The Top DSM Community on the Web

For 1990-1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon, Plymouth Laser, and Galant VR-4 Owners. Log in to remove most ads.

Please Support Kiggly Racing
Please Support ExtremePSI

How do you weld flanges without warping?

This site may earn a commission from merchant
affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

snooopy365

20+ Year Contributor
198
3
Jan 25, 2003
XX, Europe
Hey guys,
I'm quite new to welding TIG. I just hope to get some tips here.

How to you guys prevent flanges from warping? I tried impulse... but it didn't go as planed.
Also do you use argon inside the pipes you are welding and how?

And last but not least because I'm new to welding I often just burn holes... is there an easy way to reweld them? I'm doing circles around the whole until it is gone.
I really hope this is the right place to ask this kind of questions.
 
The easiest way to weld a flange and avoid warp is to bolt it to another flange, or clamp/bolt it down to a flat piece of steel.
 
Im limited on welding experience but I suggest grabbing some scrap and practicing a bunch over a range of amperages. Youtube has a few solid channels for welding how to's, typical problems (going too slow, too fast, too much current, etc), and details for technique. If youre burning holes, you may be running too hot.

Ill let one of the more experienced guys confirm all that though. Good luck!
 
The easiest way is to reduce heat input (i.e. faster travel speeds, less amperage/voltage). Heat input is measured as follows (AxVx60)/S A=amps V=volts S=travel speed. This reduces thermal stress but still leaves you with mechanical shrinkage. If you want to limit that, you either need to pre warp your flange the opposite way of what it will warp when welding, clamp the crap out of it to a flat surface, or if you are really good, get your penetration down to the neutral axis of the flange. Of course you can only limit distortion in one direction that way so you will likely still have either longitudinal or transverse shrinkage. To me the easiest way to reduce warpage is a thicker flange, pre bending it, or just do some post processing like sanding or milling to get a flat profile again.
 
[QUOTE="athlete3344, post: 153446880, member: 118380"If youre burning holes, you may be running too hot.
[/QUOTE]
It tends to happen if there allready is a small gap between the pipes I want to weld. Reducing the amps will result in a surface weld only, looks good but is never strong.
 
Yes better prepping would be the best way.
But the question is just: How do you fix it if you did burn a hole into your weld.
I know that many people do worse prepping then me, so I guess somebody can tell me the best way to fix this.
 
Weld it on a heat sink like a piece of aluminum or copper. Or weld it and place it on a heat sink to let it cool faster.
 
If you burn a hole in your metal, you need to let it cool down before trying to fill it up. Once it is no longer glowing red hot, go at the spot again in circles adding filler metal little by little and reducing heat as it fills in Too hot, the weld will sag, too cold, the weld will not flow. Does your TIG have the ability to adjust "heat" while welding or is it either ON or OFF. Having the ability to control heat while welding is a great thing to have! I weld stainless corrugated hose at work that is similar to the exhaust flex pipe on our cars. The smaller sizes like 3/4 and 1/2 inch hoses have metal that is about as thin as paper. To weld this hose, you must keep the heat on the "thickest" part of metal and roll the flow to the thinner hose core. Holding too much heat on it will cause it to burn right through. The less heat you have, the less metal you move and the less penetration you get. The more heat you have, the more metal you need to move at a faster speed. Remember.... Filler is exactly that... Filler. It fills in where metal is not there to keep the flow moving. Hopefully I did not confuse you with that!

EDIT*

Running argon through the pipe you are welding is done to prevent the "flakes" that are made when the metal is penetrated with weld. It is called purging. It can be helpful for flow applications where air or other things move through the pipe and need as much flow as possible.

The pulse on the TIG is helpful for really thin metal. If you are welding to anything thicker than 1/32", you really don't need it.
 
If he has pulse it will reduce the total heat Input and prevent some warping.
 
Thanks guy.
The machine does have a food pedal but I haven't used it yet.
Yes I'm allready using pulse to reduce heat.
 
Support Vendors who Support the DSM Community
Boosted Fabrication ECM Tuning ExtremePSI Fuel Injector Clinic Innovation Products Jacks Transmissions JNZ Tuning Kiggly Racing Morrison Fabrications MyMitsubishiStore.com RixRacing RockAuto RTM Racing STM Tuned

Latest posts

Build Thread Updates

Vendor Updates

Latest Classifieds

Back
Top