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I am still in the process of going thru Corner, Lap, Edge, Butt, and tee joints using both mig and tig (stick too later on). The corner joint videos for both tig and mig already launched so…
This week, we are doing lap joints using mig and on carbon steel.
I kinda intended to focus on 11 ga , (3.17mm) thick steel but in an effort to make things more interesting , I bought some 16 ga thick exhaust pipe fittings from Auto-Zone .
If you have a small mig welder…even a 115 volt mig that you got from a pawn shop, and your friends and neighbors know it, you are likely to get asked to weld a friends muffler or tailpipe.
Shoot…exhaust pipes are just the kinda thing that got me started buying my own welding equipment. I figured instead of paying over 300 dollars for an exhaust assembly when all it needed was a muffler, I would just buy some gas bottles and gas weld a new muffler on. ( i already had a torch kit lying around).
Then, a friend gave me an old AC buzz box… Then I horse traded for a rectifier and high frequency box,… then I bought a miller syncrowave 250,… then sold it and bought a miller dynasty 200dx, and on and on it goes.
So anyway, back to lap joints.
Lap joints are commonly used to patch things. Like when a hole is worn in a sand blast cabinet, a common repair method would be to cut out a doubler patch, and weld it over the hole to get the blaster up and running again.
Another common application for lap joints is a rack made from angle iron. After all the shelfs are framed up, they are usually welded to the uprights using lap joints.
But another common lap joint is exhaust pipe welds. When one pipe slips over another to make a joint, thats a lap.
The exhaust pipe in this video was bought from auto-zone and the description says its zinc coated. It definitely welds like it is zinc coated because there are white flakes inside of the pipe after welding just like if it was galvanized.
even though .024″ wire generally works best for exhaust pipe, all the welding done in this video was done with .030″ er70s6 wire and 75/25 ar/co2 gas set at 15cfh.
For the 11 ga lap joints in this video, I settled on 18 volts and around 210 inches per minute of wire speed.
for the thin stuff, the 16 ga exhaust pipe, I adjusted things downward to 16.5 volts and around 170 ipm.
For the 11 ga, I kept a short stickout but for the 16 ga , I pulled back the stickout not only to help me see things better and to be able to film the welding, but a longer stickout is ok and even better for thin sheet metal,…less likely to burn thru.
I would like to hear your comments on tips and tricks for welding exhaust pipes
( As always, feel free to visit us at our sister site, WeldingTipsAndTricks.com. )
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August 29, 2012 at 7:42 AM
your tips are wery informative and it portrays the verbal with the practical vey well thanks your tips have made me alot of money
August 26, 2012 at 8:07 PM
Great tip on the plastic polish. I thought I was the only one who did that..haha. I got a free bottle of mothers plastic polish at a car show once and decided to try it one day and was amazed at how well it worked. I’d say my clear lenses on my elite last probably close to 8-10 times longer than if I just replaced them every time they got hard to see through.
August 25, 2012 at 6:25 AM
Was that a MIG everlast in the background doing the muffler Job?
August 25, 2012 at 3:55 AM
Dear Jody,
Did you have a video in the beginning, which was just for complete beginners, as I have just about started, I have all of the equipment now a mig, which was gas less, but I was advised it was better to have gas, so I converted it, I will be playing around with it this weekend.
I thought that I would put another string to my bow so to speak.
I am 71 years old now and was told that I was only entitled to three score and ten, so I didn’t think I ought to start anything else until I went into my bonus years.
Anyway I didn’t think that I would have to be a rocket scientist to master this, but it looks as though I might have to be a brain surgeon Ha Ha.
Bye the way I am still running my own business, and now out on the tools again myself, nothing to do with welding, only Koi Carp etc etc.
But I would like to see a beginners guide if you have one.
Regards
Dave.
August 24, 2012 at 9:12 PM
Great video, techniques are making my students better. Tell me more about the Green Welding Machine?????? Might want to buy one for the class to have another machine to pratice with.
Russ Bowling
August 24, 2012 at 7:50 PM
This weeks video will not open on my Iphone
By no means a criticism, I can fwd. it to my desktop
And try there.
I really look forward to your videos.
The Canadian with a Miller EconoTwin HF
and needing a Tig Finger.
August 24, 2012 at 1:33 PM
Just want to let you know how much help your vids are!,Thanks ,keep’em coming!
August 24, 2012 at 1:00 PM
ATTABOY!
Jody,
Your camera work and videos just keep getting better.
I watch them all.
Showing your welder settings and wire size, etc. is still a big help to me
and I’m sure it is to the newbies.
You’re a great teacher, thanks a bunch,
Jack