On Wednesday, October 16, 2013 8:12:42 AM UTC-5, stryped wrote:
I have been reading about stress relief and general metalworking. If a person wanted to prevent stress cracks in somethign like a t bucket frame, is it a good idea to peen weld areas? Can an air operated needle descaler work? Is hand peening possible?

I was considering some sort of free plans on the internet such as these: http://www.tbucketplans.com/the-youn...t-frame-plans/

I think it is made of 2x3 rectangular tubing.

One probalem I have is I can "farm weld". I have a bobcat ac welder but admittently not real good with stick. I have a Hobart 110 mig with flux core capability and gas. I have a bottle of argon/co2 also. Worried the little 110v wont be adequate.

I have oxy and could try to weld with it. (Never tried)

One thing I have wanted to try is to buy a bottle of gas and a tig torch for the bobcat. Watching tig on mild steel does not look too hard (I know looks can be deceiving.) I am not surehow well this set up connected to the bobcat would work. I have been wanting to give tig a try this way. The welds look neat but I know that TIG does not have very good penetration on thicker material.

Another thought I had was taking the thing togther, taking it to a local welder and having it welded there. However, sometimes even having a "professional" weld something does not mean it is a good job. Recently I was reading about someone who bought a t bucket frame from a company that makes their own frames. The frame brke in half while transporting the t bucket on a trailer. The person said it was a stress crack in the frame. That is why I was asking the question about peening.