Wire feed welding

[Bandit 286]

Can I weld mounting tabs on my airframe with a wire feed welder or do any other welding with it? It looks like they used wire feed on some parts because you can see parts of the wire left on the weld.

[BryceKat 125]

Can I weld mounting tabs on my airframe with a wire feed welder or do any other welding with it? It looks like they used wire feed on some parts because you can see parts of the wire left on the weld.

Hey Bandit,

The airframe was mig welded together. Yes you can use a wire feed. I would recommend an argon shielded weld over a flux cored wire because it makes a cleaner weld. Bryce

[horsepower 24]

Can I weld mounting tabs on my airframe with a wire feed welder or do any other welding with it? It looks like they used wire feed on some parts because you can see parts of the wire left on the weld.

You can use a wire feed,that is what the factory uses.Tig would be the best but would take forever to weld a fuse together.I had some scrap chrome moly tubing that I practiced on and did ok when I needed to weld something on my plane.Just short on and off burst with the trigger gave me the best results.I used a little Lincoln 110 with Stargon gas and .025 wire.Practice makes perfect.Randy

[Bandit 286]

I just bought a Hobart 140 mig welder with sheilding gas last night. Can I get a smaller nozzle so I can work around clusters better if I have to? Trying to get my shop in shape so I can start working on my project. I need to bring my Bandit in after deer season this fall and pull the engine and send it in. Then I would like to weld tabs on the belly so I can attach the belly pan better. Need to cut out a new windshield to.

[akflyer 1427]

You can turn the flow up on the gas if you have to hold the cup further away from your work due to the clusters if you need to. Use ER-60 or ER-70 wire in .023" and you should be fine. I welded up alot of tabs and plates on my plane using GMAW (mig) If your heat and wire feed speed are set right, you should be able to just weld away without trying to do a bunch of spot welds (unless you are welding a bunch of long runs of sheet metal, then you have to worry about warping) . Get the heat and speed set on some scrap tubes then go to town on it. Starting out with your gas flow around 15-25 CFH and you should be good to go!

I too would say use solid wire. While flux core may be more forgiving, it will also dig deeper and increase your chances of burn through.

[TheDeltaFox 0]

Go hard core and use an oxy acetylene rig like I did. Sure it may be the slowest of all forms of welding but it makes a darn good fusion. I welded up some scrap 4130 tubes I had and then crushed them in a vice and bent them over with a hammer. Even a shitty oxy weld is incredibly strong. I guess it should be cause you're melting the two tubes together and adding a little filler.

Although to admit a silly mistake, when I was making my all lexan doors I broke the handle while adjusting it. Adjusting it with a pry bar and a bit of attitude. I had no choice but to weld and being the optimist decided to weld with the lexan on the door.

I surrounded the area with scrap lexan and sheet metal then ATTEMPTED to weld fast. It was at that time that I was wishing I had a MIG rig for small little jobs like that. I now have a nice little painted white square in the corner of the lexan at the door handle. Surprisingly though no one has noticed that one of the doors has that white patch. I angled it to make it look like it was on purpose. But now, don't we all have those fun little spots on our planes.

Darcy