Frame welding?

Can frame tubing be wire welded? I have fair experience with wire welding, but no other type. The tubing in question is 1-1/4" DOM .125" wall mild steel. The welder is a standard 90 amp wire. I can borrow one with more amps if necessary.

Unless your very talented I would suggest a TIG weld instead. BTW...what part of the frame needs welded ?

TIG takes a hell of a lot more experinece than wire feed welder.... TIG accomplishes a cleaner weld no doubt, heli-arc (stick) provides a stronger bonding of the two materials aka tensile strengths...

Wire feed will be just fine, insure you have correct speed and amperage (arc puddle) on that feeder as in any welding method and you'll have a proper weld/bond of the two steel materials...

Bottom line, neither method will be worth a crap if done incorrectly....

As for holding up... Hell, these 30 year old frames had what for welding them together back then and they have held up for this long and in most cases abuse... No probs go for it...

I agree but,heli-arc is tig


Old Man Rock wrote:

TIG takes a hell of a lot more experinece than wire feed welder.... TIG accomplishes a cleaner weld no doubt, heli-arc (stick) provides a stronger bonding of the two materials aka tensile strengths...

Wire feed will be just fine, insure you have correct speed and amperage (arc puddle) on that feeder as in any welding method and you'll have a proper weld/bond of the two steel materials...

Bottom line, neither method will be worth a crap if done incorrectly....

As for holding up... Hell, these 30 year old frames had what for welding them together back then and they have held up for this long and in most cases abuse... No probs go for it...

Sorry big guy but in it's rawest form, TIG Is Tungsten Inert Gas using a reverse polarity welding machine. Argon Gas is passed through providing the tungsten electrode enclosed in a cermaic bowl for cooling. The other hand is feeding a rod of similar metal your welding...

Sinmilar to wire feeding machines...

Basically tig is used for meatls such as stainless, nickle and chrome alloys that are temperature sensitive... TIG channels the heat to the weld puddle versus the entire surface area... You put too much heat into stainless, guess what, if you can stick a magnet to it you now just turned that into carbon steel...

Heli-Arc is just that, ARC welding using electrode welding rods to a grounded frame...

Use to be a certified welder many moons ago...

now hes just certifiable! :woohoo: now ill go hide :woohoo:

Tig is tungsten inert gas, and also gtaw. Heli-arc is and has always been slang for tig and stick pending on what part of the learning curve you come from. Heli for helium, a commonly used inert gas and arc for arc hence the term for heli-arc being tig. Don't get me wrong because I'm not trying to stir a pot here but different welding instructors and certification experts will argue this also. I even had one guy tell me during a cert test that heli-arc was a brand of tig welder, don't know, may be but I really didn't care at the time, he was holding my paperwork so he was right if you get the pic.
Back to question at hand I would say yes to the 90 amps being sufficient but would prefer a knowledgable welder with quality equipment over a cheap 90 amp max flux core welder with a cheap buddy saying heck ya, no problem. Remember, it's your butt riding this thing and the last thing you want crossing you mind going down a snakey road is "Is that weld really as good as virgil said?"

les holt wrote:

Back to question at hand I would say yes to the 90 amps being sufficient but would prefer a knowledgable welder with quality equipment over a cheap 90 amp max flux core welder with a cheap buddy saying heck ya, no problem. Remember, it's your butt riding this thing and the last thing you want crossing you mind going down a snakey road is "Is that weld really as good as virgil said?"

Finally the point driven home by intelligence. Thank you Les.

I would imagine that a 90 amp machine doesn't have quite enough poop for adequate penetration.

KZCSI

Didn't mean to step on any toes,just adding my .02.
I also was a certified welder up until about 6 years ago.

You guys are stating less then a 90 amp welder for .125" carbon steel is not adequate?

You guys can't be serious...

Borrow the higher amperage welder then you won't have to worry about it then...

I could blow a hole with 90 amps!! :laugh: