Welding in Vancouver (Compilation)

[BEEB]

Hi Guys,

I wanna see who's good and who's bad in welding locally. I know some shops may charge $400 to do a 16" long weld. And some shop may charge $180 to do a decent job. So, I wanna see a compilation of PICTURES of the weld and PRICE you paid. It would be best to list the SHOP NAME so people know where to go if the price is right !

I think this weld is pretty decent ....

[SpuGen]

That's a shitty weld.

The welder clearly didn't know how to keep a consistent puddle. 99.9% sure there isn't proper penetration.

That's just point+shoot with solid wire. it's the shit they teach you in highschool. anything to get the stack of dimes for bragging rights, I guess.

Also, you're not supposed to have craters in the middle of your weld.
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[SpuGen]

Pick a bead.I just did this to tune my settings for aluminum.
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[Yodamaster]

@ OP's post

Those are spot welds, pull the trigger once, overlap, repeat. The middle of the welds are probably structurally sound, but there will be gaps in penetration around the edges, looking at the inside would probably show what I mean.

A good weld can be many things, it can look like a solid bead or a stack of dimes, but it has to be continuous. The only exception is when you're welding patches to body panels, you can't do beads because of heat distortion in thin (22g) mild steel.

[BEEB]

Obviously you guys know I'm a noob in welding ! All I care is nice looking welds and I never did any welding myself !
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[dared3vil0]

Originally Posted by SpuGen

Pick a bead.I just did this to tune my settings for aluminum.
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Nice welds. What machine was this on?

[meme405]

A good weld can be ugly, the welder might even have to use a grinder if his cap is a bit to tall (aka over 3mm as per ASME B31.3).

But a good weld can be most easily identified from the inside; a consistent root, with good penetration.

Also a stray arc/arc strike anywhere on the actual welded material should be thrown out immediately, dont grind it off. Dont hide it just chuck the piece.

I work in heavy industry, and have worked in QC inspecting pipes, the people I worked with have been everywhere from fort mac and the oil sands to every pulp and paper mill or mine site. We inspect welds to ASME B31.3, use certified welders, and weld to PWP-10, PWP-7 or in the case of structural CWB procedures.

EDIT:

Whenever hiring a welder I ask for a test coupon, on the material he will be welding, so for stainless I will ask for a weld on a piece of 2 inch (or whatever I have) piece of standard sched pipe.

Same goes for carbon steel, weld me a piece of SCH 40 pipe. You can ask them to do this in various positions, etc. it can just be too small pieces of pipe about 6 inches long on either side fitted together.

On that same note, most welders suck at fitting pipe. In heavy industry all welders do is weld, they work tandem with a pipe fitter who fits his joints for him.

As you can see I am pretty heavily into this stuff, and takes a lot of knowledge. If anyone wants to actually know more, let me know.

[SpuGen]

Originally Posted by dared3vil0

Nice welds. What machine was this on?

Miller Dynasty 350.
110A
90%+/- Balance
95+/- Freq

1/4 Plate. 3/32 4043 Rod.

Played around with the balance/freq.

[SpuGen]

Originally Posted by meme405

A good weld can be ugly

Debatable.

Whenever I see heavy grinding on a cap, I, like everybody else, knows that the welder was trying to hide a fuckup. High crown, lack of fusion, undercut etc.

Grinding to even out start/stops or a stray toe is one thing. But when over 30% of the weld has been ground to hide faults...thats another.

[sdubfid]

In most automotive applications it doesn't really matter. But spugen is right.

I had these done at sdubfid inc. Cost was some beer/argon/filler/electricity. Not that great but not bad either. It's just a hobby.

I highly recommend everyone google image search Marcella manifolds and toxic fab to see the best of the best.

Locally I can recommend independent speed shop. Check out their facebook page.

[BEEB]

Anyone can recommend a shop that opens on Saturday? Or even a DIYer, I'm willing to pay you whatever a decent shop may charge (even couple Hundred $). The part will be removed from the car

I'm an old timer and the shops that I know are:

Carlines (Richmond)
Hoegler's (Richmond)
Midas
Short Stop
Muffler Man (Burnaby),
Custom Metal Craft (Langley)
SpeedSyndicate

[Deepstriker]

Some of my work





Backyard mechanic fo sho!

[Phil@rise]

A good looking weld isnt always a good weld.

[GabAlmighty]

I just want a friggin welder for starters...

[meme405]

Originally Posted by Phil@rise

A good looking weld isnt always a good weld.

