How is this weld?

[stevenf]

Sorry for the primer over it. I forgot to take the picture before I primed the bare metals. Critique it! Is it a solid weld I just need time to make it look pretty, or is it complete crap and tell me why what im doing wrong.

[Knowledgeworker]

It is kind of hard to give an objective opinion after the weld has been primered/painted. The primer/paint masks critical areas that would result in an evaluation being a guess at best.

Jim

[Sberry]

You can always get better but it looks like its stuck on there good.

[stevenf]

If the primer wasnt there. What exactly would you be looking for? I have another axle tube that I can weld so you guys can get a better view before primer.

[MAC702]

Just making sure... Did you chip off the slag before you painted it?

[Zrexxer]

Just making sure... Did you chip off the slag before you painted it?

Actually I was wondering the same thing... looks kind of like glassy slag along the edges.

[stevenf]

I used an extremely course wire brush and small chizzle before primer.

[Sberry]

I would describe it as likely sufficient, doesn't look like a total mess, most of my stuff isn't flawless.

[Sberry]

Here is an example of a typical deal, the bracket was twisted so we cut it off at the weld. let it relax, seems there was a gap and it just got welded up, very simple, on an old machine, far from being textbook but plenty sufficient especially with a shot of paint or it will be covered in dirt soon. Made a fast repair, cut and weld.

[Sberry]

I remember now, there was a gear box attached and we didn't want to remove it, we cut the bent ear off, straighten what needed and bolt the ear back to the box. Seems there was about a 1/4 gap and not much on the back could be welded so I was showing my bud how to stack it back all in one shot. You could have run a downhill in or even a root and cover. We didn't actually remove the original weld, just cut along the edge of it and insert a quarter inch of weld.

[Sberry]

Here is no one wanted to make a career over, to lazy to chip multiple passes or get the right size rod and change the machine. In the 3rd you can get an idea where they were at, a couple botched and previous repairs. we cleaned it up with a needle scaler and reach in and run breaks and poorly joined pieces back together. 7018, 3/32 The ugly weld was the backside of the other one, was a long crack thru it. Ain't as good as it was new but where it was going and what its doing and its expected service life it was the prudent thing to do.
The previous repair had a place or 2 that would have worked provided the welder could have reached in and got a decent weld on a couple places that were critical, he kind of got the easy parts but it didn't do much good without getting the hard ones.

[stevenf]

How do you make it look pretty like that lol? Where the beads are the same size. As you weld, do you overlap every 1/4" to make it bead up one after the other?

[Sberry]

Look at the different spacing. In the second pic you can see about in the middle is where the operator had it right. Overhead fillet.

[Sberry]

This was OH 7018, wanted a nice finish. Very little splatter.

[delwelds]

Actually I was wondering the same thing... looks kind of like glassy slag along the edges.

me too... also looks like if there wasn't paint on it that there might be a fair amount of undercut.