Welding Tips and Tricks

I have some stainless nuts which are 1/4-20, and the outside of the flats are .430".

The way I was thinking about it was I have .180" difference. Originally I was planning to drill 5/16" holes, providing 1/16" which would give me about .032" on each side if I center it. This would also leave about 1/16" for the lip where I will weld the nut. If I was to split the difference the lip to weld to will narrow. When you weld nuts on a tube so you can use a machine screw, is there a rule of thumb for how much material to leave open and/or how much lip to leave before you stand a chance of blowing the edge of the hole out?

Seems 5/16" would be safest if I can get it centered. On my welding cart I used stainless flange nuts for the rear wheels, but for the front casters I'm just using stainless hex nuts. I will heed cj's advice and use anti-sieze on the screw when I weld, like I did on the flange nuts. I probably only need 3 tacks/welds, one on every other flat of the hex nut.

Any thoughts?

You really don’t need much weld to keep the nut connected. Personally, I just put tacks on 3 sides with a dab of 309 or 312. There’s not that much stress in that application as the nut flange is what prevents the bolt from pulling through.

I do coat the bolt with antisieze, then thread it into the nut when I tack. That keeps everything fully centered and prevents the bolt from fusing to the nut.

cj737 wrote:You really don’t need much weld to keep the nut connected. Personally, I just put tacks on 3 sides with a dab of 309 or 312. There’s not that much stress in that application as the nut flange is what prevents the bolt from pulling through.

I do coat the bolt with antisieze, then thread it into the nut when I tack. That keeps everything fully centered and prevents the bolt from fusing to the nut.

Gonna use that same Tensileweld I have (312), and will do just that.

Should be able to get to it tonight, hopefully.

Hey Alan,,,that Tensileweld stuff...IS it the same thing as 312 and the mfg is using a fancy name or is it something special? I've been looking around and really can't decipher anything special. Just asking out of curiosity because I believe I have some 312 taking a nap in the shop.

BillE.Dee wrote:Hey Alan,,,that Tensileweld stuff...IS it the same thing as 312 and the mfg is using a fancy name or is it something special? I've been looking around and really can't decipher anything special. Just asking out of curiosity because I believe I have some 312 taking a nap in the shop.

Yes, AFAIK, it's 312. At least that is what my LWS told me about both Washington Alloy Tensileweld and Harris Super MissleWeld. I have to admit, Super MissleWeld is a much cooler name! I'm told both are 312, with high percentage of nickel.