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Practice and preparation produce better athletes and welds

“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” –Dwight D. Eisenhower

In 2013, right before the first of my four arm surgeries, I started working on a Triumph motorcycle project. Miller Electric was coming to my shop to film some “how-to” videos, and one of them was going to be about an oil tank I was building from scratch.

I’d never built an oil tank for a bike, and I don’t do a lot of open butt aluminum joints in my day-to-day work, so I did some research and a bit of practicing before they broke out the cameras.

Being in prototype work, I typically do not do the same thing over and over again. To get sharp and stay sharp, I often weld on many materials on different joints in varying positions during my downtime. You can’t expect to create topnotch work if you don’t put in the time, no matter how talented you are.

I’ve mentioned it before, but I like to use baseball as an example. I’m a huge Tigers fan. Miguel Cabrera is widely considered the best hitter in the game, maybe of our generation, and perhaps even one of the greatest to ever lace up a pair of cleats. For all he’s accomplished, if you get to one of his games early enough you’ll still see him taking batting practice. Before every one of the 150 to 162 regular-season games he plays, he practices. He’s also noted for having a very high “baseball IQ.” He studies pitchers’ tendencies, he pays attention to how they attack him, and he adapts quickly. He plans. He prepares.

These activities translate to welding and fabrication more easily than many think. When jumping into a new project, I like to prepare as well.

In this case, I looked into what grade of aluminum I should use. I settled on 5052 because of its high fatigue strength and because it’s easy to form.

For filler rod I decided to go with 4043. It isn’t quite as ductile as 5356, but it has better crack resistance. If I were to anodize the tank, it wouldn’t color-match as well as 5356, but I wasn’t going to anodize it. Strength on butt welds is similar between the two; 4043 is better at elevated (above 150 degrees) temps, and it produces a more attractive weld. All things considered, 4043 was my choice.

Then came the practice. I didn’t draw the tank out, but I had an idea in my head of how I wanted it to look with the long edges rounded. So going with the butt welds along the side was a decision based on style.

Getting 100 percent penetration on these welds was the goal. I picked the brains of a few of my followers on Instagram for tips, guys who do nothing but weld aluminum to nuke specs all day, every day, and then I put together some trial pieces.

Early practice piece; top half is the backside of the welds sanded down to show penetration.

After a night of practicing I was able to consistently get the welds how I wanted them. That’s another nice thing about prototype; experiences in different projects tend to carry over. While I may not do miles of aluminum butt joints, I’ve done enough similar work over the years that the hand/eye and muscle memory kick in and make for efficient practice.

So while I actually fabricated my first-ever oil tank with the film rolling, my preparations made for a relatively smooth first take and a product that should pass muster.

Like an athlete studying film and warming up for his opponent, I put in the time to make sure the project came out a winner.

All images courtesy of Brown Dog Welding.

About the Author
Brown Dog Welding

Josh Welton

Owner, Brown Dog Welding

(586) 258-8255