Weldability of various steels

This may have been covered on this forum before but I can't trace any postings so forgive me if there are some somewhere.

Has anybody tried welding EN1a to EN3b if so were they successful or was it a failure? (or perhaps something else)

It would be fillet not butt welding.

Comments would be very welcome.

Len. P.

Hi Len,

The thread " Steel, cuts like butter!" suggests that it is not a good idea to weld EN1A.

I did a Google search for its properties and refferences there do not reccomend welding EN1A. I did try to add a link to one of the web pages but I failed with this new editor.

Les.

Thanks Les.

What I will be creating is effectively a mortice and tenon joint. The tenon will be EN3b (about 1" x 1/2" cross section) and the matching mortice in the EN1a.

I don't know if this combinations of steels can be silver soldered as an alternative otherwise the joint may have to be an interference fit then cross pinned.

Len. P.

Hi Len

Here is a link to the Steel, cuts like butter thread:

http://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=49282

Regards

Thor

What sort of loading is the joint going to get, I've done welded fabrications from EN1A and they hold up OK but like the base below are not heavily stressed. Its about 6"x4"x3" and a mix of 3/16, 1/4 and 3/8 thick.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v156/jasonballamy/Hit%20n%20Miss/PICT0278.jpg

J

Nice to get a thread I can understand. Welding EN1 is not recomended, but this is for industry, EN1a Pb,ie. leaded is not a good idea to weld. As said above should be no problems for lightly loaded structures, I've never had any, but I would not do it on ,say , car suspensions.

I have succesfully silver-soldered this type of joint, albeit on a slightly smaller scale, with EN1A 'tenon' and EN3B 'mortice' (actually a round peg in a round hole). By 'success' I mean that the solder emerged as a neat annulus at the nether end of the (through) tenon suggesting that the joint had been properly wetted throughout. I used Silverflo 55 / Tenacity 5.

Robin.

Hi Jason.

I know I'm going a bit over the top with this one but better safe than sorry.

I am in the process of planning the manufacture of Myfordboy's power hacksaw.

There are a few aspects of the design I want to change the first being the hacksaw frame.

The top sliding member will be EN1a Hex. 7/8" A/F

The fore and aft vertical members will be made from 1" x .5" EN3b. At the moment I plan to tenon these two members into the Hex. top member and secure firmly by whatever.

The only major stress points will be at the tenon due to the tensioning of the hacksaw blade when being fitted, the sawing action itself will present hardly any additional stresses at the tenon.

I think I have almost talked myself out of doing what could be unnecessary welding.

What do you think?

Len. P.

Hi There

En1a can crack, the material, not the weld.

En1a leaded or leadloy should not be welded because of the lead in it.

regards David

Hi, welding of any free cutting steels should be avoided. Lead in steel will promote cold cracking in the HAZ, (heat affected zone) such welds to be totally successful requires heat treatment, which is most likely to be beyond the home workshop and it is not really cost effective anyway.

Regards Nick.