I’m happy to say that the viewing distance of my TIG welds at which they could be mistaken for “good” welds is decreasing, gradually. Six months ago it might have been 15 meters, obscuring the embezzlement of most of my “stack of dimes” (welder’s term for an evenly rippled, well-executed weld bead) by unknown parties invisibly shaking my torch hand. Today it’s more like 3 or 4 meters, enough for the eyes to glaze over the tiny pinprick holes that I occasionally find in my finished weld beads, a sign that I was less than thoroughly vigilant in grinding the scale, rust or other impurities off of the steel before welding. I’ve found that if the parts aren’t completely clean (including the edges!), you’ll hear the sizzling of burning oils and contaminants under the arc, and your weld puddle will bubble like soda. This is happening to me less often these days though; I feel like I’m getting the hang of it.

I did some welding to start assembling the frame and suspension pieces in earnest this weekend. Progress was delayed by a very slight positioning error on a piece of box tube I’d welded to one of the frame side pieces. AustinEV member Mike Delany had a bandsaw large enough to allow me to run the entire piece through and neatly slice off the incorrectly positioned tube. After a bit of grinding I was ready to redo the weld, and I think it came out pretty well.

What separates an experienced welder from someone who occasionally dabbles with it is not just the skill to make an attractive weld. There’s also a bit of talent and experience involved in predicting how the metal will deform due to the heat of the weld, and either take steps to limit the distortion or account for it in some way. I was reminded of this today (and specifically, that I’m not very good at it), when a short 4-inch weld seam along one edge of a 2 inch wide strip of steel caused the strip to become just slightly curved. I can’t bend it back since the strip’s curvature is lateral, or sideways. But since I’ll need a similar seam along the other edge, hopefully I can convince it to bend itself back approximately straight by doing that weld in the same way. I can then even things out as I tack it along the lower edge of the frame’s side pieces.

Of course for a normal EV conversion, the required knowledge of welding is pretty basic, for putting together battery racks and motor mounts. Using MIG it can be learned in an afternoon or less. I’ve shown folks how to use MIG, and they were producing serviceable welds in a matter of minutes.

PIctures of this weekend’s work are under Frame Modifications, starting on page 2.