All things welding
- Thread starter AirborneTexasRanger
- Start date
What's different about it vs your previous hood that lets you see so much better?
I don't know. Part of it might be the cheater lenses I bought. But everything is just crystal clear. For shits and giggles a changed out the lens protectors on my other two hoods so everything was new across the board for comparison. I'm going to try and video the differences if I can find a way to make it work.
OP
Now that you have an idea of how crisp everything is supposed to look, you'll know when it's time to change out the clear lenses.
was it a bigger field of view? (in other words, does the new hood have a larger lens than the old one)? I have a sellstrom that I replaced my "entry level" miller with and its like 4x the viewable area. Made a HUGE difference. If there is something else to it...Buddy of mine has left his old Lincoln hood here (since he doesn't have a welder at home)...I might try it.
I've got a question for the welders in the forum.
I'm going to install the rear antirock and reading the instructions it says.
"You’ll need to fully weld the tabs into place, but you’ll need to do it very slowly so as not to warp the axle housing! Weld a very small amount on each side and then allow to completely cool before going back and adding more weld. The finished, welded tabs should look like this."
Now I've never welded in my life and I planned on paying someone else to do that step.
How much is a very small amount and how long do you have to wait for it to cool down?
It makes sense that welding a truss could possibly warp the axle but I was surprised to see the warning on this item.
I'm going to install the rear antirock and reading the instructions it says.
"You’ll need to fully weld the tabs into place, but you’ll need to do it very slowly so as not to warp the axle housing! Weld a very small amount on each side and then allow to completely cool before going back and adding more weld. The finished, welded tabs should look like this."
Now I've never welded in my life and I planned on paying someone else to do that step.
How much is a very small amount and how long do you have to wait for it to cool down?
It makes sense that welding a truss could possibly warp the axle but I was surprised to see the warning on this item.
OP
Cool down doesn't necessarily mean "cool". Typically "cool down" is still warm to the touch ≈ 150° which should take about 10 - 20 min depending on how much heat was put into it during welding.
As for "a very small amount" I'd probably need more specifics. Can you post a link to what you bought?
Last edited:
OP
To me it looks like the welded the top half first & then the bottom half later.
If it were me I'd weld the the red first, move to the other tab & weld red on that tab. Then go back to the first & weld the green, then the other tab. Finally finish it with blue.
The order of which color gets welded first wont matter. You could start with blue or green. Just alternate to minimize warping.
If it were me I'd weld the the red first, move to the other tab & weld red on that tab. Then go back to the first & weld the green, then the other tab. Finally finish it with blue.
The order of which color gets welded first wont matter. You could start with blue or green. Just alternate to minimize warping.
Not to piss in any of the expert's cheerios but this is a case of CYA and theory not quite standing up to practical application. I know this from experience welding lots of brackets and tabs on axle tubes with zero ill effect. I needed a way to show that it isn't as bad as lots of folks tend to make it out to be so I dug in the pile and retrieved a piece of front axle tube and an equivalent to the AR tab in an old control arm tab. It wasn't fully correct for the smaller 2.5" diameter on the .250 wall front tube so I ground it out to fit and also to really increase the amount of contact with the tube to ensure a worst case scenario with how far the weld goes around the tube.
For reference, the rear axle tube is the same wall thickness and slightly larger in diameter at 2 5/8" IIRC.
I cleaned it and then welded it hotter than normal after checking the tube with a straight edge to ensure straightness and it was. I welded both sides, one right after the other with the only pause between being the length of time it takes to move from one side to the other. I did two large tacks, one at each end and then went right to welding. This is the end result in pics.
You can tell by the small bit of spatter and smoke that I'm a tad hotter than I should be, by design.
End result is the tube is exactly as straight as it was before I started.
edit- I forgot to clarify. There is zero wrong with doing the welds as directed by other than me. I just wanted to show that there isn't as much to fear as is often related and if you follow their direction, you'll be just fine.
Last edited:
Nice experiment and weld looks great. I also didn’t realize less splatter could indicate high heat. How about if you weld longitudinally? Would that make a difference?
More spatter is from staying in the puddle too long and it starts popping a bit instead of the nice smooth buzz. No idea on the lengthwise weld but guessing from the fact that I've welded on many mid arm stiffeners that the effect would still be negligible. This was also intended to be a lot more weld that one would normally do on something as light duty as the AR tab.
I see in your last pic that you've turned a Carpenter's square into a Weldor's square. I've "cut corners" too.
OP
Yep, have been forever. The longer front JK Dana 44 HP is the same thickness and diameter. This is likely from one of those but nonetheless, still the same as the TJ 30 and 44 front. The rear is the same wall thickness with a slightly larger diameter for the 44. I've not checked a Dana 35 in a while.
