Thread: Welding

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I was playing around Sunday with a bench mount drill press and started to build a stand to bolt it to so I could move it around were ever I needed it. I went up to Big Lots and bought a heavy umbrella base stand for about 20 bucks, found some pipe and some 1/4" steal plate in the garage and proceeded to cut and weld it up. Had it all painted nice and pretty, bolted the drill press to it and when I went to put it back in the garage by rolling it on the stand (kind of how a garbage man rolls a trash can) the top weld between the pipe and 1/4 steal plate broke, not all the way but I heard it crack and knew the weld gave way. I got to thinking about the pipe and it being galvanized. Did I just learn a life lesson here because the weld will not penetrate the galvanized pipe or did I just not get the weld to penetrate?

You need to grind the galvanizing off the pipe where you plan to weld.
BTW stay clear of fumes from galvanized pipe when welding........ Bad stuff to breath.

Thanks Pro70z28, I thought I was going to have to start over.

JCT400

When welding carbon steel to any member that is coated with galvanize, it is imperative that all galvanize coating from the proposed weld area be remove, down to bare metal. Your weld with the coating intact became loaded with porosity along with no penetration, in addition it was thus very brittle.
Grinding out all the laid on weld material back to parent metal and a correct weld applied and as the term "good to go"
applies.

Factors to insure a quality weld..length of arc, speed of travel, correct current amperage,and of course proper filler metal.

Good Luck

Pro70 oops. Sorry for the overlap. Good point about ventilation !

Originally posted by Walt Zander
Pro70 oops. Sorry for the overlap. Good point about ventilation !

Never liked breathin' that "yellow" air

Thanks Walt and Pro70. I'm using a 120 wire welder if it makes any difference. I have a welding tip for my oxy / acetylene tanks but have never seen anyone weld with this setup (I only have used it as a cutting torch) to weld with this is it a matter of changing tips and heating the metal to a point were it starts to pool and then running the pooled metal around the area to be welded?

Yeah make sure you don't breath that crap like I do. I weld a lot and weld that galvanized stuff and breath it all the time. Starts making me sick after a while... maybe that's a sign to get a mask. lol