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TIG Welding Cast Aluminum Elbows- A Beginners Journey.

Jan 26th, 12 / 0 Comments

TIG Welding Training

As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I am a beginner in the world of TIG welding. I really began tackling TIG welding about a year ago after we offered a crash-course internally here at Eastwood. With the launch of our Eastwood TIG 200 it made it easier than ever for me to finally start learning.

Learning how to TIG Weld on Steel

I soon caught the TIG welding bug, and I found myself spending lunch breaks and free time trying to pick up the basics of TIG welding. I started with steel since it was less intimidating than learning to TIG weld aluminum. Above is a picture of my progress, and although my pace and steady hand hasn’t fully developed yet, I was starting to get the hang of it. Ultimately I wanted to be able to weld thin gauge aluminum tubing for a custom intake project I had in the works. As soon as I started to feel comfortable welding steel I jumped right into learning to TIG weld aluminum (albeit too quickly). It was frustrating at first, but as they say “practice makes perfect”… or at least practice makes “better” in this case. Below you can see me practicing on some plate aluminum by welding bead after bead.

Learning to TIG weld aluminum

Practing TIG Welding Aluminum

Fast forward to January, and I am ready to begin my custom intake project. I ordered up some 6061 .065 tubing and a pair of cast tight radius 90′s. The first job in this process is to cut and weld the 90′s together to create as tight of a 180 degree radius as possible. This was a bit daunting since 3″ cast 90′s aren’t very cheap if I messed it up!

After I cut the pieces down and beveled the edges, I cleaned the weld area with a stainless brush, and Pre. I dropped the helmet down, took a deep breath, and began welding. Above you can see the results. I am satisfied with how it came out, I just need to keep practicing to get that consistent “stack of dimes” look. As I was welding, I did notice that the bevel I made was a bit wide at some points and made it difficult to keep the puddle consistent. I was also getting a lot of contaminants coming to the surface as I was welding, and I couldn’t figure out why. After some thought today, it hit me that I prepped the immediate area around the joint, but I probably didn’t clean a large enough area. That probably caused all of the contaminants I saw popping up in the leading edge of the puddle. Since I have to weld aother piece to this elbow, I decided to media blast the entire elbow and follow it up with our After Weld to get the surface etched clean. Now that I’ve taken those extra steps, I really can see how much cleaner the metal is. I’m pretty confident that’s where the contaminants were coming from. Next time I can hit the joint with the stainless brush to remove any minuscule corrosion and enjoy a clean weld puddle!

With anything like this, I’ll always be perfecting my skills. I have a long way to go, but I can assure you, that I am hooked on the art of TIG welding!

Matt's Motor head Talk, Tech Corner

Eastwood Metal Working Tip- Forming Metal with Items You Have Around the House

Jan 16th, 12 / 1 Comment

Metal working is definitely an art that takes a lot of practice to master. In the grand scheme of things I am definitely wet behind the ears when it comes to metal working. It seems each time I tackle a new project, I learn a little more. A common misconception when someone thinks about metal working is that you need a huge shop full of industrial sized machines to successfully shape and form metal. It’s easy to see why people come to this conclusion; watch just about any Hot Rod, Chopper, or custom car TV show, and you see them using all of these giant industrial sized machines that cost a fortune. Those tools are great,and amazing to use if you have access to them. But you can build a lot in a home shop with an arsenal of a few essential tools. Some of these you can even make yourself!

Bending radiuses in metal is one of the more difficult tasks you may come across when honing your metal working skills. This is something that was often a mystery to me, and a task I thought required an english wheel. Once I started doing some poking around on a few popular metal working forums, I noticed that many of the seasoned veterans were using homemade tools to form curves and even recreate original embossed shapes in panels. They are using everything from logs and tree trunks to metal pipes and pieces of scrap metal to build some pretty beautiful things.

This got me thinking, with a few simple Eastwood tools, and a couple of items you could find laying around your home, you could really build some neat stuff! I decided to show how we recreated the curve in the driver’s door of Project Pile House using a stainless pipe, a vice, and a couple of our Metal Forming Mallets.

The picture below shows the condition of the door when we started. Not only was it rotted out, it also had a bad dent repair done many years ago. Because of this we decided to replace the door skin just above the damage.

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Once we cut off the outer door skin I took the picture below to show the slight radius the panel had to it originally. This is what we wanted to recreate.

After putting a flange on the new door skin, we cut a slit in the top of the flange to allow us to form the radius in the panel we need to recreate. We grabbed a piece of stainless pipe we had that is about 3″, and clamped it in the vice. We then took out our Metal Forming Mallet Set and began slowly beating the edge of the panel over the pipe to get a radius started.

After some hammering and test fitting, we finally got the radius very close. We then used the backing strips in our Panel Install Kit to to get the new skin attached.

