Alt Bike Culture - arc welding bike frames

any one arc weld bike frames? i have an arc welder and cant afford anything else :(. but still have some ideas to make my own special bike, which i would really like to do!.

any problems?

i know there are thousands if not zillions of "puritans" who say

"errr...like...no man don't do it ...err like.... heating up the metal is like ...errr... bad for the metal you know like...err...and thats like...err..errr... science!!! dude!!"

but i would like some experience users recommendations
or professional advice.

much apprciated :thumb:

I'd rather MIG weld one or another IG but I haven't done any since ag shop in high school and mostly to get some girl to talk to me...yeah, eight track mind that only plays program one.

Er, that would be when The Eurythmics and Howard Jones were hot.

The more control you have and the quicker and more precise you can do it the better. My old cruiser being easier than Reynolds tubing and I THINK that's a TIG welding job.

Don't take my word for it so much though, you should look it up.

You can weld with stick...I am somewhat like Rollfast in the sense that it has been a while, However I did major in welding in High School and ... You will need to get a small diameter rod so that you can weld easier with the lower temps. You can do some experimenting with "old iron", that is, pieces of bike that you are not going to use. These experiments can get you on track as to how hot to set the welder for different metal thicknesses. Course with bikes it is mostly thin. I have filled many a hole but that takes practice. Strike arc, add a little metal, let cool a little, repeat.
hope this helps.

Keep in mind that the higher-tech the bike frame, the more problems you're likely to have (thinner wall, higher carbon content). So the cheapest old steel bike frame you can find is likely to be the best prospect.

arc welder + thick huffy tubing + small rod = fun.

all my mutants are welded with a stick, not bad once ya get it down, but like others have said sometimes it's REALLY easy to melt through tubing, just play around with it and you can make it work, besides what mutant bike doesn't break from time to time?

o yea forgot to mention, CHVNK 666 does their welding with torches and wire coat hangers.

never had problems arc welding frames

I've had problems with heat distortion. I was joining thicker metal to bike tubing and this required a lot of heat. I was making a tall bike and MIg seems to be the way to go