Metal fabrication tricks, money saving ideas.

[Jeff B]

Since there are so many welder/fabricators on this board I thought it would be a good idea for all of us to share some of the tricks of the trade with the next generation/wannabe/backyard & all those trying to learn the hard way as I did.
Here is a couple things I use & do.
Instead of acetylene & Oxy. I use propane & Oxy to cut with all you need is a propane tip for your torches. This is for cutting only you cannot braze with propane. For me 1 gas grill bottle of propane will go several bottles of Oxy. I think I have the 90cu. bottle.
Scrap yard dog I am. I went to webbs metal recycling & scored almost 20' of 1.75 x .125w DOM for $15 bucks granted it's in 6' sections but I have to cut it up anyway.
Bed frames from your local goodwill or second hand store. I have made battery boxes, seat mounts fuel tank brackets.
When cutting out your wheel wells always use masking tape where your gonna cut zip wheel or sawzall it will help keep your paint from chipping & you line wont chip away with the paint.
Also use a string from the center of your wheel tied to a pencil to mark the radius sure makes the wheel look like it was made to fit up in that wheel well.

Thats all I can think of right now. I'll post more as it comes to me.

 

[Tom@Hilltop_Machine]

Measure twice-cut once.

 

[buckshot500]

When welding cast iron, it needs to be heated to some extent before welding, & kept hot through the entire casting.
Use short 2or 3" beads & peen them each time with a blunt air chisel. Be careful not to cool the metal too much with the airtool exhaust.
I have used mig for this as well as stick. Stick welds should be made with special nickle rod. If it's not available, some stainless steel wire can be used.

 

[welderman]

For the heating of cast, it dose not do much good unless you can get the whole piece to or above 400 deg. You can also take and drill a small, say 1/8" hole at each end of the crack and this will not allow the crack to grow on you. Also a light peening motion with a ball peen hammer will relive the stress.

Another trick you can do is to use hard surfacing rods on the high wear areas. The type of metal in these rods is very hard and is used on construction equipment all the time. The weld will wear and keep the part from wearing out as quickly, prolonging the life of certian items. An example on a 4x4 would be the skidplates and so on.

 

[Jeff B]

Another trick you can do is to use hard surfacing rods on the high wear areas. The type of metal in these rods is very hard and is used on construction equipment all the time. The weld will wear and keep the part from wearing out as quickly, prolonging the life of certian items. An example on a 4x4 would be the skidplates and so on.

To add to this, when hardfacing use the lowest amount of heat you possibly can. The more heat you use the more contanimation you will get from the parent metal.

Stainless rods, along with what has already been said for cast.
7018 has a high nickle content & will work in a pinch.

Good tips guys keep it comming.

 

[quickracer]

This isn't any cheap tech tips,But interesting.I struck my first arc with an old Lincoln stick welder at the age of 10 yrs old(currently 36).I still have the welder under cover in the corner of the garage.I call it R-T-D-2,I haven't seen another one of these ever,It sits on a old rear engine riding lawnmower frame (my dad put it on the frame)with a knife throw switch to turn it on,It weighs a lot.I will post a pic of it here in a few hours.Just thought this would be fun to post,If anyone has any info on approx year this thing is i would like to know a little history about it,Im guessing 1940-50s?thanks,Jim

 

[quickracer]

pics

 

[58apache]

decided to look into setting up an electrolysis rig just to see if it really worked. I had two spindles from a Corvette rearend both were rusty and I didn't relish the thought of spending an hour or so with the wire wheel on them. Here is the one that I have yet to dip, it is not as bad as the one that I finished but you can see the rust on the yoke and spline...

This is the other spindle, it sat in the electrolysis dip for about 6 hours. As you can see, the rust is gone and the metal looks almost new. I hope that the pics show the detail...

This was just too **** cheap and easy...
Take one plastic bucket, kitty litter bucket in my case...
Add enough water to cover the piece (about two gallons for me),
Add a tablespoon of laundry soda per gallon of water,
Hook a wire (coat hanger in my case) to the rusty part,
Get another piece of metal to act as the anode (1 inch tubing worked good for me),
1 battery charger...

