I’ve welded lots of Corten with standard MIG wire but never for “artistic” purposes. You might consider using Silicon Bronze MIG wire so you won’t get any oxidation over time. It’s plenty strong enough. ER80 is more ductile than ER70 so I use it primarily for CroMo tubing where strength is a conside...

I have the the negative clamped onto my table. ( by OP). cj, shouldn't the torch be in the negative connector? And my green machines are oppossite of miller for balance. I don’t know “green machines” but I do know polarity. Yes, for steel, torch needs to be in a “NEG” plug so that you run DCEN. But...

It all depends upon how room you have, the material (carbon, ally, stainless, Ti…) and the shape (flat, round, etc.). Welding is always a very personal technique how to get things done. There’s never a “right way” to do it. You got to achieve the results in any fashion required. Even holding the tor...

Well if it is for a turbo inlet manifold, I’d be using 321 or even 347 with a welded mounting plate. The tube thickness of 0.63 will hold the weight easily. But I stand by original post, never seen Sch10 used as exhaust tubes.

Tempo looks good, heat looks right, travel speed looks a bit slow as the bead is pretty meaty for such thin material. What wire size are you running?

I’d echo some of what Tweake said. A couple of other things: I can’t imagine why you’re using Sch10 pipe for exhaust tubes? That’s sporting a 0.109 wall thickness. Generally speaking I use stainless tube, not pipe, and run about 0.045-0.058 for exhausts. Are you straight cutting the ends? I’d bevel ...

Torch negative. I'm thinkin you got the wrong polarity goin on. He already confirmed DCEN. The problem is simply too little amps and in my experience too low of CFM. Tweake encouraged cup size #5, I’d go that route too since your #7 is a collet body style and not a gas lens. With a #7 crank the gas...

Notch the bed channels and weld on tabs that extend down the chassis. Drill holes in the tabs and thru the chassis and run grade 10 bolts thru, securing the bed to the chassis. Easy to remove, no altering of the chassis.

It means have a slight upward angle on the torch and focus the wire into the leading edge of the puddle. Speed is critical to maintain consistency with wire feeders.

Heat looks right, travel speed is a bit inconsistent. But for a first pass, looks pretty good!

Try to avoid setting a fan to blow “across your welding area” instead have it “pull” the fumes away. Proper welding stations have extraction fans that don’t effect shielding gas and pull SMAW fumes up and away.

You can practice without purging. Shoot, even some “high end” exhaust systems don’t purge on stainless. Makes me angry, but that’s how some folks roll. If you have a clean butted fitment, you can practice without filler too. Lower your amps and get accustomed to moving and controlling your puddle. I...

Argon displaces oxygen. Saturate your breathing with argon for long enough and you’ll experience issues. After heavy TIG welding days, my throat is often very raspy.

They make helmets suited for respirators and fresh air systems. You might want to invest in one.

Lots of simple options. Stock beds often use a long bolt through bed to a captured nut inside the frame or beyond the frame. Long U-bolts are reliable too.

You’re not providing a lot of information or decent photos to provide any better ideas.

I’d use a nickel rod since that component is cast iron. The issue will be afterwards; the fitment to the bedway will be very distorted. Might be worth a good scraping to get the headstock to sit better on the ways.

If you’re talking about the corrugated sleeve spinning in your hand, then it’s a case of the fitment has lost its “grip”. After time and usage, this sleeve can become loose.

You could try a bit of high temp tape at the top of the tube to the torch handle. That might get you by.

The sharper nd longer the taper on your tungsten, the higher up the tungsten the arc plume initiates. Tungsten size matters little in terms of thickness of material welding; it’s really only a consideration for amperage tolerance. I’ve seen guys weld 0.06 thick wall titanium with a 1/8” tungsten. It...

Sorry, the link didn’t post in the first reply
https://www.all-a-cart.com/welding-cart-kits

I had to lay on the bottom of an aluminum boat to repair some holes in the keel a few years back. Any time I slipped off a towel and had an arm, torso or body part touching the keel, Zap! Welding is fun but can be dangerous. You didn’t indicate “how” you got zapped or conditions that led to it so it...

Don’t own one, have a very similar Miller that’s more than 10 years old. I’ve heard nothing but positive reviews of the Esab machine. Should bring you hours of satisfaction.

Welcome aboard. I encourage you to check out this site and just grab a ready-to-weld kit. They’re well thought out, fit perfectly, and easy to assemble.

Mostly the issue with the Spoolmate 100 not supporting 5356 is that the wire itself is softer and does not feed properly. If you can slow down the feed rate and do short runs, you might get by. Just be prepared for some bird nesting as you experiment.

Preheat.

First, you should use Rivnuts for your threaded inserts. But to the thumb screw dilemma… put a small angled tip on the screw. That will dig into the ally frame better than the square end of the screw. Another idea is to drill thru holes in the corners and the tubes. Slip them together, then insert a...

That's very helpful. And I had considered just ditching the rod. On my next round, I'll do so and see how I fare. If you could clarify one thing. When you say "wetted in at both toes" what exactly do you mean? I'm assuming you mean I have a good puddle that actually takes in both pieces o...