Uttrachi - Advanced Automotive Welding

CarTech

CarTech, Inc.

39966 Grand Avenue

North Branch, MN 55056

Phone: 651-277-1200 or 800-551-4754

Fax: 651-277-1203

www.cartechbooks.com

2012 by Gerald Uttrachi

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission from the Publisher. All text, photographs, and artwork are the property of the Author unless otherwise noted or credited.

The information in this work is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. However, all information is presented without any guarantee on the part of the Author or Publisher, who also disclaim any liability incurred in connection with the use of the information and any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Readers are responsible for taking suitable and appropriate safety measures when performing any of the operations or activities described in this work.

All trademarks, trade names, model names and numbers, and other product designations referred to herein are the property of their respective owners and are used solely for identification purposes. This work is a publication of CarTech, Inc., and has not been licensed, approved, sponsored, or endorsed by any other person or entity. The publisher is not associated with any product, service, or vendor mentioned in this book, and does not endorse the products or services of any vendor mentioned in this book.

Edit by Paul Johnson

Layout by Connie DeFlorin

ISBN 978-1-61325-096-9

Item No. SA269

Front Cover Photo: Courtesy Pat Stanton, Year One.

Title Page: This corner TIG weld is made in 1/8-inch-thick magnesium at 130-amps AC with 65-percent DCSP using argon shielding gas. The DCSP/DCRP balance was altered from the test welds to see if additional cleaning action could be achieved and to reduce the chance of burn-through. The cleaning action was about the same. This autogenous weld (meaning no filler added) wet very well and is porosity free.

Back Cover Photos

Top Left: Oxyacetylene welding is an ideal process to learn and practice to gain the fundamental knowledge of fusion welding. The equipment is inexpensive and flexible in use. With the proper attachment, it is ideal for cutting steel of any thickness or employing a heating tip used to heat metal for bending, etc.

Top Right: Stick welding is one of the oldest arc welding processes, developed in the early 1900s. It is very versatile and is widely used in industry. A major advantage of Stick welding is it generates its own shield to protect the weld deposit from atmospheric contamination. It can be used when wind is present up to about 20 MPH.

Middle Left: MIG welding is a leading arc welding process employed to join metal. MIG welding deposits well over half the weld metal in the United States. The process can produce welds exceeding the strength and toughness of high-strength steels used for even critical applications such as submarine hulls.

Middle Right: A stable cutting process can be heard as well as observed. The proper sound is a consistent sizzle, like frying eggs. If the sound varies, the speed may be too slow and material may not be at the leading edge of the oxygen stream. Try to keep the speed steady and listen for a uniform sound.

Bottom Left: A Borla hot rod kit is used to make the exhaust for the Chevy 502/502 in our 34 pro street rod. The kit includes mandrel bends and straight sections of 3-inch stainless tubing and straight-through stainless steel mufflers. The pieces are cut to fit the clearance available from Sanderson headers to the outlets.

Bottom Right: TIG welding is used for many of the body brackets, radiator supports, and other assembles as seen in the welding of this custom seat frame to fit the driver. Many of these support brackets are made from normalized 4130 chrome-moly tubing. (Courtesy Bob Bitzky, ESAB)

CONTENTS

DEDICATION

To my wife Christine, who tolerated the time required and supported the writing of this book.

I owe a great deal to former colleague and friend Bob Bitzky, manager of welding training for ESAB. Bob provided invaluable information and made a number of welds to help demonstrate the benefits of modern welding and cutting systems.

This book is intended for those with an interest in the automotive hobby or racing who already have some welding skills or want to acquire them. It covers modern welding equipment and procedures such as pulse arc MIG (metal inert gas) and pulse arc TIG (tungsten inert gas) welding. It will also be of value to anyone who has purchased a MIG welder and wants to understand how its performance and capability compare with other welding processes. It will be useful for someone considering welding as a profession because it covers the basic welding processes used in industry.

This book presents advanced welding topics for fabricating street rods and race cars as well as making a number of common repairs to all types of cars. It covers the welding of carbon steel, chrome-moly steel, aluminum, and stainless steel. An overview of TIG welding titanium and magnesium is included. There are suggestions regarding the proper filler metal choices, why they are selected, and welding techniques to use. Each welding process section includes automotive projects and applications that relate to the process. Details of equipment features are also discussed.

Information for All Skill Levels

This book is not just for the skilled welder, but an emphasis is placed on advanced techniques for MIG, TIG, oxyacetylene, and stick. With this book, you can learn how to weld various joints, advanced techniques, and processes. It is an excellent source for beginners who want to learn welding and have their work look and perform like a professionals. Some skilled welders dont believe they need any more than their manual ability. Exceptional manual skills are great to have, and some welders are on par with the best artists. However, understanding some of the reasons for certain weld problems and why defects occur is also needed. Some welding science is covered, which helps you resolve welding problems.

Modern Arc Welders

Recent advances in welding machines make it easier to produce quality welds. Welding is an art as well as a science and requires skill. However, depositing a stack-of-dimes weld is much easier with the new microprocessor-inverter-based TIG welders; you just preset two current levelslow and high. After the welding current has been on the high setting for a few seconds, filler metal is easier to add. When the current switches to the low setting, moving the torch forward avoids burn-through. Then you set the pulse rate and it switches between the two levels automatically. The current rise and fall times are very quick, providing a very stable arc. When TIG welding with AC power, there is no longer a need for continuous high frequency.