welding

instinctscooter

Silver Member
next year im going to sweden and gonna do a welding course but you choose from three different types of welding, pipe welding, plate welding and fillet welding but what would be best for scooters (making parts) and what is used most often.
 

Broccoli1

Bronze member
How you think they gonna join those pipes?

Fillet is a type of welded joint so from the basic description you've provided I would bet you'll be in a SMAW class for all three or MMA as they call it over there

"Stick" is the common slang term here.

You'll learn welding skills but you won't be welding anything on a scooter with a Stick machine so pick any of them. If this is a career path then you'll need to learn all three anyway.

usually after getting proficient in SMAW then you'll move on to GTAW(Tig)

Good Luck
 

instinctscooter

Silver Member
How you think they gonna join those pipes?

Fillet is a type of welded joint so from the basic description you've provided I would bet you'll be in a SMAW class for all three or MMA as they call it over there

"Stick" is the common slang term here.

You'll learn welding skills but you won't be welding anything on a scooter with a Stick machine so pick any of them. If this is a career path then you'll need to learn all three anyway.

usually after getting proficient in SMAW then you'll move on to GTAW(Tig)

Good Luck

dont really know much about welding as you can probably see from my comments and im not really thinking of it as a career option im going to sweden for one year to get better at speaking and writing it ( i can speak it fluently and write ok) but im going to do a one year welding course where you pick one type and at the end get a qualification and most people might go for 3 years adn do all three but im going back to the uk after one and im gonna do A levels which I need to get into university but id like to learn to weld as its useful and practical and I could make custom scooter parts cause I have quite a few ideas and like to be creative. The thing is i dont know how good I could in only one year.

Im guessing pipe welding would be good for bars and fillet for decks and forks right? as for plate welding im dont really know but the other two are the ones im more intrested in at the moment, please keep the advice and detaild help coming please.
 

Joe Riley

The Gypsy
Staff member
How you think they gonna join those pipes?

Fillet is a type of welded joint so from the basic description you've provided I would bet you'll be in a SMAW class for all three or MMA as they call it over there

"Stick" is the common slang term here.

You'll learn welding skills but you won't be welding anything on a scooter with a Stick machine so pick any of them. If this is a career path then you'll need to learn all three anyway.

usually after getting proficient in SMAW then you'll move on to GTAW(Tig)

Good Luck

Stick welding would be ARC welding. This is how pipe welding is done, and Plate welding is usually done this way although sometimes it's also done with TIG. Rarely is Plate done with MIG.

ARC welding can/is used for many scooter parts. If they aren't TIG welded, they're ARC'd. MIG is the least-common of the three in scootering, from what I've seen. Although, if done right, MIG can be just as strong as TIG.

In your class, you'll most likely be learning all three(ARC, MIG, TIG). Then, pick one to continue in. I took a semester of welding already, and from what I've learned and seen, that's generally how it goes.

Basically, for scootering, you'll want to do Fillet welding and do TIG for the most part. ARC sucks. You could literally teach a ten year old how to MIG weld. TIG is the hardest, most-used, and commonly-known as the strongest. Although, in some cases, that is not true.

Pipe welding may seem like it would be good for bars, but it is not what you think. It's attaching two pipes together, like the picture below(MIG):
6G_Pipe_Welding_Certification_Template_Marking_Test_Specimans.jpg


This is what you want, fillet welding:
Foto%20de%20Visual%20de%20solda.jpg
 

instinctscooter

Silver Member
thanks Joe, from what it looks like fillet welding could be used to make scooter parts except for small things and plastic/rubber things like for hardware, headsets, wheels, griptape, brakes(flexys can be made easily anyway) and grips. so with fillet welding could I make bars, integrated clamps, forks and decks then?
 

Broccoli1

Bronze member
Joe,

any type of welding that uses Electricity is ARC welding ;)

Stick- SMAW "Shielded metal arc welding" the shielding comes from coating on the Electrodes aka "sticks" that burns off in the process and Shileds the weld area from the atmosphere which can cause problemos.

