Making My Own Sparks

A couple times ago when I was out mowing the yard on the tractor I noticed that one of the wheels that serve to keep the mower deck off the ground was a bit askew. I had a look and it seemed to have developed a crack.

This was the state of affairs after I unmounted the mower from underneath the tractor.

If you look towards the back, there’s even a bit of MIG wire that was still present under the paint. Jeez… you would figure that someone would take the care to at least grind out the mess!

I guess that was my next task:

Yes, this is still a work in progress shot. But the crack is quite apparent.

Let me take a step back for a moment. Over the weekend I picked up a welder! The one I got was from Harbor Freight. I know, I know. For a starter welder, you can do way worse than a 120/240V multi-process welder.

I wanted to get a machine that I can play with and would be better than me. I got some welding rod as well as a flux-cored MIG wire. I figure for this application, given the penetration I need, that stick would be the better process. I know it’s a harder process than MIG, which has been described as “metal glue stick.”

I had a bit of 90º stock that I used to practice on. I had some E6013 rod in both 3/32” as well as 1/8” in stock to play with. I think I didn’t have enough beans to run the 1/8” rod.

Here’s the start of the welding process!

…a bit of grinding… (again, work in progress)

There’s an old adage: “grinder and paint make me the welder I ain’t.” Truer words haven’t been spoken.

Before painting I gave the assembly a few good thwacks from a mini sledge hammer and nothing broke or exploded! I call that a victory!

I had a bit of blow-through on the top where I ground a bit too much. I was able to fill it in, messily, with the machine on a lower current to lower the heat. It’s not perfect, but I think this solves the problem better than whoever touched this last.