Strange Blade

[chim]

It's been fun and has given me a chance to spend more time getting familiar with the stick welder. The Millermatic 175 had been the "go to" for a long time. I like this Everlast using 7014 more and more.

The BIL saw the flashes coming from our place the other day and asked if I had time to do a little something if he brought it over. Yup. He had a 1/4" flat bar that he wanted a 1/4" J-hook welded to and a hanger that needed a couple short pieces of 1/4" round stock welded to 1/4" round stock to make T's. Subbed 1/16" electrodes for the 1/8", dropped current from 130A to 60A and made short work of it.

As previously mentioned it would have been nice to be able to work on it without interruptions. However the interruptions allowed some time to get thoughts from you guys and to do some thinking.

 

[McMXi]

It's been fun and has given me a chance to spend more time getting familiar with the stick welder. The Millermatic 175 had been the "go to" for a long time. I like this Everlast using 7014 more and more.

The BIL saw the flashes coming from our place the other day and asked if I had time to do a little something if he brought it over. Yup. He had a 1/4" flat bar that he wanted a 1/4" J-hook welded to and a hanger that needed a couple short pieces of 1/4" round stock welded to 1/4" round stock to make T's. Subbed 1/16" electrodes for the 1/8", dropped current from 130A to 60A and made short work of it.

As previously mentioned it would have been nice to be able to work on it without interruptions. However the interruptions allowed some time to get thoughts from you guys and to do some thinking.

I've had a Millermatic 185 for decades but much prefer stick welding with the Lincoln Square Wave TIG 200. I typically run 6011 and 7018 and don't ever remember running 7014. One day I'll finally get around to buying one of those fancy Miller Bobcat/Trailblazer/Big Blue machines since I've wanted one for decades. I almost bought one in Hawaii in the mid '90s when they were $6k but the wife would have killed me. I did buy the Millermatic and a Hypertherm plasma which she was ok with, not thrilled with, but ok with.

 

[chim]

I am not sure where you would be welding on the bolt so this comment may be meaningless to you.

In the work I was involved in it was common practice to tack weld bolt heads or nuts to the material they were clamping on the rotating part of the machine. This was done as a locking mechanism since we didn’t want the fas to come loose since it would shoot out into an electrical winding and sometimes destroy the copper coils of the machine.

After years of doing that and still having failure of the fastener, it was investigated since often the nut and a piece of the rod or just the bolt head were the loose material. In other words the fastener was failing, not just vibrating loose. After further investigation it was found that the spot weld was actually pulling the bolt head or nut down at the spot welt due to the rapid heating and cooling of the welding process. That would ultimately put more stress into the fastener by inducing a twisting moment in the fastener and pulling it tight against the edge of the hole.

So in short it is not a real good idea to weld the head of a bolt or a nut to the clamped material directly. We started using other locking methods and the problem was basically eliminated by that change.

We did put a bead of weld alongside the nut or bolt head in some cases to lock the fastener from and turning. In other cases we installed a locking plate that was welded to or bent over the edge of the clamped material that was also bent up to lock the fastener head in place.

The spot in question is the gap around the bolt where it passes through the added thickness of the lock plate. This is where the bolt will pass through the beam when reassembled. The plate itself has been trimmed to the shape of the original (unseen below it) and the two have been welded together at the perimeter after this fit-up picture was taken.

 

[chim]

I've had a Millermatic 185 for decades but much prefer stick welding with the Lincoln Square Wave TIG 200. I typically run 6011 and 7018 and don't ever remember running 7014. One day I'll finally get around to buying one of those fancy Miller Bobcat/Trailblazer/Big Blue machines since I've wanted one for decades. I almost bought one in Hawaii in the mid '90s when they were $6k but the wife would have killed me. I did buy the Millermatic and a Hypertherm plasma which she was ok with, not thrilled with, but ok with.

The 7014 runs really smooth on the DC inverter welder.

You're into heavier duty than I am (as a retired guy / hobbyist). I sometimes wish the Miller had a heavier duty cycle. At times a dual input voltage would be handy as well. Using the stick machine covered those two bases.

A few years ago I did get a Hypertherm Powermax 30AIR that has served me well. The onboard compressor is nice since I don't have shop air. It's rare for me to need to cut anything over 3/8". I've used it on 120V where 240v wasn't readily available. Thankfully it was on lighter metal because it needs 240V for max power.

 

[Lil Foot]

The spot in question is the gap around the bolt where it passes through the added thickness of the lock plate. This is where the bolt will pass through the beam when reassembled. The plate itself has been trimmed to the shape of the original (unseen below it) and the two have been welded together at the perimeter after this fit-up picture was taken.

If it were me, I would turn a steel bushing with a light interference on the ID & OD, and press/hammer it in, and call it done.
But that's just me.

 

[chim]

If it were me, I would turn a steel bushing with a light interference on the ID & OD, and press/hammer it in, and call it done.
But that's just me.

An earlier possibility was to slice a short piece of pipe that has a wall thickness about the same as the width of the space between the bolt and the hole in the plate and pound it in. Any diameter mismatch could be solved via a longitudinal slice in the pipe. The problem with that or turning a bushing is that the space is not uniform. The problem with turning the bushing is I don't have a lathe

While typing this post I thought about driving smaller pieces of varied thickness matching the varied space to fill the space and then lightly tacking THEM in place, staying away from the bolt. After the blade is reassembled they couldn't "escape". With wind chills below 0°F tomorrow my outdoor weld shop will be closed. That'll give me plenty of time for drinking coffee and pondering.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

The problem with turning the bushing is I don't have a lathe

Some of us would call that an "opportunity/reason” to get one…...

Just think of all the money you would save on future projects by making your own parts…...