DNF - 2018 - Little Man 1.0

[DaiSan76]

LITTLE MAN 1.0

Winterz and I started welding yesterday! Grandpa came over to get us going. I will post more later but I will leave you with some ugly welds.

On the bright side, we could not possibly have more room for improvement!

So I blew a hole in this side, no one will notice once I fill it up!

View attachment 97262​

Hmm, I must have swung the slag hammer too hard? =p

View attachment 97263​

It was a 110V 100A stick welder with ~ 8-year-old electrodes on 1" 1/8" thick square tubing on a 15A circuit. I will be dropping a 20A circuit soon. I got new 6013 rods and they helped somewhat. My friend has a 240V 225A stick welder he will let me borrow next week.

Regards,
Drffreeze

Use 7014 or 7018. They will make a far better weld for what you're trying to do.

 

[pRoFiT]

Man its been years since i've stick welded. I picked up the 170amp HF MIG welder a couple years ago and i love it. Well, flux core wire welder. MIG has gas and i dont. They are cheap and work great for these types of builds.

FYI: HF tires... will: Wear out in an hour, Can break at the wheel seem (they are pressed together and not welded), Has regular bearings which will seize at high speeds. Over all bad for go karts. I modded my HF wheels to get some life out of them. but the tires gave out at one hour. You can dig through my 2016 build and see the tire wear from 30 minutes of driving.

Speaking of wheels. i didn't see anyone reply to your new ones. How will you drive the kart? Live or dead axle? if live axle the wheels should be keyed. If dead axle then one tire should have bracket to mount sprocket too. i didn't see anything for either of these style.

Welcome to the competition and good luck.

 

[drffreeze]

I also blew a few holes through the metal the first few times. Check that your Amps aren't set too high on the machine....that also makes it burn hot

The only reason I blew a hole is that I stayed in one area way too long. I normally have a hard time getting an arc. I will see how a 20A circuit does vs. a 15A soon.

Regards,
Drffreeze

---------- Post added at 10:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:26 PM ----------

Honestly the cheap wire machine will be much better for learning and you'll see much better results...
Mainly due to the power supply of the machine... It'll be DC...

Great information mckutzy! Thank you. I would prefer to figure it out with the 110V stick welder that I can borrow or the 220V stick welder I can borrow but if I can't I will go for a MIG.

Regards,
Drffreeze

---------- Post added at 10:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:47 PM ----------

I am also self taught

I started off with a "stick" welder
...but the "sticking" drove me nuts (very, very frustrating)
...& a lot more clean up (of all of the "stuck" spots plus the actual weld itself)

I currently use (huh-huh I said currently)
...a HF 90 for all of my builds

Looks good! Great information. So far the "sticking" is about all I do. =)

Regards,
Drffreeze

---------- Post added at 10:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:49 PM ----------

I'd go fluxcore wire... Then you'll be able to really learn..and build..

If I don't make some serious progress the next few times I practice after I wire up a full 20A circuit I think I will do just that.

I really appreciate the input.

Regards,
Drffreeze

---------- Post added at 10:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:51 PM ----------

Use 7014 or 7018. They will make a far better weld for what you're trying to do.

I just got some 7018 and meant to try this weekend but work and Mother's Day got in the way (I don't think she reads these forums). =p

I will try them on on the 15A circuit and then again with the full 20A and report back. I hope it helps.

Why do you think the 7018 will be better for what I do? I did some google searching but it seemed they were similar to the 6013. Are the 7018 better with AC?

Regards,
Drffreeze

 

[Kansaskart]

Nice!!!! I look forward to this one.

Just a word of warning on safety. If you do not have a roll cage, then safety belts are a NO NO. Safety belts are only used when you have a full roll cage. The theory is that with a cage you want to be kept inside so that you don't get crushed by the cage. Without a cage you want to be thrown free so that you don't get crushed by the kart if it rolls

Nothing like 3/4" tubing tacked together on top of a 100lb + kart and a 200lb rider strapped in with a 5pt harness lol.

---------- Post added at 06:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:53 PM ----------

Man its been years since i've stick welded. I picked up the 170amp HF MIG welder a couple years ago and i love it. Well, flux core wire welder. MIG has gas and i dont. They are cheap and work great for these types of builds.

FYI: HF tires... will: Wear out in an hour, Can break at the wheel seem (they are pressed together and not welded), Has regular bearings which will seize at high speeds. Over all bad for go karts. I modded my HF wheels to get some life out of them. but the tires gave out at one hour. You can dig through my 2016 build and see the tire wear from 30 minutes of driving.

Speaking of wheels. i didn't see anyone reply to your new ones. How will you drive the kart? Live or dead axle? if live axle the wheels should be keyed. If dead axle then one tire should have bracket to mount sprocket too. i didn't see anything for either of these style.

Welcome to the competition and good luck.

Glad you like the hf170, I bought one 2 years ago for the very back of my shop so I wouldn't have to drag ironman everywhere and it's still in the box lol.