chad22
Veteran Member
That's good advice there.If you have any doubts in your welding skills, even a little. Do NOT weld anything that can potentially cause harm if it breaks apart.
I had a trailer that I welded up " I believe back in 2008" fail on me sending the scrap metal and trailer frame across the road. The scrap metal landed in the ditch and the trailer frame landed in the middle of the road.
Thank god I was the only one on that road that day.
I never welded any other trailer after that until I was confident in my welding ability.
On my converted trailer. If I had doubts about my ability to make strong sound welds with good penetration using the proper welding machine then I wouldn't have tackled the welding of the trailer.
I may not be able to make my welds look good. But I sure can make them strong.
I haven't had that converted trailer fall apart on me yet. If the weld doesn't penetrate and isn't a strong weld then I'll grind out and redo the weld until I'm satisfied that it's a strong weld. "Not a good looking weld but a strong one"
If it doesn't look all that good but is a strong weld then I won't grind it down.
Those welds I did on that trailer that fell apart were good looking welds. But they failed. Because they didn't actually penetrate the metal. The welds were too cold.
Would I weld another trailer now? Sure I would. And I wouldn't worry about it falling apart either.