Welding Tips and Tricks

hello,

i'm working on fabricating a utility trailer.
1/4" thick X 2" wide X 5" tall C Channel construction, done by someone else.
I need to weld on several lengths of 1.5" square tubing, .080 wall thickness, onto the frame of the trailer.
these would be vertical welds.
looking for advice, tips any help on these welds.

I have a Lincoln weldpack 3200 w/ & w/o gas
& a stick arc machine

thanks,

Sal

Welding that thin to that thick is gonna be hard but very doable with a bit of practice. The basic idea is to turn up the machine enough to penetrate the thicker metal. Once get a puddle established on the thick stuff you move it over until the side of the puddle just nips the thin stuff. I would definitely practice on some scrap prior to attempting it on that trailer. Another thing to note is that the hotter the thin stuff gets, the harder it will be to control. Given your equipment I would use the mig with gas as it would be the easiest to see what's goin on.

I recently welded a 1" thick end cap onto a .03 wall tube. I was lucky though as it was more of a lap joint than anything and I had the luxury of being able the control puddle and filler separately with the tig. Still got some burn back once that cap started glowing on me. Just went for a break and came back to finish it up.

scassarino wrote:hello,

i'm working on fabricating a utility trailer.
1/4" thick X 2" wide X 5" tall C Channel construction, done by someone else.
I need to weld on several lengths of 1.5" square tubing, .080 wall thickness, onto the frame of the trailer.
these would be vertical welds.
looking for advice, tips any help on these welds.

I have a Lincoln weldpack 3200 w/ & w/o gas
& a stick arc machine

thanks,

Sal

=====

Scassarino.

Of you have some square tubular that would fit snugly inside your 1 1/2" square tubulars, you might consider inserting a 1" length piece in the end of those thin walled tubulars. That would give you some help with the heat. Also I would recommend that you weld completely around the joint to avoid any seepage of moisture towards the inside of the tubulars.

Tanks.
Alexa

ps: As AfSatCom wisely recommended, as a rule of thumb, it is to your advantage to aim the heat towards the heavier member to avoid burning through the thinner walled pieces.