Oxy Fuel Welding Competition

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I came to this forum looking for welding information and resources and saw that everybody was showing off their MIG welds in another post.  Being my competitive self, I wanted to show something off of my own.  But wait, I'm disqualified because I don't own a MIG welder?  Well, I'll just start my own thread and disqualify all of you conventional arc welding types.  The trouble is, I don't really have any pictures at the moment.  I had some interesting projects done in stainless, but I sold both of those.  All I have left is this emergency pipe patch I put on a pipe that rusted through in my yard Saturday night.It was a tough weld because it was getting dark, it was raining, and there was very little good metal left to weld to.  Exactly the kind of situation OFW really shines in.  I was able to set an extremely oxidizing flame and burn the rust off, then I boiled all of the water out of the pipe so it would stop running out all over my weld, and because of the control offered by OFW I was able to lay some decent beads over a wide range of thicknesses of the base metal.  Filler was a 3/32" RG60 gas welding rod done with a Smith medium duty torch.
Reply:OK, I'm disqua------disq-----disqu----- OK,I'm out.  Nice patch.
Reply:nice workIF it Catches...Let it Burn
Reply:76GMCNice work.  Are you using acetylene for fuel.  I have welded a lot of mild steel and a little aluminum.  Two week ago, I welded the seams in 200 tubular rings for a decorative rail job-can't beat the small bead.    At Christmas I made some air planes for my boys.  The plans for the planes came off the Lincoln web site.While I do have two machine capable of TIG and a TIG setup.  It is easier to reach for the 0/A torch, since neither machine is dedicated to tig.   I would like to see your SS work.     I have a Meco Weldmaster torch and an old Linde torch.  A few months ago I purchased a Weldit auto shutoff torch hanger,  haven't hooked it up though. I was building some bicycles, thought it would be nice.       I will try to submit some stuff.  I have trouble getting the files small enough.
Reply:I will see what I can do about laying a bead or 2 on some stainless steel this weekend.  I will be using 316 sheet, either 14 guage or 1/8th inch with either 309L or 316L filler.  That is what I have, but I haven't decided what I'll use.  I use Solar flux mixed with denatured ethanol as a backup flux and I also use a carburizing flame.  Tip size will be a 205.If you're having trouble with burn through with any welding process, the Solar flux can be used as a backup on mild steel or stainless and works suprisingly well to prevent burn through.Last edited by 76GMC1500; 01-18-2006 at 03:28 PM.
Reply:I don't mean to be pedantic, but if you're burning off rust, shouldn't you use a reducing flame?-Heath
Reply:Not questioning the quality of the weld, but given the pipe looks pretty ordinary below the weld site, wouldn't it have made more sense to dig a little deeper and put in a new section of pipe i.e. replace a foot or so of it?Unless the patch was an emergency repair.Not criticising, just curious.Scott
Reply:Scott, I'm here to learn so criticise away.  And, it was an emergency repair on a coated pipe.  I didn't want to have to dig deep and I would have had to strip the coating off.  I will replace the pipe some time in the future when I feel like digging up the lawn.halbritt, you would think that, but from my experience the oxidizing flame works best.  Thick, scaley rust just pops off of the surface when you hit it with the heat.  Then I go at it a bit with the wire brush to clean whatever else I can get off.
Reply:For those interested in welding SS with oxy/fuel, I made a little sample for you.  I haven't done it in a while and it isn't my best work.  My flame was too cold at the beggining and too hot for the rest.  The weld was done on a some .125" 316 stainless plate with 1/16th 316L filler.  A 3/32" filler rod would have been better suited for this weld.  The torch is a medium duty Smith with a 205 tip.  I used Solar flux mixed with denatured alcohol as a backup flux.All stainless welding should be done with a carburizing flame.This is the weld immediatly after being completed, it's a little wider and more concave than I would like.The backside before cleaning the flux off.After a quick brushing.  The weld shows good penetration.After laying another bead across the back.  Notice the bubbles of flux on the surface of the weld.  With the torch, most conaminates float to the surface reducing the porosity of the weld.The discoloration can be removed by pickling, polishing, or both.  I removed most, but decided I had better things to do and didn't finish.  My pickling paste is only strong enough for 304, but does get the job done eventually on 316.Last edited by 76GMC1500; 01-23-2006 at 02:35 AM.
Reply:Thanks for the post.  I hope to post some of my weld, soon.
Reply:Tap, to resize my pictures, I open up MS Paint and in the stretch/skew option in the image menu, I stretch it to 25%.  Then I host my pictures on imageshack.us or photobucket.com
Reply:This is a crack in the crossmember of my truck that I welded up.  The metal is 3/16" thick.  I used a 3/32" Lincoln RG60 rod for filler and a 207 tip.
Reply:Its good to see others "ofw"ing! I bought a welding/cutting torch to learn with because I want to work on a variety of different metals without the initial cost of a tig. But information resources for ofw are few and far between. I bought the wall mountain video and read the past post on here, now I just need time to practice.
Reply:I got one that is kinda old. .125" wall 3/4 tube. Plate is 6mm thick. Attached Images
Reply:Looks good.  What torch did you use and what rod for filler?
Reply:go sick!!!
Reply:I need some adcice on my alum. tig welding, im having trouble with what looks like contaminants in my puddle, although i clean the job and the filler rod, how long can a deoxidized job sit before it needs to be recleaned?
Reply:Sorry to bump the old thread, but does anyone have any more pics? Im trying to find pics to encourage myself even more than I can make decent looking welds with an O/A welder, heh.