jackfrost1031

agreed. It requires some hella good reflexes with your left hand to flip the glass shut right before it arcs

fourthgenhatch

why are gas welding and arc welding not used for making manifolds? I was reading in the welder's handbook about gas welds having a tens strength of 80 to 160000 psi if properly done depending on the rod used. can you just not get the same kind of fusion or what?

Tom-Guy

Arc is dirty, all that slag you have to hammer off gets inside the manifold. I'd hate to have some of that ---- go through my turbine.

The torch is fun to play with, but you dump a LOT of heat into the metal when welding. 99% of people are going to seriously warp flanges making their manifold with a torch. Plus, torches suck up the gas and that adds up pretty quick.

Something with shield gas to help cool things, and keep oxygen from getting into the weld and reacting and weakening things, is the best. Not to mention cheap!

I'm seriously tinkering with the idea of getting an older Hobart plasma arc welder for cheap. They make super precise welds, awesome penetration, and dump very little heat into the workpiece.

fourthgenhatch

yeah, i just rememberd that gas welding needs alot of surface contact for a strong bond. you couldn't use it for the butt joints of the pipe. so arc could be used and get enough penetration though? I just want to use arc to make a first manifold since I have a good miller one available to me. If it goes well I will probably start checking into TIG and doing more manifolds and custom fabrication. I want to do a lot of suspension stuff like traction bar, roll cage, etc. and I will definitely want to TIG that stuff as it will be holding up critical parts of my car.

Thanks