Welding Tips and Tricks

This was the old lady's 2002 883 sportster before I started chopping it up. I tried selling it last year and couldn't get the $3000 I was looking for. So over the winter, when I didn't have a custom job, I was playing with this trying to make something a little cooler that might possibly sell. Chopped the rear section making it a hard tail, lost the mid controls for forward controls, built the oil tank, battery box, added the springer front end, bought a mustang gas tank that I modified with a hidden mounting system, built a headlight, handle bars, electrical box and still got a ways to go. Oh, and those exhaust pipes were a stainless steel swimming pool ladder last week. Thanks for looking

Jacked,
Does your wife know what you did to her bike? Nice job.

Len

did you fab that tank?
craig

No, I didn't fab the tank although it's not beyond my ability. Just didn't feel like putting that much more time into it. I bought this one off ebay $80. Cut the cheap mounting tabs off it and fabbed up a hidden mounting system that I use on most of my tanks. Lucky enough to make it land on the existing NPT bungs rather than having to move and patch those holes. Those bungs were in the wrong spot and would have left a gallon of gas in the tank. It's now one single bung on the end of the tank and should run it dry. Thanks Jack

This one I fabbed everything from scratch including the frame. The fenders were blanks but still was a ton of fab on the rear one with the struts, frenched in plate and tail light wiring tabs. Handle bars and kickstand too. Cost me as much to chrome them than as it would have to buy them, if there was such a thing to fit the application.
I like working on the bikes but it don't pay the bills. I live in a small farming community on the end of this earth, and who knows what I will weld next ?

The custom bike trade ia about gone. There were several custom shops around me years back and they are all gone. There is a custom bagger shop not far from me but they are struggling. Heck I hear OC Choppers filed bankruptcy. Youre right, building bikes won't pay the bills...at least not anymore

I do a lot of commercial kitchen equipment for a customer who buys it at auction. Stainless hoods, sinks tables needing repairs and modifications. Pizza oven right now. Then farm equipment, and who knows what's coming in that door. I did a 24' X 6" aluminum liquid manure pipe that was broke in half, then the guy comes in with a mast for a wind mill, then I fabbing up a set of headers for a Honda civic that he wants to pop through the hood for his derby car. Then I'm up in a silo laying on my back in 5 degree weather welding this grain auger back together. That's one day in my life and think it's funny. Just don't know what's coming in, but I will take it long as it keeps me going.

nice mounting set up.
yellow bike is nicely done.
craig

Jacked800 wrote:I do a lot of commercial kitchen equipment for a customer who buys it at auction. Stainless hoods, sinks tables needing repairs and modifications. Pizza oven right now. Then farm equipment, and who knows what's coming in that door. I did a 24' X 6" aluminum liquid manure pipe that was broke in half, then the guy comes in with a mast for a wind mill, then I fabbing up a set of headers for a Honda civic that he wants to pop through the hood for his derby car. Then I'm up in a silo laying on my back in 5 degree weather welding this grain auger back together. That's one day in my life and think it's funny. Just don't know what's coming in, but I will take it long as it keeps me going.

You sound like me. I weld all the stuff no one else wants to touch. Been doing a lot of stainless beer kegs for homebrewing...once they found a TIG weldor, they came out of the woodwork I like doing the odd stuff...lets me get to think. I used to build fast lube centers and did all the catwalks and shelving etc..and it was production MIG and I hated it. TIG is where its at! NIce work on the bikes...I really like those hidded tank brackets. I might have to steal that idea one day

Thanks for the kind words and I can really relate to the stuff that no one wants to do. I get a lot of crap I don't think can be welded and somehow it's been staying together. Old cast iron tractor parts. Or dirty beat up oil soaked cast aluminum. Rusted out truck frames. Nothing beats the smell of cow manure when you warm it up with some fresh welds. Life is good when I get new materials to work with.

I do repairs on mower decks and I can say dog poop when it gets heated up would be a close rival to cow manure. I finally bought a Hotsy steam cleaner for stuff like that and now life is good. I like the oddball stuff cause I get to think of a good way to repair it permanently. I see alot of failed repairs that I redo and it always seems the repairman was in a hurry or just didn't care. God love farmers but some of them do the funkiest repairs I have ever seen and they usually hold!

That's what I've noticed. The highly crappy repairs/welds that I've seen, are doing their job. Very high quality welds seem to fail because of poor engineering or some technical issues.

I repair a lot of repairs. Ford F150 frame below. I don't know if it broke close to the HAZ or the guy just missed the crack completely. Had to cut and replace 30" on both frame rails.
Had another frame repair a month before (toy hauler) that the first repairer blew out more metal than the bead he managed to splatter on what was left. When I jacked it up to repair it, the shackle bracket "fell" completely off the frame.
Another thing I've learned, maybe the worst of repairs, when you're the 3rd one in line to weld up failed aluminum joints and breaks that have so much contamination you couldn't ever possibly get them clean enough to make pretty looking welds.

Its truly a wonder how some of these things hold together. The sad fact is it puts other people at risk. I always get a laugh when some one brings me a "repair" that I could have made better with popsicle sticks and Saran Wrap I have a new price schedule for repairing repairs and it starts at $50 minimum and goes up from there and it scares people off but its my way of saying I don't want to fix it. I guess there have always been hack and tack "weldors" around but I sure see alot of crap work these days. Nobody wants to pay for quality anymore.

Saw it on a tee-shirt:

"If you think hiring a professional is expensive, try hiring an amateur."

Truth!

Steve S

Otto Nobedder wrote:Saw it on a tee-shirt:

"If you think hiring a professional is expensive, try hiring an amateur."

Truth!

Steve S

Yeah Steve it's the sad truth. I just don't know how anyone in good conscious could bird poop some weld on something and call it good.

There's definitely a dearth of folks with good conscience and a decent work ethic these days. We're remodeling the planetarium at work and it's pure hell trying to find contractors with pride in their work. It sucks having to ride herd on guys that have a 25 cent mind when you're working a million dollar project.

ldb

Having been in construction all my adult life I figured out what the problem is....Most in the trades, not all but most, end up there because the money is good. Most don't plan a career in the trades , someone gets them a job and they like the money so they stay and their "hide and seek for a grand a week" attitude stays with them. For some it is instinctive to want to be a craftsman but for most their work is "good enough".

Haven't been on here in awhile and saw this old post. Figured I'd post a completed photo.

Looks awesome! I want to do something similar to my softail.

I turned down a rail job the other day because the guy didn't have the money to build new but wanted me to patch up the old ones that were from the 50's and a tree had fallen on them. Rusted and painted with a paintbrush. I just had other stuff to do than to do that and get penny pincher to where I wouldn't make anything. My conscious wouldn't be right installing fixed crap that looked like crap before I fixed it.

jroark wrote:I turned down a rail job the other day because the guy didn't have the money to build new but wanted me to patch up the old ones that were from the 50's and a tree had fallen on them. Rusted and painted with a paintbrush. I just had other stuff to do than to do that and get penny pincher to where I wouldn't make anything. My conscious wouldn't be right installing fixed crap that looked like crap before I fixed it.

Sounds like a good call, no need for that headache or the liability