| Author | Message | ||
| Steve (Steve) (66.82.9.16)
Rating: N/A |
What do I need to do before striking an arc on a bus to protect the electric system? | ||
| Jack Conrad (Jackconrad) (207.30.189.42)
Rating: N/A |
disconnect batteries and any computers such as DDEC and ATEC. Basically, safest method is to disconnect anything electrical. Jack | ||
| Marc Bourget (209.142.38.81) Rating: N/A |
Also: Take pains to make sure the ground clamp is a close to the work as reasoanbly possible and do yourself a further favor and grind a spot to fresh metal to improve the ground. Onward and Upward Marc Bourget | ||
| TWO DOGS (63.185.72.81) Rating: N/A |
if you are on grass,make sure to wet it down & have an ALERT person watching EVERY second,might not be a bad idea to have her aired-up just in case you need an emergency move | ||
| Jose (207.69.137.28) Rating: N/A |
A reminder for any of us " Ole Folk " STAY AWAY from welders if You have a Pace Maker implant, the magnetic field will effect it !! Source of info., Miller Welding Manufactureing, and my Dr. after I refered him to the article ! Jose | ||
| Henry R. Bergman, Jr. (Henryofcj) (63.224.197.10)
Rating: N/A |
My problem is that I'm just not that good of welder and have heard all the horror storys about weird things happening to sensitive electronics, disconnected or not. Plus the unhappy occurances that happen when you subject metal and surrounding areas to rather intense heat without knowing where ALL of it goes or why. Oh gosh gee honey, I am sorry. Have you considered re-engineering things sooss that they can be bolted together rather than welded? That is what we may end up doing with our conversion. Much easier when dealing ... ...with alumiumuiummumm and heat treated steel main frame rails and stuff. I can handle a drill--I can NOT handle some sort of fancy inert gas mig machine or whatever they are called. Good luck. | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat) (68.7.217.217)
Rating: N/A |
oops | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat) (68.7.217.217)
Rating: N/A |
I can't imagine doing a full conversion without a welder. I ran thru close to 50 pounds of welding wire, welding on the bus with my Mig! I'd also get a plasma cutter, although silly me didn't figure that out till the conversion was finished! That said, in answer to the main question, I never disconnected anything and I never do prior to welding. And I have a lot of electronics on the bus... computer, stereo, backup camera, CO and LPG sensors, microwave oven, genset, etc etc. The paranoid method would be to disconnect everthing prior to welding... but the sensible way is to simply clamp the welder's ground VERY near what you're welding and go! Nasty currents are contained within the loop from the weld to the ground clamp and really won't hurt anything elsewhere, unless you clamp the ground so that they're between the clamp and the weld...Then maybe you'll have problems. Just use thought and you'll be fine, at least that's my experience in 3 years of welding on da bus.... | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (68.250.2.76)
Rating: N/A |
Bolts get Loose. Bus falls apart. Gary | ||
| TWO DOGS (65.179.208.144) Rating: N/A |
half way to Detroit  | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (68.250.2.76)
Rating: N/A |
Didn't make it half way. Autos need fluid. Gary | ||
| Johnny (4.174.109.157) Rating: N/A |
Welds fatigue & crack. Stuff falls off. I should also add that future improvements are much easier when the old stuff only has to be unbolted, rather than attacked with an angle grinder. | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (68.250.2.76)
Rating: N/A |
come on...are you actually advocating bolting a busframe together? Get real. and I can zing something off and have it welded back up before you can find your socket set. So there! Gary | ||
| Marc Bourget (209.142.38.81) Rating: N/A |
Johnny, Welds, properly done avoid stress risers or stress concentrations and delay or prevent the occurance of metal fatigue and cracks that "appear" to be the fault of welding but is actually improper, lazy or uneducated construction and welding techniques. Check out the welding suggestions for aircraft assembly or repair for a compendium on "how to" assemble metal structures that experience lots of vibration and load cycles. A quick example is a strap made to hang something like Ace's black tank. (Which I have not seen so this is an example only and can be no reflection on him!) Some guys would cut the metal strap hanger off straight, fold it over and around a bolt sized rod, clamp in a vise then weld it back to the strap. The weld goes straight across the strap like a line drawn with a square. This is a fracture waiting to happen. However, the experienced dude will trim the corners of the end folded back at a 45 deg angle so it looks pointed like a private's chevron or a "V". Non-linear stress riser or heat effected zone does much to improve fatigue life. Onward and Upward. Marc Bourget | ||
| DaveD (142.46.199.30)
Rating: N/A |
I disconnect the batteries and place the ground clamp as close as possible to the weld. DaveD | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (209.128.79.46)
Rating: N/A |
"I disconnect the batteries and place the ground clamp as close as possible to the weld." Same here. I have never run around and disconnected every electronic item in the coach. this makes me think of something though--I have seen guys clamp the ground to a wheel and then weld on the frame, and wonder why the wheelbearings died the next day. gary | ||
| Tom Caffrey (Pvcces) (65.74.66.104)
Rating: N/A |
Marc, on trailers and cars that I worked on in my racing days, I usually took a torch to small arc welds to take out the hardening stress created by quick cooling, if I didn't just gas weld it. We had really good luck with the method, so I assumed that the hardened zone next to the weld was where the cracks liked to form. I seem to remember that the cracks liked to form a little ways from the center of the weld. Larger welds seemed to cool off slowly enough that it wasn't much of a problem, however. For what it's worth. Tom Caffrey PD4106-2576 Suncatcher | ||
| Marc Bourget (209.142.38.81) Rating: N/A |
Tom, Good observation and perception on your part. Normalizing by the technique you described is the proper approach after welding high carbon steels like 4130. I'd guess it would help with lower % alloys but don't know how much. I never had trouble with the lower alloys but proper construction techniques was the excuse I gave myself. IIRC, I understand that the cracks form a little bit away from the weld because that's where the most heat distortion, causing residual stress, resides after the welding operation. Don't hold me to that exactly since I didn't consult my reference mat'ls first. Getting peoples to think about this factor is my actual intent and the real intent of raising the issue. I'm saying "think" not "I'm right" Onward and Upward marc | ||
| Tom Caffrey (Pvcces) (65.74.66.104)
Rating: N/A |
Marc, when the local welding shops install angle iron reinforcements in the bottom of these dump trucks, the only ones that turn out worth a darn are welded on both edges of the angle in short runs. Only about half of the total distance is welded. I understand that distortion from welding will make the angle iron go all over the place if they don't do it that way. For what it's worth. Tom Caffrey PD4106-2576 Suncatcher | ||
| Marc Bourget (209.142.38.81) Rating: N/A |
Half the total distance and distortion can be minimized by alternating. for example, 1" on one side, 1" on the other but get both sides of the angle at the ends. Prudent welder will skip around on the length of the angle to minimize heat concentrations - the cause of the "all over the place" distortion (but you already knew that. Onward and Upward Marc Bourget | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (209.128.79.46)
Rating: N/A |
I've been replating my 56' boat, it's hard to discipline yourself to weld a couple of inches, then go to another spot weld a couple of inches and not return to the first spot until it's cooled enough to touch. I've learned a lot of new stuff from doing boat work. Gary | ||
| Henry R. Bergman, Jr. (Henryofcj) (67.136.241.239)
Rating: N/A |
Well, I will have you ALL know that MY nuts are very, very tight, too tight in fact. They will eventually fall off, but NEVER LOOSEN!However, it is that VERY BIG ONE behind MY wheel that I worry about! |