Durability of Stick Welding Tacks

[Morakot]

Could some metal worker/ welder please advise me?

 

I had an old sliding gate replaced with a new one. The company suggested to weld a new bottom rail on top of the old rail, which I thought was a reasonable idea. However I assumed they would do a continuous seam, welding these two rails together and not just tack them.

 

The top of the new rail is now slightly more than one inch (2.54 cm) above floor level and the tacks in the centre are about 30 cm apart and at side about 5 cm apart. Most tacks appear to be done from either one or the other side.

 

Will this be sufficiently durable for a modern car to drive over it twice a day?

 

Pictures below for further details of the fabrication.

Edited July 17 by Morakot

[stubuzz]

38 minutes ago, Morakot said:

Will this be sufficiently durable for a modern car to drive over it twice a day?

No. This will fail.

 

Welded 1 inch in every 4 would be ideal in the areas to be driven over. 

 

Edit. Is that stainless? If so, not a great idea to weld dissimilar metals without the correct filler rod, which, i am sure they did not use.

Edited July 17 by stubuzz

[stubuzz]

41 minutes ago, Morakot said:

The company suggested to weld a new bottom rail on top of the old rail, which I thought was a reasonable idea. However I assumed they would do a continuous seam, welding these two rails together and not just tack them.

 

To save them time and work.

[Alan alpine]

12 hours ago, stubuzz said:

No. This will fail.

 

Welded 1 inch in every 4 would be ideal in the areas to be driven over. 

 

Edit. Is that stainless? If so, not a great idea to weld dissimilar metals without the correct filler rod, which, i am sure they did not use.

Agree

 

12 hours ago, stubuzz said:

No. This will fail.

 

Welded 1 inch in every 4 would be ideal in the areas to be driven over. 

 

Edit. Is that stainless? If so, not a great idea to weld dissimilar metals without the correct filler rod, which, i am sure they did not use.

Agree with you on that

[sometimewoodworker]

14 hours ago, stubuzz said:

Edit. Is that stainless? If so, not a great idea to weld dissimilar metals without the correct filler rod, which, i am sure they did not use.

I have no idea why you make that assumption. Multiple filler rods are widely available 

15 hours ago, Morakot said:

However I assumed they would do a continuous seam

Incorrect assumption. It would not have been a good job if the did

15 hours ago, Morakot said:

Will this be sufficiently durable for a modern car to drive over it twice a day?

No. The tacks are poorly attached on many of the pictures.

 

They should have been followed by proper short welds 

 

generally tacks are just to prevent movement until the correct weld is performed 

[AgMech Cowboy]

16 hours ago, stubuzz said:

Is that stainless? If so, not a great idea to weld dissimilar metals without the correct filler rod, which, i am sure they did not use.

I think you're right, which is why they just tack welded it instead of a full bead. It looks to me the wrong metal and possible the wrong amperage, too.  I've no solution (I don't know any welders in Thailand anymore) for your problem, but I see it as a problem just as stubuzz did.

[Morakot]

 

21 hours ago, stubuzz said:

Is that stainless? If so, not a great idea to weld dissimilar metals without the correct filler rod

 

Presumably it is stainless. The gate frame is 304.

 

No idea if they used the correct filler.

[Morakot]

6 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Incorrect assumption. It would not have been a good job if the did

My knowledge of welding is having watched a few YouTube videos 'For entertainment purposes only'. 😆

 

Why would a continuous weld be not good here?

 

 

[Morakot]

The good news my friends --as I've only paid for material up front-- they are coming back to complete the job!

Edited July 18 by Morakot

[itsari]

Better to take up the old rail and cement in the new rail.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

4 hours ago, Morakot said:

My knowledge of welding is having watched a few YouTube videos 'For entertainment purposes only'. 😆

 

Why would a continuous weld be not good here?

The problem with a continuous weld is the serious amount of heat that will be transferred and that will warp the rods, that combined with the fact that there is no benefit in having a 250,000 PSI weld if all you need is a 5,000 PSI weld

[sometimewoodworker]

3 hours ago, itsari said:

Better to take up the old rail and cement in the new rail.

 

There is no guarantee that doing that will a better result, or even one half as good.

[itsari]

4 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

There is no guarantee that doing that will a better result, or even one half as good.

Far better result if the gate is sliding low as possible.

[Ralf001]

Yeah as many have said... those tacks no good.

If it were me I would stich weld 30/150/30/150/30/150/ etc etc.

[rocketboy2]

Get the lazy sods back and tell them to finish the job off.

Not hard to do for them.