I see in your last pic that you've turned a Carpenter's square into a Weldor's square. I've "cut corners" too.
I have two, only one is cut for welds. Sometimes you really need that square corner.
Alright, I’m looking for some constructive criticism here. I am very inexperienced at welding and struggle with consistency and general lack of knowledge. I bought a welder 2 years ago; Miller Multimatic 220. It has autoset, which helps but may hurt by not making me figure the settings out myself. I also took a class at a local community college (not a real class, just a community outreach thing that was 5 or 6 evenings for a couple of hours where they would have a process theme for the night (MIG, stick, TIG, gas welding, using a torch etc.). Then you were basically given some scrap metal and turned loose with the equipment. No real teaching. It actually just seemed dangerous, given the experience level of the participants. I’ve used YouTube, of course and stayed with MIG. I’m aware that one big problem I have is, I’ll go for months without welding then pick it up for some project and wonder why I suck at it. Anyhow, here are my latest welds (a Genright cross member for my TJs transmission as part of a Atlas and higher tuck project). Here is the crossmember:
I was happy enough with the welding of the stamped piece to center tube. The side tube to curved tube went OK and the smaller diameter to larger diameter welds look awful.
Then there was welding the tabs to the frame.
Passenger before wire brush:
Driver after wire brushing:
In my estimation, they look marginal, at best, even for a beginner .That was very awkward. My technique consisted of turning the voltage down a bit and pushing the weld from the bottom up after tacking them. I tried both welding half of each side and switching as well as doing an entire side.
What do the experts and pros see? Just give up? I know I need more frequent practice but what else would anyone suggest for these particular welds? Thx for looking.
I was happy enough with the welding of the stamped piece to center tube. The side tube to curved tube went OK and the smaller diameter to larger diameter welds look awful.
Then there was welding the tabs to the frame.
Passenger before wire brush:
Driver after wire brushing:
In my estimation, they look marginal, at best, even for a beginner .That was very awkward. My technique consisted of turning the voltage down a bit and pushing the weld from the bottom up after tacking them. I tried both welding half of each side and switching as well as doing an entire side.
What do the experts and pros see? Just give up? I know I need more frequent practice but what else would anyone suggest for these particular welds? Thx for looking.
OP
You couldn't ask for a better weld on that stamped piece to center tube, very nice. The tabs on the frame don't look too bad either, you should be proud & don't give up. On the driver side tabs, there's a lot of soot & spatter which is most likely gun angle or wire stick out. Focus the gun nozzle more on the puddle & less of the direction of travel. On the passenger side tabs, the one on the right isn't bad but the one on the left looks "cold" meaning you didn't have enough voltage.
The tube welds look like too much WFS or moving too slow. Those types of joints are tricky, especially on smaller diameter tubing because you're not moving in a straight line. Sometimes you have to just put down a small weld, like 1" at a time & grind down the end of the previous weld to give you a good place to tie in the next weld.
How did you weld the large tube to the small tube? Vertically or horizontally? When I can I always try to position what I'm welding to the easiest position possible. Also, it looks like you've got some porosity on the right side. Everything looks pretty clean so It might not be from bad welding technique.
Whenever you seal off a tube you need to let the air inside cool off before you put the final weld. The heat will increase the pressure inside the tube & force the air out through the weakest spot which is your weld puddle.
Other suggestions I'd make are more for better structural strength. Whenever you have corners, it's best to continue the weld around the corner. The starts/stops of a weld are usually the weakest part. When you couple that with the corner, you're putting 2 stress risers at the same point which can lead to a failure. Also when you start & stop on an existing weld, grind down the ends which will help you put in a better transition.
The tube welds look like too much WFS or moving too slow. Those types of joints are tricky, especially on smaller diameter tubing because you're not moving in a straight line. Sometimes you have to just put down a small weld, like 1" at a time & grind down the end of the previous weld to give you a good place to tie in the next weld.
How did you weld the large tube to the small tube? Vertically or horizontally? When I can I always try to position what I'm welding to the easiest position possible. Also, it looks like you've got some porosity on the right side. Everything looks pretty clean so It might not be from bad welding technique.
Whenever you seal off a tube you need to let the air inside cool off before you put the final weld. The heat will increase the pressure inside the tube & force the air out through the weakest spot which is your weld puddle.
Other suggestions I'd make are more for better structural strength. Whenever you have corners, it's best to continue the weld around the corner. The starts/stops of a weld are usually the weakest part. When you couple that with the corner, you're putting 2 stress risers at the same point which can lead to a failure. Also when you start & stop on an existing weld, grind down the ends which will help you put in a better transition.