I think it's pretty damn good for a first couple tries. I give you a ton of credit.

As for the explanation MaxxTib that was great. Thanks for the info. I want to get meself a welder to mess around with.

 

good try boss, keep trying u will get it.. but old boy is right

 

Welding comes with practice man. It takes time.

 

it's one of those el cheapo portable stick welders. Only goes up to 100 amps.

I was using 1.6 mm rods, does that sound right? Btw, thanks for all the info maxxtib, I'm not really going for show quality, just plan on saving a little cash on the charge pipes and plus just being able to custom do them myself will be cool. I plan on painting/pcing them so super nice looking welds isn't all that important.

Oh and I just remembered, yesterday after waiting a couple hours for the welds to cool nicely i went back to test them... laugh.gif Shortly I was able to bust the rotors apart (obviously very heavy/thick metal so i wasn't surprised) but I was unable to bust the pipe off the rotor and the other side of it that isn't shown in the pic was a pretty crappy weld since while welding it would just burn through the pipe since the wall was so thin/weakened with rust. so i was pretty satisfied with my first work. laugh.gif

 

If your welder has a gas option accessory, buy it and install/equip it. It's going to be damn near impossible to get good clean welds with flux core non-gas welding.

Brake rotors are a bad choice for a first project, as others mentioned, and as you found out. Cut that pipe into a bunch of small sections, then practice welding those sections back together. Test your welding skill by trying to get the pipe to hold water without leaking. Once you can do that....you can weld charge piping.

I would reccomend you start with the above mentioned sections of pipe, and "tack" weld them together. Start with one tack, then move 1/4 the way around, make another "tack" and keep going. Once you've gone all the way around, place your next tack right next to the oldest weld, and keep going around and around. It's time consuming, but it will product a decent quality result with non-gas arc-welding. The key is to build off the existing/old weld with your 2nd round tack weld. If you space it too far away, you'll have a small gap that will be very hard to seal later. If you place it too close, you'll just heat damage the metal, and the weld. It takes a lot of practice, and takes a lot of time, but it works till you upgrade/install a gas feed on your welder or buy a gas welder.

The third option is to just go frickin gonzo with the non-gas welder. Make a big huge puddle/bead, and then go back once it has cooled and grind off the excess with an angle grinder or dremel (looks like you did that on your last attempt). Again, time consuming, but "workable". I wouldn't put any stress/strain on that kind of weld, but it should work for charge piping joints.

There's alway "chemical" welds. A.K.A JB weld. Just use the JB weld to seal the seams on slip fit pipes.. JB weld isn't cheap though, and has a limited "work" life before hardening, and it sure isn't fast to do, but it does do the trick.

 

Random by gas you mean mig or tig right?? I was originally planning on getting a mig welder as I heard it was cheap/produced nice welds but i got a really good deal on this one and just couldn't pass it up. laugh.gif

Your idea of going back over with a grinder later is kind of what i had in mind but nope i hadn't used anything but the slag hammer on that last weld. But thanks for the info guys, I'm getting a much better idea now of what I need to do. laugh.gif

 

I'm assuming you have something like this
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_impro...ls/1274051.html

When you buy it, it is "arc" welding only. But Lincoln makes a "gas" kit that will attach to the base welder (for about $100), and allow you to do TRUE MIG welding.

The problem with flux core wire, is that it "spatters" and you get little dots of material within 1-2" of where you are welding (sometimes it really spatters and the stuff can fly several feet, NOT COOL). When you add the "gas" kit, you don't have that problem.

You don't say what brand/model equipment you have, but miller/hobart and the other companies usually have similar kits that allow you to convert/add gas to your welding.

If you have the time and can afford it (not likely since you have a new addition to your family), your local community college or vocational school will have beginner welding classes for under $100. I HIGHLY reccomend them. There's nothing like getting taught and getting hands on education in welding.

 

That advice goes a long way Random, thanks man. I'll look into some of that stuff.

 

as i see you try to weld on a high carbon steel material.
First of all try ,on a mild steel with a 2.4mm rod "7018" in 75 or 90 amp,
When you try to start , scratch the rod on the piece of steel like if you want start a matches ,never do a "wave pass" larger than 1.5 mm the size of the rod that you use for best quality , always have the same height when you try to weld 'also do you have a"ac/ dc" welder or just "ac" , if you have a "ac" machine use ac rod if you have "ac/dc" ,use "dc" rod with reverse polarity "7018 rod" if it is a another kind of rod , your polarity may change to straight polarity so you have a lot to know before you scratch the rod lol.gif

 

if you don t know anything about welding , you are better too say nothing . i am high-pressure welder and i will say that every kind of welding type is good , specially the arc welder that we use to weld on high pressure pipe , boiler and lot more . So let talk people whit more knowledge wink1.gif