In a previous post I commented on how I was having trouble with craters forming at the start of my welds while using 7018AC welding rod.  While I cannot guarantee that this will work for everyone in all situation,my sample set is only half-a-dozen rods at this point, preheating the rods, even when they are dry, seems to help a lot.  This should be done in an oven, but I have found that if you just have a small amount of welding to do, burning down the first quarter or third of the rod on some scrap works too.  Since any rod that would be leftover from a small project won’t keep, burning off the beginning is not more wasteful than throwing away what is left.

No crater.  The mes on the far left of the weld is just the join to the tack weld.  I am trying to get some tips from VK (the man welding on the opening page photo gallery) on how to join two beads as that is the one area my welding needs the most improvement.

The last time I showed some of my welding, it was frankly embarrassing.  It wasn’t for a part that will see much stress, so I am not worried about it.  However, this past weekend, I got to do quite a large amount of welding (at least for me) and broke open a fresh pack of 7018AC rods.  It reminded me just how much it matters that rods, particularly low hydrogen ones like 7018s, are dry and fresh.  Good rods make good welds.

OK, not perfect, but a whole lot better than what I showed last time.

I’m still having trouble with melting edges (foreground and some in the center of the picture) although there was very little metal in these areas so it was almost unavoidable.  I also got a small crater on start up on this weld.  I need to practice starting and stopping some more to avoid this.

Straight welds are so much easier than trying to go around a circle.  You can see the difference in weld quality between the foreground (round) and background (straight) just in the consistency of the beads.  Also, the straight weld was joining two pieces of equal thickness which makes puddle control so much easier.

It felt good to make some welds that I could be proud of.  The part above will mount a suspension arm, so it is not a case where good enough would be allowed.  The welds aren’t perfect, but I am confident they are solid, have good penetration and won’t cause any issues when put to use.

Last night was my first welding class at Durham Technical Community College. As expected, I didn’t get to do any welding; instead we reviewed safety procedures. While not as exciting as fusing metal, getting burnt or cut is not on anyone’s agenda, so I understand why it was done this way.

The Instructor, Ricky, is a professional welder, building boat stanchions out of aluminum. He spends most of his day using a TIG welder, so I am particularly excited to learn that technique as he will obviously have a huge amount of experience to share.

The shop itself is quite impressive as well. Lots of MIG welders, about a dozen angle grinder and more metal than the anywhere other than the scrapyard. We will be working on our own projects and Ricky encouraged us to bring items from home if we wanted to. I might have a couple of things that I can bring!

I met a couple of other car guys while in the class.  One who has a 69 Camaro drag racer and another you has a lifted Jeep.  I imagine that there are more – welding and cars go hand-in-hand.  I cannot wait for next week when we really start getting to work.  First on the agenda – MIG welding.

Today I went to the Carolina Collector Car Auto Fest at the NC State Fairgrounds. Unfortunately, cold temperatures and a bitter wind kept me from seeing many of the cars outside. I took some photos and, with the gracious help of Jason Mauldin, have posted them on the website. Just click on the Galleries tab up top and you will be able to find them. Here are a couple reduced sized images of my favorite cars of the day.

I really like side pipes.

And big blocks. This Corvette was just plain beautiful all around.

The Mach1 looks so tough.

Not the typical car show fare, this old drag racer was raw and real.

My main interest was the swap meet, thankfully held inside. Every year there seems to be something that catches my attention, and this year was no different. Of all things, there was a gas welding display featuring the Henrob DHC 2000 torch. The display was very impressive, with the exhibitor cutting off less than one-eight inch thick slivers from a steel bar well over a half inch thick. He could write in his name in the plate in small letters; a typical torch would turn molten so much of the metal that it would collapse. It was quite impressive, yet I managed to resist the impulse buy in order to do more research.

Speaking of research, I have found out that the reputation of Victor is not quite as perfect as I might have originally believed. It turns out that Victor was bought by Thermadyne some years ago and has since be sourcing some parts from China. The American made equipment still has an excellent reputation, but whether due to bias or actual inferiority, the Chinese equipment is not held in such high regard. The Journeyman and Journeyman II have domestic regulators as shown in the high-res images on the Victor site.

The name that has come up as an alternative is Smith. While I haven’t done significant research on Smith, particularly regarding price, their website says all American. While I do not believe that the quality of products can be discerned by their country of manufacture, I also recognize that it makes little business sense to operate in the USA, paying high labor costs, just to produce low quality parts.

