Hey guys, if you guys read the thread "How long to wait..." in the Off Topic section, I recently got screwed in the *** for a job I thought was going to be done. So after I called the cops to attain most my parts (not my money =/ ) I'm left with a subframeless f2 frame. I have some of the pieces and would like to weld them back together. I was just wondering if anyone in the forums is good with welding and if they could help a fellow rider out? Let me know....

Happy Holidays,

-Jasper

 

I'm a certified welder, but, I live in Canada.

Ship your frame to me and I'll weld it and ship it back, that would be expensive lol!

 

Damn! If only you were closer! Yea, I have a mig welder on hand and I've been trying to practice to make it look nice... but damn. This is hard and tedious. Do you happen to know what our subframes are made out of? Mild Steel Flux Gasless wires should be okay to weld it back together right? I hope so...

 

Our framesshould bemade from Mild Steel.

What wire are you running? Is it T-3, T-4, T-5, T-6, T-7 or T-9?

Run your machine on DCEP(Direct Current, Electrode Positive) UNLESS you are using T-7 which requires DCEN (electrode negative)

Get a piece of scrap steel and practice balancing your Volt / Amp settings.

The Voltage regulates the HEAT and PENETRATION, while the Amp's control theCURRENT -in Mig the current is measured by how much wire is being used inch/min.

The subframe is probably made from 3/16th's MS, so I would run your Voltage at about 17v and your Amps if I had to guess should be set somewhere around 115-135.

You can tell if your machine is set properly by listening to your arc, it should be smooth and consistent and producing a hissing sound.

Tack your piece in place first, and make sure it is perfect before you actually weld it together.

You're using FLUX cored wire, which means that you need to CHIP the flux from the weld when it has solidified before you can weld over top of it if you should need to.

Some tips I would give you are to

CLEAN the surfaces you are going to weld on, cleanse it of impurities that will affect the weld, simply grind or file it down to shiny metal.
Watch the PUDDLE which is the molten part of the weld that will follow your arc around.
Move SLOWLY, I cant weld a bead any faster than you can. Soak time is your friend, the longer the puddle is molten the more penetration you get.
Keep a CLOSE ARC, keep your tip close to the piece, the further away you get the less Voltage is running through the wire.

Watch some videos here:
http://ca.youtube.com/results?search_query=mig+welding

Look for the user "xpertvillage" and learn how your machine works, how to prepare the joint, and how to do the weld.

Keep in mind this guy is a terrible welder, just take the basics from it, I only watched one video and his machine is not set up correctly - Amp's too high.

Hope this helps!

 

I'm using a Dual Mig 131 < --- Borrowed it from a friend. I've been welding it using Innershield NR-211-MP wire. A 0.30 0.8mm thick from Home Depot. The settings that I had it on was 35amps which is on Minimum setting 2. On maximum setting 2 it only produces 75amps, which still low compared to what you suggested. Since I wasn't penetrating the Mild Steel enough, would you recommend me going over my welds (or grinding them down then going over them)? It seems to hold pretty well thus far, but this is my first time using a welder period so... yea. So far my beads are thick but no where neat. Let me know!

 

Going over your welds wont add strength if there is no penetration, it will add about as much strength as a layer of paint.

Grind your welds off, turn it up to 75amps and turn your voltage up to where it will run a smooth arc -0.30 wire will work with the lower settings, the settings I gave you were for the standard 0.35.

Every machine is different though, I'd have to play with the machine to actually set it up properly but it's easy.

Turn it up as high as you can without blowing a hole through the metal, and maintain that smooth hissing sound without a lot of popping and crackling.

If the wire is burning back to the tip your amps are too low (or your volts are too high if the amps are as high as they will go), either that or the tensioner inside the wire feed unit is not tight enough.

Try to set it up so you have a 1/8" gap between the 2 pieces you are welding together (get something 1/8" thick and put it between the pieces when you tack it together to ensure the gap, then remove that 1/8" thing)

Creating agap there will allow you to do a "Root pass"for 100% penetration. Give me a few minutes andI will draw something up for you in MSPaint and post it here.

 

Thanks so much thus far. I will grind the welds down as much as I can. Then reweld with 75amps (I can't really control the voltage on this unit). The voltage is set to 120 volts. Let me find a picture of the face of the welding machine to show you what I speak of.

 

Its this welder, but I can't find a clearer picture

 

120V ?!

That's the problem with no-name brand welders, they dont follow the same basics as mainstream ones, they just love to be different :P

Well, just get it set up so it runs smoothly... And prepare your piece like this:


Make 1 small pass inside the groove at a lower amperage (and voltage if you can figure out how to set that) and go slow to that the heat can sink in. If you have a small torch it would be a good idea to pre-heat the metal before you weld (better penetration)

It's also best if you can "pull" the puddle, what I mean by this is point the gun backwards towards the weld and away from the direction of travel while you're welding, it just keeps the heat in the puddle for longer.

Like this:

 

Alright. Tomorrow will be the day. I actually cranked up the amperage and tried welding couple of spots, but since I turned up the amperage I also increased the speed of the wire by little and the welds are smooth and steady and look way better than what I've been doing! OMG. Lol. I'm gonna grind down the two that I did permanently and go over it. I tried welding right now (outside with stand up hologen lights) but its too dark to see where I have to weld. The reason why welding this frame is hard is because its tubular metal as opposed to flat pieces. My hand isn't steady enough to travel upon a certain axis without a fluctuation in distance from the arc and puddle and keeping the pace of the weld (direction of travel). So hard! Lol. I'll hope for the best tomorrow.

Thanks for your help Hershey!