Once that piece was tack welded into place, we test fit and continue welding like we’ve already shown you in previous tech entries (you’re on the home stretch!).

Once you get over the idea that you always need to use special tools to form metal, you will find yourself looking at things differently when working in the garage. I know I’ve got the word out to some neighbors about getting one of those big old stumps they have laying around. I plan on making it into a metal working “station”! Give us a shout if you have a cool idea for a metal working tool, we’d love to hear your ideas!

1950 Dodge Pickup Project, Matt's Motor head Talk, Tech Corner

The Top Tip to Make Seamless Sheet Metal Repairs

Jan 5th, 12 / 0 Comments

Replacing door skins, quarter panels, and other patch panels can take a lot of practice to get perfect. We have found that there are a few little tips to make a seamless repair much easier. My favorite is the use of a “backing strip” to connect the new and old metal. Below is a crash course on how you can use some thin backing strips from our new Patch Panel Install Kit to make a seamless repair that will last the lifetime of the vehicle.

First make your cut just above the damaged area. Be sure to clean the work area to bare metal and smooth out any sharp edges where the cut was made.

Next, take a one inch backing strip out of the kit, and cut it to the length you need. Then use the supplied 3/16″ drill bit to make evenly spaced holes in the original metal (do not drill holes in the backing strip).

Now that the holes are drilled, take your backing strip and slide half of it under the original metal and clamp the two pieces together. We suggest using our Plug Welding Pliers. They have a copper support pad on them that helps reduce heat into the panel and helps avoid blow-through when making spot welds. The “V” in the top of the pliers makes it easy to pinpoint where you need to plug weld with the helmet down.

Next you can plug weld the backing strip to the original metal. You may want to practice a few times on some scrap metal to get a nice flat spot weld. You should only be holding the trigger for a few seconds when making a spot weld. The result of setting up your MIG welder properly will yield results like below. Remember, the flatter the plug welds you make, the less final grinding and filler you need to do!

Now that you have your backing strip in place, you can begin test fitting your replacement metal. Below you can see another reason why these backing strips are necessary in panel replacement; we can’t always cut a perfectly straight line. Without a backing strip here, you’d have a tough time filling the gap without adding a small piece of metal. Trying to fill the void with weld would have caused major warpage in the metal.

Once you have confirmed your replacement panel will fit correctly, you can drill plug weld holes with the 3/16″ drill bit in the replacement metal. Refit the panel and plug weld it to the backing strip. Once the panel is attached, you can now slowly spot weld the seam between the new and old metal. Remember to jump around from end to end when spot welding. This will help keep the seam from warping and causing more work to get the repair area straight.

Once you have the seam welded up, you can grind any “proud” welds down and proceed with sealer or filler. Use Eastwood Quality Flap Discs to properly blend the welds into the seam. No matter how small of an area, using this procedure when butt welding panels together can really make the difference in the final outcome of the repair.

1950 Dodge Pickup Project, Eastwood Chatter, Matt's Motor head Talk, Tech Corner

5 Beginners TIG Welding Tips

Dec 5th, 11 / 0 Comments

More so than MIG and ARC welding, TIG welding requires a lot more practice to be proficient in. There are a lot more ways to control the arc, puddle, and final outcome of your weld than with a MIG welder. Here are 5 tips that are essential to keep in mind when learning the basics of TIG welding.

1. Cleanliness- TIG welding unlike other types of welding requires a very clean surface to produce a clean arc and nice welds. Make sure you are cleaning the work surface extremely well before you weld. For aluminum and stainless we like to use a dedicated stainless brush for each type of metal we are welding on. DO NOT use the same wire brush you use to clean rust and scale off of your chassis! You will find the more time you take cleaning your work area before welding, the better your final results will be.

2. Choose the correct Tungsten- Depending on the surface you are working on, you may need to change out your Tungsten. Traditionally green tungstens are used for aluminum and red for steels, but some people prefer the red tungstens across the board. We suggest trying the “traditional” use of each before making a decision. Believe it or not, it’s possible to use too small or too large of a tungsten for the thickness material you are welding. By using too large of a tungsten you will have to turn the heat up far too much to strike an arc and could risk warping or burning through the workpiece. On the other side, using too small of a tungsten can cause damage to the tungsten from being overheated. Below you can see an overheated 1/16 tungsten.

3. Touch the Tip, Regrind- This is one of the most frustrating parts of learning to TIG weld, as well as one of the hardest to obey. If you happen to touch your tungsten tip into the puddle, even for a split second, you have contaminated it and you MUST regrind the tungsten. You will know if you have done this because the arc will start to wander badly, as well as a it will be difficult to keep a focused arc on the metal. Below is a picture of a tip that was just touched for a split second, notice the sharp tip now has “splits” in it.

