Mig Welding Project using outside corner joints

I chose this mig welding project specifically for welding students who need to learn about outside corner joints and how to weld them.

If you need to build a tank, fuel cell, drip pan, ash collector, or any number of welding projects, outside corner joints are in your future.

For welding students, fitting up and welding a crap ton of 8 inch long pieces of metal can be tedious. Thats why I am suggesting this quick mig welding project because it helps things go better if you can mix things up a bit.

This Dice, ( or Die since it is half of a set) is a quick little mig welding project that provides some lessons in fit up, tack placement, deburring, pressure relief, and more. That is if the person doing the welding is paying attention.

Ideally, 90 degree joints like on this die, cold be made with a press brake. But not everyone has a press brake.

In many cases , an outside corner joint can be better and faster.

Not always, but often. Exceptions would be if the finished product would be subjected to corrosive agents or high temps. In those cases, the less welding the better.

For welding projects designed to provide learning situations for welding students, the more welding , the better.

For 11 ga crs metal. ( 1/8" or approx 3mm thick) the settings I used on the mig machine were, 17 volts, around 180-200 inches per minute of wire speed, and 75/25 argon/co2 gas set at around 20 cfh using er70s6 .030" or .8mm mig wire.

I most always set my mig nozzle to where the contact tip is flush with the nozzle or even protruding slightly. that helps me keep a short stickout.

I mentioned in the video that if I had not drilled the holes prior to welding, pressure would build and blow out the weld once it was completely sealed up. Thats is true, but sometimes you get away with it and other times its a mess.This issue seems worse on aluminum than other metals. I remember years ago welding a bunch of aluminum tubing handles on some concrete saws and I had to drill a relief hole to allow me to weld them completely because pressure would build as I sealed up the handle and next thing you knew, it was a field of mushrooms.

Mig welding steel is more forgiving than that and the practice die I welded with no holes actually did ok. I got lucky.

this little mig welding project got me thinking about all kinds of artsy things I could do to make a cool looking pair of dice.

Silicon bronze overlay, a black oxide finish over silicon bronze filled holes, tig welded on a/c using aluminum bronze filler on the corner joints and holes , tig welding using scratch start only and 309 ss wire....I might just do a whole bunch of these and see where that goes.

Besides, I have always toyed with the idea of doing welded art stuff anyway.

Welding Tips and Tricks search tool...for searching over 1000 pages of Tips