Flux core welding part 5: let’s weld car exhaust
Вставка
- Опубліковано 11 вер 2024
- Episode 5: flux core welding car exhaust. In a effort to keep things within the wheel house of a beginner welder, I figured I would share a video on how to weld car exhaust. Auto body and thin wall car exhaust can be very taxing to weld but with a few tips you should be doing a lot better. Hopefully this video helps you out 🐌👍
The fact you brought up the inhalation of those chemicals first is paramount.
Lot better than learning the hard way from breathing flux core
Of course. Both FCAW-SS demonstrators from Lincoln Electric I knew, died from throat cancer. However, if you weld with this wires, you can use the clear air system connected with welding helmet or to use appropriate filter mask below the welding helmet, as we in Europe are doing. PPE first! Safety first!
@vojislavcar6157 safety is third at best. Otherwise nothing ever gets done ;).
Why?
Maybe I’ve been watching too many of your videos today, this one was a little exhausting.
Haha. Man who run infront of car gets tired, man who run behind car get exhausted.
😏
Badoom-tish!! 💥
wow this is prety smart but they say more the learn they more they burn
to smart of car
This is exactly the kind of video that helps me most! Having difficulties, trying different things, analyzing the problems and moving forward. Let's face it, whenever we're trying new or difficult things we run into problems. The point is to calmly and diligently work our way through it until we get it right. I've burned holes through lots of things, but the point is to stick with it until it's right. Thanks Greg for coming down in the trenches with us and sharing the struggle and your insights about how to do it!
I think many people underestimate how many things welding requires a person to balance at one time, along with the time it takes to be decent. The great news is it’s within anyone’s ability to get good, it just takes determination and a whole lot of failures. It’s hard to learn, but once the basics are mastered it becomes fairly easy. It opens up a ton of doors for anyone who possesses the skill 😀
Excellent lesson professor! Your honest critique of your welds is something most other UA-camrs won’t do. And the words written on your brush are great 😂
Haha yeah, that brush has been around for a long time and has been improperly used a lot. I always forget what I wrote on it 😅.
I think most people are afraid to put themselves in a position to fail, but that’s a great way to learn. I could have done prep work, and tig welded it with a perfect stack of dimes, but nobody would have learned anything. Welding zinc coated exhaust pipe with minimal prep, with flux core wire, and in position is a recipe for poor welds. Anyone can weld with with short arc mig on a bench. I wanted to reflect a more realistic approach to the average person and how to get better results. It always comes down to controlling the variables as much as possible. I will probably revisit doing butt joints and show some tweaking/technique to get them dialed in. The great thing about being knowledgeable about troubleshooting welds, is you can dial them in pretty quick.
Thank you sir this is the first time that I've come across your videos and I am definitely subscribing
You’re the king. Thanks for helping the thrifty tuners out here
Thanks for putting in effort to better your skills 😀
Perfect tutorial for my upcoming project, thank you for putting this together. Really appreciate your discussion about the settings on the machine. I go through this process often, and it's nice to hear someone else fighting the same fight. "I'm not building a space shuttle here." I say this all the time!
Thanks for the kind words. I am glad it helped you. I will be dabbing back in flux core wire soon so if are struggling with anything let me know, I will do a video to help 😀
Greg i watch this video over and over and i just cant get away from your teaching skills.....i notice something that makes me better at what im doin each time....Bro you get 2 thumbs up from this student.....now let us continue.
Thanks for the kind words and thanks for investing in your education by watching videos 😀.
Brings back memories of gas welding with coat hangers and flux. Haven't seen anyone do that in decades! I never was too good at it. Then Mig came out for the DIYer.
I remember car exhaust shops doing that exact thing. I can weld with oxy fuel, but I did it so infrequently I never got that good at it. The great thing about it is the process is very slow, aka it actually has a lot of control on thin material. It definitely isn't easy, especially compared to wire welding lol.
That is how it is still done here in Mexico.
Good video. I've learned how to weld muffler pipe, and how to spot a good weld and a not-so-good weld. More than I knew before I began watching your videos
Excellent clip! In EU , lot of companies that are installing home water heating tubes are also using 0,023“ FCAW-SS wires. It is easier to do that, than to find good GTAW welder, transport gas bottle, hoses, manometer…… only disadvantage is that after welding, workers are hammering the welds, to „release“ the slag from inside the tubes, and before use, to flush the tubes, first with compressed air, and than with water. They do that to prevent the possible slag rest in the tubes came to valve and clog them.
Interesting. I have done stainless mig and obviously tig, but I haven’t done any stainless flux core that I can remember. I know it exists, and I have heard it works well. I know stainless stick works really well, so I am sure the flux core does too.
Thank you for the demonstration, it will be helpful when I get my flux core welder . Cheers
Really helpful video. Appreciate your expertise and time showing this example.
