Sub Frame Stitch Welding >

[SurGie 54]

I had some free time this afternoon, so i started to sort my sub frame then stitch welded it. A few of the first welds are not great looking but has plenty of penetration, my Portamig welder wire wheel kept getting stuck, it kept tightening itself stiff. All the welding iv done with it since i bought it & its never done it before. I swapped a few of the spacers round so it turned round easily, then the welder worked fine.

 

A few pics >

 

 

 

 

Cheers G

[SurGie 54]

A few more pics >

 

[nickaliath 22]

I was thinking of doing this to mine.

[Baz 421]

Good idea for a forest/gravel car!

[harryskid 193]

I bought on on here already welded for my rally car as the first Turkey that tried to fit my gti6 cut mine. The weldings nothing to write home about but i've gone over the worst ones again. Just got to get it blasted and powder coated now and then have a go at changing them . Miles showed me that mine was cut when he sorted my gear box and on a rally car thats no good !

[SurGie 54]

I dont know if it would work but im thinking of getting it galvanised than powder coated ?

 

I really cant be bothered to sand blast it then prime and paint it wit5h its cavities, so i'll see what my platers place says.

 

The whole frame was very very greasy/oily, even after a dam good clean i still had weld problems because of this. Some say for a track/road car its not worth it, but with the inner wings welded and all the other bits iv added i might as well do the sub frame to match while its off. The 205 shell is not known for it's strength, so iv added some via the sub frame and chassis.

[harryskid 193]

The one i brought was painted with ally paint over the old oiley surface and it was a right mess. As i wanted to reweld some of it i had to paint stripper it but it will still want blasting just to get it really clean. Powder coating on its own would be fine because of where it is. I would not think it would rust !

[Cameron 16]

I'm not surprised you had welding problems, you've way too much wire feed and not enough heat.

[harryskid 193]

I'm not surprised you had welding problems, you've way too much wire feed and not enough heat.

 

I know where i could stick the wire though

[SurGie 54]

Only at the oily bits in-between the plate sections and at the start due to the wire feed. I had it on a lower wire feed at first 3.9 ish and that was well s*it with blow backs etc, so i turned it up to 4.9 ish and it welded fine, a proper weld pool. On some bits it melted the thick steel plates away, so the power setting was fine. At least there are only a few bits of pigeon s*it welds

 

Pictures dont always tell the full story when it comes to welds and as its under the car i dont care if they dont look swish tbh, they all had full penetration/weld pool which is the main thing.

 

It's so much easier welding when you can move the object in the best position to weld instead of around a car with its tight corners etc. I know i still need more practice to create good looking welds with enough penetration etc.

 

Cheers G

Edited November 29, 2011 by SurGie

[SurGie 54]

I know where i could stick the wire though

 

 

Was there a need for that comment on someones thread ?

[kyepan 291]

nice work, how much stiffer will it be now it's been welded?

 

and how much of the excess weld can you grind off to neaten it up before it starts to compromise the stiffness?

[SurGie 54]

Thanks Kyepan, i will be grinding back the welds with the low grade flap disk i have from weldequip to tidy the high ones up a bit, but not too much as they aren't all that high.

 

As for stiffness, well with the amount of spot welds it's got, it will be very stiff compared to what it was like before. Im quite surprised that it only has a few on the main middle sections. Im just trying to reduce as much chassis flex as possible, it will contribute with the stitch welded inner wings and welded in strut brace.

 

Years ago i had a professional welder using that very powerful yellow small one from weldequip, on the old 106 my GF had and his welds were quite high compared to the welds that i managed to do.

[allanallen 528 2 Cars]

A couple of weeks ago you made a few replies to a thread about stitch welding subframes, you came across like you'd done it before a told the op how you'd of done a certain aspects differently. Now you post this up showing you clearly haven't done it before and you haven't even done it the way you preached was superior.

I'm not for one minute knocking you for having a go but you shouldn't be giving people advice on things you have no personal experience of.

I'm not usually one for moaning but this sort of stuff seems to be happening more frequently on here and it's not helping anyone.

 

Allan

[jackherer 543]

A couple of weeks ago you made a few replies to a thread about stitch welding subframes, you came across like you'd done it before a told the op how you'd of done a certain aspects differently. Now you post this up showing you clearly haven't done it before and you haven't even done it the way you preached was superior.

