Welding Tips and Tricks

I work with small round tube. Mostly 1 inch OD with a thickness between 0.080 and 0.120 both steel and aluminum.

I have had pretty good luck with the good old pad of beads. Currently my problem (ok, biggest problem :) is keeping both hands in position as I rotate around the tube. I was wondering if anyone has experimented with a tube of beads.

Any old timers have some suggestions to share on practicing with small tube.

Thanks
David

Its hard to do a tube of beads especially on thin stuff because it becomes heat soaked so much. I weld a lot of 1.50" Sanitary, I know dry runs helped me a lot to learn how to position my hand/s and body, a TIG FINGER is also very helpful if you do not have one yet. http://weldmongerstore.com/collections/ ... tig-finger Sometimes I put my hand with the tig finger on the opposite side of the pipe I am welding, then just slide around it, othertimes I put in right below the joint where the torch is kinda prop on my knuckle and move around it. The big thing with the Tig finger is is slides very easy on smooth materials.

I then set up practice joints and just weld random joints and positions, practice makes perfect in this situation.

Ok, time for me to look silly. I'm having a hard time figuring out what a tube of beads is.

I am looking for ways to practice on small diameter round tubing.

One drill I have been trying is running parallel beads around a piece of round tubing. Currently I do 3-4 short beads that go about 45 deg around the tube before dunking the tube and repositioning.

It is the best drill I have come up with the gives me a high arc to fit time when working with round tubing.

David

OK, gotcha. You are just running bead after bead around a tube for practice.

Can you put fittings on it and pump water through it so it stays cool. Might work as long as you are just running surface beads. But you would have to pump slow enough to not take all your heat away.

Yes, I do it a lot. Both down the length and around the circumference. It's great practice.

Something I've noticed with practicing tube joints, at least for me, is the smaller of diameter you can practice on the better. With smaller tube, you're having to really stay on top of keeping all your torch/rod angles right with relation to distance traveled...much higher articulating rate is what I'm getting at. I found going to 1" and up tee joints much easier after doing several 1/2 & 3/4" joints.

I agree. Demands a lot of concentration. But really small tubing is excellent practice.


1/4" OD 0.028" wall 304 SS by Mike Zanconato, on Flickr

wow!

Another drill I came up with to prepare for welding thin walled tubing is criss-cross beads on 16 gauge sheet. I take a piece of 3 inch by 3 inch 16 gauge scrape and run beads without filler every 1/2 inch. Then I rotate the piece 90 degrees and run the beads again avery 1/2 inch. This forces me to concentrate entirely on the puddle and my torch speed. Too fast, the puddle disappears. Too slow, oops a hole.

Then I do the same drill with filler. In addition to the challenge of adding filler, after rotating the piece 90 degree I have to go over the top of bead I already laid down. This forces me to adjust my heat as the thickness of the material varies. More heat on top of existing bead. Less heat on the thin sheet.

David

I did this job in PA, building a cold-box for nitrogen, oxygen, and argon, and was asked to stay on for the instrument tube.

I was nearly overwhelmed when I saw what they meant. Here's a close-up of 6061 T6 3/8" 0.049 wall instrument tube socket-welded to this machined-down piece of 1/4" sch. 80 pipe. You couldn't find the proper slip-fittings? It was a $10M project!

Here's a shot of how it was applied. Keep in mind, this thing is on it's side in this picture. Steve S

Otto Nobedder wrote:I did this job in PA, building a cold-box for nitrogen, oxygen, and argon, and was asked to stay on for the instrument tube.

I was nearly overwhelmed when I saw what they meant. Here's a close-up of 6061 T6 3/8" 0.049 wall instrument tube socket-welded to this machined-down piece of 1/4" sch. 80 pipe.

GEDC0025.JPG

You couldn't find the proper slip-fittings? It was a $10M project!

Here's a shot of how it was applied. Keep in mind, this thing is on it's side in this picture.

GEDC0026.JPG

Steve S

It wasn't for the company that shall not be named was it? I meant to ask you that last time you mentioned it lol

It's amazing how a customer ( Engineer) will provide you some random box of leftover fittings and just look at you and go "just throw this together it should work. "

Amazing.
You would think those lines would also be mounted to a backing plate attached to the girder for added support and protection. But if it saves just 10 cents...........

GreinTime wrote:It wasn't for the company that shall not be named was it? I meant to ask you that last time you mentioned it lol

No. I was subcontracting for Herr & Sacco, and the client was AirGas.

Steve S

Poland308 wrote:It's amazing how a customer ( Engineer) will provide you some random box of leftover fittings and just look at you and go "just throw this together it should work. "

Oddly, some engineer came up with this solution. Must never have welded thin aluminum.

Steve S

ex framie wrote:Amazing.
You would think those lines would also be mounted to a backing plate attached to the girder for added support and protection. But if it saves just 10 cents...........

Actually, the frame got skinned, and packed with rock-wool and perlite, so all the tubing gets pretty rigid surroundings, like being buried in dirt.

Steve S

Something I just learned the hard way....

If you are working with small diameter, thin wall tubing, purchase a small torch with lightweight flexible cable. Not having to man handle the heavy stiff cable that came with my entry level machine makes wrist rotations much more precise.

And I also ordered 20 foot pieces of 1/2 in and 3/4 in round tubing. That will be a workout :)

Dave

If you want a challenge...I may have a few short pieces of 3/16 x .035 molly left over from my door latches I could mail you. I started off on 3/8 x .035 molly.....still have trouble running a straight bead. But then again I always seem to be drawn to the tough things first

dfarning wrote:Something I just learned the hard way....

If you are working with small diameter, thin wall tubing, purchase a small torch with lightweight flexible cable. Not having to man handle the heavy stiff cable that came with my entry level machine makes wrist rotations much more precise.

And I also ordered 20 foot pieces of 1/2 in and 3/4 in round tubing. That will be a workout

Dave

This! Trying to weld small, thin stuff with my monster 'it came with the machine' size 26 torch is a losing battle. It might be a case of a tradesman blaming his tools, but I'm counting the days until I get my tiny new size 9 torch.


Kym

I use a 17 flex head it lets you bend into a shape that will let you get a better angle sometimes.

Poland308 wrote:I use a 17 flex head it lets you bend into a shape that will let you get a better angle sometimes.

I hear you - good tip - but regardless of head size, the standard cables that came with my size 26 torch must be just about the thickest, heaviest stuff on the market. When I'm welding virtually anything other than a plain bead in flat plate, this means that I have the torque of the cable weight twisting against me. I've tried hanging the cable over my shoulder, off the bench, hanging it from shock cord, you name it...it's a killer.

My plan is to keep my big standard torch for heavier work (I've already improved it with flex head and stubby gas lens) but have my welding supply guy build me up a little size 9 torch with gas lens and lightweight cables for my day to day stuff.

Can't wait...


Kym

Your right most of the time your better off with a smaller gun. And cable