Thats exactly my point, a good looking weld can fail more often than most people would believe because some of those items people believe look good are often not what you want in a strong and leak proof weld.

Again most of this will relate to heavy industry, as we deal with lube oil lines that operate in the 11000PSI range, or pipe that caries very dangerous reagants. Most of the welds that I see on this page look like they do not have enough root penetration to cover the void they are completing. If I looked at the inside of the weld it would probably still have a dip where the void is, whereas a good weld will have a slight hump at that point (no larger than a piece of 3/32 welding rod diameter). This problem on a weld will lead to a blowout of the weld (if it is ever put under pressure).

The other thing which I thankfully don't see on the welds here (but maybe its there) are pinholes. Pinholes are often present in welds like this because the welder is spending too much time making it look good rather than focusing on doing a strong weld. Pinholes are caused by porosity within the actual weld, and will fail.

If you were to X-Ray some of the welds that people consider "pretty" most would fail gap shots (poor fitting by the fitter, although as soon as the welder strikes an arc on that fit, he owns it), or they would fail under a socket weld x-ray.

Go pick up ASME B31.3 and read up the welding codes for pressure pipe in BC, or better yet pick up the CSA equivalent and read up on that for what would pass in Alberta.

[Deepstriker]

Originally Posted by meme405

Thats exactly my point, a good looking weld can fail more often than most people would believe because some of those items people believe look good are often not what you want in a strong and leak proof weld.

Again most of this will relate to heavy industry, as we deal with lube oil lines that operate in the 11000PSI range, or pipe that caries very dangerous reagants. Most of the welds that I see on this page look like they do not have enough root penetration to cover the void they are completing. If I looked at the inside of the weld it would probably still have a dip where the void is, whereas a good weld will have a slight hump at that point (no larger than a piece of 3/32 welding rod diameter). This problem on a weld will lead to a blowout of the weld (if it is ever put under pressure).

The other thing which I thankfully don't see on the welds here (but maybe its there) are pinholes. Pinholes are often present in welds like this because the welder is spending too much time making it look good rather than focusing on doing a strong weld. Pinholes are caused by porosity within the actual weld, and will fail.

If you were to X-Ray some of the welds that people consider "pretty" most would fail gap shots (poor fitting by the fitter, although as soon as the welder strikes an arc on that fit, he owns it), or they would fail under a socket weld x-ray.

Go pick up ASME B31.3 and read up the welding codes for pressure pipe in BC, or better yet pick up the CSA equivalent and read up on that for what would pass in Alberta.

Before I begin, I work in the gas industry and know the standards you're talking about.

You have some really good points about x-ray, (well, along with that other NDT, hydrotests, etc.) I think that for the application, its more of a "who cares" since automotive parts will never see that sort of stress. The only two things that I can think of that will experience the highest stress are roll cages/roll bars and turbo manifolds.

I mean even my header used for S/C application gets hot (entire length of pipe is now purple), its still probably going to be ok even with pigeon shit welding haha.

[Speed2K]

Great info!

OP thinking of getting the keyhole on the MDX welded shut?

[BEEB]

Originally Posted by Speed2K

Great info!

OP thinking of getting the keyhole on the MDX welded shut?

hahahaha, your funny. I just needa source a keyhole-less handle to permanently shut it !

I'm looking to get some exhaust mod on my 335.

[OTG-ZR2]

Originally Posted by GabAlmighty

I just want a friggin welder for starters...

Pay to play son!

[fliptuner]

Originally Posted by GabAlmighty

I just want a friggin welder for starters...

2 batteries, a set of jumpers and 3/32 6011 rod

Hey, it works

[meme405]

On that note I have two boxes of 9018 rod if anyone wants it, I also have a bunch of 7018.

Selling them dirt cheap lol...

[Energy]

Originally Posted by BEEB

hahahaha, your funny. I just needa source a keyhole-less handle to permanently shut it !

I'm looking to get some exhaust mod on my 335.

Muffler delete?

[Phil@rise]

Originally Posted by ICE BOY

2 batteries, a set of jumpers and 3/32 6011 rod

Hey, it works

I've dont it to put my driveshaft back together as a trail fix.

[Speed2K]

Originally Posted by BEEB

hahahaha, your funny. I just needa source a keyhole-less handle to permanently shut it !

I'm looking to get some exhaust mod on my 335.

Cool, let us know how it goes!

[fliptuner]

Originally Posted by Phil@rise

I've dont it to put my driveshaft back together as a trail fix.

I found that 90% of the time, it's a driveshaft repair.