Chevy & GMC Vans

When I hooked up my trailer connector back in Sept to the Tahoe, I did a quicky crude install, no bracket so I just zipped tied it hanging under bumper. About 6 weeks ago, the brake controller came on when I let OFF the brakes. I read that it indicates a short somewhere. Well, the short was cause water was filling back of connector and corroding connections, suprised I didn't short out all my lights. I could only find a bracket in a connector kit, didn't want that so I decided to try to make my own. My coworker gave me a 220 ARC welder a while back, hooked it up, practiced on some scrap, and went at it.
I should have planned it a little better, hangs kind of low, but it looks decent and does the job.
Just need some more practice and and need to learn voltage settings and rods to use...wished it was a MIG though! Not too bad very first first welding experience, I'll get it down, my trailer needs some mods!

Here's bracket ready to be welded.....


After first pass, need to lower heat some and learned I need to V groove both sides more to get better penetration.


After some grinding, about ready to be painted


Finished product

Ain't nothin' wrong with that!

(And I sure wish I had a welder....)

Not bad for a first try. That bracket will stay there forever. A few tips from a really old welder person. 3/32 and 1/8 6011 rod will do 99% of every thing you'll do in automotive type fabrication. No more than 60 amps with the 3/32 and 70-90 amps with the 1/8. The thicker the metal the more amps. V grooving is for more surface area...Not penetration. Better penetration is created with more amps. Amps = heat. Lots of practice will make you a better welder.

looks good , ive self taught my self to weld at work with a arc and a mig welder , ive gotten pretty good actually.

Smiliesafari wrote:Not bad for a first try. That bracket will stay there forever. A few tips from a really old welder person. 3/32 and 1/8 6011 rod will do 99% of every thing you'll do in automotive type fabrication. No more than 60 amps with the 3/32 and 70-90 amps with the 1/8. The thicker the metal the more amps. V grooving is for more surface area...Not penetration. Better penetration is created with more amps. Amps = heat. Lots of practice will make you a better welder.

Well where were you when I learned-learning to weld? I always wanted to know what pressure on the Argon, Co on my mig and would you use Co only?

Smile, thanks for the advice. The welder I'm using is a very old Craftsman and has a variable dial on the front, goes from 30 to 250 amps....who knows what it is actually putting out as old as it is. I was also given a bunch of rods, I would imagine they have been around for a while, maybe some got moist as one will start up really quick, others won't hardly give a spark....I really need some new ones in a sealed container. The rods I have are 1/8 I believe and are marked 480? Not sure where they are from, but they do the best over the 6011 I have. My two pieces were butted together and they probably would have been better if I had V them. I ended up dropping to about 75 amps as the higher setting was burning through.
Anyway, thanks for replies!!!!

Looks good Marty,I'm sure you'll have plenty uses for it.

Practice, pracitce! Ditto on the V grooving. Mig is real easy, best with a CO2/Ar mix for shielding gas. I learned to braze first so I find I prefer TIG welding, I like total control over my heat and filler rod. If I'm in a hurry you can't beat a Mig.

Man,,good un for first time. Always nice that you can grind er down.
Nothing wrong with it, you got the job done and that's that.

It looks a lot better than my first try. I have improved and find the more I do the better I get. I got a auto darkening helmet a week or so back, but have not had the time to try it out. It will be nice to clearly see where I am starting the weld before it actually starts. I find with my other helmet I can see vague shadows and am getting pretty good at flipping it down just before I start the weld, but I have moved my hand sometimes as well (yes coordination is not one of my strong points) only to see that after the weld had started. Not a big deal usually, but sometime . . .

I wished I had an auto darkening, but cheapo me just got a flip down, will work for the minimual work I will do.
WORD OF WARNING...make sure you wear eye protection when doing grinding. I wear glasses, but got some minute pieces of my grinder in my eye...had to go to Urgent care on Sunday evening as my eye was killing me. Ended up having 3 scratches on my cornea and one black piece was actually embedded in the surface, he found 3 pieces of black specs in my eye, I figure from the cut off wheel I was using for grinding. My eye is stil hurting this morning, but at least I can keep it open. So much for just my glasses protecting me, have to use my side shields from now on.

BLAZER wrote:I wished I had an auto darkening, but cheapo me just got a flip down, will work for the minimual work I will do.
WORD OF WARNING...make sure you wear eye protection when doing grinding. I wear glasses, but got some minute pieces of my grinder in my eye...had to go to Urgent care on Sunday evening as my eye was killing me. Ended up having 3 scratches on my cornea and one black piece was actually embedded in the surface, he found 3 pieces of black specs in my eye, I figure from the cut off wheel I was using for grinding. My eye is stil hurting this morning, but at least I can keep it open. So much for just my glasses protecting me, have to use my side shields from now on.

BTDT. I now wear a full enclosed goggle over my glasses when grinding. Plus after I lit my beard on fire from a hot chunk of metal hitting my face I also wear a full face shield or my welding helmet with the lens flipped up. Better safe than sorry!

YOU LIT YOUR BEARD ON FIRE? Now that sounds like something you would see in a comic strip. Although, I've been burned seriously (16 days in the burn unit), I know it isn't funny. So, tell us. Is the beard still there or did you do some fire prevention and get rid of it? On the content of the thread, that's good advise. A full face shield beats a trip to the Dr. to get crap plucked out of your eyes. BTDT.