Glad it helped you. Feel free to make a request for a video if there is something you want to see :)
"just like the catalytic converter off your car" 😂😂 subbed for the giggles
Glad I could make you laugh 😅. I need to make more jokes in my videos, lately I have been a bit too boring😅. I kind of figured if I posted content that is completely unfiltered I would probably get blacklisted 😅.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg agreed,.. world is sad.. of someone could make people laugh, they should.. 🤷🏻♂️
Just welded a buddys exhaust back on to his muffler and welded the tail pipe to the frame with a piece of metal. It was only a year old and the exhaust shop butchered it. Had my yeswelder flux core and said fuck it dude its already busted let's play with the welder. Had to have the settings at -2.3 and 62 to weld that muffler. They really make those thin.. it's galvanized so didn't weld good at all on such a low setting. Once it was tacked and a few turds put on all around it I turned it up a little and made a bigger slightly better turd all the way around 😂. Turned up to -2 and 90 amps and did a ok weld on the sorta clean rusty frame but didn't penetrate good through the crap. As a full time welder welding mild steels this was a fun but painful project. Use to having perfect welds but obviously need more practice on different steels and laying on my back with hardly any room with flux core. Could hardly move helmet to see what was going on luckily muscle memory gave me actual welds atleast transferring over feom .045 mig to .030 flux. Compared to the 300.dollar job they did I think he owes me 3 fitty but settled for a couple beers and memories. Also a little bit of knowledge for next time it happens
Haha reading that sounds exactly like every flux core job on exhaust I get stuck doing. Thin material, treated with zinc, sometimes rusted out, and always in a position where you can’t see anything. The only way to make jobs like that decent is to use a MiG gun with a flexible swan neck, and of course a lift lol. Totally different animal, just like body work. The worst welders make the best auto body men, because you can’t care about what your welds look like 😅
@Making mistakes with Greg yea I see bird sh*t on that stuff and it was annoying lol. Almost ground it out to retry
Great tutorial! All the different scenarios gave me a better understanding and confidence to experiment with settings and hand control which will improve my work and reduce my frustration! Cheers
If you haven’t watched it yet my video about heat to metal ratio here: ua-cam.com/video/rml5SZBy_f0/v-deo.html will help you dial things in even better. Flux core wire can be tricky because you have multiple settings to adjust and it’s not immediately obvious as to how the wire feed and voltage relate. That video will give you a lot of confidence and ideas to work with to make better welds on varying thicknesses. 😀
Try vertical down...much better for thin wall pipe and sheet steel in general, in my opinion Greg...great job vertical up though. You may prefer to weld uphill because of the better view of the weld puddle...your the boss lol!
awesome idea
The coating is galvalum. Yes you should wear a respirator while welding and grinding it, but you should be wearing a respirator while flux core welding anyway.
I had to butt weld my exhaust and it was 50% weld 50% filling holes.
I added 2 pieces of scrap steel on each side to give it more strength. Looks silly but its better than nothing
That sounds about right. Butt welds on exhaust are extremely difficult. At the end of the day for most exhaust if it’s fused together decent and doesn’t leak, it’s good enough.
Ive always done a fit up then dropped the exhaust in place for better access but I also stick weld so a little bit more of a pain. The tiny 6013 rods from hazard freight are a life saver!
Those 6013 rods definately make the impossible possible lol.
Great videos! Really enjoy them and am learning a lot. Total beginner here.
Glad to hear that 😀👍. As a new beginner expect to be frustrated a bunch but stick with it, and you will be rewarded with a awesome skill 😀
Very good points on the thin exhaust pipe material.
I have a tail pipe that I may have to cut, because i don't have a lift, to get over the axle and then weld together.
I'd use a slip over piece and lap weld the two edges and not butt weld the two pieces.
Yeah butt welds on exhaust are so much tougher than a slip fit. I have the luxury of tig can can easily weld a bit weld with it on any thickness. When you’re dealing with MiG and flux core is way harder on thin wall. Good exhaust welds have more to do with the setup before welding than skill in many cases.
Yes, one of the issues I had was trying to break off the tip of the wire while welding sheet metal. I weld a series of tacks the length of the sheet metal. To try and break off the tips each time is not feasible. Trying to practice my welding by trying to fix a metal wheel barrow that the bucket has rusted through. No the prettiest of welding but I'm having a lot of fun welding and shaping the sheet metal. Shaping the sheet metal at the corners of the barrow is challenging. Don't have much sheet metal tools so had to tack the metal in place then cut the middle of the bend then hammer it into shape. Having fun, fun, fun cause I don't know what I'm doing!....LOL!
Sounds like you have a fun project lol. If you have to run a bunch of tacs obviously cutting/breaking the wire off every time becomes a chore. The best option you have is to make the tacks one after another while the wire is still hot. Flux core wire starts rough with a ball on the end and it can leave porosity issues. Gas mig doesn’t have as bad of issues since it relies on the shielding from the gas not the flux.
I am not a auto body guy (I despise auto body welding) but they use tricks that could help you. Since you have access to the back side of it, you could use a copper auto body spoon (or chunk of copper you have laying around) and put it on the back side of the area to be welded. By doing that if you blow a hole the wire will push against the copper and continue to deposit metal. The metal won’t stick to the copper which allows you to get holes stitched up easier and faster. Obviously this won’t help you on exhaust or something like square tube (where the inside isn’t accessible).
