Welding Tips and Tricks

Ok,
Lets see if you can understand what happened here....

Lets try the pic, than explain.

At first I was thinking of hauling the engine driven out to the field, and welding it together on the machine.
I pressed the bearing/bushing and sprocket of in the press.
I'll beat them back on with to hammers when we assemble it.
Hang with me.
~John

Next is this bracket that hold the spinner gearbox,
It's rotted away, and is junk....
Need to build a new one.
I replaced the other side several yrs ago.
Hang with me.
~John

These pics are of the good bracket.
Angle iron and flat bar....

Here's the old wore out one.
The gear box bounces up and down with it.

Trash.


So,
My first idea was bring the welder generator out here, bevel the rod, lay on my back, rod stuck through that apron there, and have a guy turn it as I weld....

NO!!!

Bring it to the shop, lay it down flat, and roll it.

Still hanging with me??

These are UHMW plastic bearings....
We put these in, because, well, anybody who has been around fertilizer know.
Now,
How did this shaft shear your asking???

Well,
The last guy,
Maybe 10-20yrs ago (before we bought) changed the bearings.
I'm guessing that he couldn't get the old race off, so he cut the shaft with a torch, pulled it out each end, pressed the bearings off, put new ones on, than stuck it back in there, and welded it back together.
No bevel, torch cut.
No fusion....
And definetly welded with 6013....

No,
I pressed the bushing and sprocket off.
Hang with me,
~John

So,
I beveled the rods, and put them end to end in a piece of angle iron....

I also heated that stainless bushing up, and moved it in a 1/4 inch.
I'll explain later....

I used a 1/8 8010, good and hot for the first pass.
All the rest was 3/32 7018....
No 6013.

First pass.
Smooth it up, than the second pass.

Filling it up.

Looks good John, that shaft was a good candidate for tig though, come on show us your skills
-Jonathan

Johnathan,
You don't trust my 7018 welds???

Now we're onto the bracket build.

John,
I just want to see your tig skills that's all. Your welds look great. I think 6011 would have been a better rod choice though Just kidding.
-Jonathan

Superiorwelding wrote:John,
I just want to see your tig skills that's all. Your welds look great. I think 6011 would have been a better rod choice though Just kidding.
-Jonathan

I've got some scrap rod, I just don't think I can turn the rod with my foot, while I tig it....

So,
We worked on all this last night, between 9:00 and 1:00....
Got to get this fertilizer spread before all our rain comes....

I'll get some pics as we assemble it.
Gonna be heading to the field in a few minutes....

Thanks for watching....
Don't forget to comment, and compliment for more....

YEEHAW!!

Wow - your a busy guy AK - amazed you manage the time to keep documenting your work - but keep it up.

I don't want to appear rude - but why are you prepping a shaft repair like 2 sharpened pencils & trying to rotate it ? it makes the job hard / slow / builds alot of heat - if you picture it a a butt joint prepped from both side you only need the same sort of 35 degree ( 70 included ) angle with a small root gap to reach the middle & you only need to prep that as a vee ( like 2 chisels facing each other ) - no constant rotation - just turn 180 degrees each run - seems much easier - just a thought - I done a good few like that without failure.

noddybrian wrote:Wow - your a busy guy AK - amazed you manage the time to keep documenting your work - but keep it up.

I don't want to appear rude - but why are you prepping a shaft repair like 2 sharpened pencils & trying to rotate it ? it makes the job hard / slow / builds alot of heat - if you picture it a a butt joint prepped from both side you only need the same sort of 35 degree ( 70 included ) angle with a small root gap to reach the middle & you only need to prep that as a vee ( like 2 chisels facing each other ) - no constant rotation - just turn 180 degrees each run - seems much easier - just a thought - I done a good few like that without failure.

That's a different concept noddy....

Didn't think about it.
I've welded lots of rods, even truck tierods like this, and even bent a 12inch long piece into a horseshoe shape, and it started to crack at the toe.
This will be more than good enough.

Next time I'll try your method....

~John

I'm sure you will make a good job ( without the use of " devil rod " ! ) but the amount you've ground back means the weld will be quite wide & so much weld will build a bunch of heat - you'll be waiting quite a time for it to cool between runs - so long as you get good fusion to the center the width is less important so keep it as steep as good rod access allows - I've welded plenty of shafts etc & a whole lot of snapped hydraulic rams with the " chisel prep " method - only thing I would say is if the material is unknown or has much carbon I weld the root & butter the faces with Esab " Almat " ( posh speak for 309 / 312 ) do the root run from one side then grind from the other till I see the line of it - do a root from that side then butter the sides - from there out I'd use mig if possible indoors - or your faithful 7018 - interested how others tackle this or view my method !

Pump the gearbox full of grease.... Cheaper than replacing the seal.....

Drive the key in, and tighten the lock bolts and nuts, and DONE!!!!!!

And it works.....

Finished up the field, and waiting for some rain.....

Thank you guys for watching, and putting up with all my stupid farm machinery repairs.... I got er done!!!!

No 6013 was harmed.

~John

Sadly, when I saw "Repairing a fertilizer spreader", I thought you'd cured CNN and FOX News....