Joe,
I'm very curious on why you say this about argon. I have welded and seen
welded miles and miles of pipe in numerous refinerys and it was, and still
is done with argon. In the helirc (TIG) welding class I took it never
mentioned the lack of penetration caused by argon vs CO2? Please elaborate
on how a shield gas can effect penetration. I do understand how failure to
have shielding gas on the back side of the weld can cause the weld to
"sugar" which in turn can effect weld strength.
Now to get into a penatrating discussion....With TIG or MIG, to achieve good
penatration the pieces being joined should be spaced slightly apart. This
"space" or "gap" allows the heat source to melt the inner edge of the pieces
being joined into the weld "puddle" creating 100% penatration. Although it
is possible, on thinner metals, to melt the metal pieces together without a
gap or filler material being used. If anybody has some time on a rainy day,
set up 2 sets of test "coupons" of 1/16 metal, using TIG. Set up one set
butted together and weld them and the other with a 1/32-3/64 gap and weld
them using filler rod as needed. I think you might be suprised at the
outcome.
I have also had the opportunity to observe weld testing. Mostly pipeline
welds where they do a root bent, face bend and nick break. It is amazing to
see how much stress a weld can endure.
Disclaimer: I learned this all from Keith,
throw something out to the list and wait to get blasted....(:0
Regards, Tom
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Timney" <joetimney@dol.net>
To: "Henry Deaton" <hdeaton@verio.com>
Cc: "List Land Speed" <land-speed@autox.team.net>
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2001 3:18 AM
Subject: Re: Motorcycle front-end Geometry
> Henry,
>
> Don't use straight argon on steel...it will look great and WILL BREAK. The
> problem is no penatration. Use a mix or straight CO2.
>
> joe
>
> Henry Deaton wrote:
>
> > Hi Dan,
> >
> > Well, so far I like your interpretation of the electric class rules the
> > best. The class is already there and all I have to do is finish building
> > the darn thing and show up with it. This is great. I was sure I'd just
be
> > running for time this year.
> >
> > BTW, I've been practicing on my welding by building kick-scooters out of
> > kid's bicycles. I'm using a friend's mig, but with flux-core wire. He's
got
> > the gas setup for aluminum right now with a bottle of 100% Argon.
Anybody
> > know if you can mig weld mild steel using 100% argon instead of CO2 or
an
> > Argon/CO2 mix? If not I'll get him a bottle of CO2 and some solid wire
> > before I start the bike frame.
> >
> > Henry
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