Can I weld this with my MIG?

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A friends railing is rotting. I thought they were wrought iron but its rusted at rotting away. Anyhow I have a craftsman mig rebranded clarke i believe. I have .035 wire. Just looking for some input Attached Images
Reply:you cant weld rust its like cancer its has to be cut out
Reply:yea i was going to cut it away until its a few inches above the highest point of rust and get some square tube then go from there. Im just not sure what type of metal it is. Wrought iron shouldnt rust should it?
Reply:Now lets be real here, you’re not going to fill in the rotted holes. Have you done anything like this before? What I would do is, remove the railing, set it up on a workbench, measure carefully so everything lines up again, cutout all the rotted parts, and weld in new. That 0.035 wire you have, is it self-shielded flux core or solid needing gas? Indoors you can use either type of wire, outdoors its flux core only.Iron, Right or Wrought will rust.Last edited by transit; 12-06-2009 at 06:07 PM.
Reply:Decorative metal work like what you have is often called Wrought iron but it is really just plain ol' Mild Steel.as edmac stated you will have to remove all of the metal that has rust, which seems to be all of that Post.I assume the .035 wire is Fluxcore and that will present a challenge on the thin walled tubing used for railings.Ed Conleyhttp://www.screamingbroccoli.com/MM252MM211 (Sold)Passport Plus & Spool gunLincoln SP135 Plus- (Gone to a good home)Klutch 120v Plasma cutterSO 2020 benderBeer in the fridge
Reply:all steel rust (iron) it looks like 1" sq tubingprime the in side it will rust from the in side outthe closest thing to real wrought iron these days is solid cold or hot rolled steel it cant rust from the inside
Reply:I fixed a rot iron fence at my house, been there for 25 years. It was when I first got my little 135 meg Lincoln. My welds were so, so. I got some bids, but they only wanted to replace it. I'd find some more metal, cut all the rust out. Paint it black when your done. You'll be a hero.Vern
Reply:Cut out the whole length of post, all the way up to the rail cap.  Leave the rest of the railing in place, it's obviously holding itself up without needing the post for support. Replace the whole post with equal sized pre-galvanized steel tube, probly 1x1 by the looks of it, which means the thickness will be 16 gauge.  Use your mig with .030 T-GS fluxcore wire and weld it in on-site.   To acquire the tube new, you'll probly have to buy a 20'  or 24' length of it.  Since there are no doubt more rotten posts in this railing, if there are other rail sections at the location, use the rest of the tube to replace any other rotten posts there.  If not, keep the tube for other future projects.  Charge the customer for the whole length of tube, and your labor, regardless if you use the whole length or not.  If you have to buy it by the full stick, the customer has to pay for it.  If you can buy it by the half-stick (10' or 12'), then the customer saves some money.Last edited by DesertRider33; 12-06-2009 at 07:52 PM.MM350P/Python/Q300MM175/Q300DialarcHFHTP MIG200PowCon300SMHypertherm380ThermalArc185Purox oaF350CrewCab4x4LoadNGo utilitybedBobcat250XMT304/Optima/SpoolmaticSuitcase12RC/Q300Suitcase8RC/Q400Passport/Q300Smith op
Reply:Its 035 flux core...ill do it while all in place i have a local metal dealer near me who will sell by the foot so ill go check him out tomorrow...ill cut the rust away and inspect the tube to see if its been eaten inside...thanks for the replies...will post pics when completed...prob not for a few weeks
Reply:and tell the customer to stop his dog from pissing on it, it will last longer. the photo looks like the bottom of the toilet stall post in the grimy bar i used to go to.
Reply:Originally Posted by yesindeedand tell the customer to stop his dog from pissing on it, it will last longer. the photo looks like the bottom of the toilet stall post in the grimy bar i used to go to.
Reply:Love the dog piss comment. That's probably what did it otherwise the rest of it would be rusted to hell.We have a male dog and we were having trouble with our cable TV. The guy came and informed us that Harley was pissing on the box, therefore, it was coated in frozen dog piss and not functioning too well!
Reply:dog piss makes **** rust like nothing else...my dogs piss on everything
Reply:I picked up 5ft of 16 gauge 1x1 galve square tube today...It came to $6.90..They cut it to whatever length you need. ... Im not sure if thats a good price or not as i usually use scrap for whatever im doing. I have this metal/everything dealer around me...Joseph fazio and sons in glassboro nj....The place is the size of an airport i was in their metal warehouse today boy what an operation they have there. Will it be an issue to get paint to stick to it since its galv???
Reply:DO NOT WELD GALVANIZED!! the fumes and and will kill you.  just get some straight stock tubing.
Reply:itll be outside...ive heard its no good but figured outside would be ok...desert rider said pregalvanized.....is there a difference?
Reply:You will be fine. Your outdoors and it's not like you have a huge amount of welding to do. Try not to breath the fumes. If you want to be safe (and have a better weld) just grind or sand the galvanized coating back about 1" from where you are welding. Paint it when your done and you will be good to go.
Reply:Galvanized metal is safe to weld with the proper safety precautions.  No need to grind it away from the weld either, if you're using fluxcore wire.You can buy a 3M respirator mask and a pair of pink filters at most any weld supply store and that will take care of any issues with the galvanize fumes.  If you don't want to spring for the respirator, wear a partical mask and keep your head upwind of the weld and out of the smoke.Pre-galvanized means the tube manufacturer applies the galvanize coating during the manufacturing process and it is applied to both inside and ouside surfaces.  When the metal supply lists 'galvanized tube', they're talking about the same thing.  Post-galvanizing means after you weld the item, you take it to a metal coater to have it hot-dip galvanized, or flame-spray galvanized, or you spray it with cold galvanize compound.Last edited by DesertRider33; 12-08-2009 at 10:19 PM.MM350P/Python/Q300MM175/Q300DialarcHFHTP MIG200PowCon300SMHypertherm380ThermalArc185Purox oaF350CrewCab4x4LoadNGo utilitybedBobcat250XMT304/Optima/SpoolmaticSuitcase12RC/Q300Suitcase8RC/Q400Passport/Q300Smith op
Reply:Originally Posted by themowI picked up 5ft of 16 gauge 1x1 galve square tube today...It came to $6.90..They cut it to whatever length you need. ... Im not sure if thats a good price or not as i usually use scrap for whatever im doing. I have this metal/everything dealer around me...Joseph fazio and sons in glassboro nj....The place is the size of an airport i was in their metal warehouse today boy what an operation they have there. Will it be an issue to get paint to stick to it since its galv???
Reply:Im in wildwood....did you see the new warehouse that he is having built????? I drove by it today for the first time it must be a half mile long!!!!
Reply:Wrought iron is a term with two meanings. #1 is steel with a specific carbon content. You can only get it through specialty metal suppliers these days, so don't worry about it. #2 wrought means to work, so any kind of decorative steel can be refered to as "wrought" or worked. since higher carbon content  steels aren't so redily wrought, you"ll find that it's just mild steel. Don't worry about doing a couple little welds out doors on a piece of galvanized steel. Just keep you head out of the plume. And replace the whole post like desertrider33 suggested, just replacing a part of it would look ugly.
Reply:No I haven't been there since July or early August. It's usually an all day affair there and I spend way too much money on all the neat toys they've got so I try and limit myself. I had planned to make the trip last week or this week, but work has intervened. The yard in Delaware is no where near as good as the one in Jersey. I've been to that one once and after seeing the S. Jersey location it's sort of Ho hum... Still compared to most places it's easy to spend a day there hunting for stuff..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:i would replace the whole thing but i know i would have a tough time getting it to line up and getting the angle correct since i wont have it in the shop to line everything up and i will be working alone...im not that skilled.....i do have enough metal though
Reply:Originally Posted by themowi would replace the whole thing but i know i would have a tough time getting it to line up and getting the angle correct since i wont have it in the shop to line everything up and i will be working alone...im not that skilled.....i do have enough metal though
Reply:Just support it on the concrete step with a piece clamped to the handrail. Or drive a piece into the dirt and clamp it to the handrail to support it. Get the entire piece ready then cut out the old one and zap on the new one.Just finished up heres some pics....i should have replaced the whole piece as everyone suggested since when i but the 2 pieces together and started to weld i started to burn a hole thru the old piece....i guess the rust had weakened the wall...anyway i lowered the heat and went to town and then filled the hole with weld.....im just a newbie so ill learn!!!!! Attached Images
Reply:Looks good. You learn the most from your mistakes.
Reply:Paint it up and good to go.    The best laid schemes ... Gang oft agley ...
Reply:Looks good.  Replacing the whole tube would have been easier/faster but you did a good job putting them together.MM350P/Python/Q300MM175/Q300DialarcHFHTP MIG200PowCon300SMHypertherm380ThermalArc185Purox oaF350CrewCab4x4LoadNGo utilitybedBobcat250XMT304/Optima/SpoolmaticSuitcase12RC/Q300Suitcase8RC/Q400Passport/Q300Smith op
Reply:Originally Posted by DesertRider33Looks good.  Replacing the whole tube would have been easier/faster but you did a good job putting them together.