Welding Question
 

Not even being remotely close to a knowledgeable welder, I'm going to be doing some exhaust experimentation to the RX3. I have the little 90amp HFT welder for sticking stuff together, when need be. It's worked fine to this point for what I've needed of it, and it does have a switch for turning down the juice for thinner stuff.

My question is, I've always seen muffler guys do "stick and flame". Would this little wire welder be good for this on the low setting? If not, do you think I could mount the muffler on the bike mated to the pipe where I want it, then just tag it in a couple spots to hold it in place so I can take it to a muffler shop?

Thoughts from real welders much appreciated! Thanks!

My only suggestion is to make sure you "Purge the Exhaust Tube" with a proper mix of 'welding gas' (Tri-Mix?)... usually makes the inside weld come out extremely smooth... and the inside weld is where it counts on exhausts and intakes... have a bunch of mountains on the inside of your exhaust pipe is not good...

As simple as using some tape with a few holes poked in to 'purge air out and get your gas mixture in' :tup:

By wire do you mean flux core wirefeed? id avoid using that on exhausts except for spot welding things in place.


With a mig welder, inside welds come out pretty flat for me with just the amount of gas that gets through from outside, for tig I would go all out and purge the pipe.

Honestly either way if you havent welded alot of thinwall I sugest using many small overlapping welds with cooling time between to prevent burn through. itl will take alot longer but will be much better than filling burnthroughs. and either way burn some junk pipe of similiar makup before the actual peice..

And yes spot weld it in perfect position and pay someone else to weld it will work very well. especially if the welder is skilled. its worth that cost.

Give a shot with the HFT 90. I have the 170 HFT welder (240v) and it does some pretty nice welds. My bro in law has a porsche 928 that he does track events with and I stitched up his exhaust with. I've never heard of filing it with inert shielding gas but I guess it can't hurt. (I use argon when I bother using it at all)

you will know right away if you punch holes in the metal you don't have the proper setting. Then you have to fill or patch. I rarely break out the bottle, I usually just flux core stuff. Just remember, zig zag with flux core so mot to push that garbage in your weld.

Jim I totally agree thin stuff like this just stitch a little at a time. The Zig Zag i when you are trying to penetrate thicker materials.

My old man is a welder, and it took years before he didn't grind down my welds and redo. The slightest pin hole he would grind and weld. I was getting the knack at it but I still and learning. Infact this year I was welding my snow plow and I couldn't figure out why my welds were sucking so I called the old man and he saw that I had a fan blowing where I was welding. I thought I was being smart by not breathing the smoke, but what I was doing was blowing my shielding gas away.

But you do make a good point. Burn and breath that chrome dip stuff get sick and die.

Galvanized. is nasty too. Produces a poisonous gas. In Colorado I hear the weld certain weeds together and the fumes aren't nearly as toxic. Just gives you the munchies.

Thanks for all the info guys! :-)
Being a wrench since I was a wee tot (youngest of three gearhead brothers), I've never had to learn to weld...because I always traded mechanical jobs for welding work for my buddies who could weld. Helped me escape the trade for a long time. Now? I'm not so lucky...nor do I want to swap a brake job for a weld anymore.

Yes jimwildman, it's just the little flux core unit from HFT. No MIG. I got a stack of HFT gift cards for a birthday one year. With those and a Super Coupon, I got the welder, rolling cart, extra wire and auto-darken helmet for about 20.00 out of pocket! Cheap way to start....

I think I'll practice a bit on some thin stuff and give it a whirl. If I really suck, I'll tack it and take it to the muffler shop. ;-)

I'm sure you know all this general stuff best benefits with welding usually come when time is taken to clean the areas being welded and the ground contact area to bare metal. Something I don't bother to do, wonder why I always have to buy grinding disks? :hmm:

Be sure to take plenty of pics of your welds so we can destroy them from the comfort of our easy chairs.:p

LOL! No kidding.... Just for that, I'll take it to a real pro and then lie about my abilities! :-p

I've made myself sick from welding galvanize without enough airflow before. felt like the flu for about a day. :doh:

This technique is critical for Stainless Steel exhaust. Not so much for mild steel. I've seen some pretty extreme "sugaring" on stainless welds. Not an easy thing to grind, and never as strong as doing it right.

The trick/fix... Drink lots of milk.

And if by some chance you flash burn your eyes, raw potato slices on the eyes.

Will sick as hell if u're lactose intolerance...
This http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nin_Jiom_Pei_Pa_Koa stuff helps those "dryness" feeling

I'm learning so much from this thread! This is the best forum ever.