Can I repair bush hog sheet metal with stick welder?

[rankrank1]

Why pay $80 an hour? He likely has a minimum charge of 1 hour even if the pro is only there 10 minutes. Those patches you need to add are not structural in nature at all. Based on what I can see in the pics even less than ideal welds will hold perfectly fine. Preventing burn through is your biggest hurdle which should be reasonably easy on 16 gauge (or thicker metal) with stick. Less than 16 gauge is asking too much though of the stick process (but still doable with a backer plate of copper with care).

5/64" 6013 with electrode negative would be my first choice (or AC polarity if that is all you have). 5/64" are hard to find but do not flex all over like a 1/16 diameter will so I love em for applications when mig is unavailable. It is worth having a pound of these around.

1/16" 7014 would be my 2nd choice (I mostly hate all 1/16" diameter rods but 7014 runs so darned easy it makes this one 1/16 diameter rod tolerable). Again worth stocking a pound of these.

3/32" 6010 or 6011 would be my 3rd choice. Move real fast and jump around to utilize the fast freeze properties or you will burn through with that forceful arc of either.

3/32" 6013 electrode negative would be my 4th choice.

In short I would trial and error any of these 4 in my bags of tricks and see which worked best and make the best of it. Do not expect prettiness but functionality. Frankly that ole cutter is not pretty anyhow in its current condition.

With the way you have that bush hog hanging you can even get to the patches from both sides so use that to your advantage too. Weld from both sides or to use a scrap of copper as a backing plate which will help prevent burn through too.

Personally, I would not use 7018 on this thin of stuff as even 3/32" 7018 diameter will burn through the thin sheet metal much too easily imop.

 

[GoatDriver]

I repaired this bush hog for a guy I used to work with, You can see the patch on the side in the 1st pic and some of the welding where I had to weld up cracks and some small holes in the unit. All of this was welded with 1/8" dia. 7018 rods. with a Miller Synchrowave 200.

 

[k0ua]

I repaired this bush hog for a guy I used to work with, You can see the patch on the side in the 1st pic and some of the welding where I had to weld up cracks and some small holes in the unit. All of this was welded with 1/8" dia. 7018 rods. with a Miller Synchrowave 200.


View attachment 453965 View attachment 453966 View attachment 453967

Looks like you "got 'er done":thumbsup:

 

[rankrank1]

Nice work on the JD cutter repair, but that appears to be a heck of a lot thicker metal (3/16" thick or more) than the OP is trying to repair. No reason 7018 would not work fine on 3/16" thick metal without burn through.

 

[Threepoint]

That's a very good idea. I found a guy that will come here for $80/hr, has all the mig stuff on his truck. I doubt it would take him an hour to do this if I get everything prepped.

O.k., BeezFun, I'll just go ahead and say it. You may never have a better opportunity to justify getting that mig setup that you've been half thinking about for the last few years! :laughing:

 

[GoatDriver]

Nice work on the JD cutter repair, but that appears to be a heck of a lot thicker metal (3/16" thick or more) than the OP is trying to repair. No reason 7018 would not work fine on 3/16" thick metal without burn through.

The unit metal was just a little thinner than 1/8".....like about 12 gauge. I used 1/8" plate for the patch on the bush hog.

 

[BeezFun]

In short I would trial and error any of these 4 in my bags of tricks and see which worked best and make the best of it. Do not expect prettiness but functionality. Frankly that ole cutter is not pretty anyhow in its current condition.

With the way you have that bush hog hanging you can even get to the patches from both sides so use that to your advantage too. Weld from both sides or to use a scrap of copper as a backing plate which will help prevent burn through too.

Personally, I would not use 7018 on this thin of stuff as even 3/32" 7018 diameter will burn through the thin sheet metal much too easily imop.

Thanks, I planned to do some tests once I cut an old piece out and can weld it to the patch material. Haven't used 7014, I'll get some and give it a try, storing 7018 is a pain. I've got a good bit of experience with 6013 too, so I'll see how that works. Yeah having it hanging up in the air makes it easy to work on, I'll probably cut out the bad areas with it hanging, then lay it down so I can weld in position.

 

[BeezFun]

O.k., BeezFun, I'll just go ahead and say it. You may never have a better opportunity to justify getting that mig setup that you've been half thinking about for the last few years! :laughing:

I like your thinking. Problem is I have to learn how to use it, and don't want to learn on something that I have to look at for the next 15 years. I've been watching for used mig welders, if I see a Miller 252, I'd probably pick it up.

 

[BeezFun]

I repaired this bush hog for a guy I used to work with, You can see the patch on the side in the 1st pic and some of the welding where I had to weld up cracks and some small holes in the unit. All of this was welded with 1/8" dia. 7018 rods. with a Miller Synchrowave 200.

Nice job, he really did a number on that thing.

 

[joefromga]

Harbor freight has a wire feed fcaw welder for 109.00.

Buy it, use it once and throw it away. If it doesn't break use it for years and save money. At 90 amps it will be perfect for that thin metal up to probably 3/16 on single pass. For something non structural even a first timer can fix that Bush hog.