I'm not for one minute knocking you for having a go but you shouldn't be giving people advice on things you have no personal experience of.

I'm not usually one for moaning but this sort of stuff seems to be happening more frequently on here and it's not helping anyone.

 

Allan

 

It is specifically addressed in the rules:

 

- when it comes to technical information and guideance, think twice before you hit

the "submit" button - make sure that information and knowledge you are about to

share is either first hand or verified fact. hear-say and deliberate missinformation

will not be tolerated. "guessing" (within reasonable limits) is allowed if it helps

finding an answer

 

...so if you see something inaccurate hit 'report' and we'll remove it.

[SurGie 54]

A couple of weeks ago you made a few replies to a thread about stitch welding subframes, you came across like you'd done it before a told the op how you'd of done a certain aspects differently. Now you post this up showing you clearly haven't done it before and you haven't even done it the way you preached was superior.

I'm not for one minute knocking you for having a go but you shouldn't be giving people advice on things you have no personal experience of.

I'm not usually one for moaning but this sort of stuff seems to be happening more frequently on here and it's not helping anyone.

 

Allan

 

Thats not quite right >

 

A good job yes, however i would have not welded as many stitches, say 4 instead of the 7 thats on the long part of it.

 

I did not preach about it, i commented that 'i' would not have welded so many welds, this was before i saw my own sub frame and how many original spot welds it had. It only has a few, so i then decided it best to weld the 7 instead of the 4 welds on this sub frame i was going to do. I said 'i' not you the OP, which is my view. No one wants someone to put much heat put into it so it ends up bent, now do we ? 3 welds more or less in my view is not that technical/correct or incorrect tbh, it would just add less or more strength and stiffness.

 

What is it with people filling up threads with pointless things that are off topic, probably nothing better to do i assume ?

 

Please only reply to this thread if you have some positive comments or tips etc, thanks

[marksorrento205 80]

Please only reply to this thread if you have some positive comments or tips etc, thanks

 

Fair point!!

 

As a positive comment, I think this thread is great I am glad you have taken the time to post up pictures of what you have done, it positively makes me feel better about my welding

[chipstick 382 1 Cars]

The other thread OP assessed the situation and decided 7 was enough, yet you commented 4 would suffice.

 

When you later saw it for yourself, you decided the way the other guy did it with 7 was actually the correct way.

 

That's what allenallen is getting at.

 

I think he and others are also getting at the fact comments like that could put unnecessary worry into peoples work if 'first hand' experience isn't justifying the comment.

[SurGie 54]

He was getting a welder to do it for him so im sure he would make the decisions on that. You are missing the point, 3 more or less welds makes no real difference to it apart from not putting too much heat into the frame. I said i would rather not which is my preference ffs, not that he should not put 7 in, there is a difference, have you not read my reply properly. For all i know the welder might weld longer stitches or the frame may have more spot welds on it. He had a proper picture to copy off so im sure he would not listen to what i would have done anyways.

 

 

This thread is now ruined so im going to make another then close it.

[Rippthrough 98]

=

Years ago i had a professional welder using that very powerful yellow small one from weldequip, on the old 106 my GF had and his welds were quite high compared to the welds that i managed to do.

 

Then I'd have have questioned his credentials, or not paid the bugger.

Yours aren't terrible compared to some I've seen on cars, but they're a fair way from what I'd be happy with

Edited November 30, 2011 by Rippthrough

[chipstick 382 1 Cars]

In before the lockidile

Edited November 30, 2011 by chipstick

[SurGie 54]

The whole point of welding is getting good/full penetration of which i have plenty of, looks are not important unless you are a pro or care that much about looks.

 

As for the pro welder, this was before i knew anything about welding and just wanted the car mot'd at the time and it passed which is the main point is it not ?

 

 

Please can this thread be deleted, its full of spam that too many people feel the need to post on my threads. I have posted another clean one closed up, its to be linked on my project thread.

 

Thank-you

 

I didn't read your spam was busy posting

 

I have tried to close 'my' thread but for some reason it keeps being opened again, so i take it this is not my thread then ?

Edited November 30, 2011 by SurGie

[SurGie 54]

I have now decided to fully close this topic at 5:17 AM and i will not be re-opening it again, ever.

[Daviewonder 533 3 Cars]

Ok

[wracing 19]

Personally I don't think you have particularly good weld penetration at all. The pictures are tell tale of p*** poor preparation and sub standard welding.