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Since summer is rolling around I will be doing some form of boatside and other repairs. The liquid salt really did the job on my underside this year.
So I though I would ask what is the thinnest metal you have stick welded and what was your setup: current, and stick.
I will get some scrap metal the thickness of the body and practice but if anyone has done this I am curious as to what worked for you. (or what did not work).
I have 3/16" and 1/8" in 7018 or 7024 and 6010 and 6013.
Also this A/C only no D/C.
i did some trail welding a few times on a certain unibugly that shall remain nameless a time or two with some 1/8 7018's.. my obw is dc only so its not really a fair comparison to what your looking at.. I ended up using as low of amperage as i could and still be able to strike an arc and more or less stitch welding to keep from burning holes..
Thin rusty material will be tough to weld to no matter what you do, you may be able to source some specialty rods from palco or someone similar that would help you out.. FWIW
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it doesn't need saying but listen to this man's advice
i have no idea whose unibugly it could have been...
I can clean it no problem.
I saw a gun which puts a diode in the path so it runs half cycle A/C giving an average current of half power and in one direction (not quite DC). So I might try a power diode and build a box so I get the same deal. Then run the lowest current that says on and run the 7XXX by by dragging it.
I looked around and cannot find a TIG to rent. Buying one is not a choice (cash limited).
As a side note I found a welding transformer for $15, a large electrolytic cap for $20 (rated to 100 V), and used power diode bridge for $25 . Put them together and I have a poor mans TIG without the HF start. The HF start circuit seems simple, I am still investigating to make sure grounding or other potential issues can be solved.
Last edited by ZJ TINS; 05-06-2011 at 09:00 AM.
I don't doubt that you can clean the base material, as you "clean" with a flap wheel, sandpaper, grinder.. ect you'll be removing material as well making it thinner and thinner depending on the extent of rust.. making it more and more difficult to weld.
I think finding yourself a cheap flux core welder would be a better investment of your time for this project.. a homebrew tig would be effin sweet though.. you'll be able to run the low amps your after and the flux core does a little better on rusty material than tig or mig IMO.. i see them all the time for $100 or so used on craigslist ect..
Last edited by zjeepin; 05-06-2011 at 10:33 AM.
6010 and 6011 does a pretty good job on rusty steel. You can buy smaller rods than 1/8 that might help. But really all depends how low you can get the current.
I have an old ac welder which uses inductors and tranformers only (only a single power on/off switch with ~16 taps for current selection) problem is at 25-50 amps I cant control it with my hand to keep an arc going. One article suggested adding a half bridge and turning the current up so I am actually only getting half the selected current but in single polarity pulses.
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