 

[thaibeachlovers]

On 7/18/2024 at 1:24 AM, Morakot said:

I had an old sliding gate replaced with a new one. The company suggested to weld a new bottom rail on top of the old rail, which I thought was a reasonable idea. However I assumed they would do a continuous seam, welding these two rails together and not just tack them.

 

The top of the new rail is now slightly more than one inch (2.54 cm) above floor level and the tacks in the centre are about 30 cm apart and at side about 5 cm apart. Most tacks appear to be done from either one or the other side.

 

Will this be sufficiently durable for a modern car to drive over it twice a day?

However I assumed they would do a continuous seam, welding these two rails together and not just tack them.

IMO not good practice to do a continuous weld that long. Has to be proper welds though, not just tacks.

 

Will this be sufficiently durable for a modern car to drive over it twice a day?

If it was my gate I'd put wood strips slightly higher than the rail either side to take the car weight. Secured to the floor of course.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 7/18/2024 at 1:24 AM, Morakot said:

I had an old sliding gate replaced with a new one. The company suggested to weld a new bottom rail on top of the old rail, which I thought was a reasonable idea. However I assumed they would do a continuous seam, welding these two rails together and not just tack them.

 

The top of the new rail is now slightly more than one inch (2.54 cm) above floor level and the tacks in the centre are about 30 cm apart and at side about 5 cm apart. Most tacks appear to be done from either one or the other side.

 

Will this be sufficiently durable for a modern car to drive over it twice a day?

However I assumed they would do a continuous seam, welding these two rails together and not just tack them.

IMO not good practice to do a continuous weld that long. Has to be proper welds though, not just tacks.

 

Will this be sufficiently durable for a modern car to drive over it twice a day?

If it was my gate I'd put wood strips slightly higher than the rail either side to take the car weight. Secured to the floor of course.

[thaibeachlovers]

27 minutes ago, rocketboy2 said:

Get the lazy sods back and tell them to finish the job off.

Not hard to do for them.

 

Someone didn't read all the posts!

[thaibeachlovers]

On 7/18/2024 at 6:11 PM, AgMech Cowboy said:

I think you're right, which is why they just tack welded it instead of a full bead. It looks to me the wrong metal and possible the wrong amperage, too.  I've no solution (I don't know any welders in Thailand anymore) for your problem, but I see it as a problem just as stubuzz did.

My wife got a company to put a new gate on the carport. It fell off the next day as they didn't clean the steel and the tack weld on the hinge fell off.

Luckily I can weld, so she borrowed a welder and I re did all the welds properly.

Not sure if DIY is the solution to the OP's problem. Does take a while to learn to weld properly.

Edited July 21 by thaibeachlovers

[rocketboy2]

You can tell the people who did welding for a living and those who are DIY experts. 

Good day.

 

[Dante99]

19 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If it was my gate I'd put wood strips slightly higher than the rail either side to take the car weight. Secured to the floor of course.

Not necessary.  Really quite overboard.  Rail installed for 35 years no problem.  Typical installation.

[DrukenMallardy]

your contractors clearly don't know how to weld..........

 

might as well just pick up a cheap MIG machine and do it yourself.

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/kovet-3-migmaalift-tig-mig-160s-1-i5000222243.html?spm=a2o4m.searchlist.list.28.15447a24rZTywy

[sometimewoodworker]

On 7/22/2024 at 11:41 AM, DrukenMallardy said:

might as well just pick up a cheap MIG machine and do it yourself.

You need TIG for most SS welding, though gas MIG is certainly possible but stick is rather difficult 

[DrukenMallardy]

gas MIG is pretty convenient these days for stainelss steel.

 

just use flux-core wire with gas, pretty cheap these days too.

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/mig-kovet-e308lt1-1-08-mm-1-kg-i4778906838-s19721474636.html?from_gmc=1&fl_tag=1&exlaz=d_1:mm_267901075_123352851_2082402906::12:21408809930!163930583436!!!aud-2190252777243:pla-2296299443258!c!2296299443258!19721474636!533636006!!!Cj0KCQjwt4a2BhD6ARIsALgH7DrG6-i8ku8rcontXaXn_H4C45oN9pa55_M576zLoQoQh0odv0k-qoEaAs6YEALw_wcB!0AAAAADxEOcb9CGkyR4O2BUztyeWaZyNYO&is_monet=1&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwt4a2BhD6ARIsALgH7DrG6-i8ku8rcontXaXn_H4C45oN9pa55_M576zLoQoQh0odv0k-qoEaAs6YEALw_wcB