As before, more research to be done.

I have been asking around, and the consensus is that when it comes to Oxy-fuel welding, Victor is the way to go. They are the first name that everyone mentions when they talk about quality equipment. So called them today (1-800-426-1888) to ask some basic questions. Carolyn in their customer care division was very friendly and knowledgeable.

I had open the Victor Oxy-fuel outfits webpage during the phone call.

Q. What is the difference between the CGA 300 and CGA 510 outfits?
A. The connection for the acetylene regulators. The CGA 510 are the standard size, while the CGA 300 are used for a large tanks found in heavy industrial use.

Q. What are the differences between
The Journeyman

The Journeyman II

The SuperRange II

A. The Jouneyman is the top of the line set using all the best quality regulators, torch and accessories. The Journeyman II keeps those same heavy-duty regulators, but substitutes cheaper torch and accessories. The SuperRange II uses a cheaper, medium-duty regulator with the same torch and accessories as the Journeyman II.

My limited research has lead me to believe that buying the absolute best quality regulators available is essential. Cheap regulator leak and make adjustments harder. While I am awaiting more advice, at this point, I am looking at the Journeyman kits. Of course, like everything, the best costs more. However, I’d rather buy the right stuff the first time around.

At this point it is all window shopping, and I know I have a lot more to learn!

Strange is it might seem for someone tackling a project as big as the V8Mongrel, I don’t know how to weld. Any welding I have needed has been farmed out to willing friends. Most recently, that has been Vincent Keene.

I had a problem with one of the front control arms I purchased insofar as the ball joint would not screw in properly. I believe that the welding process had shrunk the end, binding the threads. Since new ends are available, I had to prep the control arm and get it welded on.

That is me grinding the control arm to fit. You can see the new end sitting on the anvil of the vice. The beard has since been removed. Too hot, itchy and flammable!

After the piece fit, it was time to for Vincent to weld. Since it was two round pieces going together, it was hard to keep them from moving a little as the weld was started.

Thus, I donned a welding glove, and became a temporary holding apparatus.

Before going any further, thanks to Vincent for welding, Steve for the use of his garage, Mike for the use of his grinder and Ryan for the use of his welder. You guys are all good friends without whom the V8Mongrel wouldn’t be possible.

But this isn’t a front suspension post, it is about welding. Vincent has been attending a welding class at his local community college. While there are many successful self-taught welders, I think he is doing it the right way. And I think I am going to follow suit.

I have been looking around, and unfortunately the community college for the county in which I live has a welding class that encompasses stick (SMAW) welding only. I would like to learn stick, MIG, TIG and Oxy-fuel welding. While one class won’t make me an expert, I think being exposed to the greatest amount will be beneficial. Thankfully, the county in which I work offers a more comprehensive class, I just have to be patient and wait for the summer schedule to be released.

Since patience isn’t my strong suit, I went out and bought a book on welding. Performance Welding Handbook, 2nd Edition, which covers MIG, TIG and Oxy-fuel welding, with a concentration on welding thin wall tubing such as is used to make tube-frame cars and roll cages.

Publisher photo from the above link. I hope they realize I am recommending their book and don’t take offense at me copying their picture.

To be clear, the book is no substitute for a class like the one Vincent is taking. However, I feel that it has taught me quite a lot. For example, I would probably have jumped into the local stick only class and been disappointed to find that there is a significant difference between the industrial welding that it is commonly used for and what I will likely be doing.

Based on what I read in the book and a little window shopping, TIG would be the best, but this unfortunate thing called money seems to get in the way. TIG machines are very expensive. MIG is nice, but they too can get expensive if you want to add the abiliy to weld aluminum. Stick welders are poorly suited to thinner materials, as I previously explained, so their low entry cost is of little value.

This leaves Oxy-fuel welding. Also called gas welding, it is the slowest of the processes, but that is of little concern to me. I am not working on a production line, so an extra minute or two is meaningless. The biggest benefit I see is that gas welding can be configured to weld steel and aluminum relatively inexpensively, can be used braze almost anything, can be used as a metal-cutter, is completely portable (think track-side repairs) and has a relatively low up-front cost. Right now it is the winner, and I won’t be signing up for a class that doesn’t include Oxy-fuel in the curriculum.

So stay tuned, I have created a welding category, and once I know more, I will post on what I will be doing.