Arc welding small round pipes?

[dai-arc]

Becasue of the curves and I'm going to be working at angles, does anyone know the best way to fillet weld two pipes of 30mm*1.8mm mild steel.

When flat at 75%/low angle using 2.5 6013 rods. Filed materials etc and clamped etc. Should I do 1/4 fillet welds and rotate to keep slag flowing downwards whilst moving upwards etc? Worried about breaking whilst doing this because I will still have to remove slag?

Its for a hobby project/frame etc, I'm very new to this. I can weld in a straight line but find connections not being made. Even with thicker materials.

Round pipes are what I am working towards. The rods I have are "SUPER 6". Anyone used these, are they ok? Working at 70 to 80 amps as too much spatter if too high. Only an ARC WELDER 100 by SILVERLINE being used, seems ok to use as I could layer for thicker metal, but my hobbies are only based around thin metals about 2.5mm max. MILD STEEL used also.

Any method idea's for small things like this are appreciated, thanks.

 

[tombardier]

If you run at low amps, you'll get that disconnectedness in your weld with the arc jumping from one piece to the other. the spatter is probably caused by technique or poor preparation. if you're using 2.5mm 6013 with an AC box then 80 amps should be the minimum. keep practicing

 

[dannyp]

" super 6 " rods are managable one of the local agricultural supplyes sells them.
there are other rods i get on much better with .

they can be a bit of pain on smaller ac buzzbox at low amps

 

[shirazman]

Make sure you chamfer both ends, clamp together and tack 4 sides, remove slag and weld between tacks moving upwards. You MUST make sure of good tacks or the pipe will pull. I use 4 castors for this turning the job as i weld. Its also a good idea to clamp the pipe in angle to make sure they stay straight

 

[PTvor]

I would have thought 1.8mm was a bit thin for a 2.5mm rod and you'd be better off with a 2mm rod.

I haven't tried Super 6 but they look like a budget rod. The quality of the rod becomes more critical as they become thinner. There are plenty of discussions on here about cheap rods and the problems of consistency and difficulty of use, especially with buzz boxes. If you have problems you might consider splashing out on a main brand rod.

 

[decepticon]

good luck with welding 30chs 1.8mm thick-not saying it cant be done but it certainly will be tricky especially if the piece cant be rotated
if your rod packet says that a 2.5mm rod amp range is 60-100amps then use any amperage you like.trying to do all this weld sucessefully at 80amps will be nye on impossible in my opinion as the material is so thin.
you mention a 1/4 fillet weld and this far too much for this material-3 or even 2mm fillet weld will probably be ok (depending what this thing actually is. 6mm fillet weld would be like joining 2 tile battens together with 6" nails.
4 tacks then fill inbetween each downhand if possible
even if this does'nt turn out to be a professional welded masterpiece take some pics and let us all know how you got on
cheers

 

[tombardier]

does anyone know the best way to fillet weld two pipes of 30mm*1.8mm mild steel.

on reflection, I think that the answer would be to use another process (MIG for instance)

or practice with smaller rods - even down to 1.6mm