Lots of finish welding

It was freezing outside today, which made for a fine day to be outdoors.

I have moments of success and times of failure.  The most success came from switching in a new tungsten, cleaning the welding rod with alcohol, cleaning the welding surfaces, and turning up the argon to about 20 SCFM.  I ran 180A, 120Hz, and 30% cleaning, 0.8s pre-flow, and 4.5s post-flow.  I have a CK17 air-cooled torch running 3/32" rod.  Green tungsten is not super happy running at 180A.  Amazon delivered some blue tungsten literally as I finished up today.

Today started with trimming the four new 3x1.5x0.18 structural c-channel using the same methods as a few years ago.  This part went quickly.

After welding the accessible top pieces, I flipped the trailer on its side to access the bottom.  This gave way better access.

Seeing the bottom also showed that many of the original welds had cracked down their center.  I we-welded these and tried to get good penetration.

It was still challenging to weld the thick webs.  I haven't figured out what does work consistently, but I can sure find what doesn't.  Best I can figure for this awful weld was insufficient argon flow rate and a dirty tungsten tip.  I ground off all of this grossness.

After putting in a newly ground tungsten, and increasing the argon flow rate, it seemed to run better. I wish all welds were this easy.

 

After a full day, all of the frame pieces are welded.  The upper rail still needs work and so too the inside of the frame.  But it is getting stiffer.  It is definitely also getting heavier.  Maybe I'll take a drive around the neighborhood tomorrow.