Welding Tips and Tricks

MosquitoMoto wrote:

jaso1 wrote:

MosquitoMoto wrote:Jaso -


Nice work. What sort of sliding compound mitre saw do you have?


Kym

It's an Aldi one I bought a few years back to build a deck out the back of our house. I had planned on buying a 400-600 doolar good brand unit. I saw this one in the catalogue and went for a look, it actually looked better then a few of the name brand dearer units so I grabbed one, from memory it was sub 200 bucks. Still going like a charm and cuts thin wall alloy with care like a hot knife through butter ! Have to remember this trick, works awesome.

That's handy to know, Jaso. Last question, I promise...what blade do you use?


Kym

Yeah no worries mate, just the standard tungsten carbide tipped blade you get with the saw. I did some reading before I tried it as I had never heard of it or how to use a standard saw. Everything pretty much is TCT blade now anyway so it's not unsual or hard to get. The standard amount of teeth works fine too and don't clog or get stuck to the teeth either. From what I can understand , you can only use finer tooth blades at lower rpm with purpose made saws such as the ones Dewalt and Bosch make like these - https://www.gettoolsdirect.com.au/bosch ... vAodzq0M5g
and - https://sydneytools.com.au/dewalt-dw872 ... vAodlnsJ6Q.
The advantage being it is probably a little safer for jamming etc with the lower speeds, also can cut steel tube not just alloy. I'm temped by the Bosch one, might save some money and make a purchase. I have a big fixed band saw but this would be great for tubing,angle etc.

Lookin' good!
Cheers
-Eldon

Not long ago I posted a couple notes of frustration regarding my TIG welding. I've been welding since I was 13 and even have an AA degree from a Community College in NorCal, but for some reason stick and Oxy/Acet have come so easy for me and TIG has been difficult. Reading through your posts and watching the videos have given me a lot more confidence and pleasure.

My main projects lately are motorcycle auxiliary fuel tanks. The purpose of the tanks are to gain more fuel capacity for long distance riding in remote areas where fuel availability is scarce (i.e. Adventure riding in the West, Canada and Alaska). Other uses are for long distance rally's where time fueling is time wasted getting rest and nourishment. Whatever the individual riders reason for wanting and using the tank the most important things are safe fuel storage and aesthetics.

Here are some of the pictures of my last tank I made for the Yamaha Super Tenere dual-sport adventure bike.


This tank is a smidgen over 5 gallons in capacity. It is constructed out of 5053 .125 aluminum for the base, bulkhead, baffle and bottom mount. The top deck is laser cut 5053 .375 aluminum.


The underside tacked down and ready to weld.


The finished product is powder coat matched to the owners bike side cases and ready to mount on the bike.

Thanks again for your encouragement. The more I practice the better it gets.

Ernie
Milwaukie, Oregon
Miller Syncrowave 200

Wow...really nice work Ernie, well done!

Hey, is there any chance of a shot of the tank mounted on the bike?



Kym

That tank looks awesome Ernie!

Sweet! Your fabrication skills are very good. What did you use to cut out the plates? Water jet? Laser?

Made me a little "handrest" a few weeks ago for welding up an aluminum box which I`m gonna use for transporting my race track stuff... two smaller boxes will follow for tools:
Couldn't have done it without my DIY tig cooler... these welds are 700mm (27.6 inches) long and the aluminum is 3.5mm thick.. whatever this is in inches ... something like 0.137795275

Best regards,

Alexis

Well done Alexis. Great work as always.

You'll never regret making those hand rests. Be you are still using them in 20 years time.


Kym

big gear head wrote:Sweet! Your fabrication skills are very good. What did you use to cut out the plates? Water jet? Laser?

I hire out the metal fab since I don't own the equipment. The pieces are laser cut.
Thanks!

MosquitoMoto wrote:Wow...really nice work Ernie, well done!

Hey, is there any chance of a shot of the tank mounted on the bike?
Kym

Sure!

Thanks Ernie - I was guessing it might mount up something like that.

I'm thinking the long spout is to allow for the top surface of the tank being used as a luggage-bearing platform?

Again, nice work.



Kym

Ernie,
Very nicely done.
My only worry since you've made it so big and solid with 5 gal of fuel is the amount of weight you know the owner will strap to it.
Thats a sizable weight behind the rear axle.
Once again nice work.

ex framie wrote:Ernie,
Very nicely done.
My only worry since you've made it so big and solid with 5 gal of fuel is the amount of weight you know the owner will strap to it.
Thats a sizable weight behind the rear axle.
Once again nice work.

You're missing the point...that's the only way to get an ADV bike to wheelie!



Kym

Hoon....

MosquitoMoto wrote:Thanks Ernie - I was guessing it might mount up something like that.

I'm thinking the long spout is to allow for the top surface of the tank being used as a luggage-bearing platform?

Again, nice work.



