welder on crack

[TonyC]

I guess I'll add my two cents to the pile.

If you had a smaller welder I might recommend grinding the crack to bevel the edges. You, my friend, have a Mac-Daddy welder. The only purpose for grinding out the crack is to reduce the thickness of the metal at the weld point if you are afraid your welder won't penetrate it. Yours will, no problem! Think about it...why do all that grinding when you're going to melt the metal anyway?

I would certainly clean it out thoroughly with a wire wheel on a grinder. Set your MM251 up for 1/2" steel and go to it. If you're concerned you can hit it again from underneath. No patch plate is necessary. If you are a novice then by all means get a couple of small pieces of 1/2" steel to practice. Butt them together and weld away. You should be able to then cut the piece across the weld you made and you should not be able to even tell where it is looking at the cross section. Then you know you have it down pat. Weld the crack and grind the excess flat when you're through. I do agree with doing the real weld in stages to be sure no welding ensues.

As to the Hobart site...I have been a member there for a long time. There a loads of novices there including a bunch of 13 and 14 years olds. They are a great bunch of guys like those here at TBN. In fact there are a bunch of TBN'ers over there as well as guys who have been welding for 30 or more years. Come on over, join up and post this questions. You will have welding experts jumping at the chance to give you solid advice.

Good luck!

 

[RICHARDG]

Let me see if I get this straight,,,you want to turn the machine up so you will get 1/2 inch or so penatration with one pass? Maybe I have welded to much in the over head postion,,,don't know,,,maybe its all that code pipe welding I've done and inspected,,don't know,,,but nobody welds like that,,,at least nobody thats ever passed a 6g pipe test,,,,,you can get 1/2 inch penatration,,you can get 1 inch penatration,,,just hold your gun in one spot for a while,,,now if you were an expert,and used to doing a certain job like this,,,maybe that would be a way to do it,,,,but,,,the more heat,the harder it is to control,,,the more heat,,,the more holes you burn,,,,and besides that,,,why would you want to,,,like I said,,120 amps about 19 volts is hot for .035 wire,,,but with that setting,,you can weld all postions,[takes practice],and all thickness,,down to stove pipe,,,thinner,,,single pass,,thicker,,multiple passes,,,,I guess it has something to do with welding pipe,,,I'm talking about x-ray quality,,that makes me say all this,,,you never weld pipe with just one pass,,,three is considered min.,,,leaks,pinholes,,you can get buy with two,if nobodys looking,,,but never one,,even if you can fill it in one,,,the first pass,[root],,you are just looking to get the root fully fused,,,not do any filling really,,then you add passes as needed. So,,,as you see,I disagree with your advice,,,,thingy

 

[wilajo]

Thanks for the invite TonyC. I sure appreciate all the technique tips from everybody. Good group. This is a pretty massive, tired, welded all over the place bucket. I grapple and place large rocks so it gets heavily abused. I've had pros weld on it, and after more hours of use it stresses out in a new area. It should be a good learning vehicle. I stink up the place just laying down a bead, so as advised, I'll practice on some thick plate. The most interesting thing about all the posts are the differing methods of accomplishing the same end. It is truly an amazing world! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
Regards,
Wilajo

 

[Bowhunter]

LOL, maybe I'm weird but when I first read the subject title, my first thought was you had a welder working for you that had a drug problem. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[RICHARDG]

Well,look at it this way,if you can just weld the start of the crack up and the end up,,,then alls you got is a hole,,[or crack],better yet,a slot in the middle, slots are sometimes good,,,,and it will now work as a backhoe bucket,,,,then just fill in the middle part the best you can,,,,it will be alot better than when you started,,,even though its a gorilla weld,[ugly,but strong],,which is better than a bralle weld,,[looks like a blind man did it],,,practice makes perfect,,,and remember,,,the main thing is to stay calm,,,,thingy

 

[wilajo]

Hey Bowhunter. The title was no mistake. Hopefully it wasn’t too misleading. I took my cue from the evening news. “If it bleeds it leads”. I couldn’t resist. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
Wilajo

 

[BBELL]

Hi guys, I'd like to throw in my 2 cents if i may. I do know a little about welding, I was a welder in a ship yard for 13 years, welded just about every proscess availiably. Now for bucket edge repair, I would say that it is harden steel, or it wouldn't last to long digging. That means you'd have to use a hard wire, like 100,000 tensle strenth or more. Then you have to pre-heat the metal you are going to weld on. The reason you pre heat high strenth steel is that it is so hard that when you weld on it, if it cools to fast it will crack again. Then after you weld it, it has to cool off slowly, kind of a healing time. Small stringer beads are far better then fat passes. When we weld on HY-80( a very hard steel on a navy ship) we put strip heaters on the welding area, per heat temp of 125 degrees for 1/2 or thicker. No more then 250 degree innter pass(that means after one pass the heat affected zone should be no more the 250degrees. Post heat means no quenching, cool down slowly. Or it will just crack again.

 

[RICHARDG]

I don't think this is any kind of edge repair,,,this is a crack that probably started in the edge as most cracks do...I am pretty sure this is just plain ole carbon steel,,a36,,,mild steel,,etc.,,,,,there are for sure different grades of steel,,many,,,1 1/4 chrome,,,2 1/4 chrome,,,588 weathering steel,hardened steel,,,etc,,,,,,,,,and you are right,,,if this was some kind of steel other than plain ole mild steel,,,there COULD be diffferent preheat,,,post heat considerations,,,,but if this is plain ole carbon steel,,and we welded it with a high tensile wire,,,would that be a good thing? No,,it wouldn't,,,so you are right and you are wrong,,,you got to know what grade steel you are welding,,,,but in this case,my experience tells me it is plain ole carbon steel,,,50 degrees min. preheat,,,no post treat,,,plain ole mild steel filler,,,60 or 70 tensile,,,and a good gorilla weld... thingy

 

[wilajo]

Bbell: What is a backyard method of distinguishing hardened steel? Take a file to it and see if you can… defile it? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Wilajo

 

[pekabu]

TBN is a great place. I have the same problem with my BH bucket. It cracked right along the middle tooth. Gotta bend mine back a little though. Have you thought of getting a job at the Enquirer?

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