saw an ad on craiglist that someone was looking for a welder, so i stopped by the shop which just happens to be across the street from mine :D
did a little bit of welding for them and they loved my aluminum work so theyre farming out most of their aluminum work to me.
these are some handrails for an oil drilling rig.
im getting 20 bucks a piece to just weld them up, they come pre bent and notched.

 

oh, the company that orders them, doesnt want ANY prep work done besides wiping it off so thats why the welds are dirty

 

Four welds for $20 is pretty cheap, what happen when a weld cracks do to a poor weld because of contamination , and a guy falls from an oil rig into a sharks mouth, and exploded ? Then what ?

 

lol, dude at least hit it with a scotch brite.

 

What welder are you using?
Don't need any abrasive means, just acetone before you weld. The welder does the rest.
Use a higher frequency, like 250-400hz, and more amperage. I understand the visual thing, any scratches look goofy.

 

i'll give that a shot
currently at 225 amps, 175hz 75% bal
trust me the first piece i did, i used a wire brush to clean the area and the boss said "i wish you wouldnt have done that..." i was like WTF, you dont want clean welds? haha

 

oh, dynasty 350

 

It must be fairly thick then, and a big filler.
Try 250 amps negative, 200 positive, 75% balance, and 3/32 filler.
Oh, and 400hz.

 

gotcha

 

the material is 11 gauge and pretty big so it soaks up a good amount of heat

 

little better, still getting contamination from the inside of the notching... i hate it when i cant do my job properly.
its just one of our customers that is against any kind of grinding/prepping marks on his product.

 

eeh, not really liking the high freq welding. it seems to like <200hz. starting an arc/puddle at high freq is a BITCH and it likes to 'contaminate' the material before forming a puddle and then cleans it up a bit

 

Good for you! Production work is always a welcome addition !

 

Factor $$/hr not $$/weld, i'd say its paying pretty well!

 

if a dude falls into a shark's mouth and explodes, they have way bigger issues than welds breaking LOL.

 

Most welding shops in our area charge $1.50/per inch for tig in production. I'd say you are relatively close.

 

We charge over $200/hr for tig welding carbon and stainless steel... I hope you can make at least 10 of those in an hour.

Now if that $20 is cash and going straight into your pocket the I would say not so bad.

 

they pay for gas/consumables also. for starting out its not too bad i think.