Mix the soda into the water, hook the wire to the part and suspend in the liquid until completely covered, place the anode into the water so that it doesn't touch the part, hook the positive lead from the battery charger to the anode and the negative lead to the wire holding the part. Turn the charger on, check that it is drawing current (about an amp in my setup), and let it cook.

Here's the setup I used....

Here's what the water looks like AFTER the process was completed...

Here's the laundry soda I used. I used just a few cents worth of the soda, some scrap metal, a coat hanger, and some electricity...how simple is that!

Set the charger to 12 volts, 6 V will work but it takes longer.
Adding more soda does not help the process, the salt molecules in the soda provide a path for the rust particles to travel, so just a small amount does the trick.
I pulled the anode out of the solution (turn off the power first) after about 3 hours just to see if there was anything going on, it was covered with gray sludge. I wiped it off and replaced it back into the solution and turned the power back on. I believe that the cleaner the anode is, the better the electrolysis process.
This setup can be used in almost any size...I saw one website when I searched for "electrolysis rust" where a guy made a plywood box big enough to put a trailer frame in it. He lined it with plastic to hold the solution and used multiple current sources and anodes but it still worked well.

a word of caution about the hydrogen gas that is released in the bubbles. There is some hydrogen gas released in this process but much of the hydrogen combines with the carbonate in the soda and becomes carbon dioxide. HOWEVER, if you use stainless steel as an anode (the rod that you stick into the solution to draw the rust away from your part) or use a stainless steel bowl to put the solution into which also becomes the anode...then there are chromates released into the water (it becomes yellow) and this solution now becomes toxic. DON'T USE STAINLESS STEEL unless you have the facilities to dispose of the chromate solution that is produced.



From what I have read, hydrogen embrittlement does occur as a result of this process, BUT...the reports that address this condition go on to say that the embrittlement is only temporary and the surface of the steel returns to it's "normal" state shortly after being exposed to the air. However, caution was made to leave the part alone (no grinding or machining) for 15 minutes or so, to give the part time to normalize.



When working with any acid or alkali always wear the proper safety clothing as well as having a functioning water hose real handy. The sh!t will eat thru skin in seconds

 

[58apache]

use washing soda!! This is not to be confused with baking soda. They are not the same thing. Washing soda is sodium carbonate or soda ash (baking soda is sodium bicarbonate). It is a white powder. Its purpose is to help remove dirt and orders. The brand to look for is Arm & Hammer Washing Soda. I find it in the laundry section of my grocery store. A Food Lion. My Walmart carries it also. Many people have a hard time finding this locally. I know you can purchase it on-line, even through Amazon.com. I would also suggest asking your grocery store manager if it would be possible for the store to get it for you.

more proof:

 

[paradisePWoffrd]

so are you saying to just use regular liquid dish soap?

 

[58apache]

so are you saying to just use regular liquid dish soap?

ummmmmm....

 

[rockcity]

If you need to fill gaps when stick welding, you can knock off the flux on a 7018 or 6010 (any rod will do but the flux comes off of those MUCH easier than, say, a 6011), while stick welding, you can feed in the bare metal rod in similar fashion as a TIG

also, for sheet metal repair with a TIG, use a coat hanger as the filler rod as it melts at very low temperature to help keep the heat off of the thin sheet metal.

for a cheap TIG welder, use am AC/DC buzz box welder and get a scratch start TIG rig. You don't have foot pedal control of the amps, but it gives X-ray quality welds for less than $200 (minus that of the buzz box)

 

[Jeff B]

I really like the electrolysis rig. I am gonna try it.



To add to Rockcity, when you do this with your ad/dc machine it will only work on the dc side unless you have a high frequency box. If you force it to work on the ac side you will rectify the arc & ruin your machine.

 

[rockcity]

To add to Rockcity, when you do this with your ad/dc machine it will only work on the dc side unless you have a high frequency box. If you force it to work on the ac side you will rectify the arc & ruin your machine.

yeah, and it must be on reverse polarity or it will burn up your tungsten every time.

I use this TIG setup at home and in the field and it consistently passes X-ray, so it is not a booty fab setup.

 

[302cj]

I'm glad to here I'm not the only one that does this with 7018.

 

[jdubb]

I found info on how to build a press brake over on the Hobart and Miller sites. It is only 16" tall and uses a 12ton bottle jack I had laying around. Bent up my own truss/4link mount out of 4" wide 1/4 (2 pieces boxed together).

