Boat trailer crank handle TIG weld repair (jakeru's #4)

I did a quick job today repairing a cracked hand crank handle for a boat trailer.
Attachment 2467

It looked like it was a weak weld (poor penetration) from original manufacturer. It cracked right through the original weld.
Attachment 2466

I scarfed out the discontinuities and nasty corroded pockets underneath the surface with an angle grinder, and deposited fresh ER70S6 in its place.
Attachment 2465

Nothing too fancy. Repair proceeded pretty much as you would expect. Wish I got an "after" picture of a weld bead. You can see in the pic above, I had just started applying a bead before the picture.

I considered using 309L filler rod instead of mild steel. Both would be strong. Customer said he used the boat (power boat) only in fresh water, not in salt water. And was going to paint afterward. So I went with 70S6.

Including prep time and welding, I'm going to say I turned this around in about 25-30 minutes. The customer was out in his car by the time I remember to take an "after" pic. But you might imagine, I basically filled in a "cone shaped" area of weld deposit. Massively stronger than it was before. I put some effort into ensuring no undercutting especially right as the weld transitioned to the small diameter portion of the shaft.

I discovered it was convenient to have the crank handle mechanism available to rotate the weld as I progressed the bead. ( Kind of like having a built-in, hand operated rotational welding positioner. :P )

Since the customer said he basically cranked on it until it started bending (and then bent it back before bringing it in to me), I advised the customer to apply some grease/lube on it as well; it was seeming kind of dry.

Oh yeah, I did take a couple breaks mid way through the weld deposition, as the nearby paint got "smoking hot", and gave some gentle compressed air to allow the work to cool down somewhat. I did this to minimize the amount of heat related collateral damage. I managed to only damage a little paint on the shaft on either side of the weld area.

I did use pulsing, as I am kind of in the habit of using it whenever performing low-medium amp DC welds, to help my auto darkening helmet trigger more reliably. It has the side benefit of allowing reduced heat input as well.

It's funny that you mention the auto darkening problem. I had a plain ole HF auto darkener that I had been using for 5+ years. When I started tigging I found that sometimes it would drop out unexpectedly or fail to darken at all when doing low amperage tig. I finally switched to a four sensor snap on hood that I think is actually made by jackson. no problems since then. I only wish it would accommodate a cheater lens. Right now I'm using the 3x flip up reading glasses from HF. I just slip them on the inside of my hood an it's good enough.

good job man!
WT, how do you like your snap on helmet? i recently got one, and its amazingly clear compared to the old 40$ ebay helmet i bought years ago..lmao..then again, its 8X as expensive..lmao

As long as I have the pulsing turned on when low-amp DC TIG welding, I have no problems with Harbor Freight autodarkening helmet. And I haven't found a DC TIG joint that didn't like a little pulsing, so it hasn't been a problem.

Maybe it's one of those things I have to try a better helmet actually welding to appreciate it? I have tried on a few high-dollar helmets in the local welding supplies. Top-of-the-line Miller (at first really disliked the ratcheting mechanism, after trying again later might be able to get used to it), top-of-the-line speedglass (really disliked the economy speedglass), etc.

A welding helmet does come down to a certain level of "personal vanity", but I am not so vain of a guy, you know, I'd rather take better performance than better looks. :P Would much rather put my $ towards something that will certainly improve my welds... such as, a bottle of helium shielding gas to try for really thick aluminum jobs. Or, maybe a super-large gas lens cup setup for stainless jobs where oxidation-free is desired, etc.

Incidentally, I had the opportunity to try using helium as a shielding gas for the first time last week. It was pure helium and I dont have a gas mixer. The results were... less than spectacular. That exercise was purely academic and pretty much for grins. If it became necessary, I would definitely use a helium/argon mix. The welds were ok once cleaned up, I tried both DCEN and AC. There is a pretty good thread over on WW about using DCEN with helium for aluminum, so I just had to try it. They have a couple of nice miller helmets at the shop, but something about the tint of the lens I don't like. I just knew that I needed a four sensor helmet and bought the first one the tool guy could produce and so far so good.