This is all about heat. Amperage setting and speed, it's easy to blow holes. In the past I have used a wet cotton cloth stuffed inside the pipe at the joint and this dissipates the heat , reduces the holes and gives you a bit more control over the heat generation, just like with butt welding two pieces of pipe and having a sleve pipe inside, it will dissipate the heat and slow down the blow holes, but the heat builds in a fraction of a second. If you could stuff the sleve tube with a wet coth it would dissipate the heat. If the sleve pipe were full of ice, I am not sure at all what might happen, but, you may end up with a cracked pipe, or you might be surprised, and the ice just melts away.
I never thought about a wet cotton cloth on a butt joint but I bet that would help. Anything to pull heat out makes it easier to weld. .030 Flux core wire puts more heat in thin pipe than .023 MiG wire so my go to for thin pipe (besides tig). Absent of that .030 flux core is doable, but any help to make it easier is worth trying.
This helped a bunch. I had gotten fairly decent at flux core exhaust, but this video urged me to get a pipe flare to create a little lap joint and it is a game changer!
Awesome, glad it helped 😀. I mostly tig weld thin material but tig is a terrible process for most exhaust lol. Flux core works good but butt joints are pretty tough still. A simple overlapping joint makes it 100% easier to weld with better looking beads. Not to mention it allows the pipe to be easily tack welded in place (due to how much movement you have) for perfect fit after welding. Butt joints suck because they move a ton during welding due to any gap. I am just thankful for flux core and MiG, give stick welding exhaust a shot some time 😂.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg ha! I’ll let you make another one of these videos with a stick welder.
Great video. I'm about to weld up an exhaust on my 1978 K5 Blazer. I'm a bit nervous about it because I'm certainly a beginner, but watching your video helped. Running a 110v Lincoln Mig with .030 Flux core wire. Hoping I can make it look halfway decent and not like someone stuck the pipes together with bubble gum.
Thanks for the kind words, glad it helped. The best advice I can give you is do some practice on the same thickness pipe in similar positions before you try to tackle the actual project. If you blow holes on the practice piece you will on the real piece so try to get it dialed in beforehand. Clean the areas to be welded the best you can. You must run enough heat to get everything to fuse but not too much that you blow holes right away. Use slip fits on the pipes as much as possible, butt welds will be very hard to weld. It’s generally undesirable in welding but exhaust is one of those things that if you have to run short welds or tacks to get it to work, so be it. The goal is to get fusion and have it sealed, which is possible with tack welds. You don’t want to tack weld parts together that require strength.
The .030 wire will give you a lot of room to work because you can run low heat settings with it. Again focus on getting fusion and if you think it will blow a hole stop. Clean the area up with a wire wheel/brush, let it cool, and continue. Once you blow a hole it’s difficult to fix it. Hope that helps and good luck 👍
@@makingmistakeswithgreg thank you very much for the insight. I will certainly take your advice. I plan on buying some pieces just for practicing on. I also have a pipe spreader, so it should all be slip fit welds.
@@matthewrusch477 great idea on the pipe spreader, that will help. It’s so much easier on a slip fit, which means far less frustration.
@@matthewrusch477how did it go?
Awesomeness
Awesome! Can't wait to practice!
Expect a bit of frustration during the learning process but with time and practice that will definitely go away. You can do it 😀
By far the most informative. Thanks brotha. 🤙🏽
No problem, it’s all about sharing knowledge and seeing people learn new skills 😀
Very nice demo here, great practice.
Thanks 😀. I am sure it has helped people gain some confidence to tackle things themselves 😀
Yes Sir that was very helpful...i got a project coming up soon on my lil Hotrod and i been using scrap pieces of pipe (wire wheeled of course) to better myself at this exhaust welding game but this was just what needed to fire me up and get ere done with some class and neatness....with all new exhaust pipe and muffler.
Glad to hear it helped you out. If you focus on making consistent 1-2in welds you will be able to handle it no problem. Practice makes perfect 😀
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Well Sir giving you a follow up......my skills have improved nicely so i got my exhaust done and have takin on a couple of outside jobs that came out pretty darn good thanx to your coaching...Thanx again Greg....Your student Super Dragon.
I'm looking forward to trying this out. I have a couple of welding projects that will be on thinner sheet metal and this helps out a lot with what I need to be looking out for while practicing.
Thin sheet metal can be a challenge with flux core. Do everything you can to help yourself out: use .030 wire and practice a bunch on thinner material. If you find yourself blowing holes after a second or two try to move a bit faster. The key is moving smooth and consistent. Even if the beads aren’t the prettiest it’s important to have some fusion, so you don’t want to run so cold things barely melt. You will get it done I am sure 👍
@@makingmistakeswithgreg From what I'm seeing, I'll be doing a ton of individual tacks and moving all over one tack at a time to prevent warping. I've been practicing with a sheet of 18ga and it's going well.
Great video with lots of useful info thanks for sharing.
No problem, glad it helped out 😀
I got a small flux core mig welder on alibaba so when I am out stealing catalytic converters I can just plug the mini mig into my cigarette lighter and replace the cat with a aftermarket so they won’t notice when they wake up in the morning. Shoot some of these people probably love me, they just don’t know why they are getting better gas mileage and more power out of their Prius.
Haha I got a good laugh out of that. I bet someone does make a cig lighter welder 😅.
