Small Garage Press

[STwelder]

I made this for universal joints, and the occasional race that needs that help with out all the beating. I know it will not do any big jobs. First the tool that made this possible, then some layout and finish. Oh it was a two day work. Thanks for looking at the welds.

[STwelder]

The steel used was 3/4" X 1 1/4" flat stock, broken parts from a machine at work. Heres more pics.

[STwelder]

Sorry some of the pics are blurred. Tell me what you think about the welds, as you can maybe see the flat stock was beveled for the welds. Set wire speed up was on 2.25 after second weld on the base. welder was set on D on power and 3 on wire speed

[STwelder]

Last four pics, sorry for the long post. It will be a while before I post such a long one again.
And thanks Welding Web for making posting Pics much easier.

[DSW]

I'm not quite understanding the reason for the angled uprights. Maybe because it's not completely assembled and finished. Most presses have vertical uprights for a reason. They do that to prevent the frame acting as a lever to multiply the force on the joints. I can see those bottom welds tearing out quite easily.

Hate to say this but your machine just doesn't have the balls to weld that thickness of steel. Depending on how little force that ram applies you might get away with it for light bearings and such. I would not be at all surprised to see the ram at max force tear those welds apart however. The stick machine might have given you better penetration with 6010/6011, but it's still way under powered.

Most of the welds look cold. With that mass to suck up heat I wouldn't be surprised to see almost all the weld on the surface only with little to no penetration of the base regardless of what little bevel you used.

The bar stock also looks like it might have been galvanized or coated with something. I see a funky crystal like residue on a couple of edges of the weld. This is especially noticeable in the first couple of picts in post #3. I also see a dark residue on the beads in some picts. I can't tell if you cleaned the welds for some picts and the others are before cleaning or if it's just from the camera flash not going off. If so I would expect to find that the welds have trapped contaminates and inclusions possibly.

Sorry to be so harsh. Looks like you tried to do a nice job but your machine may not have been big enough to do what you wanted. I'd like to see the whole thing all together and understand why you chose an angled upright. As said it it's strictly for light work it may get by.

Good luck.

[browny]

I'm similarly intrigued by the angled supports. As per the above it looks like it would create massive stresses on the joint.

[David R]

Ya need a third leg.....


Post 3 pic #2. The weld is too small for the size of the steel. The fillet should have legs 3/4 the size of the plate. If that is 3/4 square, the legs of the fillet should be 5/8" long. If you look at the joint, it goes right into the crater from the weld....Looks like a good place to break. Your welds look good especially for flux core. Just too small for the steel. A bevel would help, pre heat would help too.

All a round its a good project, fitup is good, but the stress thing.....Its gonna bend or break. The ram has to push straight into the base. I"m guessing that is a 4 ton porta power. Press something and see if the steel bends or the welds give first. I see in the pics you veed out the corners some.

Perhaps if you Veed out each joint so you could go 1/2 way in from each side. MO heat

David

[weldbead]

ditto all the above concerns ..a lot more v groove and a lot more passes would give better heat bui;dup andf penetration./...you need more welder
also id have positioineed the upright firther back on the base so it spanned across the butt wled and reinforced it..

[aczeller]

i have the same welder. i love the little thing, but it fails in this department by far. i would have cut the pieces with a slight angle on the edges and run multiple passes. also, "D" heat setting and about 3-3.5 wire feed rate. that's just my machine though.

individually, the beads look like they need a little work, but look pretty good. i can't say a whole lot as mine aren't perfect either, but just takes practice. i would try to slow down a bit, make sure you are pushing, rather than dragging (it DOES make a difference with flux-core, even with no gas), and try to make all of your welds in the flat position. the fillets that you had seemed to be vertical up. re-position the work and run them flat if you can. it will give more control to you.

just my thoughts.

Later,
Andy

[MoonRise]

Ditto all the above concerns about the angled uprights (introduces bending into the frame) and the iffy welds from the underpowered-for-the-metal-thickness welder.

3/4 thick bar/plate takes some -serious- amps to weld. Even with some major (which you did not do) V-prep and preheating, a 120V MIG/FCAW 90A output machine just doesn't have enough POWER to make welds that are adequate for that thickness of metal.

Heck, I wasn't all that happy with the weld beads with my 120V FCAW/GMAW machine on 1/8 inch thick stock (FCAW barely OK, GMAW was underpowered), and definitely didn't think they were adequate on 1/4 inch stock. No Way would they be adequate on 3/4 inch stock!

You should have bolted/dowel-pinned the bar pieces together if all you have welder-wise are some 120V units. At least there you can calculate a bit better what the strength of the joint is, and not have to rely on guessing if your welds are adequate or not.

The good news is that because the pictures generally turned out decently we are able to see the weld problems. Like the weird frosty granulation at the edges of some of the welds, the weld beads pretty much sitting on top of the stock, the weld ending craters, the welds not flowing around the bar corners to make the weld smooth and mostly continuous, etc.

Some of your weld beads look 'better' (more uniform and more even bead/ripple size, not too much spatter) than some 'factory' welds. But they still aren't big enough for the size of the bar used (3/4 inch bar is pretty thick).

[David R]

If that vertical up weld was done in position, I owe you a beer.

Pull or back hand only, push can include slag in your weld.

"If its got slag, drag it"

Show us some more.

David

[STwelder]

Again thanks for looking at the welds. And yes some were cleaned with hand wire brush [ in a hurry to post].
Since hearing the reviews and thinking on the suggestions of you fellow welders ladies too. I have decided to add some braces to the uprights for more strength. Cut them tonight bevel and weld tomarrow. Thought it's only for car and small truck universal joints. And the occasional race out of a rotor for small car and truck. I still wouldn't want it to break and hurt anyone self included. I got the idea from one I saw here on the web some where.... I will post the pics of the braces tomorrow and the image of were I got the idea from for the angled supports. The Vertical up was done after changing wire speed to 3 David, then the next Vert up was not so good thanks for looking everyone pics tomarrow.

[denrep]

Stwelder, A few suggestions if you're going for a major rework.

Some strength could be gained by turning the top 3/4 x 1-1/4 bridge on edge, so that the cylinder pushes on the 3/4" wide side; Or possibly use two of the plates on edge

Also you may consider making the bed from two vertical pieces which straddle the outside of the uprights. This will add strength and make it easier to set-up work, since longer pieces, such as shafts or bearings, can be pressed into the opening.

Also if you made the bed or top bridge vertically adjustable, press opening height could be sized to better suite various work. Maybe equally spaced flags welded as adjustable supports for the moveable head or bed?

Without a fixed bed, the frame may want to spread with heavy work, some sort of a strut or brace system will be in order; even if only a chain and binder.

Not trying to nitpick, just suggesting that with a few modifications of what you already have, the press could be made much stronger and more versatile.

Good Luck