Making quick easy door flanges

[hephaestus]

This idea has a very clean look to it and like it a lot. But I can't find any where on this forum of what to do if your doors are going to go through patches. Or do you over all just avoid it all and go  below it or above it?

img013.jpg

• hephaestus
• Jul 23, 2013

 

[ribwizzard]

Usually, I try to keep any weld seams or welded in pipe boss's away from the cooking chamber door, placing them either to the bottom or rear where they are less visible.

If I absolutly have to patch over a pipe boss, instead of grinding it down and trying to fill it in with weld, I will take a hole saw and cut the complete boss including the weld from the area, then use a portion of the steel that was removed from the tank for the firebox connection, and matching the radius and using one size bigger hole saw, cut a section from that for a plug and weld it in with a series of spot welds and cooling it with wet shop rags so as not to warp anything. This is the best way that I know how to completely hide the patch from inside and out. There are some epoxies on the market with aluminum fillers that might work for a "body filler", but I have never used them in fear that the different compositions might expand and contract at different rates and eventually "pop out " of the patch.

 

[maple sticks]

This idea has a very clean look to it and like it a lot. But I can't find any where on this forum of what to do if your doors are going to go through patches. Or do you over all just avoid it all and go  below it or above it?

img013.jpg

• hephaestus
• Jul 23, 2013

I turned tank up side down and used openings for drain outlets.

 

[rikun]

Hey I have a quick question about the flanges. I'm a novice welder and fabricator, so this might sound dumb:

How big are the notches? They look quite small, around 1/2" long maybe? How about the spacing, it's hard to figure out the scale from the pictures.

 

[ribwizzard]

It really depends on the size of the door, 1/4" wide notch is usually all it takes to get a good spot weld in there, spaced out a few inches on the round ends, less on the straight.

 

[rikun]

Ok, thanks.

Can you think of any reason why stick welding wouldn't work? I haven't MIG welded, so I can't really compare them that much. I'd guess MIG produces less heat...?

 

[ribwizzard]

stick would work fine, as long as you have some skill with it.  I used nothing but stick welders for years, but nowadays, its hard to find anyone that can burn a rod decent.

 

[uga fan]

RW, I will definitely be using ur method on the door flanges! Do I need to heat the flanges up with a torch or will they bend easy enough cold?

 

[daveomak]

Bart...... If you are stick welding, I have used 3/32" 6013 for thin stuff.... worked good for me.... I wish I could remember if it was used electrode + or -.... one worked better than the other.... and it freezes very fast...

Dave

 

[ribwizzard]

I always use 1/8" flat bar for the flange, and have never had to heat it up, just start in the center and clamp and spot weld as you go. The only hard part is keeping the flange square so your lip is the same depth all the way along, but if you take your time to square it up before your first and second spot weld, it's easy enough. Even on only 3/16" doors, the 1/8" always gave enough not to have any problems.

When I would stick weld spot welds, I'd bust the flux off the rod half way down the rod and clamp the electroid holder in the center of the rod, that way I wasn't having to deal with such a long rod, then when it got too short , just rotate the holder and burn the 2nd half of the rod. And tap the rod on the concrete between spot welds to break a little of the flux back to give you a softer start.

Practice a little on some scrap first before welding on your door,

 

[uga fan]

My door cut is pretty straight, I'm thinking a tri-square will be perfect for setting this depth and keeping everything true!

 

[uga fan]

I can stick weld, but was probably gonna either TIG or MIG it. Mainly because I feel more comfortable with those two over stick.. Little rusty on burning rods!!

 

[ribwizzard]

I usually do all that kind of work with 0.30 mig, solid wire, Earlier it was asked about stick welding, thought I'd give some advise.

 

[uga fan]

Yeah I will use either .30 or .35 solid wire. Its hard to beat a good MIG setup!!

 

[ribwizzard]

I always think of those old world war 2 photos of women welding ships together with gas welding, hard to imagine how they built those things so fast...and that had to be heavy plate.....

 

[uga fan]

Yeah I know!! Too bad those women are now 90+, we could have them spitting out smokers left and right!!