Well I had spent about 4 hours or so making up the bottom half of the lower drum. Everything was going very well until last night when i decided i would weld the ammo cans on in sub zero weather. I guess i should have pre-heated the bottom of the drum, but i didn’t and it ended up turning into a banana shape on me… Ended up just walking away in frustration. I am going to try and beat it back into submission today but it may be gone. The fit up to the lower drum is terrible and fit up is everything on these thin metal drums.
Do not weld on thin metal when it is under 0 degrees. Always pre heat with a torch.
Thanks for the info Joseph. I am having a heck of a time to get my garage above freezing so I can work out there. Insulated Carhart jeans just aren’t enough this week. I will make sure the metal is warm too.
Thanks for the heads up on welding at colder temps,Good thing you got extra barrows, I am gessing the cool down time is too fast, When i welded my top plate on it is 3/8 thick plates i had laying around,after welding too fast or too much in one place at a time it kinda went bannana on me too,next one should be easyer too what nots too do,If you follow them long enough,you will catch them.
Yeah i think you are right it is defiantly caused by the rapid cool down rate of the steel. I heard it creaking and crackin quite a bit while I was welding but just didn’t think it would be warped as bad as it was. Oh well, I think I will just cut the ammo boxes off and make a new one. At least it was a cheap mistake, minus the time I spent on it! I think the ammo boxes might actually fit a little better around the spring perch when cut down so they are not as long. I got the bed off my truck last night and it seems like it may be a really tight fit on that passenger side ammo box… Tonight I think I will try heating the piece up with a torch a few hundred degrees and maybe try and bend it back round again, at least before scrapping it out.
Shorter beads,and move around like putting a wheel on the car, and let it cool too the hand temp before moveing too next weld,and the heat on the welder may be just a little too hot, hard too get all that right on with thin metal or thick metal,all takes practic,were getting lots on this job,good luck on the repair. PS you could cut the warped section out, then weld other fairly thin plate in its place.
Joseph, I have always used a hammer and dolly to stretch out the metal that shrunk from fast cool down. This can save time. Things will move back into place pretty fast if you stretch in the right spots. Worth a try if you can get a dolly and hammer to the areas that need stretching. If you can’t get a good hammer swing then use an airhammer with the dolly on the other side. Shrinking metal can be done with heat and a wet towel. From your experience I’m sure you know that already tho. Gordon
I don’t have any actual dollys laying around but I have some pretty flat large hunks of steel that may work as a dolly. Going to try to heat and beat it this week. I think i can salvage it.
Joseph, Good luck with the metal beating … I can relate … I have built several gasifiers in my (extra) trailer house in the dead of winter … I built a cyclone and it took me 3 days … Lots of toxic fumes but I could keep it at 40 degrees or better in there … I think that cyclone lasted 3 or 4 years before it got too rotted to put any more aluminum tape on it … I rarely use oil drum thickness metal anymore for anything … My current trailer has a 20 or 30 gallon or so paint drum for a hay filter … I keep waiting for it to warm up enough to paint it … It probably has a few rust holes in it but nothing that some RTV won’t handle on the suction side … I wish my websites were still around so I could post picture links … Chris saved some of my stuff but I can’t access it with the old phone modem … Hope to see you the end of May … Mike LaRosa