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Old 09-23-2022, 08:52 PM   #1
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Roof raise brackets

Should I trust these brackets to hold the roof over my head? A full size Blue Bird All American.

My welding skills are not great!
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Old 09-23-2022, 09:26 PM   #2
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Those welds are definitely pretty questionable.
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Old 09-23-2022, 10:17 PM   #3
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What's the worst that could happen?





If you consider a redesign, check out Ewo1's roof-raise-hat-channel-slider. His brackets utilize square tubing, inside the hat channel, to counter lateral forces.
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Old 09-23-2022, 10:35 PM   #4
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Oh jeez now I’m discouraged lol
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Old 09-23-2022, 11:06 PM   #5
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Wait till you try to weld that mild steel to the galvanized hat channel..
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Old 09-24-2022, 06:57 AM   #6
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Oh jeez now I’m discouraged lol
You shouldn't be discouraged, but you should practice your welding more before you set about actually welding your roof raise. What you have on your brackets is basically just a bunch of tacks, many of which haven't even achieved much in the way of penetration or fusion. Even if your brackets were to hold during the raise (which they might), you really wouldn't want your hat channel extensions to be welded in a similar fashion.
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Old 09-24-2022, 01:39 PM   #7
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You shouldn't be discouraged, but you should practice your welding more before you set about actually welding your roof raise. What you have on your brackets is basically just a bunch of tacks, many of which haven't even achieved much in the way of penetration or fusion. Even if your brackets were to hold during the raise (which they might), you really wouldn't want your hat channel extensions to be welded in a similar fashion.
Is it possible to make good solid welds with a flux core welder?
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Old 09-24-2022, 01:48 PM   #8
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welding

Those welds look like wire welder with a flux core wire.

chip the slag off and then you will really see the welds.

practice and take a hammer with the part in a vise and see what it takes to break off those tabs. If you can break the tabs off. weld more cause you aint good enough. If you tear off the metal and the welds hold, maybe you are good enough. You SHOULD weld good enough that your roof job survives the bus rolling a few times down a slope.... not likely to happen but possible.

go watch you tube videos about welding and practice on stuff that is going to be similar to what you want to be welding..

I hope this helps you.

20 minutes to learn how to weld... and depending on the person.... 30 hours of practice to get pretty decent.

weld, hammer apart, do it again.

recommend brand name GAS wire welder. lincoln hobart miller 120 volt ac will do a weld that will stand up to destruction.

sometimes you have to use what you have.... practice. Think about somebody that buys your after you..... is the welding good enough to protect them? not in the legal sense of things.... It is just the right thing to do.

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Old 09-24-2022, 03:46 PM   #9
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Is it possible to make good solid welds with a flux core welder?
Absolutely. In addition to magnakansas' good advice, make sure your auto-darkening welding helmet (I'm assuming you have one of these) is set correctly so that you can actually see the weld pool that you're making. I was actually a couple of weeks into an actual welding class with an actual alleged welding instructor before I realized my helmet was set too dark to actually see anything. I kind of thought you were just supposed to guess where the welds were going.
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Old 09-24-2022, 04:00 PM   #10
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yes those welds are tacks and fluxcore.
i weld for a living and i agree a name brand machine cant be beat with gas.
but i did an exhaust for a man with a harbor freight flux core set up and fought with it breaking wire and stuff until i sent him to the big box store to get different wire and he came back with lincoln flux core wire.
nite and day difference in that machine.
yes trying to weld mild steel to galvanized is a learning curve on its own even if you know what you are doing.
with a wire welder it wont burn through the galvanized coating which means it doesnt penetrate.
wire can do it but with gas and the thickest wire your machine will run and the highest heat you and your machine can handle.
you can grind the coating off of the weld area? but if its true galvanized metal you need a stick welder and ventilation.
if you start feeling sick from the fumes you need some whole milk on hand.
a wire machine is not going to like any coating.
paint galvanized or whatever?
stick crank it up for your rod size and scratch a spot for your ground and a starting point for your rod.
any welding never run down hill.
mig gas you might get away with it i dont know never tried.
flux core and stick it traps the slag in the weld which meens your weld is more like tacks.
please practice on the two metals you want to join in a vice in the position you want to weld in?
each position has its own challenges.
not to brag google pipe 6G welding.
been certified since 97 caint see the mess anymore so i am in charge and getting kinda lazy
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Old 09-24-2022, 06:16 PM   #11
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I would also add that your welds kinda look like flux core with the polarity the wrong way, which doesn't help. If it's a flux-only machine then that isn't possible, but if it's a cheapie mig machine that also does flux then that's definitely possible.
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Old 09-24-2022, 06:45 PM   #12
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nah wrong polarity on a wire machine is not possible unless it is capable to tig.with an entire different skillset.
and a machine and welder capable and field tig is way different from shop tig.
not an instructor by any means.
am a weekend gravel driveway at best for anything.
can teach you welding and motors in my driveway.
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Old 09-24-2022, 06:53 PM   #13
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nah wrong polarity on a wire machine is not possible unless it is capable to tig
I guess that's why I've done wrong polarity with my mig machine - it's multi-process, capable of tig. According to its instructions, you're supposed to reverse polarity when you switch to flux core - which is what I didn't do when I got flux core results just like OP's.
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Old 09-24-2022, 09:00 PM   #14
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guess i have done it wrong the few times i have used flux core wire?
then again i never had the manual to reference just the machine owner provided.
reverse polarity for flux core?
what brand machine is that?
not trying to call BS just want to know.
everytime i screw up and get my leeds reversed its more like a plasma cutter than a welder.
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Old 09-24-2022, 09:14 PM   #15
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This is my welder, a Metal Man MP140T.

This article talks about switching your polarity for solid core (gas shielded) vs. flux core, although it doesn't really explain the "why" of it. I am curious to know why it needs to be one way or the other. Having the incorrect polarity comes up a lot on the welding forum on reddit.
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Old 09-24-2022, 10:48 PM   #16
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Hi Attila,

If I may comment (provide helpful, I hope, input) on something besides the welds. I'm concerned about the strength of the threaded rod you use. I would not trust that rod to hold up your roof if there's any lateral load on it...such as being on a slope or wind. I'll bet you could bend one of those rods yourself. That threaded rod is mild steel and not very resistant to side loads (bending) when used like you plan to.

Pretty close to the start of this video, I describe the rod we use and how it's different:

https://youtu.be/uKNlJpC8QRg

I hope this helps!
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Old 09-26-2022, 07:45 AM   #17
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Is it possible to make good solid welds with a flux core welder?
yes. It sure it.
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Old 09-26-2022, 08:49 AM   #18
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Is it possible to make good solid welds with a flux core welder?
I'm sure it depends on the machine, but my bottom-dollar Harbor Freight Titanium 120v flux welder does fine up to 1/8". It claims it can weld 3/16, but I wouldn't trust it to do that in a single pass. Practice helps, obviously. You should burn through at least a couple pounds of wire before attempting anything important (at a bare minimum).

Listen to Jolly Roger and get decent wire. That Lincoln wire made a huge difference in my welds. I also really like Forney and INETUB, which are both cheaper than Lincoln, but aren't available to me locally.
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Old 09-28-2022, 03:12 PM   #19
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I’m a welder by trade….. please don’t use those.
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Old 09-28-2022, 08:21 PM   #20
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Look for someone in the area that can give you a little intro to welding - even a few hours will give you "safer" results...


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