I'm new to welding but if I had to do a butt weld I would definitely use the sleeve to get a better weld and also strengthen the pipe up. Good video and learned quite a bit as far as blowing holes in something. That's why I've been reluctant to try exhaust but I think I'm gonna give it a shot I've got some scrap off an exhaust system someone was gonna take to recycle so I can practice on it with different settings. I've got a millermatic 130 now n it's much nicer than the little harbor freight welder I started with. Thanks n have a good Christmas
The millermatic 130 will weld exhaust no problem. The key thing is to run some beads on a normal single piece of pipe. When you can run a pretty solid bead (with no blow throughs) you’re ready to try to lap weld pipe. The lap weld/collar welds just like a bead on pipe, it’s just more forgiving when it comes to blowing holes. You have the option of running hardwire (not flux core) and gas which if the machine will run .023-.025 wire (with the right drive rollers) that would work well too.
Last thing (and super important) I will mention, if you’re going to weld flux core make sure you’re machine is set for it. It runs on DCEN (mig gun is hooked to the negative ouput) and make sure to use flux core rollers. Inside the many machines is a wire or buss bar that needs to be switched to get the proper polarity. Flux core rollers have knurling, if you use hardwire rollers they may not grasp the wire properly. Other than that give it a shot and if you run into troubles email me at the link on UA-cam. You can do it 👍
@@makingmistakeswithgreg I've got the correct rollers for flux. My question is would it be worth getting what I need to run gas though my machine it has all the
I've got all the connections to run gas the guy I bought the machine kept all that for another welder but gave me a great deal on this machine 300 so I snapped it up. He let me try some of his other welders it was a stick he said n that was an experience. I welded some heavy plate with that. Not pretty but he said I got good puddle n it was welded fine. Anyway Ive never tried the solid wire with gas but would get what I needed to get setup n try that. How much do you think it would cost to get set up. 300- 400 maybe?. Thanks for your time.
If I were you spend the money on practice steel and flux core wire. With that said, Running gas shielded hardwire mig will produce cleaner welds with no issues with slag inclusions, less spatter as well. You would need a gas bottle (either 75/25 argon/co2 or 100% co2), regulator, and hose to hook it up to the machine. A local welding store will supply the bottle, price is based on size. A 125 is probably around 250-350 depending on location. You can buy a used one from marketplace but make sure it’s in test date and not a leased bottle.
The main benefit you have with flux core wire over gas shielded hardwire is penetration. Your 130 amp welder will produce very good penetration on 1/4in steel without issue. Gas shielded mig will not at 130 amps. Flux core will also handle welding outside and on sub part material far better. Flux core is also way easier to weld vertical up than mig, which is really handy on welding stuff you can’t move (like a trailer). I say get good at flux core first then switch to gas shielded mig 👍
@@makingmistakeswithgreg that's what I'll do as far as the last paragraph because I've been using flux core for about 1-1/2 yr and I'm finally getting to the point that I'm not intimidated to weld most things. What helped me the most was to get a quality helmet I went from not even welding on the PC of metal I was supposed to be on lol to being able to see the puddle with enough clarity that I could almost read the side of the welder. A man asked me about the puddle when he was giving me advice and it was him that directed me to get a new helmet it was like night n day. The welder I have does weld 1/4 steel with no problem with really good penetration and that's not taxing the machine as far as I can tell. Thanks for the advice and getting back to me as well. I'm fairly new to the you tube scene. I fought getting a new phone for years I guess just stuck on one way I'm 55 now and couldn't do without my phone now. I'm learning more everyday about slot of different things. In high school I always wanted a hot rod n got a couple of cars that were ok but not like some at school that you just stand there n wish you could just drive it much less own it. Lol I'm in the middle of a project now building an old school small block Chevy I've messed around since auto mechanics in high school but never really built one that was mine. I'm doing a85 d20 truck with a 406 engine that's almost ready to start for first time. I've cut n made several rackets n welded them in with supervision of course lol but I'm getting better anyway thanks for your time he a a good day. It's gonna be a beast to drive!
I really hope your channel takes off soon. You really deserve 10 times the subscribers.
Thanks for the kind words. Things have been going well and I crossed the 100,000 hours of videos watched point. To me that’s amazing because I know within all that time people have watched my content I have helped atleast a few people out. That makes it worth it to me 😀.
Thanks for the kind words. Things have been going well and I crossed the 100,000 hours of videos watched point. To me that’s amazing because I know within all that time people have watched my content I have helped atleast a few people out. That makes it worth it to me 😀.
After welding 60 feet of wrought iron fence, lots of Jeep suspension hardware and also SOME 14-16 gauge mild steel exhaust with my HFT Titanium 125, I’ve concluded duty cycle is of the most importance. Even low setting, found that with the machine, my total duty cycle exceeded 20% (over let’s say a 30min period). Mind you, this depends on environmental factors, if youre using a 15 amp receptacle/circuit,, or a cheap extension cord.
20% is my number for a 50ft 12gauge extension cord on a 20amp circuit and ambient temperature over 85 degrees.
Those who say they cant weld properly with Fluxcore, they’re not practicing on the material they’re going to weld and they do not understand how to adjust the settings (as well as the cycle above). Practice doesn’t mean.doesn’t mean learning to weld… 115/120v flux core welding is massively quirky but also super easy and massively economical.
