Welding exhaust on-bike, safe?

[CookMySock]

I took one of our bikes to town to get them to TIG on a little stainless bracket to the exhaust, just to steady it.

The bloke in the stop wouldn't have ANYTHING to do with it. "Take the exhaust off the bike or I won't touch it - welder will fuck the engine et al."

Hrm, I was thinking with the earth clamp directly on the bracket, and with firing the TIG up on the bracket first and moving to the exhaust it would be safe. I spose one slip with the TIG and the current is now through the frame, engine, and exhaust.

Any comments?

Steve

[cowboyz]

i would have thought that removing the battery terminal (like normal) would have been safe enough. is it different usin tig?

[nallac]

i would have thought that removing the battery terminal (like normal) would have been safe enough. is it different usin tig?


Thats what i was thinking to?

[p.dath]

Any risk of unburnt fuel igniting?

Any risk of electronics on the bike being damaged?

[Ocean1]

Meh, I'd have done it if you'd have been prepared to accept the slight risk.

Stainless, DC, no real liklihood of damage as long as you turn off the HF start.

[YellowDog]

That sounds quite strange Steve.

All you are asking for is to have a bracket welded to the frame.

A 5 minute job. No need to cook the bike so it combusts.

Mind you, those Hyosungs ARE made of Vulkan metal from the planet Urrrg.

Perhaps he was right to be cautious!

[Ixion]

So, gas weld it. Sorted.

[NinjaBoy]

Had someone weld the swingarm bobbin lug back on the swingarm. Just disconnected the battery terminal to ensure it didn't jump through the ECU. This worked fine without any issues.

[CookMySock]

Yeah I'm thinking it was a little pedantic. It's possible for the welding current to take a path through the engine if the operator points the torch at the exhaust rather than the bracket, although I think the exhaust collector is solid-bolted to the frame further back.

I don't want to gas weld a 304 stainless bracket to a brand new decorative stainless muffler. It will make a mess of that for sure.

Time to get me a TIG I think. Thanks fellas.

Steve

[imdying]

They welded up an entire custom exhaust on my SV without any bother, TIG, all stainless. We removed the battery and ECU, and that was it.

[skidMark]

Its a hyosung... any heat over 100 degrees celsius id imagine the frame would turn into liquid metal...

[Dealer]

Just use a 12v battery, jumper leads, and a nickel. It worked for McGyver, so should work for you, right? ;)

[hayd3n]

gas the foocker and polish up up once cold
a decent engineer /welder will do a great job
go in to a exhaust shop they'll sort ya but you might have to do a burn out for them

[Pixie]

Had someone weld the swingarm bobbin lug back on the swingarm. Just disconnected the battery terminal to ensure it didn't jump through the ECU. This worked fine without any issues.

The problem is earth loop currents.
Current will be greatest through the lowest resistances - copper paths as opposed to frame.
Removing the battery terminal won't protect the electronics as they may have ground points at various places

[Mschvs]

Yeah I'm thinking it was a little pedantic. It's possible for the welding current to take a path through the engine if the operator points the torch at the exhaust rather than the bracket, although I think the exhaust collector is solid-bolted to the frame further back.

I don't want to gas weld a 304 stainless bracket to a brand new decorative stainless muffler. It will make a mess of that for sure.

Time to get me a TIG I think. Thanks fellas.

Steve

You with a TIG? Now that's dangerous ... you bastard! hehe Make sure you get the family out of the house first! Lol

[bogan]

if you get an current loop through the frame, you can generate quite a high voltage, bout 60V I've heard, so you wanna disconnect battery, ECU, anything else sensitive to high voltage, then you'll be good to go. Sounds like theres not a lot of difference regarding the type of welding either.

[CookMySock]

There is the small matter of current deciding to track through some bearing somewhere, and draw a wee arc.. that is, until it fuses itself together and is no longer a bearing. :pinch:


You with a TIG? Now that's dangerous ... you bastard! hehe Make sure you get the family out of the house first! LolOh, gee thanks, you!! Another vote of confidence I see! :girlfight:

AND for the record, I don't weld inside the house! Not a dumb idea though... :2thumbsup

Steve

[Pedrostt500]

Yep as above disconect batteries and computers, as for bearings only if you are conecting the earth one side and welding the other.
If you can gas weld, tig welding is fairly easy to learn, though what you need to watch is the pickeling paste, that is used to remove the scale from the weld on S/S, dont get any on your skin, not only will it give you a chemical burn, but it also breaks down bone marrow, so wear good chemical proof rubber gloves when handeling the paste, I use a S/S wire brush and give the weld scale a quick brush down while the weld is still reasonably hot, this helps remove some of the scale before pickeling the weld, wash off the pickeling paste with plenty of water, use a scotch brite scourer to remove stuborn bits of scale, obviously while still wearing rubber gloves.