hi all, I'm new to both frame building and welding and am wondering if arc welds are strong enough to weld up a bike frame. the main reason is the price and lack of gas as I would like a relatively compact setup. would this work okay?

thanks

Welcome to the forum. Stick is going to be a struggle. People have used MIG, particularly on the heavier sections of recumbent frames. Most welded frames are built using TIG, but that requires shielding gas.

It is possible with 3/32” 6013 on straight polarity. (Edit: maybe possible)

I have a bit of time under the hood stick welding. I had an LA city light gauge certification.

I would not recommend stick welding a bike frame. Welding is more difficult with thinner material. So beginner and thin tubing don’t go together. Stick welding gets difficult below 1/8” material thickness.

My prediction is you’re going to blow holes through the tubing.

So yes. The actual weld bead is probably strong enough. That doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.

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.

I agree, stick is possible. I have seen the results when people do it. Sometimes it looks okay, but looks can be deceiving. I would say you have to be a really good welder and use thick tubes.

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.

Brazed rather than soldered (which I think just means a higher temperature). Frames that aren't welded are either brazed into lugs or "fillet" brazed (you join the tubes directly as with welding but with a relatively large fillet made out of brass or bronze-- something yellow anyway). Both of those processes are done with a gas torch. All require practice and experience.

Stick welding would work great for a frame built out of steel rebar material!
https://pin.it/4ZS1Rmv

This YouTube guy makes e-bikes and things out of probably 1.6mm wall tubes with a stick welder. I think he's in Indonesia. He's extremely talented with very basic tools.
https://youtube.com/channel/UChv9gGHf2QaWdHJKtVet-9Q

Correct, thank you!

A unique Dutch bike shop.


At about 5:50, he is stick welding on a bike (without any eye protection).

Not the prettiest of welds.

That's actually flux core not stick Like MIG only without a gas bottle-- there's flux down the middle of the wire. Cheap and cheerful and works quite well on anything between 2mm and 3/32" thick. I think he's shutting his eyes and then buzzing tacks on. Not recommended for framebuilding, although it looks like he's just attaching a washer for a kickstand or something? And that Dutch boneshaker probably is about 2mm thick.