I have a multi process mig/tig, but I hate burning thru shielding gas, I’ll grab the flux core when it’s something small and dumb or if I’m going to be welding outside stuff for a long time.
!!! any DIY’er must own a 125flux mig at the least… PERIOD!!!
I agree with everything you said. Flux core is infinitely valuable, under appreciated, capable of a ton, and the titanium 125 is an excellent welder. I ended up buying another for a test video l am working on and no doubt I will keep it in the shop (I have given a few away in the past). It’s the most useful sub 150$ tool a person can buy I think. I really wish some company (like esab) made a micro mig/flux core welder that was rugged and had power factor correction to get higher output out of a 20a circuit.
yeah I'd wheel off the slag before putting weld on top of slag and making a void inside . otherwise not bad for thin pipe
my understanding is increasing WFS increases heat and penetration for a given V.
excellent explanation & teaching. Thanks!
No problem, glad it helped you out 😀
Awesome video! Great review on the machine
Thanks for the kind comment 😀. I am here to help people gain skills to build cool stuff. 😀
I plan on welding my exhaust with that very same welder. If I get those welds I'll be happy
Definitely practice on some scrap to dial it in. Doing short welds is generally less advisable than longer ones, but on exhaust it’s ok. Since you have thin material, (and the welds mostly just needs form a seal) doing 1in long welds will work. Just make sure to run hot enough to get things fused.
Thanks help a bunch just did some X pipes on my bmw e60 M5 v10 babe lol
Awesome, glad to hear 😀.
Practice makes perfect
Learned a lot thanks for the tips
No problem 👍
for me I run my welder on the cooler setting to keep from blowing a hole into the pip. to me its not like I am building a jet
Somebody on UA-cam tested maximum draw on a Titaniumn 125 at 23 amps. A 20 amp breaker takes a while to pop at 23 amps. A 30 amp 120 volt circuit with 10 gauge wire and a 25 amp breaker might work well. Some portable generators have a 30 amp 120 volt RV outlet which will draw evenly on the generator circuits.
The machine will definitely draw over 20 amps, I believe I tested that but I can’t remember. The biggest thing to remember is that even though it’s possible for it to output enough power to require a lot of input power, it wasn’t really designed to do that a lot. I have welded a bunch of 1/4 inch material with one without failure, so I know they can do it for a while. However the longevity of a 200amp machine at those output levels is going to be by far better. For average welding a 20a circuit will handle it without issue, provided it’s a dedicated circuit.
So i should run it on lowest settings with slightly faster wire speed and spot weld all around, let it cool then clean surface then run a fast weld over it using E71T-11, 0.030" wire the entire time? Or should i just do lap welds with thicker exhaust pipe that i precleaned. Make welds on low-med settings and somewhat faster feed abd lay down some high temp spray paint over the finished work?
Hope this helps:
So there are a ton of ways to “skin the cat” when it comes to exhaust. On lap welds if you’re skilled there is no reason not to just run a single pass with actual welds (aka not spot weld it). A decent flux core .030 wire and a welder with some adjustments is capable of such things. On a butt joints continuous welds will be tough since it will want to blow through the pipe. In that case spot welds may need to do the job.
The issue with welding over a weld is if the first pass isn’t the best it’s not the easiest thing to “weld over jt” and get a decent weld. Flux core wire tends to produce porosity in spot welds if the settings aren’t good, and welding over that doesn’t produce the best welds. It will take more heat to weld over a first pass weld on a lap joint and get it to flow out properly than the first lap weld did (more metal = more heat needed to melt things). You can get caught in a cycle where the second weld is worse than the first, so then a person does a 3rd weld and that has issues as well (aka leaks).
To do solid exhaust welds you should focus on running hot enough to fuse everything together the first shot, and try to avoid putting down huge welds. Many people put down exhaust welds 2-3 times the size they need. It may seal the pipe but the issue is the inside of the pipe can get “suck back” where it basically has undercut near the edge of the weld on the inside of the pipe. At a later date the pipe will often crack there due to how thin the pipe is at that point and vibration/heat cycles.
Exhaust has a lot in common with auto body, it’s very tough to make perfect welds because you’re dealing with poor material that’s thin. Not to mention access to weld it on a vehicle is often terrible. Sometimes you have to do the best you can, and it won’t be the prettiest. Settings wise you need to experiment a bit with your machine but I can tell you high wire feed and low voltage generally will produce porosity in welds with flux core. I do love flux core but it’s only real limitation is your settings are far more restricted for what works because of the dreaded porosity issue due to gas entrapment. Gas shielded Mig doesn’t have this issue, you have a much wider range of values you can run and still make welds (aka you can run a lot colder).
@@makingmistakeswithgreg what is the cheapest MIG welder that accepts GAS and allows FCAW too?
@@CameronDC-Grimes so all Mig welders can generally weld with flux core. A flux core only welder can’t weld with gas shielded wire. If you are on a budget I would highly recommend going on Facebook marketplace and looking for a used 140 or 180 amp MiG welder. You can get them for less money than many new MiG welders. The cheaper you go generally the worse the performance with new. Amazon has ones for 300$ but in my experience they perform poorly and don’t output the power they claim.