Mig- GMAW "Gas metal arc welding"
** Metal Inert Gas Welding is not exactly correct because the Shielding gas used isn't always Inert** dat's why the Correct terminology is GMAW

Fluxcore- FCAW "Flux-cored arc welding"

Tig - GTAW "Gas Tungsten arc welding"

The Gas mentioned above is only used as a Shielding gas to help the Electric welding process.

Gas welding, where the heat of the burning fuel mixed with Oxygen would be Oxy/ acetylene welding and close to welding is Brazing.

[Mr. H brazes his Scooter Bars, as do many bike builders on their frames]

All of the above, can and are used in Pipe welding, Plate welding etc etc.


I'm trying to inform- but there is no way any scooter part is being made with a Stick welder:

They are Fabricated using Tig-GTAW because it allows for great control at low temps for Bars and just about Zero clean up after welding.

Time is money.

You can certainly Mig weld bars at a much faster speed but you'll be cleaning Spatter, yes no L, it is the tiny little BB's that happen during Mig welding.

The rest of the Scoot is Alooominum- you can Mig weld AL but it is not that good on thin stock and the finished bead is not that great unless you get a machine with Pulse capabilities. So it is pretty much out as well.

The Tig process offers the best and most efficient welding process for scooters parts but as you mentioned it takes a wee bit of skill and mo' skill for welding AL.
 

Joe Riley

The Gypsy
Staff member
You're correct. Although, When someone refers to ARC welding, they generally mean stick welding. Fluxcore is mig, only gasless, if I'm not mistaken.

I'm not going to go completely in-depth on a scooter forum. He's going to be taking a basic introductory welding class, not years of majoring in it. I only took one semester of welding, and it wasn't even in college, so I'm positive that you know more than I do. I just like to share my knowledge.

I'm curious to how strong brazing bars would be, I did brazing for a little bit and it doesn't seem to be strong enough in my opinion. It would definitely be easier, cheaper, and less time-consuming, though.
 

Broccoli1

Bronze member
Brazing is strong- High $$ Bikes are Brazed together

Fluxcore and Mig are both in the Wire feed class and some Fluxcore processes use shielding gas as well.

It is good to hear you guys taking on welding and I agree with you 100%, the class he takes will be valuable since what ever he learns will working with metal and welding can be applied when he moves on to Scooter parts.


2 parks today, I'm out. time for adults.
 

instinctscooter

Silver Member
how is Mig easier than Tig welding? so does that mean I would learn Mig first and would I learn Tig in one year right. in Sweden there generally cool with school so I couldf probably buy 4130 chromoly from the school (possibly?) or possibly online or from some shop and bring it in and weld my own bars as bars seem the easiest scooter part to make but correct me. Also is there a big difference between welding aluminuim and steel (which is harder) and what exactly is brazing. Yet again thanks for the input escpecially broccoli and Joe and I'm looking forward to learning to weld as it seems cool.

How long do you think it would take to learn to weld some bars and if i did do fillet welding do you think I could learn other types of welding ona basic sclae.
 

Joe Riley

The Gypsy
Staff member
You'd learn all three in one class. Tig is more complicated and more difficult than Mig. You'd probably learn arc/stick first, then mig, then tig. Welding aluminum is harder to learn than steel, if I'm not mistaken. Too much heat while tig welding and you can burn right through the metal, which is unlikely with steel.

You don't have to worry about brazing, that's a technique you won't be learning. Basically you just heat up the metal and attach it together with a brazing rod. This is done for many things like plumbing, and as Broccoli said, BMX frames.

It'd take a good portion of your class to get good at tig welding. You may or may not be able to learn the other types, depending on how much time you put to tigging, and how long it takes you to learn.
 

instinctscooter

Silver Member
if there is any other advice I would greatfully recieve it such as do you learn to weld clean with time or are there any tips to help make a nice weld?
 

blackscootdawg

Bronze member
So im 15, and i live in america, but wen i turn 18/19, i wanna move to Austrailia and learn how to weld scooter parts, (so i can get employed at a scooter company as a welder).
I work/volunteer on a ranch, so i weld pretty good.
But its not TIG welding, i also have a welding course at school, but again, not TIG...
So i have 2 questions:
1) wat school should i go to in Austrailia;
2) i should go for TIG welding right? (aluminium, fillet welding)?
 
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