Framebuilders - Buzz box

Hi guyz, Can old 70's cheap bike frames be welded with a stick welder? Or should I just get a cheap wire welder? I got pretty good with the stick in my Jeepin' days, cuz that's all I had. Still all I have. Good means able to make holes get smaller, not bigger, vs. making it structurally sound. Well, frame cracks on my 58 willys never re-appeared, so I guess it was a decent weld. I have two old bikes, one old huffy tandem, one old, huge, unknown man-bike, both single speed. Want to do a tall bike or sumpthin kewl.

You can certainly weld bikes with stick, the atomic zombie guy brad does it.

You want to look into specialty stick products, there are some products designed to weld sheet metal with stick. I ran some of these in my AC machine, and they were pretty good, though it should have been a whole lot easier in a DC machine. They were 1/16" and had special shielding, they were very easy to start. I always cut the electrodes in half and use the shorter pieces for better control. Also look into heating your electrodec to 200-300 F, before using them. Even heating your half way cut electrodes on one of those little hot plates they use for coffe cups would help somewhat. There may even be lighter stick products out there. I don't know about the structural integrity of these products, but the look of the welds was superior. Stick used to be all there was in arc, for instance people used to weld aluminum in AC arc, and those sticks are still sold. So it is possible to push these units beyond what people expect.

Be ready to scrupulously clean the surfaces you are welding for every restart.

A MIG welder is hardly any better, though it is useful as an adjunct in any shop. TIG is the route to go with bikes. And you can convert a stick into tig, though unless you can scab together the parts cheaply, it probably doesn't pay.

Kewl, I'll giver it a whirl. Thanks, Peter!

Try this thread:

http://www.atomiczombie.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=309

One product I used was called EZ-strike, and it really is easy to light. By MD industries. It is designed for welding car panels, and they are about as thin as bike tubing, again you need to consider the strength of this stuff, I can't really guide you on that. However the 6013 1/16" made by Lincoln is fine, too. I was interested that Brad uses 3-32 in these materials, Shocked really. I am running some 3/32 by Hundai the car people at the moment and it is a good product. 5/64 is also available in lincoln 6013, and is noticeably stiffer for better control, again I cut it for precise welds.

Sometimes the coating gets blown off the end leaving some wire hanging, I find that nearly impossible to start, so plan on trimming any electrodes like that.

Thanks for turnin' me on to the thread and the forum. Kewl place... Also for all the information. If I can't get 'er done with the stick, I might get a cheap MIG. Could use one for my poor old MGB's rust holes. But if I can stick it, I can get started sooner.

Cheap MIG has a lot of the same problems if cheap means no shield gas, and in addition you may have poor process controls.

Brad makes it sound easy, but he was a medalist in his welding course!

Have full!

I again thank you for your advice, sir. I have access to a better one if I drive across town. So I will prob skip on cheap. The MGB will have to wait for it's day!