crankshaft welding

High Octane · Jan 24, 2015

i have a storm vulcan 150b, crank welder, and im doing some practice on some steel pipe to get used to the machine. ive got it laying some nice beads finally. im using reg .035 mig wire n the powdered flux. my plan is to start rebuilding crankshafts, and was wondering if anyone on here has ever ran a crank welder before and has any good tips to share? i work on alot of farmall tractors, so types of wire, torch positioning tips be real good.

teddy52food · Jan 24, 2015

I used to run the grinder and welder. I would grind the journal to clean it up and make it small enough so the center of the weld was the final size. We used inert gas, argon I think. You don't want any slag. I set up the crank to turn slowly with a propane torch heating it for a while before welding. Then left it turn until cool when done. I had a large journal that took a steady bead for 9 &1/2 minutes to fill. That was the longest bead I ran, before or since. When starting and finishing, don't run the bead to far in the radius as it may tend to bend the shaft. But run it close enough so there is no crack either. I would use a solid shaft rather than pipe as pipe will be getting hot near the end.

High Octane · Jan 24, 2015

one problem im having with the pipe welding, is amt of buildup per pass. right now it seems like i have to be 3/8 away from the pipe or itll build up n arc the tip out. im seeing 15v and 100-115 amps on guages, putting approx .200 thick bead. its reg .035 mig wire at moment. ive been wondering how i could add gas to it as well. i thought of rigging up my big mig n mount the torch to it so it has gas. lol. i thought of grinding a 2.29 journal down to say 1.90 then build it back up or does that sound too much for like a farmall H crank. could i use the mig wire to weld a farmall crank? i have gleason kastalloy wire, but just practicing with the reg wire to get some operating proceedure beat into my brain. ive been running the torch uphill just a tad, maybe .150 from tdc, maybe if i back up a lil bit itll not make such a thick bead? thanks for any info and time to help.

High Octane · Jan 24, 2015

voltage on the guage, no load is 24, but welding it drops the 15 thats on the 4th notch out of 5. is that normal? the manual says 22-27v but it drops. wire speed is 65, not seeing air bubbles or pockets in reg mig wire yet. ive got about 8 good hrs of practice time in, and maybe i should ask more when i got 50-100hrs time in. lol

teddy52food · Jan 25, 2015

It was back in the 70's when I was doing it, so I don't remember the settings. Practice, practice, practice, using different positions etc. I learned stick in high school & worked in a welding shop before the machine shop. I used the mig on a few scrap pieces, then the 1st crank I welded, the boss was impressed. I thought it was easy as there was no slag to watch out for. Can you run the machine a little faster if the build up is too much?

High Octane · Jan 25, 2015

i have mig wire in it n steel pipe, was running it with flux on, n welds wouldnt penetrate. turned the flux off n i can do bout anything with it. big welds, small welds skinny welds, fat welds. lol. if it had co2 or argon it may do what i want to do. ya, i just need to practice. get a few 100hrs on it n myself n ask more then. pretty neat machine!

used red MN · Jan 26, 2015

Where you at I might aquire some trip loader cylinders in the near future. If there anything like the specimens I have now with rust pits and the like you could practice on them and repair them as a bounus to me. Don't need to be near as precise as a crankshaft.

crankshaft welding

High Octane

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teddy52food

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High Octane

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High Octane

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teddy52food

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High Octane

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used red MN

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