Brazing or welding kit for general home repairs

"AL_n" wrote in news:XnsA3398E7FEA9C5zzzzzz@

PS...

Sorry; when I said 'Mig welder' I meant 'arc welder'.

Al

In article , AL_n scribeth thus

A question I could have asked but really if its only once to twice a year is there a local metal shop that can do the odd weld for a few quid?.

We've got one here near Cambridge and excellent they are too!

That good they Could weld tin cans together with an arc stick welder;)...

Mind you they aren't quite so quick building their website but I think we could forgive them that;!..

I'm pants at welding. Or rather at welding the thin stuff you get on cars. But those that are good say a good quality used MIG is a far better bet than a new cheapo. In terms of ease of use.

I would suggest you were better off the first time ;-)

Mig being easier to use for thin steel applications.

For this particular requirement one of the gasless migs (i.e. uses flux coated wire) might be the best bet.

My experiments say gasless is even more tricky to use than argon/CO2 mix for thin stuff. In still air.

Quite likely - but either are preferable to arc / stick welding for that application.

I cant see anything beyond arc being financially justifiable for use once a year. Store the rods indoors, not in a shed.

For a mower handle, would a resin & glass fibre repair not do?

NT

Not necessarily an easy thing to repair by welding, depending on where and why it has failed. Assuming it's no more than 1 inch tubing you should be able to silver solder it with propane, although you might need a larger than usual torch. That's if you already have a propane bottle for plumbing or paint stripping.

One of the secrets of getting it hot enough is to surround the repair area with suitable "hearth" material like this

although you can actually get away with ordinary "house" bricks.

You will need to clean the metal well first, and use proper brazing flux (e.g. Easy Flo). Flux and rods readily available on the web.

If you post a photo of the failure you may get other good suggestions.

Whilst welding is very versatile, there is IMHO much more skill to it than silver soldering, which is "only" a slightly more difficult version of soft soldering.

Could you not find a piece of suitable metal tube to make a sleeve. Internal, external or both? Drill through & fix with nuts/bolts or ST screws. Appears a less costly exercise to me. Nick.

John Rumm wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@brightview.co.uk:

Thanks for the advice. I opted for the cheapest new arc welder I could find. It was from Toolstation for under 60. I'm sure it will be good enough for my purposes and it has a 3 year guarantee..

The only thing I need to now is figure out which type of electrodes to buy. (The kit didn't include any, and the instructions don't give any advice on that). The tubular steel I need to weld is pretty thin. probably only

Al

"Nick" wrote in news:bujjvsFm29cU1 @mid.individual.net:

Nick, Yes, that's how I repaired the first break: smaller tube inside, and then four bolts, but the new break is at a place where the tube us flattened, so that methos isn't. I foud a new arc welder for 57 so I got that. I'm sure it'll come in handy for other jobs.

Regards, Al

snipped-for-privacy@care2.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:

Unfortyunately, it'as a rather heavy mower, because it has a roller on the back, so I had doubts about fibreglass holding up for long, but it was a good suggestion - thanks

Al

"Rod Speed" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net:

Thanks, I did think of that, and kept an eye out for handles of ditched mowers at the tip, but my need is quite urgent now that the grass is growing so fast! I went for the arc welder route. It'll be a fun toy for me to play with.. ;-)

Al

"AL_n" wrote in news:XnsA33AC1B779640zzzzzz@130.133.4.11:

PS - thanks for the tip about storing the rods indoors. Al

"Rod Speed" wrote in news:bui2msFcbtcU1 @mid.individual.net:

The reason it broke is because the tubular steel was badly chosen by the manufacturer. They should have used a thicker steel with less flexability. It's a heavy mower with a roller at the back. With my new arc welder I can hopefully beef it up at the weak points, by adding some angle-iron or suchlike. It's an old mower so I'm not too worried about appearances.

Cheers, Al

Another few tips which might have been mentioned by others (if so, sorry):

Get a chunk of steel to start the arc against before you commence welding. I know that it's easier to do this if you are working on a welding bench t hat provides the earth path than if you are not. The benefit of doing so i s that it is easier to strike an arc from a hot welding rod. Looking at th e unit you bought - which is much like my Lidl £35 special - I think that you will find that establishing the arc quite frustrating. A scrath block will go a little way to reducing that frustration.

Replace the 'stolen from a set of jump leads' earth clamp with a proper, br aided and visciously-spring-loaded clamp.

Something similar to this

Buy an auto-darkening mask. eBay have many available.

Buy a copy of this book:

It is just about the best book about welding that I have found.

HTH

Richard

I keep meaning to flog my SIP merlin arc welder... I find its rarely suited to anything I need to do - and the duty cycle on in the thing is very poor even after I modified it by fitting internal fans.

A fairly thin rod. (CPC used to be for a bulk pack pricewise) Practice on some scrap first - it will take a light touch and only brief contacts to stop just blowing a big hole through it!

If you find them being a pig to start (i.e. sticking all the time), slap in the oven for half an hour to drive off any moisture.

Yup all good recommendations.

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