The little titanium 125 flux core welder is a great setup that will serve you for years. If you want to learn welding I would recommend that. As you get better and want to upgrade, you can still keep that welder around because it’s still very useful for all sorts of stuff. I regret giving the one I had away because the small gun it has could get in places my esab couldn’t because it’s too big.
I've got to get multi pass wire. I'll undoubtedly burn holes in my first exhaust. I'll remember to turn the welder down low though.
You will burn holes when learning no doubt. However if you can run 3/4 long welds on just a piece of scrap exhaust you can do a good job on the exhaust welds. You need to run hot enough so that you’re almost burning through at 3/4 of an inch of weld. Stop at that 3/4 mark, wire bush the weld you put down, and start again on another 3/4in weld. If you move slow enough that a molten pool moves with you will have decent fusion. As you gain skill you will be able to make longer welds with the same settings by controlling your travel speed.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Thanks guy. I'll find some exhaust scrap. I'll get this.
Thanks for the tips mate jimmy Aust
No problem 😀
great vid man!
Thanks, I need to do another car exhaust special soon. Maybe tig this time because stick is very hard to weld exhaust with lol.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg going to attempt a repair with the easy flux on my truck , I’m gonna use the same settings you used
Acworth Muffler (Ga) must be using Tig I guess, because my pipes and muffler they put on my truck are virtually flawless! Wonder if it's tig, or just years of pipe welding only.
It’s possible to use tig on exhaust, I use tig on stainless exhaust. For zinc treated flux core wire and gas shielded wire (MiG) are the the way to go because of the surface contaminates. With a little bit of practice mig can make extremely clean welds on thin wall tube. Experience matters a lot 😃.
Oh P.S......thats my goal to be the best custom exhaust man i can.
You definitely can be the best. All it takes is desire to be good, effort, and practice. You are doing the right thing by watching videos. Practice a bunch and you will develop the skill. The world is hurting for people who do quality work, I am glad to hear you want to be someone who does good work 👍👍
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Yes Sir by all means.
Great teaching as always! When doing short welds on a project (something more serious than exhaust) should the slag be cleaned off first before proceeding to prevent entrapment or does it melt and come back to the surface when welded over? I hope that question makes sense...
With short welds you can generally restart on the slag and go again. With that said it’s best if the slag is still red hot, and it is probably smartest to brush it quick then restart. Flux core wire doesn’t have much issue with penetration on thin pipe. Doing that on something like 1/4inch steel on a tractor would be far less desirable.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg thank you, sir! You are a mentor to all of us, and I'm glad you're here. Have a great weekend!
A buttweld would never last long where I live. High salinity in the air and humidity averaging 90% every day, would eat away the welds quickly. I'm thinking of doing buttwelds, grind them to level them and them put a piece of pipe over it and them weld it as well. In that way, I hope, the weather will eat the welds of the pipe first, thus protecting the buttweld for a long time.
Couple thoughts on that. In general butt welds don’t last, but it has more to do with the internal weld being of poor quality and a lack of reinforcement. Basically the weld bridges the outside face and the internal weld is rough, inconsistent (in height/width/penetration/etc). Often times there is internal undercut at the weld toes which really thins out the pipe. Add in heat cycles and high vibration, and it’s guaranteed failure. All it takes is a little rust and the pipe has a hole through it and cracks the whole way.
Your idea of slipping a pipe over it and welding a slip fit will help and likely prevent it, no issue with that 👍. There are other options as well. Putting a small section of pipe internally and welding both pipes over it can help. Purging the inside with argon and welding it can help clean up the inside weld and make it far less likely to have poor fusion/rough areas that are prone to breaking. If the pipe itself isn’t rotting but the weld is, using 308 stainless flux core wire can help a ton. Since the weld can’t be easily aluminized at home for rust resistance, using 308 or 309 wire can give far more corrosion resistance. For exhaust it will likely hold up, it’s not something you would generally want to do on things requiring liability.
Don't know what gauge the sheet metal is but it measure 1/16 of an inch. Galvanized so had to remove the galvanize.
i dip the pipe in muriatic acid for a short period then wash them in cold water. removes all the coating
I have heard that works, haven’t tried it on anything but milscale 😀
Could changing the stick out length to help prevent blow out?
The stick out length affects the actual amperage output (which amperage is variable). To some extent the stick out will play a roll with how likely it is to blow a hole. The downside is flux core wire produces porosity with the wrong stick out, so the window of what’s right (and what’s too long or too short) is pretty small. The best help for welding thin material like exhaust (that has tons of angle changes) is using a welder with really good low amperage capability. Using .030 flux core wire on a more expensive machine makes it much easier.
I just purchased my first flux core welder, a Century FC-90. My question is how many of those pipe joints would you say you could weld with a 1lb spool? Just a ballpark guess. Thanks.
Great question. The little spools come in assorted sizes. Normally they are 2lb but there are some that are 1lb. I tried hard to find a chart for flux core to relate lbs of wire to inch of weld or even length of wire, and I can’t seem to find anything. MiG wire I can without issue. So my best guess is 1lb would weld somewhere around 250-300 normal exhaust welds on 2-3inch random sized pipes. Keep in mind this is for thin wall low deposition (aka small) welds. If running it on thicker than exhaust material it will require bigger welds thus less inches of weld per pound. Hope that helps.
