Welding Procedures:

There are five basic steps when welding that must be followed.

• Proper Preparation - You first need to ensure that the metal you are welding is clean and dry. Remove rust, dirt, grease, oil and other contaminants by wire brushing. If not removed, these contaminants can cause porosity, cracking and poor weld deposit quality. You must also remove badly cracked, deformed or work-hardened surfaces by grinding, machining or carbon-arc gouging.

• Proper Preheat - The combination of alloy content, carbon content, massive size and part rigidity creates a necessity to preheat in many welding or hard facing operations. Most applications require preheating, as a minimum to bring the part to a room temperature of 70ƒ-100ƒ F. Medium to high carbon and low alloy steels may require higher preheat to prevent under bead cracking, welding cracking or stress failure of the part. Preheating can be done with a torch, oven or electrical heating device. Special temperature-melting crayons can help you verify proper preheat. Too much heat and you can often ruin alloy materials!

• Adequate Penetration - Correct Welding Procedure - Identify the correct amperage, travel speed, size of weld, polarity, etc. Make sure the completed weld meets your expectations in regards to size and appearance. Welds should be smooth and uniform, free from undercut or porosity. If possible, watch a video showing the type of welding you will be doing so you know what things are suppose to look like.

• Proper Cool Down - Preheating is the most effective way of slowing the cooling rate of massive or restrained parts, which are inherently, crack sensitive. Insulating the part immediately after welding with dry sand, lime, or a glass fiber blanket also helps minimize residual cooling stresses, weld cracking and distortion. Never quench a weld with ice or water as this will lead to greater internal stresses and potentially weld cracking.

• Post Weld Heat Treatment - Some items may require tempering or heat-treating. What this means is that you warm the item up with your torch after welding and allow it to slowly cool.