Welding cromoly steel

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banks412

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Hey guys,

I got two donor bikes today to begin the process of building my first ever tall bike. After looking over one of the donor bikes, I realized it says the frame is cromoly steel. I've read from a few folks that welding cromoly steel is not easy. I'm a first time welder and have always wanted to learn to weld/do basic fabrication and was hoping this tall bike would be a great way to learn. Is this something I can do, or should I trash the frame and look for a different one?

Thanks in advance guys,
Tim
 
It takes patients...........find some old K-Mart bikes (Walmart, Sears, Department stores type bikes) , the steel is easy to weld. Don't trash what you have there might be some good parts on them. Have some fun with it and good luck.

Graylock
 
Thanks you guys - what I was planing to try and do since I'm on a tight budget was get a $109 cheapo arc welder from Harbor Freight to try and do this project. Will arc welding do the trick?

So sorry for my ignorance - I know nothing about welding. Yet. Hoping this would be a great learning experience...
 
stick welding on chromoly bike tubes ..even with the 1/16th rod is really difficult, most of it is butted, so if you cut it up its extremely thin ... :roll:
 
Gotcha -thanks. I thought it sounded or 'felt' thinner than the mild steel frame I got along with it, if that makes any sense. I guess I'll hold on to it and keep looking...dang!
 
I just got a mig wire feed welder from Northern tools for $149 on sale from $189, I don't expect it to last for too long, but for now it seems to work just fine. It only uses flux wire, but the cheapest gas set up I've seen is over $500. once you get a bottle and other stuff needed to run shielding gas. I tried arc welding and got NOWHERE!!
 
In my opinion, the only way to get proper welding, especially for beginner, on bicycle frames is to use shielded gas. I use Mig machine. It is expensive to start with, but it's the easiest and in the long run cheapest way. Tig or Mig are best, gas/oxygen, sticks and flux wire are much harder to get good strong weld with, although I know people who've managed to get good welds with all of them. There are many nice videos on Youtube showing welding and advising equipment.
 
I'd love to start out with the best option for projects like this, but unfortunately money is a factor, if not THE factor, so I've got to go with and learn how to use the cheapest option, regardless of how frustrating it might be. Hopefully I'll be able to figure things out.

I got another MTB free last night. Guy told me it was steel. It's aluminum. DANGIT!! Mild steel frames are harder to come by than I thought! The search continues...
 
andsetinn said:
In my opinion, the only way to get proper welding, especially for beginner, on bicycle frames is to use shielded gas. I use Mig machine. It is expensive to start with, but it's the easiest and in the long run cheapest way. Tig or Mig are best, gas/oxygen, sticks and flux wire are much harder to get good strong weld with, although I know people who've managed to get good welds with all of them. There are many nice videos on Youtube showing welding and advising equipment.
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I don't agree with that really. I have been welding for a while now and have used stick, mig and flux over my years. I use a flux welder just for ease of use. I don't have to worry about filling gas or welding outside in windy conditions and I can easily take the welder anywhere and have 110v power. I've never had a problem with welds not being strong enough or getting strong welds. If you have to proper training you'll be able to weld with just about anything you are taught with. I used to do a lot of motorcycle work and you'd hear guys on forums all day long saying you could not stick weld a motorcycle frame and knew guys that built some awesome frames using nothing but a stick welder and his welds looked better than most of the mig welded frames I'd see.
 
The thing is, I'm looking to learn to weld really for nothing more than to make some fun project bikes and things like that. I'm not trying to rebuild the Empire State Building with the thing. I saw a flux core wire feed welding rig on Harbor Freight for $120 on sale. I think I'll wait till I get a coupon and it's on sale again and go for it. Looks right up my alley...

Thanks again for all the input guys!! Now if I could only find those dang bike frames...
 
banks412 said:
The thing is, I'm looking to learn to weld really for nothing more than to make some fun project bikes and things like that. I'm not trying to rebuild the Empire State Building with the thing. I saw a flux core wire feed welding rig on Harbor Freight for $120 on sale. I think I'll wait till I get a coupon and it's on sale again and go for it. Looks right up my alley...

Thanks again for all the input guys!! Now if I could only find those dang bike frames...
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Keep your eye on Toolking.com too. I got a Hobart Flux welder reconditioned for $212 shipped and it's a much better machine than the HF or Lincoln style fluxes you get in the big box stores.
 
daniels said:
andsetinn said:
In my opinion, the only way to get proper welding, especially for beginner, on bicycle frames is to use shielded gas. I use Mig machine. It is expensive to start with, but it's the easiest and in the long run cheapest way. Tig or Mig are best, gas/oxygen, sticks and flux wire are much harder to get good strong weld with, although I know people who've managed to get good welds with all of them. There are many nice videos on Youtube showing welding and advising equipment.
Click to expand...
I don't agree with that really. I have been welding for a while now and have used stick, mig and flux over my years. I use a flux welder just for ease of use. I don't have to worry about filling gas or welding outside in windy conditions and I can easily take the welder anywhere and have 110v power. I've never had a problem with welds not being strong enough or getting strong welds. If you have to proper training you'll be able to weld with just about anything you are taught with. I used to do a lot of motorcycle work and you'd hear guys on forums all day long saying you could not stick weld a motorcycle frame and knew guys that built some awesome frames using nothing but a stick welder and his welds looked better than most of the mig welded frames I'd see.
Click to expand...

You're right, but. Banks412 says he's not a good welder. He actually says that he's a first time welder. I'm not professional but I've used all of the methods I mentioned and IMHO the Mig with shielding gas is by far the easiest for a beginner. I've watched professional welder make perfect weld on a steering arm in a Land Cruiser, outside, in a snowstorm, on a glacier, using sticks, start cables and 3 car batteries. I've seen perfect weld that the same professional welder made underwater. I need many more years of experience and a lot more of talent before trying to do any of that. One thing to consider is that roll of Flux wire is usually much more expensive than regular roll of wire.

The most important thing is probably to make sure you have good ventilation when you're welding :) . Also do a search on Youtube for welding videos, watch the technique for welding and see what equipment people are using.
 
I f you really want to spend your money wisely than I would suggest that you find an adult education class. Alot of public schools offer these in the evenings for reasonable money. You get to learn safely on their equipment by people that are trained in the field sometimes using metal they supply. I took one for the same reason as you, to just be able to make things and do repairs on broken stuff. That one class changed my world, seriously. My job today requires welding almost daily. If I had never taken that class than who knows where Id be today. It has opened up opportunities that I would have never had the confidence to try. it was the best $150 i have ever spent. Its important to understand the science and principles of welding and also understand how to be safe with it before just jumping in.
 
Totally right - I've not ever even picked up a welding rig before. So, I need a combination of the best of both worlds - cost and ease of use. I've watched many videos on YouTub about the flux core wire feed welding rigs from HF, and I think it's something I can pick up with a good bit of practice. I'd really like to take the last poster's advice and take a class at my local community college, but I travel for work and unless I can find something on the weekend, I'm out of luck there. Hopefully everything will wok out....
 

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