I decided to get a $90 Stick-Arc welder from Wal-Mart to put an additional bung (for the wideband) on my downpipe, so I won't have to pay some tardo at a muffler shop a large fraction of that, for one dumb job. However, I have had close to zero success in welding this thing.

I got some scrap metal, including exhaust pipe, and had moderate (ugly) results with that, but my main question is whether stick welding is this incredibly difficult, or if it's partly the fault of my crappy wal-mart welder?! The thing is 55/70amps, I believe, and it takes me dozens of tries to get an arc going, otherwise it just welds the stick to the metal. Is there some trick to this, or should I suck it up and fork out some extra bread for the adjustable amperage wire-feed welder?

I'm reaching my wits end with this welding thing, here. I managed to get the nut welded most of the way on, but the welding stick attached itself to the nut and when attempting to pull it off, the nut came with it! My only instruction, at this point, has been from the directions that came with the welder and a tutorial on the internet. Basically, my problems seem to be in actually striking an arc, and then once I am able to do that, to get the weld to actually stick. I have tried my best to clean up the slag between passes, but apparently not well enough, I guess?

 

trying to be cheap is actually costing you more here..... if you have the welder up too high your going to burn a hole in it but as it is your not turning it up enough.... i would just take the pipe off the car and have it all ready for a muffler shop to weld the nut on and it will be cheap to do ... it only cost me 15 bucks .. and it was done right in 10 minutes .. to me i would rather spend 15 bucks and not waste a day trying to figure out a welder rather then spend the money and get it done right .... just my $0.02

 

there is a wealth of knowledgable ppl here, someone's gotta have tips, maybe ask in the FI forum...

Good attitude man, DIY!

-PHiZ

 

Thanks PHiZ...it's all about the DIY (turbo set-up, suspension, programmed ecu, wideband->all myself).

So, does anyone here have any general tips or explanations why the welds aren't holding? I'd assume that if you make one pass and it doesn't hold that it can't (or alteast, shouldn't) be because of the slag? Could my "general purpose" welding sticks not work on this aluminized steel? They seem to take to the nut, just not the pipe...

Should I eat my wallet and buy the wire-feed? Or, will this serve me better in the long-run, since there are a variety of kinds of sticks available? I've got all day to try this tomorrow, so any advice would be awesome!

 

I Paid $15 and it was done right as well and it took 15min. Walmart takes returns get you money back and have a muffler shop do it.

 

I admire that you want to do everything yourself. Welding exhaust piping with stick is very hard. Ex piping is just to thin for stick. If your determined it can be done. Start by practicing on scrap to get your settings. There is going to be a fine line between sticking the rod and burning a hole through the metal. You will need to move pretty fast. Make sure you are using the smallest rod you can find. When you go to weld the bung on direct the heat at bung because it is thicker. This will help in 2 ways it will take some heat away from the piping and help prevent burning through. It will also heat the bung More and provide for better penetration. I stick weld at work all of the time and doing it on something so thin is very hard for me. I'm planning on buying a mig for home you may want to do the same. good luck

 

I wasn't going to respond to the previous post that told me to go to a muffler shop to get it welded on, but since there are two now: I hope you don't do any mods to your car, because you could just pay someone else to do it better, besides it's no fun to do it yourself. Oh wait! Yes, it is! Also, wouldn't it be nice to now that whenever you want to change something that you have the ability to do it, as opposed to having the ability to hand another person a fist full of money?

Trever, thanks for the advice, but I'm not sure that it's a problem of the pipe being too thin. I'm using 1/16" sticks at 55/70amps, which I believe is pretty low, and it's welding to the nut pretty darned well, but just not to the pipe at all! I even sanded it down some, but no dice. It seems to be on there, but I can easily pull it off. I've also tried 5/64" sticks at 55 and 70amps. Do you think it could be the sticks (also from wal-mart)? Could they just be really crappy?

