Rate my rock slider installation ?

[audiness]

Not bad at all for a newb welder. Looks better than my TG sliders did!

One thing I have read many times on the interwebs but do not have the experience or engineering degree to confirm, is that you should avoid vertical welds on the frame as they cause a weak point where cracking can occur. Any plate welded to the frame should be diamond shaped or triangular instead of rectangular--or so I have heard. But there are also lots of companies selling sliders with rectangular frame plates, so it may be that the danger is overstated. Either way, too late to turn back now! Just a random comment

I read that too, and it worried me a bit, but rectangular /up and down was the only way the plates would fit on the frame. Apparently that only applies to heat-treated frames , like those found on big rigs i guess.

 

[mountain mike]

Not bad at all for a newb welder. Looks better than my TG sliders did!

One thing I have read many times on the interwebs but do not have the experience or engineering degree to confirm, is that you should avoid vertical welds on the frame as they cause a weak point where cracking can occur. Any plate welded to the frame should be diamond shaped or triangular instead of rectangular--or so I have heard. But there are also lots of companies selling sliders with rectangular frame plates, so it may be that the danger is overstated. Either way, too late to turn back now! Just a random comment

I'm not in anyway an engineer or fabricator, I took my sliders to a fab shop to be welded. But the diamond statement doesn't make sense to me. I would think if frame metal would fail from the sliders it would come from a hard impact to the slider. That would be from the bottom. If the force was pushing the slider up it want to tear at the bottom of the mount. If you did diamond it would start to tear at the point of the diamond. I would think it would be better to have a larger surface area there. But that is my uneducated opinion, well educated but my degree is in marketing, and I work in banking, so basically uneducated...

And the sliders look great to me. Hell of a lot better than I could have done. Good work.

 

[v_man]

I can't tell if that's 3/16" or 1/4" but the machine recommends '5' on the power and 45 on the speed setting, I would have upped your settings a little, but the welds look pretty nice. I definitely would have used a longer gusset, the surface area that little wedge is supporting isn't doing much for your strength...but nice job.

 

[Unner]

Not bad at all for a newb welder. Looks better than my TG sliders did!

One thing I have read many times on the interwebs but do not have the experience or engineering degree to confirm, is that you should avoid vertical welds on the frame as they cause a weak point where cracking can occur. Any plate welded to the frame should be diamond shaped or triangular instead of rectangular--or so I have heard. But there are also lots of companies selling sliders with rectangular frame plates, so it may be that the danger is overstated. Either way, too late to turn back now! Just a random comment

I've heard this before too. That's why BAMF uses some strangely shaped frame plates. I believe there are no straight lines on their's, only curves. If I recall correctly they're shaped almost like a peanut.

 

[KidVermicious]

I was under the impression that 110v capable welders usually wouldn't cut it for stuff like 1/4" steel used for plate bumpers and such?

I've welded quarter inch with my 110v Lincoln. It took a couple tries to get it down, I'm sure it's different for each machine and I wouldn't recommend trying it unless you're confident in your basic skills. And that's with flux core, I've heard actual MIG doesn't penetrate quite as well and might not cut it. But welding quarter inch with a 110 machine is certainly doable.

 

[Mighty Buffalo]

I know I've seen lots of guys weld plates onto the frame and then the slider onto the plates. Also, I recall shops not welding all four sides of the slider, I think the top was left clear. Can't recall why but it was preferred for some reason.

My guess is crack growth propagation. If it's a continuous weld, a crack can split along the entire weld. If they're separate, it is more difficult for a crack to propagate.