Welding thick and thin materials together

[Benjamin Borowsky]

I am trying to weld 19 gauge galvanized wire to 1/8" angle iron. I have a sears cheapie mig welder, without the gas attachment.

No matter what setting I use, it melts the wire without welding it - the wire melts too quickly.

The welder is not supposed to be able to go that thin, 19 gauge. The thinnest it can do is 18 gauge.

Is this a technique thing? I practiced for quite some time, and couldn't really get it to work.

Or is it just that I can't do it with this tool? If this is so, do you have any suggestions? Thanks as always, and merry/happy/healthy etc.

B2

[aametalmaster]

Are you trying to weld screen wire? If so place a washer where you want to weld, over the wire and fill in the washer hole with weld. The washer will hold the wire in place better...Bob
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ornamentiron/

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Bob Wright
Salem, Oh Birthplace of The Silver & Deming Drill

[Dawai]

Run your heat on the thick, kinda dance it over to the thin ever now and then.

I pulled windings out of a century stick welder till I could tig two razor blades together. I needed it to do "that" and didn't know how otherwise.. I later learned to put a steel tig rod in series with the ground clamp.. it will glow red and reduce heat to the weld.

[Benjamin Borowsky]

Bob:

Great idea, thanks!

David: I don't understand. Do you mean connect the clamp to the tig rod to the metal (instead of just the clamp to the metal)? Does that make the tig rod a resistor, that essentially reduces the heat at the welding site? Is this correct, or am I missing something?

Thanks, guys. I appreciate it.

[Samuel]

David,

by steel tig rod do you meen filler rod or electrode? what size and how long? I have a big welder that doesnt get lower than 30 amps and I am not good enough to weld the thin stuff.

thanks,

[This message has been edited by Samuel (edited 12-24-2005).]

[Dawai]

Yep, a filler rod, clamp it between the "ground" clamp and the work. I weld at a roll-around table. Getting a leg up against that red hot filler rod will make your day.



That "high freq box" there.. it makes lighting easy. It or the tig rig has not been used in over a year.

I need/want/desire a square wave machine too.. I welded with one, not been able to tig anything since..

Walking the heat, build a puddle away from your wire, and float it over to it.. Get back before it burns out.. Welding thin sheet with a stick welder requires the same practise.

to lower your heat, turn up wire-feed speed at lowest setting. Weld faster.. ha..

[gkman11]

Ya' better get a cover plate on that handy box Sparkey. DON'T YOU KNOW ELECTRICITY KILLS?

[Your Old Dog]

Ben, you have to point your mig head at something. Normally it would be at the joint where to two pieces of metal meet. David's right, point the torch head more toward the thicker piece and let the thinner get heat simply because it's in the immediate neighborhood of the red hot thicker part. I just had great success welding EMT tubing to 1/8 inch and 1/4 inch thick brackets and it worked to perfection.

If you point the torch head at the thin stuff, any current that is hot enough for the thick stuff is way too hot for the thin stuff and you will burn thru the thin.

If you don't know what you're doing, as I don't, sometimes it helps to push the envelope a little just to see what's going to happen when you do. I was mig welding with too short a wire. When I lengthend the wire (pulled back on the torch head a little) the welds got hotter and my welds straightend out fine. They look like peanut butter now (smooth not crunchy!) and hold up fine. Good luck........

Hey aametalmaster, that washer is a great tip to remember. Thanks for taking the time.

[This message has been edited by Your Old Dog (edited 12-24-2005).]

[torker]

What David said..whip the wire out of the puddle over onto the wire every so often...or...you can push down on the wire(or light guage) with a piece of copper bar. The wire will weld but the filler won't stick to the copper. The copper acts as a heat sink and keeps excess heat from the light metal.
I've also used just a heavy piece of iron or steel bar. If the mig isn't running too hot it will weld the screen but won't stick to the heavy metal piece...or if it does it breaks free very easily. Just don't keep it up til the big steel bar gets warm...then it will get welded!
Russ

[Benjamin Borowsky]

I tried to aim at the thick piece... but even at the center of the mesh, it's too close, and the whole thing just vaporizes... The whole mesh, that is. The angle iron is doing just fine. The grid has too small holes for that to work.

But, I'm sure the washer trick will work like a million bucks. Thanks again, all.

B2