I managed to get the wideband to simulate the stock o2 sensor voltage, so this isn't a pressing issue, since I just put the sensor in the bung for the stock sensor. In any case, I am going to swing by the dumpster behind the local muffler shop and see if I can't pick up some free scrap to practice on

 

If you can't get it to penetrate the piping it sounds like your poor equipment is holding you back. It's steel piping right? Try some good 7018 rod. good luck

 

Is it fluxcore? Is that good/bad?

-PHiZ

 

The welder is stick/arc, so the flux is on the OUTSIDE of the rod. I've tried 6013, 7014 rod, I think? I'll look into getting the other, since there is a welding supply place just down the road. I'm thinking that I'm just going to return this, get a wire-feed for this project, and possibly just be a **** and return that when I am done

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ion_four &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I wasn't going to respond to the previous post that told me to go to a muffler shop to get it welded on, but since there are two now: I hope you don't do any mods to your car, because you could just pay someone else to do it better, besides it's no fun to do it yourself. Oh wait! Yes, it is! Also, wouldn't it be nice to now that whenever you want to change something that you have the ability to do it, as opposed to having the ability to hand another person a fist full of money?

Trever, thanks for the advice, but I'm not sure that it's a problem of the pipe being too thin. I'm using 1/16" sticks at 55/70amps, which I believe is pretty low, and it's welding to the nut pretty darned well, but just not to the pipe at all! I even sanded it down some, but no dice. It seems to be on there, but I can easily pull it off. I've also tried 5/64" sticks at 55 and 70amps. Do you think it could be the sticks (also from wal-mart)? Could they just be really crappy?

I managed to get the wideband to simulate the stock o2 sensor voltage, so this isn't a pressing issue, since I just put the sensor in the bung for the stock sensor. In any case, I am going to swing by the dumpster behind the local muffler shop and see if I can't pick up some free scrap to practice on </TD></TR></TABLE>

Doing stuff yourself is good and saves you money, but the money it sounds like your spending on the welder itself and the rods doesnt justify how often your going to use a welder IMO. Its not a very common household tool for that reason.
Now if it was very expensive to have a muffler shop weld it i would understand doing it yourself, but save the headache and be out 15 bucks and some experience that wont be used too often. As your welding skills will decrease over time if you dont practice it regularly and it will take you time to get the hang of it again.
You seem like a big DIY man and I think thats really cool so with welders you really get what you pay for so go ahead and buy a nice gasless mig and be done with it.

 

well, to be technical, there's no such thing as a gasless MIG.

YOu're talking about a wire-feed welder running flux core(FCAW). MIG, or GMAW(gas-metal arc welding) is the process of using the shield gas to protect the weld, so you can't have MIG without the gas.

anyway, a $300 110 volt wire feed shoudl work fine for this setup. I got my Lincoln for $300 at Lowes a year or two back. I have done whole exhaust systems with it.

You aren't trying to weld to stainless steel, are you? That might explain which it won't stick.

Assuming both the pipe and nut/bung are mild steel, first wirebrush everything where the weld will be down to bare metal. Clamp the nut on there good, connect your ground clamp to the exhaust tubing. Should work.

Personally, my welder has more than paid for itself.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by haggar &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Personally, my welder has more than paid for itself. </TD></TR></TABLE>

That's exactly what I'm hoping for! I'm not trying to weld stainless, I think it's actually just mild steel, since there are a few hints of brown on it (cheap-*** downpipe). I sanded it down, but I'll try making it more rough with the brush. I think, though, that I am just going to return this welder and get a wire-feed one, since I don't have time to take a class in the next couple months and I want to re-do my exhaust, since it's only 2.25, crush-bent, after the downpipe...

 

sticking a magnet to the metal is a good way to tell if its stainless, it will not stick to stainless.

 

Arc welding piping isn't easy at all. Arc welding overall is harder than mig or wirefeed.

If you can get your hands on a mig (gas welder) it will be much easier for you. Overall, setting aside 500 bucks for a mig is a good investment.

Danny