Yesterday I tried welding tuna cans together for a muffler. I feel I was doing very well for how thin they are, until I forgot I needed to keep the torch straight vertical, and the wire sagged, and cut a hole into the side of the can. The fix for the hole looked incredibly ugly, having to keep the torch so far away and fighting wind/my shaky hands, so I scrapped the idea. But I was wondering if they made some type of wire extender... like out of ceramic or something, for the wire to run through to keep it stable while holding the gun farther for very little peneration... or on the other hand, they may just tend to clog up the wire running through them. I FCAW so the thing could be as simple as a tube, but I'd just worry about the wire melting/breaking in half inside of there and start piling up. Any thoughts?
Wire Extender for MIG/FCAW
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Doc Sprocket
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What's your "stickout" distance? 3/8 to 1/2" beyond the contact tip should be okay, are you trying for more?
If the metal's too thin for your welder's coolest setting, try pulsing your way around the cans. Zap...Pause...Zap...Pause, etc. Give the material a half-second or so to cool between zaps. Try that out- usually how I end up doing it.
If the metal's too thin for your welder's coolest setting, try pulsing your way around the cans. Zap...Pause...Zap...Pause, etc. Give the material a half-second or so to cool between zaps. Try that out- usually how I end up doing it.
I have the Harbor Freight FCAW, nothing fancy, and it doesn't go too low... on min. settings, 6" of stickout, about, was working very well continuously save for the sagging. Pulsing it I could usually do around 2-3" of stickout, but it was very slow, and I still had to deal with a good bit of sag, not to mention having to keep the wire aligned (shaky hands) while the mask was still darkened after the weld and not being able too see anything (most of my welding is outdoors at night, with a small light) It burned through in much less than half a second with a reasonable stickout though. I was essentially just dumping already molten metal onto the can. What I did do though, seemed to seal well and make a strong weld, and really -- it's a muffler, it's not too important to me if the weld breaks, and either way, the cans were free.
Doc Sprocket
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Six inches??????? Of wire from the contact tip to the weld surface? Are you kidding?
I might have missed something, but how the heck does that work?
I might have missed something, but how the heck does that work?
Can't say for sure... it just did. I got a decent looking bead, even though it was about a half circle, and from the tip of the contact to the end of the stickout the wire went from cool to glowing yellow, and just pooled onto the can with almost no penetration. I just had to be careful not to push the wire into the can or else it'd break.
EDIT: Anyways, back on topic - do you think a spacer on the wire would work at all, or cause more trouble than it's worth?
EDIT: Anyways, back on topic - do you think a spacer on the wire would work at all, or cause more trouble than it's worth?
The Mechtician
Gargamel Jr.
What you're describing isn't welding, it's more like soldering or gluing. It won't make a strong joint, even though you may not be able to pull the parts apart by hand. You would be better off soldering or brazing the parts together, or using the tack-pause-tack method toystory described (with the correct stickout, not 6" of wire hanging out the end of your torch!). When you have that much wire between the contact tip & the work piece, a large percentage of the welding current is used up heating the long piece of wire like a toaster element instead of creating an arc and melting the parent metal to create a strong joint.
To more specifically answer your question, no a wire extender does not exist, you're better off pursuing other alternatives than trying to make your method work.
mckutzy
Well-known member
The Mechtician- Hey shout out to a fellow neighbor in Surrey
This is actually starting to sound dangerous. OP- Tackweld the pieces or pulse as it is know. Thats how some car builders weld car body's together. It takes some used to, an auto darkening helmet helps the best. Also a good steady hold is key. Mount the work in a vise or a jig of some sort( a welding table w/vice and chair is about the best)whatever works, but have a space u can rest your arms so your arms/hands/body doesnt move. If u are burning through go faster with each spot (less material deposited). The angle is important. So keep it square to the face of the cans joint and short stick out like 1/2". Off square and that starts the cutting into the base metal, and it being thin well just melts through. If your going with cans and similar thin metal, raid some recycle boxes in the neighborhood go to town on them. Practice with the power off to start, as to your timing, thinking about on and off, finger control, body position. This helps me get into the mindset of what ever im doing when im doing these finicky jobs..power on try again, if at any time things are pissing u off. Stop..drop tools and go chill for a bit. try again after.
Hendu3270
banned
I have the same welder (at the moment) and I would never be able to use it with even more than one inch of stick out. Personally I don't think the welder is gonna work out for you welding tuna cans together. The only way I could get mine anywhere close to welding that would be on minimum and wire speed turned all the way up. At those settings you'll have to lay down an extemely quick straight line bead (which is very difficult to do with any accuracy). Might try the pulse method. I used conduit for mine and it was a PITA to keep from buring through, but I was able to get it done.
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