Re: 51Packard's....51 Packard

Posted by Larry51 On 2011/5/14 7:48:18

I'm enjoying your blog '51.

Back to the welding - you mentioned the copper pipe heat sink. Good idea. Suggest using a bit of heavy gauge (14g?) copper sheet instead of the pipe, clamped tightly under the join, it will make better contact with the sheet and move surplus heat away better. I got some from a scrap metal merchant cheap.

I have a lot of burn-throughs doing butt welds on floors etc. Gun angle seems to be almost as important as amps and volts so keep it well angled. I can't get a decent weld very easily without the gas either, which helps a lot with getting the puddle to flow and reducing spatter.

Maybe instead of butt welding you could do an overlap or recessed overlap? Less chance of burn through and adds a bit of extra rigidity to the floor if you can't swage it. Less hassles with cutting exactly the right length also.