here are some updates from day two of welding.... material is 3" aluminized steel 16gauge exhaust piping. I wire wheeled the ends/grounding spot of my welds this time a lot better.

heres progress from start till end, bottom vband is first weld of the day and the top is misc beads with new thicker .030 wire.

here's the inside view, top to bottom this time...


here is an old junky vband i welded onto the piping and a second butt-weld


here is the inside view of above vbands weld/etc. Tell me if this doesnt look good...


and heres where you can see where I ran out of the smaller .023 wire and switched to the .030 wire (top right 2 welds are the thicker ----), I had to lower the wire speed a bit and move slower for it to weld as nice as it did with a tad big higher wire speed on the smaller wire... I also am burning thru with the thicker wire more easily... whats the best wire for exhaust work?


keep the critiques coming I want to get better and better, appreciate it.

 

If you don't know what you're doing the easyest is the lowest deposite rate & heat input. That means the .23 wire was astroglide+cleavage.





Inner most weld at the top - that's what you want. Bottom is slightly too cold. Outer most weld is WAY too cold.

Note that travel speed, wire feed speed (amps) and the gap on the pipe all will increase or decrease how much that breaks down.
Set the bitch on 3 for volts and 2 for wire speed. Make one weld and post that so you remember exatly what you were doing.



Top most bead in the middle. That... Is really nasty, but for maybe a cm it was more what you want. You were too slow to start moving when the puddle formed and slightly too fast & uneven once you got going.
Steady your body up and try to make more movements smoother & straighter. If the puddle is wider than you want speed up. If it's narrow slow down. Get your head closer so you can see what the ---- is happening without it being some massive red flag. If you're a righty, left elbow on the table. etc.

 

im going to pick up some more of the .023 wire today, i will try and move even slower and keep steady. I will report back w/ new pics in the next day or two. keep the critiques coming, thanks...

 

no rainbows?

 

mild steel

 

Only when your boyfriend ***** your *** bloody maggot.

 

I think it looks good. I go by, if it holds...it's good. Hammer on it a few times and if it doesn't crack or break, it's golden.

 

i want to make sure it holds pressure aswell, as I dont want leaks on my chargepiping when it comes time to do so... any tips for that?

 

looks like some pretty good welds for your first welder, def looks like it will stil together lol. and looks a hell of alot better then the ---- i did my first time, or my last time for that matter

 

waste of wire n ----, just practice while making the chargepipes, i fired up my welder and started goin at it, made a full downpipe/exhaust and a manifold adapter, ---- worked fine just shot some more wire at any holes :1

on my chargepipes i just shine a light around in there lookin for leaks by the welds doin it in the dark helps. u can always add more weld and grind it down