Welding Tips and Tricks

I am fabricating a slightly tapered c-channel. The top and the web of the c-channel will be 1/8". The bottom will be 3/16" thick. I am looking for tips to control distortion when i'm welding this thing together. I don't have any fancy heavy duty square clamps to try to clamp the thing to death. I'm hoping I can TIG it in smaller sections and won't have a lot of distortion issues. I don't necessarily need to weld the whole thing but I would like to fully weld the outside for looks.

Any tips for how to approach this to keep distortion to a minimum.

If you're not gonna clamp it at all, nor take into account the pull, then you have to accept some distortion. If you're gonna TIG it in small sections, arc length has to be at an absolute minimum which means small filler wire, 045 and not bigger. Just IMO of course.

I am going to try to clamp as best I can. Tight arc and small filler....can do.

I had some success on the first one but still ended up with some distortion in the center of the piece. I think I could solve this with a better welding sequence.

If I have a 36" long outside corner joint and I am going to weld it in 2-3" intermittent welds, what is the best place to start? Should I use back-stepping and if so, what would be a good sequence?

I am able to keep the flanges square by bending them outwards before welding but now I am dealing with distortion in the longest dimension.

Mark out your part with soapstone every 2 inches. Weld one space on each end, then one in the center. Then weld one in the center of each unwelded space. Repeat until all the unwelded sections are not unwelded.