This is project 6, from dgarnier, Fillin' holes

[dgarnier]

Reworking the Fan Mount on my bow fishing rig and I had 4 3/8" holes to fill in on some 3/16 plate. Since its been out in the weather its pretty rusty so I wire brushed it to clean it up as best I could, but it was still not too clean. So I opted for some 6011 1/8 rod to fill in the holes. Well I had to use some sort of backer, So I just used some scrap steel, looking back this was mistake 1. I think I would have been better off with some brick or something. The scrap got welded to the bottom of the plate, nothing a hammer couldnt fix but not the best way about it. Mistake 2 was not putting enough weld metal on top of hole so I ended up having to fill in a bit more.

Attachment 2448

Attachment 2451

This time I hit it with the wire wheel and switched to tig and just worked around the hole dabbing in filler and filled the hole. Then a little clean up with the grinder and some paint after it cools down and it will be good to go back on the boat.


Attachment 2449

Attachment 2450

[parkour]

I have heard of using copper as a backup material.
It will not contaminate the weld like a brick could, and will provide a smooth surface finish.

[dgarnier]

Would it weld to the back side?

[sportbike]

Would it weld to the back side?

Nope. Copper is often used as a back-up material. Best to find somehting fairly thick though as this sheet will not work. Also, copper will conduct the heat fairly quickly, this can be good or bad, depending on the situation.

[Tritium]

I used some half inch thick copper bar stock when first testing my PU 205P DC tig from Everlast. I was able to weld together 2 stanley disposable knife blades. They were not as pretty as I would have liked, but not bad for a first tig attempt. Without the copper backing I am sure I would have just blown holes in them.

Thurmond

[dgarnier]

next time I am at the scrap yard I will have to see what they have in the way of copper