Honda16hb

I'm not going to try to lie to you and say that I'm halfway decent at welding, the rear section of my exhaust that I welded up to put my fart can on since my other muffler rusted through has fallen off my car at least 5 times, it has almost hit the car behind me once and luckily the other times I was driving slow and noone was behind me. I've found that in order to get a weld that can actually be called a weld you have to at least grind the area you're welding a little bit to clean it up. the trouble I have is getting a good steady bead going. the pipes that I welded together on my muffler have more gaps and leaks in them than the titanic. how do you welding fools get that ---- going good? what do you use to hold your work in place? I've just been working on the floor in my garage using cardobard boxes, pieces of wood, and plant pots to hold my ---- up.

gon3r

use a vice to hold the two pieces together. or you could try using a nice pair of strong magnets on either side, tack it on two opposite sides to hold it in place then weld away. try cleaning up the area using a ss wire brush. you really need to make sure the area is clean even on the inside. also make sure you have a good ground. when you start your bead let it pool for a second then slowly slide away from the pool at about a 45 degree angle. always move away from the pool with mig or arc welding and towards it with tig.

good luck

Honda16hb

thanks. I need to clean up my work bench and get my vice securely anchored because right now it's held down by 3 nails, it doesn't move very much, but the previous self of nails (much smaller) I had in there gave up on me. I could try getting the magnets off of 2 blown 15s I have sitting in my garage, we'll see how that works out.
so what you're saying is:
pool=_ welder=/ (at 45 degree angle) so we get: _/ -> with a mig?

I'm using a low cost craftsman mig if that helps at all.

BLACKSI

get the pipes tacked togeather how you want them then with a flux core wirefeed you will have the best luck if you just start tacking around the pipe one spot weld after another this will be the easiest and cleanest for you

Beau

Honda16hb

it's a gas wirefeed, would the tack it all the way method still be good?

juli0_bustamante

i remember using acetalyne and oxygen when i was learning hwo to weld and its a good idea to let it pool enough for you to move it around. you can make some bad *** welds if you know how to do this. i wasnt all that bad but then again i wasnt the best. makes me want to get a welder....

accordepicenter

yeah man tack weld your work before you finish welding it up, then it wont move

BLACKSI

i prefer the tack weld method it gives a sorta half moon bead and the chances of melting the **** out off the piece are much less.

Beau

Honda16hb

my welder isn't capable of welding through the exhaust pipe I'm using, so I don't have to worry about that. I'll try tacking it all the way, but I'll probably just get bored after 5 tacks and just weld it regular and shitty.

sohcrxsi

try pushing you welds instead of pulling, it works well for me