Thank you.
i can't get my HB 125 flux welder to keep a steady spark. It comes and goes all the time like I'm manually spot welding or something.
I thought needed more power but then blew hole through exhaust.
I thought too slow wire but then it starter sticking out too far and breaking off.
I had ground clamped to pile, then to table.
Not sure what I'm doing wrong here.
Ok this is what I would suggest: If the machine is sputtering like you describe my first thought is the voltage is too low. If the voltage is too low or the wire is too high the wire will tend to stub the puddle. To check this out find a piece of 1/8th flat material, set the machine for the exact settings for 1/8th material, and try to weld it. Move slowly and consistently with a drag angle. If it welds fine on this the welder is ok. If it doesn’t weld properly (and keeps cutting out) make sure you have the proper feed roller side for your diameter wire in the machine. Make sure that the spool tension is not too tight. Make sure that your contact tip is correct and that the wire feeds through properly by pulling the trigger without welding. If everything looks good and it still doesn’t weld right it may be a defective machine.
From a standpoint of difficulty, the machine can easily weld exhaust however exhaust is a challenge because it’s thin and has a lot of angle changes. It’s possible you just need a bit more practice on flat plate before you tackle the exhaust. Generally speaking if you can run a bead on flat plate the same thickness as you can on exhaust you should be ok.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg thanks so much for your suggestions. I'll check these items.
how come you don't have thousands of those 'bb's' I get when I gasless flux core weld?
So a couple possible reasons. If you have a flux core welder that has A/C output (harbor freight Chicago electric or similar) you will have excessive spatter no matter what. This is because the wires are designed to run on DCEN (gun on negative). If you have a normal dc output welder you may have the polarity wrong, settings a bit off, or you may be using wire that’s old/not as good.
I like your video the only concert I have is. Why is your guard off your grinder? That's a safety hazard.
I put a disclaimer on most videos I use that particular grinder in that I don't run it with a guard. I do wear a full face mask while grinding. The battery powered grinder doesn't have near the power of a corded version and I don't feel unsafe using it in that manner. IT's up to everyone what they do with theirs. :)
Would Tig be better for this situation?
Tig makes exhaust welding easy if it’s clean since Tig can weld thin material with ease. With aluminized pipe it welds poorly and it tends to contaminate the tungsten. So if the surface is ground down clean it could be used.
How would this hold up welding the exhaust hanger to the frame? Would it have enough bite to get a good weld on that much thicker and harder metal?
Right now I'm looking at a 125 amp machine from Harbor Freight, do you think that'll get the job done for a f150 exhaust
So the titanium 125 won’t have any issue welding a hanger to a frame. Most f150 frames are under 3/16th thick (going back to the 70s) and the hanger itself is typically 3/8th in diameter. Despite the hanger being thick it’s round and will heat soak fast (basically the weld will penetrate despite it being “thick”). Settings wise you would need to run it at the high end of settings, so whatever it says for 3/16th steel or just above. You won’t blow a hole in the hanger so just do a slight weave back and forth from the hanger to the frame. Keep in mind you must run hot, and have a solid molten puddle that you’re carrying along with you. Clean the weld with a wire wheel/brush between passes too.
Also, the titanium 125 is capable of a lot more than just welding the exhaust on that truck 😀. Although it’s great for that task because of how small the machine is and more importantly how small the gun is. I did a couple exhaust jobs with the MiG machine I have now and it was terrible trying to get the gun into places, that titanium 125s gun is so tiny it makes it easy.
With all that said make sure to practice. Once you get a feel for it you’ll be able to do a ton of stuff with that machine. It’s also far easier to weld uphill with flux core than gas shielded Mig, so you’ll probably have more luck with the exhaust with it. Good luck 👍 and if you run into any issues let me know and I can give you some advice.
When repairing my Subaru Baja muffler (flange rusted nearly completely and both hangers rusted completely through, but the muffler body and pipe still in great shape) I used my Lincoln 90i MIG with 0.030" flux core wire to do both the flange and the hangers. Worked great, not even turned all the way up. A 125 should be enough machine; my 90i was, at least for my Baja.
Thanks Greg! if you weld vertical down won't that reduce the penetration and risk of blowing holes? I haven't burned much wire in my machine but I had better luck vert down on thin scrap than even flat position
oh yeah you just said that! Thanks!
Great comment 😀. Vertical down can be used on thinner material due to the lack of penetration that’s common, not being a issue. Generally speaking vertical down is not ideal, I have a video I am working on showing what can happen. However exhaust and thin stuff I wouldn’t worry in the least. 😀
What setting do you have it set at with that exhaust, Im going to be flux welding the same exact exhaust.
I gave that machine away, so I don’t know what the settings are anymore. If I didn’t mention a starting point in the video you want to look at the settings on the chart in the machine for 1/16th or just under, and that will be in the ballpark. If you blow holes right away drop the settings to the next thinner metal settings according to the chart 😀👍
Is it better to break or cut the wire for a fresh start on a weld?
