Originally Posted by
guy153
I would say practicality impossible if you use nice bike tubing (which is <1mm thick). It could just about be done with a lot of skill if you used 1.6mm mild steel tube and didn't mind slightly ugly and sketchy results.
It's not that stick welds are weak. The problem is controlling the heat on such thin material. You need to be very precise and careful or you blow holes. It takes quite a bit of practice to get this right even with the TIG.
If you already have a stick welder if it's DC you can actually use it for TIG with a torch and a few accessories. But you will need a bottle of Argon.
Great post above. I believe most bike frames that are hand welded are either tig’d or soldered. Soldered joints provide a large heat affected zone at a lower temperature than Tig and allows more of a gradual change in the temper and mechanical properties of the tubing. The welder needs to be experienced in either process. Be sure to buy extra material and practice these welds until you are proficient. You will also need jigs to hold your joints and frame in position while welding. The practice joints are great learning tools as you can cut them apart to see where your filler metal went and how strong your joints are. Hope this works out for you.