Kym

Thanks! Most guys mount a Pelican case or strap a large duffel bag. Some guys carry some camping equipment.
Ernie

I like the fact that a slab of beer looks like it would be a neat fit...

ex framie wrote:I like the fact that a slab of beer looks like it would be a neat fit...

42 degrees (107 F) where I am today. It's starting to get warm here.

Beer sounds good!




Kym

Yeah great isnt it Mo... and tonight I get the pleasure of working on a liquation furnace in it

The carton of piss sounds good though

Cracked Polaris 400 2 stroke aluminum engine block, both halves of block was cracked. They blew it up. It is cracked between crank and counter balance and in front of motor. took pics of crack and after machining. pics are not that great and didn't take pics of other side.

front of block After welding and clean up, had to remove bead for crank clearance so cleaned up outside too. Might as well make it look like block wasn't repaired Crack between counter and crank Repaired cracked

Very nice. How did you clean it up without leaving any evidence?

Built and installed a cooling/vapour extraction tank for a liquid ring vacuum pump out of 316,
1/4 plate
Got some swaglok fittings machined off the threads and drilled them out to put tubes straight through both sides of the tank for an in tank cooling loop. Drilled the tank as tight to the machined size as I could so I didn't have to worry about back purge on those fittings atleast.
Also so had to have it going through a heat exchanger before going back into the pump for even more cooling.

Wish that I had got some better pictures.
Did it all with tig and the plasma got a pretty good work out.
2 things I figured out from this one need an air dryer for the plasma and a cooler for the tig.

big gear head wrote:Very nice. How did you clean it up without leaving any evidence?

Thank you,
You can see some of it inside of case between crank and counter balance has scratch marks still where I blended it in. Didn't bother to smooth that out since it's hidden. This was all done by hand no cnc or end mills First off I use rotary bits to cut down bead to almost level. Then used files to get mating surface back to true with rest of case. Inside areas cleaned up with little drum sanders on a dremel. Use different grits depending how much material still had to remove. Blended the inside with sanding drums also. The outer part of case was cleaned up using rotary bit then flap discs on angle die grinder, again use different grits as I progressed. The last step on outer side of case used red scotch brite hand pads and alcohol based cleaner to blend in with case. This was also done on mating surface. Hard to tell by pic but there is a slight color change where filler is, this will blend in more as it oxidizes. The rotary bits was used with angle die grinder also.

Joe and Midget -

Both amazing jobs, well done. Joe...that looks almost Steampunk! Midget...great info on finishing and blending. I have a two stroke to work on soon as well. Tell me, was there much work involved in cleaning prior to welding? I imagine the engine parts had plenty of oil soak?


Kym

Thank you for MosquitoMoto

To answer your questions, I found the 2 stroke cases easier to work with then 4 stroke cases. Now when it comes to 4 wheeler or utv cases I mainly weld on Polaris stuff. Except for magnesium and aluminum racecar stuff. Polaris uses synthetic oils in both. The 4 stroke oil is a pain to clean up clings to everything and hard to dissolve. Sort of like the mag and aluminum cases on the racecars. The 2 stroke oil they make seems like it burns off pretty easy I'm guessing to help lower emissions.

Now as for how I cleaned the case, I sprayed it down with a mult-purpose solvent made by Wurth. I then blew it off with air hose. Used the same solvent to spray down in the cracks. The solvent in larger cracks spray out other side. Then Blew threw cracks with compressed air. I use a propane torch to heat the cracks and surrounding areas to try and burn off oil and solvents. After this I take a rotary bit and grind out the crack on both sides going past the crack. Depending I might stop the drill crack or not and clean surrounding area with scotch brite pad to help remove oxide layer. Might even use emery cloth. I then spray area and spray threw crack again with solvent followed by blowing out again with air. Next I wipe with acetone being liberal with acetone at the cracks. After it dries I either weld it or preheat it if I think part might need it. When welding cast sometimes the puddle might get all foamy, crap in cast burning out. Oil or just junk in metal. Sometimes it's not much and the puddle stabilizes so can add filler and continue. Other times I stop and use rotary bit to clean it out. Sometimes best to add a little filler then grind it back out and reweld it. Its kind of hard to describe this part of it depends on how it looks when molten if that makes sense. For instance it might bubble up you add filler and bead looks ok, however if you grind into it you will see porosity. Have seen it look like a sponge just under surface of bead. Naturally you don't want to leave that in there. Hope that makes sense.

That multi purpose made by Wurth is a non-chlorinated solvent the ingredients list is N-heptane(142-82-5), isopropanol(67-63-0) and carbon dioxide (124-38-9) I always let it dry completely before welding over and clean with acetone right before I weld. I like the solvent just not the price.

Really good, helpful info, DM, thanks.

I reckon that will be a good guide for me when I get started on my own two stroke repair.

Cheers!


Kym