Brad’s got game! I wish I loved my dogs enough to buy them some of his work… sadly, my truck needs more love than they do

If you lay the torch back and “push” the puddle, then yes, you’ll diminish the shielding gas from protecting the puddle behind you. I’ll say it again, stainless “ain’t easy”. Heat shows all flaws in technique, equipment, speed, etc. But don’t despair, you will now be able to compare your next coupon...

One other nuance I notice about your beads is the torch angle. At the start, you look good, but as the heat changes, you seem to be tilting backwards causing the ridges to elongate and the HAZ to narrow. You need to be extremely sensitive to torch angle and distance with stainless. It is not toleran...

Start off running a bead with no filler. That will help you understand a stainless puddle, travel speed, and heat control. Once you get comfy with that, add filler. Stringers of stainless beads are very awkward. You should not ever really have a “proud” bead with stainless. Welds tend to be very flu...

110 amps is hot for 1/8” material. What size filler? Stainless gets hot quickly. If you are barely getting a puddle then add filler, the base will overheat before you get the puddle/filler merged. Try adding less filler or use smaller filler and add more as needed. Because the beads look “ropey” I’d...

Agree with Tweake. You have a gas flow issue. And you need to learn to taper off the amps near the end, even back step a bit while you add another dab of filler to avoid hot cracking. Aluminum is full of tricks to weld. Lastly, make sure you take some time to get your puddle before you move the torc...

I would ditch that type of blade and purchase an appropriate steel cutting blade (36-48 tooth). Those friction discs are too thick to make accurate cuts, deflect (as you discovered) under downward pressure, and basically take an age to get the job done. If you do opt for a steel cutting blade, use p...

Probably every fuel tank on a boat is aluminum, so not sure why some people believe them to be rare. I’ve fabricated 4 sets of them in the past year in fact. Ally or stainless can crack due to vibration. Especially when mounted to a trailer, so that’s a “wash” in why choosing one over the other. I’d...

For certain they are work-beasts. Transformer-based machines not the newer Inverter type. You won’t have as many fancy features, but skill and technique can easily overcome those. And for hobby-do welding, are they genuinely required anyway?

For the money, function over form pays.

You can always come back and use a 1/2 belt grinder air tool or tube polisher and grind back some of the weld before having it re-chromed. Should make it all disappear.

Ultimately ought to seek a rearward support solution to avoid this in the future…

I’ve not welded with a 330, but the only serious consideration to selling both and buying a single, new multi process machine is amperage and space. Most decent multi machines will run dual voltage, need a much smaller circuit breaker, and take up far less space than your two behemoths. So if those ...

I would say torch angle to shallow, like you’re pointing ahead. You want as close to 90* whenever possible which normally results in about a 15* lean in one direction. Your grind angle is fine, and the only thing that polished grind ensures is a clean, crisp start and no wandering arc. For practice,...

That’ll work!

Torch angle and too fast a travel speed. What grind angle do you have on your tungsten?

Indeed those are cold forged cranks, so yes, 4943. Slug then drill and threadsert would be my approach. I’d thread the slug and lock it in. You could do that with a weld or LocTite green.

Probably the more important feature would be a machine that is dual voltage. You’d find that machine is also likely to be a 200 amp box (the majority of welding is 200 or less). PrimeWeld makes a very good 225 machine, AC/DC, PULSE, etc for less than $1,000. Really hard to beat it. Can even buy it f...

1. By slugging the hole you can locate the new hole anywhere within it to relocate the correct center. I get it that you’re concerned about the edge thickness, but that will also be a concern with welding it up then retapping it. 2. Before I venture a guess on filler, the 9/16 tapped hole threads to...

The bottom bead shows too long of a torch movement between pauses. The middle bead is better. The top bead reflects heat-soaked base metal and thus your beads are not using sufficient filler to create a chilled puddle. You can quench mild steel between practice beads to cool the metal down without i...

3/32 tungsten is perfectly fine for welding 1/8” steel. I would suspect the travel speed is the culprit for your “smooth” beads. As Jack said, add enough filler while you pause your torch movement until the bead get to the proper width then move and pause again. The slight pause is what creates the ...

This might sound a bit complicated, but it is how I have done similar repairs in alloys with unknown specs. Take a solid piece of 6061 and thread the outside of it. Drill your damaged hole a size larger than now, then thread it internally. Use LocTite, and thread the solid bar into the old hole. The...

I don't know that you will get a firm answer to your question. As a general rule, employers will look at your certifications, but also equally important is your experience with that cert in prior employment. A good employer will see you have the skills and help you build the experience. They are har...

So does that piece support the exhaust pipe? If so, probably the weight of the exhaust (way thicker than needed tubing) is putting stress on the end since the bracket is not connected to the frame at the end. Does that make sense? Seeing the crack, I’d probably use a cut-off disc and slice into the ...

Grind off chrome. ER70-S6 (MIG wire) or S2 (TIG wire) work fine. You sure it’s chrome-plated mild steel? Use a magnet to verify. Some, not all, are polished stainless, even chromed stainless. I see more cracks in stainless from vibration, cracks in mild steel from rust/corrosion. Try to understand w...

I wouldn’t put too much time or energy into an Eastwood welding machine, especially trying to resolve AC issues. They are very low end boxes and don’t carry much in the way of resale value. You can buy a PrimeWeld 225 through Jody’s online store or Amazon for not a lot of money and get a very, very ...

Geezus Peezus, did a blind 4th grader weld those? There is not a chance in hell I’d put those on a car, let alone a pull-behind red wagon. If you are insane enough to spend the time trying to fix those, you’re in for a rude awakening. Those pipes might be 400 series stainless (which does rust) and w...