Welding Tips and Tricks

This goes on a little saturn car.
He said a bolt worked loose inside and then the chain grabbed it and stuck it right thru the side.

Tig. Everlast 250ex, water cooled HTP 20 torch, #8 gas lens, 20-cfh, 3/32" 5356, 60% en, freq 120, pedal, 1/8" e3......

Weld a little, die grind, repeat.... Finally got it too clean up and puddle nice....

Done.....

AK
i have repaired plenty of dirt bike
aluminum side cases from race crashes.
best friends: die grinder, acetone,compressed
air, patience. maybe not in that order..lol
craig

Yeah I've done quite a few bike motor cases and covers too.
I found it easier when I really pre-clean them first.
I use Thrift (sodium hydroxide), Dawn and water.
Basically boil them for at least an hour or better.
Then float off the grease and junk before taking
the part out of the tank. Acetone and weld.

rake
yes hot water is key.
last cleaning is in dishwasher
when wife is at work.
does a great job on race helmet too.
craig

AK, if you don't mind how much is a repair like that?

pigpen60 wrote:AK, if you don't mind how much is a repair like that?

I'll point out the price changes a lot between "I took it apart, can you weld this?" and "My car blew up, can you fix it?"

Different animals, particularly on a Saturd. (Intentional misspelling.)

Steve S

pigpen60 wrote:AK, if you don't mind how much is a repair like that?

There's a lot of variables that play into pretty much any welding job.......

There really isn't a too high or too low price, (Too a certain extent) it just depend who's doing the work, where, when, and who it's for....

This wasn't even my welder, I met up with the customer at a gas station, took the part, drove to my buddy with the welder's house, did the work, called the customer back, and then met him across town at the pizza hut parking lot....


Charge what you feel is fair.

I used to get things like that at work with "hey could you check this out"? if I was lucky i'd get a soda.

I have repaired a fair number of cast aluminum covers and crankshaft cases for motorcycles and snowmobiles. As others have pointed out, tools techniques and chemicals to clean the metal are you best friends on these jobs. I have a heated detergent tank with ultrasonic agitation with a heated deionized water rinse tank also with ultrasonic agitation. I usually cycle the parts to be welded between the tanks several times during the day (in between paying jobs) to prep them for welding. Patience is perhaps the most valuable skill (or virtue) when tackling these projects. Some work out exrtremely well, some not so easy. Seems to gretaly depend on the quality of the casting.

It is amazing how many favors are asked of members of my mechanical design and fab team, particulalry of the welder. By far the welder gets asked to fix some many broken parts from home.

Jim

Nice work! I can't imagine ... or well, I CAN imagine how much grease and dirt was bubbling out of that thing every time you tried to get it going. Again, nice work!