Need few tips on clamping up exhaust tubing perfectly to weld

Im trying to make a custom sidepipe stainless exhaust and im having a tough time just tacking things up right. My car is on stands and the pipe is just too heavy for me to handle with one hand and tack with the mig.

I want to clamp the sections together somehow but my visegrip clamps arent working well.

Im using a chop saw so my cuts are perfectly staight

What can you guys suggest i try to get the pipes to but up perfectly with no gaps? Pipes are 3 inch stainless

 

Well, what I did was take a hose clamp and grind a small slot in the side. I then used the clamp to hold the two pieces together and tack welded the seam thru the small slot I made in the clamp. Move the clamp around and tack a couple places. Remove the clamp and finish weld. Worked for me.

 

That is a good idea how wide of a worm drive clamp did you end up using?

 

exhaust clamps like these with a slot cut to weld.

 

A piece of 2" angle iron 1ft. long makes a perfect pipe brace for straight pieces. Just lay the 2 butt ends together in the angle channel. This also works nice with 2 flat legs welded to angle iron to keep by drill press to hold pipe or bar stock to be drilled.

 

Angle iron and hose clamps.

 

call a freind to help...thats what its all about!!!

 

this is one of the best tech tips i learned when i was younger.

matt

 

I use a pair of C-grips with a short piece of 1"x 1" angle iron welded to each grip.

Works great!

 

Where space is an issue or tight bends, like the hose clamp method, although little stubby pieces of angle can sometimes do the trick.

Angle iron is perfect for straight runs, as said. That said I like to use those quick adjust clamps to clamp the angle iron for ease and speed.

Ill add that I've tried the sleeves sold by hooker. Nice concept but they don't work that well, Not worth the money and make for a much junkier weld especially with tigging. So, not worth it. A nice tight fit with little or no gap is the key in my opinion.

And that said, ill add my 2 cents (which is all its worth), not sure what your plans are but if you went to the trouble of investing in stainless, its well worth time and money to tig them with stainless rod. Little or no blending, no chance of a bunch of wire sticking inside pipe, and no rust to worry about.

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

With the angle iron jig are you guys clamping using the standard welding vise grip clamps or something else?

Im gonna hit the home depot tomorrow after work to grab some angle stock.

 

It might not work on pipe that big, but I have used masking tape when building a 2 inch system and headers.

Wrap the tape around the joint as tight as you can and then cut out a small section and tack it, then repeat around the other side. Once you get two or three tacks on, remove the tape and finish weld.

The tape gets a bit charred, but it worked well for me when joining curved sections that are hard to clamp otherwise.

 

I have welded miles of handrail together using a c-clamp with a bit of angle iron welded to it with a window ground in to allow tac welds...Union Ironworker 33 years...

 

guys i plan to jump back on this project this week my buddy is going to do the welding for me at my garage/ we are going to use my Miller Matic 211 Mig with stainless wire and tri mix gas. When butt welding tubing together should we leave a gap between the two sections or just butt them up against each other?

What would give the best and strongest weld? we could V both sections as well with a grinder i suppose.

 

Good article on Jeff Lilly restorations.

 

When I was welding 3" and smaller stainless pipe, I did this with a half dozen pair of vise grips. You also need some straps or blocks for the far end.

 

a couple pieces of angle iron clamped to hold both pieces end to end, weld the space, the remove the angle and weld it up.

edit: I see I was late to the party

 

Listen to this guy, it works perfectly. Weld a 3" piece to each tong and when you have room, just slide in a 12" or so piece of angle and use the clamp in the same manner. Perfect for all situations.

 

Yep, a C clamp with two short pieces of 1 inch angle welded to it so they hold the tube ends together is pretty well standard for butt welding tubing.

Laying it in a longer length of 2 inch or so angle iron and lightly clamping it works too. You want to be careful rotating it in the angle iron so you don't scratch it though.

 

I found these listed in the Hooker catalog, they are really made
for building custom headers (Hooker Alignment Sleeves) available
for 1 5/8", 1 3/4", 1 7/8", 2" & 2 1/8" sizes. They actually fit
inside the tubing and the vertical flange gives you some material
to use as filler. Never tried them, just saw them in catalog.

John

 

One of the fume concerns is if the welding (S.S) produces chrome 6.
You do not want to breathe this.
Use a fan, and the great outdoors.

 

Here you go

http://vansantent.trick-tools.com/tools/Header-Clamps

video on how to use

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVzX8KMe-lg

 

...or you can do a variation on a theme...



Two straps of sheet metal, clamped firmly by the hose clamp. Don't cost nuthin, and lets you easily see most of the joint, to get the alignment right and tack in several places.

You can also bend a 90ish degree angle in the straps, and using three clamps, clamp a TEE tubing joint.

I wish I'd thought of this years ago. Oh well.

 

I used 2 lengths of angle with 2 hose clamps for straight sections. On bends I used 2 strips of Gorillas duct tape.... one opposite the other. Tacked the sides and peeled it off with final weld later. Kinda ghetto but actually worked great. The Gorilla tape is tough stuff.

 

How did they mig weld 3" stainless steel exhaust tubing back in the day anyway?

 

Actually the proper way would be to TIG weld it with purge gas on the inside or you might get away with a SS flux. If you insist on MIG welding, I would make a sleeve to fit inside of the pipe and leave a gap the same size as the wire your using.

 

Those are really nice.
Of course I’m a bit of a tool junkie

 

Tig would be best for sure and I have actually done some pretty nice Stainless exhaust tubing without a internal purge.
The trick is a 1/16” Tungsten and very low amperage along with a 1/16” ER347 filler wire.

 

Probably not too critical on a exhaust system but in pipe welding where they can x ray the weld, the back side of the weld has to look pretty good. That's why I suggested flux. Try looking at the inside of your exhaust pipe weld, you might be on to something.

 

I've used angle iron to align drive shafts for welding. The sleeve clamp with some holes cut in it will work well too.