Adding Recovery points to bumper

[BRE Fabrications LTD]

I have decided to ditch the Pig tail type recovery points and add some recovery eyes to my bumper. I came up with a basic idea, 15mm plate welded and bolted onto the bumper chassis mounts.

This is what I came up with.

Thanks to Gav for having these cut for me

Unfortunately I have lost the pics of when they first arrived. Anyway I went on to cut a hole into the bumper and prep it for welding.

Welding the plates on.

Not the prettiest welds but they are pretty beefy. I ground the one out a couple of times to make sure I was getting decent penetration.

Couple more shots

Then slapped some primer and paint on and all done.
Before:

After

 

[Chris]

Tidy! Me likely.

Welding look OK there Ryan. Maybe you need to up your SOT a little bit perhaps. And maybe the power. In essence lay a little more rod down, a little more quickly. It looks a little shallow and the bead looks a bit like almost separate welds - it's a bit swirly. Good even deposition left to right though, nice. With a weld like that, I try to set it up so that I am welding into a vee rather then a right angle with one vertical wall (looks like that is what you have done) then I also try to angle the work piece down towards me. One of the best tips in getting good welds is about being comfortable. Welding when you are not 'right' is never going to produce the best. hey look pretty good all told. How do you know that you are getting good penetration? What power were you welding at?

Not criticism at all - encouragement. Go for it.

Chris

 

[TonyP]

I have decided to ditch the Pig tail type recovery points and add some recovery eyes to my bumper. I came up with a basic idea, 15mm plate welded and bolted onto the bumper chassis mounts.

Hey Ryan, looking good... All set for another trip to Piccadilly Woods.... I am sure these recovery points won't go "ping" like the last time

 

[BRE Fabrications LTD]

Tidy! Me likely.

Welding look OK there Ryan. Maybe you need to up your SOT a little bit perhaps. And maybe the power. In essence lay a little more rod down, a little more quickly. It looks a little shallow and the bead looks a bit like almost separate welds - it's a bit swirly. Good even deposition left to right though, nice. With a weld like that, I try to set it up so that I am welding into a vee rather then a right angle with one vertical wall (looks like that is what you have done) then I also try to angle the work piece down towards me. One of the best tips in getting good welds is about being comfortable. Welding when you are not 'right' is never going to produce the best. hey look pretty good all told. How do you know that you are getting good penetration? What power were you welding at?

Not criticism at all - encouragement. Go for it.

Chris

Feedback is always appreciated so keep it coming.

What is SOT, googled it but still can't figure it out

I did my first pass with 2.5 rods on about 95amps, then went over that with a 3.2 on 120amps. I used multiple passes on all of the joints i did. On the first section I welded up I took a flappy paddle wheel to the weld and ground and it out little by little to see if i was getting any air pockets or slag inclusions. Didn't find any and was eventually grinding the parent metal away so that left me feeling fairly confident that the welds should be stout... hopefully.

Hey Ryan, looking good... All set for another trip to Piccadilly Woods.... I am sure these recovery points won't go "ping" like the last time

Ready for some testing when you are...

 

[Chris]

Sorry Ryan, Speed of Travel. It's how fast you move the rod backwards toward you. You can use a thin rod, with low power and move slowly, big rod high power move fast etc there are many combinations, but I would say that a weld like that should be one pass. Largish rod and decent amps. But remember that grinding into a weld and finding only weld is NOT a sign of penetration. That's just weld. A good but simple indication is what you see on the other side of the section being welded. If there is no physical sign of the weld 'coming through' then you have not achieved full penetration. Now of course you don't want to go all the way through necessarily. But you are aiming as guide to get half the rod above the surface and half into the parent. I wouldn't use such a thin rod on such decent thick metal. I'd say that with the amount that you have laid down, then it will be plenty strong. But with a thin rod, it burns so quickly that you end up with metal on top but not much below. It doesn't really form a proper puddle.
It's about getting the metal to melt and then fill it with the rod. Keep your eye on the puddle and how far it is in front of the arc.


Chris

 

[Gav Peter]

Looking good there Ryan

 

[BRE Fabrications LTD]

Cheers Gav

But remember that grinding into a weld and finding only weld is NOT a sign of penetration. That's just weld. A good but simple indication is what you see on the other side of the section being welded. If there is no physical sign of the weld 'coming through' then you have not achieved full penetration. Now of course you don't want to go all the way through necessarily.

You've got me thinking now. What's the best way to double check that I have achieved acceptable penetration, bar cutting my bumper up

Now I did see signs of heat on the other side of the metal I was welding the brackets to, discolouring mostly. But when you put the recovery eye together with the chassis mount it's pretty thick metal

Any ideas? Or should I put a few more passes over it? Would that help strengthen it?

Cheers for the tips

Ryan

 

[Chris]

Ryan, it's really about experience in my mind. OK there are tables and things that you can download re amps, rod, thickness etc, but I started with plate at differing thicknesses and gave them a blast to see at which point I started to come through the other side. You really need to watch the weld puddle to see that you are melting deeply enough. Weld a small test piece or two and then hammer them in the vice to see if they break apart.

I think that they'll be fine. As you get better and more confident, you'll be able to stitch weld things like that instead of fully seam weld them. It shouldn't need quite so much. I like seam welding though as I think it looks good. But with a mig you never have to stop to change the rod!

You'll find a speed that feels right eventually. The rod shouldn't be disappearing before your eyes and you shouldn't have to be racing to lay it down before it builds too high. It should feel relaxed.

Chris

 

[Paul_Humphreys]

A box or rods should have a guide on the out side on what power to use. It is years since I use to weld for a living, but 3.5 rods should be a bout 120 amps from memory. Looks like you just need to build a bigger pool before moving the rod along.

Another good way to get a good weld on something like that is to turn the work metel so it is pointing down hill by about 30-35 degrees. when you get the weld pool going it will travel down at its own speed.


Paul