Expert Welders - please help!

I'm an amateur welder at best. I'm trying to weld a bracket to my stock steel swingarm. 78 KZ1000. I'm using oxy acetylene and a mild steel rod, mild steel bracket. The swingarm seems to resist the rod like oil and water. just wont stick. I've melted some pits in the arm now, but nothing sticks.

what am I doing wrong? the swingarm is mild steel right?

also - the bracket and arm are both clean, bare metal. no paint or rust.

thanks

I've never tried gas welding, not even good with my MIG, but depending on what you want your bracket to hold, maybe brazing would be an option.

It's for a brake stay arm. I'm mounting a modern caliper that hangs under the swingarm instead of above. So gotta be strong!

For it to be strong(and it must be) you should at least MIG weld it ,or stick weld ,either or. Stay away from gas welding it

Arc weld it with Certanium #707 rod.It is
a medium hard alloy rod that can deal with
the impurities in that old Jap steel.Clean
the spot down to bare metal.The rod comes
with amp setting instuctions for each diameter.
Use 3/32 rod and start at the low end of the
recommended settings.

excellent, thanks. now I have to buy an arc welder... or take it to someone I guess.

I suppose I'll have the same problem when I do the tail section frame mods I have in mind?

anything even slightly structural should be arc mig or tig welded

being that you are working on a brake part and seem to be having some basic welding issues I would take it to a welding shop and pay them to do it right, last thing you want is to have a failure when you need it the most

BSKZ650 wrote:

being that you are working on a brake part and seem to be having some basic welding issues I would take it to a welding shop and pay them to do it right, last thing you want is to have a failure when you need it the most

Bingo.

As for the gas welding, in order for the rod your using to stick you have to begin to melt both pieces of metal you want to bind and insert the rod to bind the two melted beads. Its extremely hard to do especially if you dont have the proper heat output of your torch. Its alot like soldering electrical components.

Makarth wrote:

As for the gas welding, in order for the rod your using to stick you have to begin to melt both pieces of metal you want to bind and insert the rod to bind the two melted beads. Its extremely hard to do especially if you dont have the proper heat output of your torch. Its alot like soldering electrical components.

yup, i know that much. i can usually do it fine with other things, just the swingarm is being really stubborn for some reason.

go get it done right.
a pro welder can do it in 5 minutes for a cheap fee, maybe just a case of beer.
you got to ask yourself if your life is worth taking the risk of it breaking.
not like it is a show part, it's your brakes!
might save your life someday.
better safe then dead.