pulled from the hamb
We all discovered Sellers is one of the hottest welders out there recently. He also turns out to be one hell of a good guy. Rather than hoard the information about how he creates such beautiful art/welds, he asked me to share with the HAMB.
I asked him how he made his welds so smooth, how he made them look like they were grown that way instead of cobbled together, and this is what he said. Damn. Thanks agin Seller!
Thanks bro.. 1st its key fit,, 2nd a fusion weld you could sday,, then i'll build the weld ,, lets just say ,, I use the welder like filling it with bondo.. 3rd make sure you fill enough weld,, sometimes maybe alittle too much.. I'll get back to this.. then I'll well on tubing.. I'll use a cut off wheel.. using the edge of the wheel ,, up and down on the weld not across.. do this to the whole weld job..But only NOTE !!! the weld,, very softly ,, not full blast on the air.. it takes awhile.. don't run off the weld this is where you start the curve where the 2 joints meet.. then go in with a 2" roll lock disc on a 90 degree air grinder.. NOTE don't go full blast very softly.. massage it.. TRICK though,, on the rubber pad,, on the grinder,, I grind off the rubber pad I'll take off about a half inch all the way around.. This allows the disc to curve flow,, nothing hard on the disc when grinding I just use the tip of the disc,, jus the edge.. the disc only last a few secs.. cause the edge of the disc the strength of the disc will let go,, become flapy no good.. you'll go through a chit load,, I only use 80 grit and up,, anything less harsher you could say does more damage then good.. never 36,, or up always start with 80 grit.. Then when things are looking smooth.. By using the edge of the disc it will form the the design,, or should I say the way you 1st ground the weld with the cut off well,, you already started a curve where the 2 tubes join.. When starting to take shape.. I'll go back and grab all the worn 2" disc.. then I'll cut the edge of them,, maybe 6 points cut out pies ,, make a little star.. heres the trick.. those tips,, they'll go in and knock down all the high spots and form the the shape, this is where you can be aggressive,, flowing back and forth across the weld.. Then once coming together.. Now back to doing a full weld ,, like bondo.. its better to add more weld than not enough,, why if you have alow spot or little craters that weren't filled it's hard to go in and fill after,, this is where your skill has to be on.. yer talking,little specs that need to be filled,, or low spots.. then you must buzz off just that little weld,, sometimes you'll create more damage than what was there.. I hate when i see those little craters and when chroming.. they'll all show up.. Tight area's I do alote of hand filling,, small files big ,, different shaped files.. When ever I see used ones I'll grab them.. you can get a super rad set off the snap on truck.. they Rule.. When all done ,, I'll go back through with a D.A sander,, being a little more aggressive. This flows alote,, the D.A pad is soft and counters it all.. once it looks good.. I'll wet it,, W.D/ 40 I use light , I watch the way the light shines and creates a bright line,, if the line squiggle's ,, Hmm somethings wrong.. I use this technique, on all my sheet metal work.. Think about it.. if the light creates a squiggle line theres a low,, or a ripple ,, or the flow isn't there continuously, you know what i mean.. the light ,, and lines will never lie.. Soo once D.A ed is done.. I'll go back through all the welds with a 2" Scotch Brit pad on a 90 degree wheel doing a x pattern or just flow across all the tubing,, remember when taking material off the weld,, and only the weld you have to flow the 2 pieces of metal together,, you don't want to stay in one place,, this you want to do fast,, but not to fast,, again massaging the area.. i use Brown Scotch Brit disc's little harsh,, this will polish the weld the 2 tubes to Chrome, again,, on and off the air,, flow it,, you see it all come to shape,, once done ,, i'll go back through and polish by hand,, All those used pieces of D.A paper that were 80 grit or now maybe around 90, or a 100 ,,Sand by hand.. Final finish Red Scotch Brit pad by hand,, though this time,, using W.D 40.. Wipe clean.. POOO DIZ OWE!. I hope this helps you guys,, again a cheap ASS!,, Home Depot 90 Degree grinder,, a small palm sander to get into tight places.. some small files,, sand paper,,2" Scotch Brit discs for the 90 Degree grinder..and 2" 80 grit disc's W.D/40 and thats pretty much it.. Cutting and fitting the tubing a whole other story,, but again its easy,,,I'll show pics of a little jig I fab to holds the pipe in place,, simply little thing,, it will allow you to rotate up/down side to side ,, kinda like a spherical ball going out of control, It worked well on Geoff's TRJ Roadster.. I 'll tell more later.. but just ask.. I don't know it all I jus know what works best for me.. seems to work.. Thanks again for the ?'s ~S
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a.k.a. Sambone
I fergot to add this,, Notching tubing,, I dont use that joint jigger chit,, one cut thats it,, you it too short yer F!@!@#$ed,, I'll allways leave a " or a 1/2 inch of material,, then grind to it,, I use a cheap oll belt sander,, modified the end of it,, machined down diferrent O'D's of tubing, (outer Dia),, like these headers were alitle over 2" on the main pipe,, I'll use the end of the belt sander to grind down the tubing, the nwhen closing the gabs tight , I'll use again 90 degree 2" disc 80 grit,, slowly massage it,, low rpms,, now yer on a edge,, 16 gage metal,, press to hard you'll explode disc.. and da chit goes everywhere,,
"You Can't Buy Cool"