 

[Jeff B]

yeah, and it must be on reverse polarity or it will burn up your tungsten every time.

You are absoulty correct I had forgotten about that been so long since I needed to use my tig.

I'm glad to here I'm not the only one that does this with 7018.

I do the same thing along with the clothes hanger, works great!

I found info on how to build a press brake over on the Hobart and Miller sites. It is only 16" tall and uses a 12ton bottle jack I had laying around. Bent up my own truss/4link mount out of 4" wide 1/4 (2 pieces boxed together).

Please post some pics of this & tell us how you built it.

 

[rockcity]

Most that use tube will know this trick, but a lot of fabricators don't. use a chop saw, grinder with cut off wheel,or sawzall to cope tube. for a 90 degree tube intersection, cut two 45* cuts in the tube to resemble a cope with a hole saw or end mill. clean it up quickly with the grinder and voila! a simple and easy cope. adjust the angle of cuts to whatever intersection your tube is at. This works well because it uses tools most would already have on hand for standard fab work.

 

[Jeff B]

Most that use tube will know this trick, but a lot of fabricators don't. use a chop saw, grinder with cut off wheel,or sawzall to cope tube. for a 90 degree tube intersection, cut two 45* cuts in the tube to resemble a cope with a hole saw or end mill. clean it up quickly with the grinder and voila! a simple and easy cope. adjust the angle of cuts to whatever intersection your tube is at. This works well because it uses tools most would already have on hand for standard fab work.

Good write up on pirate about that plus more. It works well I have done this a bunch.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Links/


If you dont have torches just a stick welder & need to cut, you can use the welder. It's sloppy but it will work in a pinch.

Soak a couple of rods in water. (this will keep them from turning red & melting as quickly)

turn up the welder wide open. Begine you cut by piercing top to bottom like a sewing machine but at an angle pointing in to your cut. Make sure your out side when you do this cause it's smokey as hell. Be aware of where your feet are your blowing a lot of metal away.

6011 or 6010 work about the best for this.

 

[jdubb]

You are absoulty correct I had forgotten about that been so long since I needed to use my tig.
I do the same thing along with the clothes hanger, works great!
Please post some pics of this & tell us how you built it.

I built the press brake to be stand-alone unit without the need for a shop press. Tomorrow I'll post pics of the tool and the truss. Link to the chart for tonnage needed per thickness and width (how big bottle jack needs to be)http://www.shopfloortalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12478

 

[WARRIORWELDING]

My tip is more common sense oriented. Know what your welding on and always have good ventilation. I just got done repairing some cast iron. Welded great, high quaulity cast and all that, but....... I didn't research the piece and was ignorant of the fact it was Zinc coated underneath the years of paint and wear. So after grinding and sanding that crap off then heating it and finally welding on it for a good while I feel like a big pile of

Basicaly the same as Galvalume poisoning, heard milk helps get this out of your system. I'm alergic so I guess well get to suffer it out.

 

[jdubb]

press brake

a bunch of scrap metal thrown together and the bottle jack is removable

 

[bigwaylon]

not sure if this helps anybody with the press brake, but I found this yesterday when trying to find some info:

http://tech.mad4wd.com/?p=1

Greg

 

[jdubb]

die

thats what I found on the Miller and Hobart sites but the v-shaped die is only needed for thinner stuff. I just have two 1" blocks for the low die. the upper die is like 3 x 5/8. I learned if you're gonna bend a long piece of 1/4 plate then its best to have a wider base so it doesnt keep tipping over on you while you're bending

 

[rockcity]

Good write up on pirate about that plus more. It works well I have done this a bunch.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Links/
If you dont have torches just a stick welder & need to cut, you can use the welder. It's sloppy but it will work in a pinch.
Soak a couple of rods in water. (this will keep them from turning red & melting as quickly)
turn up the welder wide open. Begine you cut by piercing top to bottom like a sewing machine but at an angle pointing in to your cut. Make sure your out side when you do this cause it's smokey as hell. Be aware of where your feet are your blowing a lot of metal away.
6011 or 6010 work about the best for this.

and reverse polarity works better than straight polarity