Laying down weld on cutting surface,buckets,teeth

[LandscapeMan]

Hi guys, I just found your forum, looks great.
I want to lay bead down on the cutting surface (edges etc) of my mini excavator ( a very heavy duty 2' bucket to handle about 6K lb plus break out force) , So the weld gets worn away instead of my precious metal. I have seen this done on heavy equipment blades. And Ditch Witch cutting edges come with some ugly craggy weld on the cutting edges for cutting through rock and hard ground. Has anyone tried this?

I ARC welded a new cutting edge onto my mini skid steer FEL bucket out of 2 heavy plow shears from the TSC store.
Came out well and worked great.

Thanks,
Charlie

 

[daedong]

charlie

if you go to a welding supply store you will be able to get some rods used for hard faceing. I have hard faced shears on cultivators many time with great success. However they are not the easiest rods to weld with but if you can weld a little you will not have any trouble.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Those welds you see on heavy equipment aren't just welds.

It's a process called "hardfacing". When it's done in a shop it can be sprayed on with an oxy acetylene process. I was talking to a guy the other day who does it with a mig turned up so hot that it's almost like a spray. He told me he's laying it on so hot that instead of conventional gas he uses compressed air.

When you go to your welding supply and ask for hard facing rod they're going to ask you what you're using it on. Some varieties are for abrasion--impact, some for impact, some for abrasion, etc.

If finding hardfacing rod isn't as easy as it should be you can use the farmer's friend hard facing rod, plain old E7018.

I use Stoody for abrasion on my augers.

 

[kennyd]

Hello Charlie! Glad to see you here also!

Kenny

 

[theonlybull]

hard facing rod is readly avaible at any welding supply shop, it's not that hard to run, and it will improve the wear resistance of your cutting edge, 7018 will give you something to wear, but won't last like the hard surface rods.
go to the nearest welding supply place, and ask them, they will know what rods will suit your task, and they will give you some hints about putting it on.

if you have a mig, you can buy hardsurface wire, which takes no more heat then standard mild wire, and will stand up well, but it is rather pricey.

i do this for a living, and somedays our suppliers are our best friends, when your doing something out of the normal

 

[Egon]

Just as an addition the hard facing can also be used to build up worn cutting edges.

Egon

 

[MossRoad]

Welcome to TBN! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[LandscapeMan]

Thanks for all the great replys!!
Sorry I did not respond sooner. My folks have been with out water for a week. So I had to make a trip to the mountain to repair there well pump between snow storms.

Anyway, I am looking forward to trying out the hardfacing with my Arc Welder next time I visit the mountain. Kenny D and I are IDI Ford Buddy's. I did not realize this was the tractor board he is always talking about. I found it by putting
" backhoe bucket welding" in a search engine.

I am trying to get my "signature settings" to work so I can post what equipment I operate.

Thanks again,
Charlie

 

[accordionman]

SIR,
i would suggest using a copper backup strip. clamp it under the part
you are welding on so any weld that gets away will still be on the copper.
many years ago, i hardfaced the tines on a tiller, with hardex 45. i used
this method, and it worked fine. the copper was 1/8inch thick, which would
be the minimum thickness. you could use thicker material.
accordionman
william l. brown
wright city, mo.

 

[SPIKER]

You can weld using "Spray Arc" for the MIG, but most people won't have a machine near enough powerfull to pull it off in the MIG range, but like others said rod for arc welding is readly available and not too expensive... I use Copper back up material too, it works pretty well, also use a torce to pre-heat any large heavy parts you awnt to weld or else it will end up cracking out (the weld) and possably leaving you're cutting edge worse than not doing anything.

anyhow use the copper along the bottom edge and weld right aginst it onto the steel edge. works great as long as you keep the bead arc nice & HOT. the rod should be near shot by the time you get to with in 2" of the end. nice & glowing! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Mark M /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif