I tried to weld two different size metals together on my mower deck last week. It did not go too well. I was able to get both pieces hot and add the rod. It looked like it would hold but when I hit it with a hammer it came apart. I used a coat hanger for filling material. Do they make a special rod for use with the oxy/acey welding? Any tips on this style of welding for repair work? I am trying to avoid spending the money on a welder/generator.
Oxy?aceytelene Welding
- Thread starter thegrouse
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k0ua
Epic Contributor
RG45 is the standard rod for mild steel
https://weldingsupply.securesites.net/cgi-bin/einstein.pl
Was the base metal clean? properly prepped?
James K0UA
k0ua
Epic Contributor
Not for welding, brazing yes, welding no. What kind of joint was it? (butt, Lap, T joint?) Did both sides of the parent metal puddle up good? How thick was it? It should have worked, but coat hanger metal I would think is pretty lousy metal, probably old melted scrap of dubious heritage. But I am guessing on the coat hanger I don't really know for sure. Clean it up (grind) and get some RG45 and try again.. It is mild steel right?
James K0UA
cowski
Platinum Member
coat hangers will work somewhat ,if applied correctly.just heating the metal up ,will not get it welded.to weld both metals have to puddle to weave the rod in.brazing can be done by just heating it up.
It was a deck of my Cub Cadet. I don't think that is mild steel. I had a shield piece bust off. I think the piece that fell off is mild steel. I held the pieces on top of each other with vise grips and welded the seam.
crash325
Elite Member
Gas welding can be as strong as an arc weld. That is with the right filler rod and technique.
Coat hanger is fine for most mild steel. Gas & Arc welding just a matter of stirring moving a molten metal across the weld area.
Depending on how much the difference in thickness is, it could be real impractical to gas or arc either 1. Very often the thin piece melts away before the thick one gets hot.
With all that said arc would probably be better, faster & easier.
Coat hanger is fine for most mild steel. Gas & Arc welding just a matter of stirring moving a molten metal across the weld area.
Depending on how much the difference in thickness is, it could be real impractical to gas or arc either 1. Very often the thin piece melts away before the thick one gets hot.
With all that said arc would probably be better, faster & easier.
k0ua
Epic Contributor
Sounds like a lap joint, were you able to get to both sides of the joint front and back and both clean, and weld them both?..The deck is a large piece of metal, and would take some heat to get a good molten puddle on both parent metal pieces and fill the keyhole seam with the filler rod. It almost sounds like brazing might have been a better idea on a lap joint if the stresses on this piece would not be too strenuous.
James K0UA