Honestly with flux core wire breaking it and cutting it will produce about the same results in my experience. I generally break flux core wire, with gas shielded MiG it’s much harder so that I cut.
Try using a aluminum baking when welding such a thin piece of metal
Great video! How many amps is A 1/2? Thank you!
So flux core wire is set based on wire feed and voltage. Amperage is variable and whatever it more or less takes based on wire feed speed. The actual amperage is likely less than 65amps.
what i want to see is how you do it lying on your back under the car, welding rusty pipe
I did that in a video already lol. Here you go ua-cam.com/video/dRKsTQwaJq8/v-deo.htmlsi=O4SDU5ubDf3kI4SW .
What kind of wire are you using.
I believe in this video I was using Us Forge wire from Menards (and online). Most of the flux core wire welds similar, however the hard or freight flux core wire seems to have more spatter. 👍
likely E71-T11GS
Wow both of those were $10 only a year ago?
What are they up to now, I am afraid to know lol.
I thought with flux core you were always suppose to drag, not push?
Flux core and stick can be welded with a push angle under certain circumstances, mostly being welding vertical up. Gravity will pull the molten pool downward along with the flux. The issue with pushing is flux can often flow In Front of your molten pool, and then it gets trapped as the molten pool solidifies (slag entrapment). Well uphill that's not a issue, and a drag angle uphill can often cause the molten pool to drip due to excessive heat.
Have you ever considered using a heat sink on pipe like that? Maybe just an aluminum collar or braided wire near where you'll weld? I saw one person do that, but it was in a shop, not youtube.
It could help to pull heat out. That is far more common on stainless steel and titanium than steel.
When welding a new flange to an old but otherwise perfectly working muffler with my Lincoln 90i MIG with flux core wire, 0.030", I used a Sears/Craftsman exhaust pipe expander as a heatsink. Wrapped it with aluminum flashing to keep the weld from sticking. The flange was 1/4" material. I set the voltage control around 5 and the feed rate low, around 4.5, and aimed the arc slightly into the flange. Once the outside was welded, I removed the heatsink and turned to the inside, welding through the pipe into the center of the flange. No leaks, and only blew through the pipe once on the outside pass.
Are u welding with gas?
Straight (Gasless) flux core wire doesn’t use gas, it self shields. So no cylinder needed 😀
Why you not wearing the cup on your gun it's no gas welding Flux core
Flux core self shielded wire does not require gas shielding therefore there is no nozzle on the end. Dual shield flux core does require gas shielding to weld with. Virtually all “flux core wire” at the store is self shielded therefore it doesn’t require any shielding gas
Please I need to know no gas?
Yes flux core is a wire fed weld no gas required at harbor freight for 169.99
Does your Mother know about the message on your brush?
Haha considering how I talk normally the brushes are tame 😅. I just keep the videos mostly clean so I don’t get a channel shadow block 😱.
Very good video but darn now I got welder flash😅
Haha I hear a potato on the eyes will help, no guarantees lol
Then I would look like bud the spud lol
Automotive body panels are the same thickness
Just like the catalytic converter on your car 😂
Nice brush. Lol
Exhaust work is hard due to rust and dirt
It definitely is. I like to say it’s everything you don’t want on something that needs welding: excessively thin material, rust, small diameter pipe that requires a ton of angle changes, poor visibility, poor access, and high thermal cycles. Great welds and old exhaust don’t work together lol.
You used the brush for aluminum only on steel.
You .
Really not fair starting with a new pipe
For learning to weld car exhaust it’s best to start on new material to practice skills. It’s available everywhere and is consistent to help build skills.
What kinda welder
It’s the harbor freight titanium 125 in this video. The upcoming videos will be shot with the esab 210em/firepower fp200.
Are you pushing?
Flux core is generally pulling however on exhaust at points you have to go straight in or a slight push angle. In many cases you simply can’t pull a weld (like on top of a exhaust pipe that is close to the car underbody) due to restricted access. The main concern is pushing can lead to slag entrapment, and possible porosity. Vertical up (or anything that gravity pulls down on the weld) will be lower risk because the flux simply can’t get ahead of the molten metal due to gravity. Hope that clears things up. 😀
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Cheers for the explanation on why mate👍
Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view !"
Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam ."
Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!"
Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window ? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..."
Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!"
Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky."
Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction."
Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment ?"
Another Fawlty Towers fan.
@@KStewart-th4sk WHAT IS WIT NIT ?
Not professional welding
Not sure what you’re implying. It’s a video aimed at showing the basics of welding car exhaust for people who have never done it. I am capable of welding exhaust to a much higher standard than is in the video, however again, I am showing a basic technique people can build off of. Car exhaust also is extremely difficult to weld due to access restrictions under the car, thin wall rusty pipe, and mismatched thickness. You aren’t going to get the best welds on it period.
New subscriber. Check you out
Why is your tip so far past the shroud....?
It’s flux core gun, shielding gas is not used therefor you don’t need a nozzle that goes around the contact tip. The nozzle is only there to protect the threads on the gun on the welder in the video. Most mig welders have nozzles that are much bigger and cover the whole tip (for gas shielding) but typically you can get ones that leave the tip exposed specifically for flux core welding.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Roger cheers for that 💪😎🍺🇳🇿