Build a Tuned Pipe for a 2 stroke 1. Steps with PicturesSomething else Ive always wanted to be able to do is weld thin metal. This project was my excuse to give it a try. I do not claim to be any sort of an expert in the field of welding, so please take my tips and suggestions with a grain of salt. This is just what worked for me. How to weld thin metal. I feel the most important thing for making these welds work is to have the two pieces aligned as perfectly as possible. Doing butt joints like this means there is a lot of heat right on the edge of the metal, making it very easy to melt or blow holes through it. Not fun, or pretty. I spent some time with some scraps getting my welder dialed in correctly see Picture 1 take your time, practice, and figure out what works for youNote on welders I used a 1. Not the best setup for this situation. Ideally, a wire feed welder with argon gas shielding should work better for thinner stuff, or if you have access and the skill to use it, a properly set up TIG welder would be the best option. My first attempt was done with an Oxy Acetlyne torch, mainly because I wanted to practice using it. It can be done, but some machines make life a lot easier Once youve got your welder figured out, the first step is to tack the piece together. Clamp the ends tightly as shown in Picture 2, then tack weld just a small spot to hold it together it about every inch as shown in Picture 3. Now for the hard part. I tried a couple of different ways to weld this thin metal together, and the best way Ive found so far is to zappy zap. Kind of a variation on skip welding. Skip Welding see Picture 4 is when you weld a short strip, skip to a different section and weld another short strip, and keep repeating until the whole piece is welded. It worked okay, but I found that it would build up too much heat and melt holes in my project. My solution was to do shorter and shorter skip welds, until my skip welds were about 14 long and took about 1 second to do. Then I started just zapping it for a second, pausing for a second to let it cool slightly, zapping it for a second again just long enough to get a nice puddle to form to ensure penetration, then letting it cool, and just repeating the whole way down the joint. This ended up working really well for me. Tips on welding thing metal. If at all possible, weld DOWNHILL. You travel faster and build up less heat, making it less likely to blow holes in your project. 2. On the zappy zap welding if you are still blowing holes in the metal, you can also weld a spot, jump ahead about 14 and weld backwards into the already welded spot. This way, the hottest part of the weld is over top of THICKER metal because you ended on top of your previous weld making it less likely you blow holes in it. Weld backwards, jump ahead 14, weld backwards, jump ahead, repeat.
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November 2017
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