Advice wanted: welder settings for brush hog deck repair.

[Arc weld]

I think you mean 3/32" not 3/16". On a mower deck I'd use 3/32" 6010 or 6011. A little dirt or paint won't matter and easier to control so it doesn't burn through.

 

[newbury]

Take some "samples" of what you are going to weld and practice first.

I took the advice on this forum and tried welding my mower deck and routinely blew holes through all my samples as I dialed down my Everlast PA 300 to about as low as it will go.

After hitting all the "local welding supply" places (Airgas, Lowes, TSC, HD) finally got some thin rod at Harbor Freight (yeah I know, CRAPPY ROD) and was able to relatively easily weld a few patches on.

One of the problems you may face is if there is rust - where there is rust there is less metal so your X gauge deck (X-rust) gauge.

 

[Trials]

Lets look at some simple facts: Electricity takes the path of the least electrical resistance. Paint is a poor conductor. Rust is oxidized metal which is also a poor conductor compared to clean metal. Paint burns. Burning paint contains a host of chemicals that are not condusive to the chemistry of welding. And lastly, what is stronger at holding 2 pieces of steel together when one of those pieces is sheet metal, a bolt with a large washer or a weld?

 

[LD1]

Lets look at some simple facts: Electricity takes the path of the least electrical resistance. Paint is a poor conductor. Rust is oxidized metal which is also a poor conductor compared to clean metal. Paint burns. Burning paint contains a host of chemicals that are not condusive to the chemistry of welding. And lastly, what is stronger at holding 2 pieces of steel together when one of those pieces is sheet metal, a bolt with a large washer or a weld?

Your first post states that "its going to need to be cleaned of paint and rust and down to bare metal"

Simply not true. Optional....yes. A need.....NO. I'll stick weld rusted and painted metal, and do the same thing to a clean section. There is gonna be no difference in strength and neither will fail. Only difference is one took more tools and time to accomplish.

No offense meant, but it seems either 1. You lack real experience and only book educated in welding, or 2. You are a union welder getting paid by the hour.

As to bolts vs welds.....not point in debating about strength. As that is not the concern. The concern is staying together and not vibrating apart over the long haul. Plus welding leaves a cleaner deck without a bunch of bolt heads sticking up. You dont want bolts coming loose on the deck and thigs to start shaking and falling apart. Perhaps we should send a memo to KK, Bushhog, Rhino, Landpride, Woods, Brown, et al to let them know their decks shouldnt be welded to anything, rather use all bolts and fender washers?

 

[CCWKen]

Lets look at some simple facts: Electricity takes the path of the least electrical resistance.

More accurately, electricity will take ALL paths available. An important fact to remember when dealing with ground wires.

 

[Trials]

...
No offense meant, but it seems either 1. You lack real experience and only book educated in welding, or 2. You are a union welder getting paid by the hour.
...

:laughing: just the opposite, my father-in-law taught me how to weld and he was pretty meticulous about materials preparation and achieving the best results possible the first time around. Welly had very little formal education, but he did have an older brother who was a professional welder and worked for union carbide. What I know about metallurgy came from technical school courses followed by working in the optics industry, for about a quarter century specializing in the sales and service to laboratory test equipment and extremely high end microscopy equipment including Brinell test and metallographic microscopes.
Stuff like this:

I've seen lots of metal bits and bad welds cut in half, polished and looked at under a 60 thousand dollar microscope while performing contract work for Alcan, GM, Boing, the Canadian Military, and a whole slew of Universities across the country just to name a very few of my customers. Yes, I was charging them a whole bunch of money by the hour, portal to portal

 

[coss]

Thanks for the experienced advice. I had not realized that bed frame metal is high-strength and might cause problems.

Please continue to add to the list of suggested rods, AC vs DC, and amperage recommendations.

 

[Trials]

Thanks for the experienced advice. I had not realized that bed frame metal is high-strength and might cause problems.

Please continue to add to the list of suggested rods, AC vs DC, and amperage recommendations.

I'll throw this out there and others can take exception to it AC vs DC what is the aspect that you are welding in, AC works just fine if gravity is working for you. DC is far superior if you need to weld on a vertical surface or upside down.

Thin rod will need a lower power setting, if your welder had no way to adjust the power, changing up the rod thickness would be the only way to adjust your weld to accommodate the appropriate penetration. Much experimentation and experience is required to achieve the ideal results, start with a scrap piece of metal that is similar to what you are working with, post pics of your test results and the guys here will critique it for you.

Add: the angle of the rod is fairly critical, if you stand the rod up (approach 90 degree angle to the work piece) it will more likely blow holes through your thin material, if you lean it too much you will fail to achieve penetration of the weld. Work on getting the rod at the correct and consistent angle first and then make adjustments to the power setting.