!
Here is a close up pic of the bevel that's on each side i can make it steeper. I have about an 1/8 of an inch to play with
dartfreak75
Restore it, Dont part it!
Thank you I will give that a try
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Do you have a small carpenter's square? The corner is 90° you need to lay each end of the tube back at 45° to equal 90°. This way your weld will penetrate further. You want it to get to the bottom of the tube all the way around. You need to give it more room to be able to do that. Look at the pix of my tube prepped on the 8.8 thread prior to welding you will see how far you have to go to get to a 90° V notch.
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Ok, heres some pix. The red lines represent what you got going on which is about 20° per side equalling about a total of a 40° V notch. The blue marks are 45° per side equaling a total of 90°
you need more width, and depth, and the tubes need to be ground down to damn near a point all the way around to get full penetration. If you dont do that and get a good solid weld, I would not recommend grinding any of the excess off to make a smooth tube since It will eventually break.
you need more width, and depth, and the tubes need to be ground down to damn near a point all the way around to get full penetration. If you dont do that and get a good solid weld, I would not recommend grinding any of the excess off to make a smooth tube since It will eventually break.
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moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Not quite 1/4" on the tubes. Its closer to 3/16" wall thickness.
Oldiron440
Well-Known Member
Personally I would get this all set up with the recommended grove and clamped with C chanel and make three decent tack welds and find a qualified welder to finish the job. Same thing with the perches.
I'm not trying to be a jerk but ive welded for 40 years and I pay to have my rear axles put together.
I'm not trying to be a jerk but ive welded for 40 years and I pay to have my rear axles put together.
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
I agree, except I would put a minimum of 4, or maximum of 8 tack welds. If your welding skillz are less than stellar, then your much better off paying somebody who's a professional to use a mig welder to put a nice full penetrating hot weld in there.
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Oldiron440
Well-Known Member
The axle tubes need to be fully welded to the center also.
Basically what you need to do with a 12 bolt Chevy you need to do to a 8.8 Ford.
And yes I have seen the center of a 12 bolt Chevy break free and point strait up on a 12 second 4 speed Nova.
Basically what you need to do with a 12 bolt Chevy you need to do to a 8.8 Ford.
And yes I have seen the center of a 12 bolt Chevy break free and point strait up on a 12 second 4 speed Nova.
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dartfreak75
Restore it, Dont part it!
Maybe a stupid question but just a thought would it help to heat up the metal with torch right before I started welding would that help at all? Or does the wire itself need to be hotter?
dartfreak75
Restore it, Dont part it!
Yea I planned on doing that. I'm not sure why they aren't from the factory
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
You cannot use that flux core welder to weld the tubes to the housing since the housing is cast iron. That will need to be done with a TIG welder and a certain type of rod. Cant remember which rod they mentioned in a video I watched. I do know flux core and mig solid core wire machines wont do it. All the factory did was press the tube in and plug weld the tube in a handful of locations.
You dont need to pre heat the tube, if the machines turned up for the heat all the way, then slow down the wire feed, and work the puddle slower.
You dont need to pre heat the tube, if the machines turned up for the heat all the way, then slow down the wire feed, and work the puddle slower.
dartfreak75
Restore it, Dont part it!
I got some more welding practice in today I did like yall told me and slowed my wire down. It does look alot better. I went from 9 to 6 it really seems to like about 6 to 7. I made two beads with the blue devil .030 wire then switched over to the .035 Lincoln wire it seems to run alot better to me I can see my puddle alot better and it doesn't splatter around as bad as the other. I went the rest of the way around my scrap piece with the Lincoln wire it looks pretty good to me. Then I fabricated a contraption just to practice with and try some different angles and such. I'm gonna post the pics in different post because my phone dont always down load in the right order. These are the pics from the blue devil .030 wire at 6 on my speed
dartfreak75
Restore it, Dont part it!
These are the Lincoln wire at the same speed. And the contraption I built lol
How do these welds look? Better?
How do these welds look? Better?
dartfreak75
Restore it, Dont part it!
More
Shaping up, good to practice.
A nice weld bead has same strength as the base metal.
Showing some progress there. There is one big tip that often does not get brought up. Be sure you an see the puddle! Seems pretty basic, you'd be surprised how much better your welds will be. I would also recommend you clean the entire weld area before you start burning wire. A flap disc on your angle grinder will make quick work of it.
The 4 Key Points of Welding:
Heat
Angle
Distance
Speed (of travel, and/or wire speed)
Coordinate all of these together and you can get perfect looking welds. Gravity plays a part too pulling on the molten puddle as you are moving along.
As Gearhed73 stated above, clean up the axle tubes before welding . . get the rust off. It will be a stronger more pure weld and won't spatter so much.
Heat
Angle
Distance
Speed (of travel, and/or wire speed)
Coordinate all of these together and you can get perfect looking welds. Gravity plays a part too pulling on the molten puddle as you are moving along.
As Gearhed73 stated above, clean up the axle tubes before welding . . get the rust off. It will be a stronger more pure weld and won't spatter so much.
dartfreak75
Restore it, Dont part it!
Thank you. I really appreciate the advice. I can tell a big difference with the Lincoln wire like you said I can actually see the puddle. Before there was so much splatter I couldnt really see much.
dartfreak75
Restore it, Dont part it!
The angles is something I'm having trouble with. I cant seem to be constant. What angle do you recommend? And how far away (how long my wire) should I be with the tip. About 3/4 of an inch seems to run a smoother bead but the closer I get the better i can see the puddle.
mopowers
Well-Known Member
I would clean off the surfaces your welding with a wire wheel before welding. You'd be surprised how much of a difference a clean surface can make. Hit the welded surface with the wire wheel as well so you can see your progress better.
About 15° is a good angle to start with, pushing the protective gas just forward of your weld so you are welding into it as you move along. The gas shield protects the molten puddle from the impurities of our atmosphere as you are welding.
Best practice to get the angle down is to take two 12" long x 1" wide pieces of new flat stock gapped at 1/16" laying side by side. Then practice starting at 15° moving the angle until you find your sweet spot for a nice looking, good penetrating weld.
Can test the stength of your weld by putting it in a vice and trying to fold it over. Can also visually see the penetration depth on the back side too.
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