4. Keep up productivity- There are a few things you can do to keep you welding longer, and without interruption. Distractions and interruptions will make a beginner easily forget what they have just learned and will make it more difficult where they left off. A few things can be done to optimize your time learning to TIG. A big one is to keep extra Tungstens ground, and ready in case you contaminate one. Also keep any pieces you plan to weld cleaned and in arms reach. Lastly, keep plenty of extra filler rod in a close arms reach (it goes quick!).

5.Grind your Tungstens Correctly- A common first-time error beginners make is to not correctly grind their tungstens. Make sure you are grinding the tungsten length-wise, and as even as possible. Grinding the opposite way will make for an unpredictable arc that tends to wander on the workpiece. If you aren’t using a tungsten sharpener, we suggest using a dedicated bench grinder to only grind tungstens on, otherwise your tungstens can be contaminated if using an all purpose grinder.

Matt's Motor head Talk, Tech Corner

How to Make Your Own Perfect Bubble Flared Brake Lines Every Time

Nov 28th, 11 / 0 Comments

One dreaded job when working on anything with a motor, especially when doing a restoration, is working on the brake and fuel system. It’s a tedious job, and often times messy. My biggest fear is probably the same as yours, you build a car, take the time to put new parts everywhere, new paint, etc, and of course you then flare new

and fuel lines. When the time comes, you fill the system with fluid (or fuel), and when pressurized, you can only hope and pray one or more of your fittings don’t leak. It’s the WORST when they do, and only makes the job that much more tedious and messy.

You can eliminate leakage at the hardline fittings by taking a few essential steps to assure you have clean, uniform flares at each fitting. The biggest thing is to make sure you are using a quality tool that can perform metric DIN flares or “bubble flares”. Not all tools are made to do this, and many require a 2-step process to produce them, which means more chances for error when making flares. I used to prefer the high end hydraulic flare tool by Snap-On, and after some practice, it too made really nice flares, but the 2 gripes I had with it was that you could first “overflare” the line. This is because it is a hydraulic system where you just pump the cylinder and you can’t really feel much resistance; therefore you can easily flare the line so much it is deformed. Secondly, it required changing the dies which turns the job into a 2 step process. I like simplicity, and this was not it.

Here at Eastwood we have a compact Professional Brake Tubing Flaring Tool that will make most any flare you will commonly come across. I decided to cover one of the less-common types of flares that’s often difficult to perfect. With this tool it makes the job a simple one step process that you can be assured won’t leak.

The next most important thing to do when making flares in tubing is to use a tubing cutter with a sharp cutting wheel that isn’t chipped or deformed.

Using a cut off wheel is also a recipe for leaks if you aren’t extremely careful. A leak can start from the moment you cut the line to flare it. You NEED a straight, clean cut on the tubing so the flare can be uniform in shape. Also you can’t always trust that the end on your brand new roll of brake line is straight. Even the factory can cut it uneven, and that can cause a subpar flare. Below I demonstrated a poor bubble flare on a piece of unevenly cut 3/16 brake line, next to a straight cut, properly formed bubble flare. Notice how the flare on the left has a line where the end of the tubing wasn’t completely formed on half of the flare? That’s because that side of the line was low from an uneven cut, and it wasn’t properly flared. That fitting WILL LEAK.

Now that you’ve gotten your tubing cut square, you are ready to clamp the tubing into the flare tool. Since I was working on an older European car (VW Rabbit) with bubble flares, I chose the die with the “DIN” stamp on one end, and rotated the head of the tool to the matching DIN setting. From there I placed the bottom half of the die into the tool with the “DIN” stamping towards the head of the tool.

Next you want to set the brake line into the bottom half of the die, and make sure that the end of the brake line is square and flush with the “DIN” end of the die. From there you will install the top half of the die, flip the clamp down, install the pin in the clamp, and tighten the clamp until the die halves are firmly clamped together (we don’t want that line wiggling back in the die!). Also be sure to lube the brake line up where you will be forming the flare. Some use copper anti-seize, others grease, but I go the simple route and spray some spray lubricant like WD-40 on the line.

Once your line is clamped and lubed, you simply pull the lever on the flaring tool in one steady motion until it “stops” (just about 90 degrees I found). One nice feature is that the tool has a definite point where it “stops”, and I could easily tell when the flare was fully formed. It’s as simple as that! Just remove the clamp on the die, the top half of the die, and then the brake line, and you are ready to install on the vehicle!

Below you can see an example of a flare I produced with our Professional Brake Tubing Flaring Tool versus an original flare off of the car. One of these flares could be made in literally under a minute, it makes doing a brake line job so much easier, and the tool pays for itself almost instantly!