Pull at an angle and keeping the puddle about. 1/4" behind. Easy peezy.

 

[GLyford]

Haven't used 7014, I'll get some and give it a try.

I'll warn you now...you might get spoiled.

I might have a pound or so of 60xx on hand in various sizes, a pound of 7018-AC that's probably soggy by now, and about 10 lbs. of 7014 in various sizes. I can't claim to be a good welder, but whatever I weld with 7014 seems to hold, which is about all I can ask for.

 

[bjr]

I've got an old ford bush hog, the sheet metal is rusted through around edges but gearbox and structure is in good shape, so I'd like to try to repair it. I'll be cutting out and replacing the 20ga sheet metal with patches. Then I have to weld the new 20ga patch material to angles and brackets that range from 1/8" to 3/16" thick. So the big problem is welding thin material (20ga) to thicker material (1/4"-3/16"). I'm a pretty good stick welder, a really good gas welder, but don't do mig, and I'm trying to decide if this is doable. I'd probably go through a tank of gas trying to get this thing hot enough, and it would be tough to avoid burn through, so that probably won't work. Is it possible to stick weld these two materials? I generally use 1/8" 6010 to tack everything, then 1/8" 7018 to run the bead on thicker material. What would I use for this if it's doable?
tnx

I read most all the pages, and I'm in the reskin it crowd. You got all you need. That little AC/DC is good machine for what you tryin' to do. I'm assuming you got a oxy/acetlyne outfit? Get to the local steel salvage/sales yard get some 12/10 ga. big enough to cover the deck. Notch out wear needed skip weld using any of the fast freeze mild steel 3/32 rods as been suggested. Ya ain't buildin' fuel tanks for the space shuttle here, just Get-R-Done. Paint to suit and go Mow. I guarantee you'll never even think about the repair Two months down the road because by then something else will have popped it's head up for you to worry about. bjr

 

[MH8675309]

I second the bronze notion. It would be nicer to look at and bronze handles vibration better than weld because of its elasticity.

 

[GoatDriver]

I second the bronze notion. It would be nicer to look at and bronze handles vibration better than weld because of its elasticity.

That must be why the factory uses bronze,huh?.....Oh wait the factories do not use bronze in this application.
Weld the thing and be done with it. I have lived on a working farm all my 50 years and I wonder where some folks come up with the things they do sometimes.
In the "real world".... everyday life, working and repairing equipment or whatever on a farm or job site...well...some just wouldn't make it.

 

[LD1]

That must be why the factory uses bronze,huh?

The factory used a solid piece of metal called a deck. So with welding in a patch, is putting welds somewhere the MFG never had to weld.

Bronze is too slow for factory production and more costly

 

[GoatDriver]

The factory used a solid piece of metal called a deck. So with welding in a patch, is putting welds somewhere the MFG never had to weld.

Bronze is too slow for factory production and more costly

I have repaired (welded) quite a few bush hogs in my time here on this old earth and most of them have some welded seams from the factory.
It is not rocket science although some try to make it out to be.

 

[LD1]

Never said they didn't have welded seams. Mine has welded seams

 

[MH8675309]

That must be why the factory uses bronze,huh?.....Oh wait the factories do not use bronze in this application.
Weld the thing and be done with it. I have lived on a working farm all my 50 years and I wonder where some folks come up with the things they do sometimes.
In the "real world".... everyday life, working and repairing equipment or whatever on a farm or job site...well...some just wouldn't make it.

Nope Goatdriver bronze or braze as its called. It will take vibration better and will easier for this fella to do without making a mess out of it. Its called using what you have available. I welded professionally for years and have lots of real life experience on things like this. I have seen blue prints that called for bronze versus a weld because of the vibration factor. I respectfully disagree.

 

[MH8675309]

That must be why the factory uses bronze,huh?.....Oh wait the factories do not use bronze in this application.
Weld the thing and be done with it. I have lived on a working farm all my 50 years and I wonder where some folks come up with the things they do sometimes.
In the "real world".... everyday life, working and repairing equipment or whatever on a farm or job site...well...some just wouldn't make it.

Nope Goatdriver bronze or braze as its called. It will take vibration better and will easier for this fella to do without making a mess out of it. Its called using what you have available. I welded professionally for years and have lots of real life experience on things like this. I have seen blue prints that called for bronze versus a weld because of the vibration factor. I respectfully disagree.

 

[drizler]

That stuff should weld like a dream. Unless it's made of some kind of hardened steel to keep it thin . I battled with that putting a new rear frame on my 2000 Silverado last winter. The junk thin hardened steel just rolled up when I tried to weld it. It was only really on there as a guide so not a really big deal but **** that is awful stuff. I had to hit it with the 110 mig and flux wire to get it stuk together then hit it again with the 6011. Most awful metal I ever dealt with. If I hadn't had the baby mig I think it was doable using that tiny 1/16" 6013 sine you have the ability to roll it around and work straight down and that helps a lot. Then go over after with a larger rod and melt it all together. Not pretty or professional but it it stays together it is good nuff right. Don't you just love the way they use that TIN to build everything today? The results are just what you see, rust.