Nice welds..

[cheapracer]

As I consider welding just as a means to an end (sticking 2 pieces of metal together duh), welding otherwise doesn't get my attention until you see something extraordinary like this ...

http://www.build-threads.com/build-thre ... brication/

[Websta]

Those are very nice welds. I recently watched the Bentley Mulsanne Super Factory on National Geographic. To avoid unsightly lines, they must weld body panels together so it appears the car is made of a single sheet of metal (this isn't unique to the Bentley though, many hotrod builders do this as well), but the gaps between the panels are pretty large and the weld has to be 100% seamless, so it involves some exquisite welding skills.

[mzivtins]

Thermal colouring like that is simply the most gorgeous looking dressing on a metal. I had this webpage open all of last week. I hate my job now

[marcush.]

pictures like this lighted my desire to be able to do this myself.
So i bought a used professional TIG welding machine and started to weld...it took me a while to get the handle of it but you can get awfully far teaching yourself and sticking to the literature available (and not thinking you can ignore the basics)
After short time I refused to touch a MIG welder ever again....you start appreciating the smoke and odor free welding area and the final product you can really be proud of..
After a few years I had to buy a real pro machine ...

-Off position welding -is a challenge that is taking a while to master..but in the end -weld preparation is the name of the game really...the rest is experience good equipment and correct materials ..if you dare to switch materials ..you also need to be pedantic separating all your tools and workbench...as stainlees and steel don´t mix well as does Aluminium ...

[Dragonfly]

I wish I could do such seams for my DIY projects.

[marcush.]

I wish I could do such seams for my DIY projects.

welding steel is not that difficult ...not as easy as Mig/Mag but doable. Weld prep is everything. you need to know how to plan your work in the design stage .
So I would recommend taking a welding course to everyone who want to be a design engineer .

I hate drawings with welds that are impossibly complicated or impossible to perform nicely. (e.g. a weld very close to the edge of a tube)

[vikram_d]

I hate drawings with welds that are impossibly complicated or impossible to perform nicely. (e.g. a weld very close to the edge of a tube)

Like this you mean? Some welding that I am particularly proud of except the area marked of course.

[marcush.]

perfect example .
Design of the fixture has not taken into account how to weld it...You need a gas lense to perform the weld and still you will not be able to do a nice job ...

Just think about thin walled items and you go mad with things not properly thought out..

conclusion :the weld is not just depending on the quality of equipment and the guy who is performing the welds but also who designed the weld..

X,any comment on this ????

[Richard]

Did all the pieces really need full perimeter welds?

I'd have detailed this for a perimeter weld for the small circular piece in front, and then design the bigger pieces on each side for a gap at the overlap.

Having said that, why not use one piece instead of three?

[marcush.]

Richard, perfect questions. but you need to ask the designer of the fixture why he did this .The poor devil who has to weld it up is not to blame and he can´t just not weld in one area because it´s inconvenient or he is unable to perform a nice weld in that area.

So in a nutshell the design engineer and maybe the draughtsman (today anyone who is computer iterate will qualify as design engineer in Automotive... and I definitely know ,as colllegues of mine were moving up from system administrator roles to design roles just because they did not struggle to handle Catia - the left side of the screen ( handling the tree conform to automotive needs) .
Rarely you find someone who actually is using the system in a proper ways -parametric - and how could they... not having a clue about engineering how would you be able to decide in your concept what to leave easily adjustable and what needs to be kept tightly in check....but thats another story.

[strad]

When Swindahl created the frame for my dragster I scored points when I walked in and was in awe of the welds which I proclaimed as art. Never seen him smile so wide.

[Tommy Cookers]

Hoping this doesn't offend on grounds of 'off-thread' (some post somewhere raved about Colin Chapman),

In 1960 live British TV coverage of the French GP showed CC accosting the race starter fo contrive a delay, allowing the Lotus mechanics to re-weld their chassis on the starting grid !

On the factory cars they used Reynolds 531 tubing, a high strength material, intended for 'lightweight' bicycles and brazing or bronze welding only. CC (qualified in Civil Engineering,as he thought it easier the Mech Eng) had it fusion welded (ie steel rod), so causing constant brittle fractures. The customer cars used cheaper tubing,and avoided this problem.

Thrust SSC used 531 without problems, Reynolds were involved in the frame design.

[PlatinumZealot]

I now work in the beverage industry so sanitary welding is part of the game. The welds have to be a sanitary grade surface - Smooth with no porosity, and strong.. the welding must be done as to keep the alloy proportions right so there is no corrosion over the long term and depending on how anal you wanna get you tell the contractor to buff out the welds.

I have seen many stainless steel welds that corrode and leak after acidic foods like fruit juice and ketchup pass through over time. Welds that are not done by professional TIG welders.

[PlatinumZealot]

Thermal colouring like that is simply the most gorgeous looking dressing on a metal. I had this webpage open all of last week. I hate my job now

To us in the food industry the discolourations is ugly. Hehe.

The welder would use "pickling paste" on the discolourations. A thin coat of paste for 5 mins then wash it off with water.

[cheapracer]

Pales in comparison of course but just for those of you who have a pre-conception of Chinese welding ...