TIG./GTAW.
But I wouldn't use it on ally. In fact, GTAW rods aren't all that expensive, I wouldn't use coat hangers at all.

 

Used to use it with O/A to weld up exhaust piping.

Gotta remove the protective coating off the wire for best results though.

 

EQ, it was just a joke.

Back in the day, some people used coat hangers or baling wire for oxy/acetylene welding. Weld up an exhaust pipe or fix a crack in a mower deck, that sort of thing.

 

I don't recall ever seeing an aluminum coat hanger So I don't understand how someone, except maybe in jest, could say they welded aluminum w/ steel wire. I've O/A welded lots of exhaust systems w/ coat hanger wire and had no weld failures. This was well before I purchased my mig. This statement will probably get the flame throwers fired up but I can't care less. We all well know the line about opinions.
Mike

 

In the mid to late 1970's used to use coat hangers a lot to gas weld rips, tears, and non structural items onto automobiles and what are now antique trucks. It was decent quality wire in those days and the coating came right off with heat and a cotton rag.

 

Yes but back in the day Coat Hangers were made of better material.
John

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

You are so right. I remember that now. Thicker too. :drinkup:

 

I have welded with coat hangers and an OA torch, in years past and will do it again if I need to for non critical stuff.

 

Gotcha. As always.... many thanks guys.

 

If you use them, make sure they are the metal coat hangers, not the plastic ones:nono::nono:, they don't work so good.

 

Used to be coat hangers with a cardboard tube across the bottom, and with thinner wire, cheaper than the all metal hangers, but, the wire was better metal in the cheapies. Those were the ones to use. And not as much paint to burn off with the oxy welding!

-c-

 

Hiya Bist!!!! I've tried stick welding twice in October.... I had a real hard time getting going... the rod kept sticking. The more the rod stuck... the more my neighbor laughed. The more he laughed.... the more I laughed. He switched stick machines on me and switched the rod I was using to no avail.... I kept getting stuck yet he could stick weld effortlessly using any machine and any rod.... and he hadn't welded professionally in over 5 years. It ended up being a laugh session NOT an Arc101 lesson. I think I better hold off trying to O/A weld with metal coat hangers until I can get the hang of stick welding but.... thanks for the metal v plastic coat hanger tip. Very invaluable tip... yes indeedy.
--
cornemuse> I'm looking at a white metal coat hanger and a brown metal coat hanger for pants that has the cardboard tube and you're right.... there is a difference.The metal for the pants hanger is slightly thicker.

 

Hiya Bist!!!! I've tried stick welding twice in October.... I had a real hard time getting going... the rod kept sticking. The more the rod stuck... the more my neighbor laughed. . I think I better hold off trying to O/A weld with metal coat hangers until I can get the hang of stick welding but.... thanks for the metal v plastic coat hanger tip. Very invaluable tip... yes indeedy.
--
cornemuse> I'm looking at a white metal coat hanger and a brown metal coat hanger for pants that has the cardboard tube and you're right.... there is a difference.The metal for the pants hanger is slightly thicker.

The thickness can vary, coatings can vary, but more importantly the parent metal can vary as well... and the variations can be as infinite as the number of hanger suppliers and order options, not to mention the age of the hangers. If arc is giving you a hard time, you might like O/A more. One of my instructors often told us it was like knitting, just add fire and rods instead of those dangerous pointy needles.

 

The old man my father was close hunting and fishing buddy with ran a garage. He did everything with oxy/acetylene and either coat hangers, or for smaller "Rod" he'd use hay baler wire.

Most of my acetylene welding was on 20-16 gauge steel plate. I couldn't find baler wire that wasn't very rusty. Coat hangers were too big for my needs. I always used copper coated steel with very good results. Very similar to the ER70S2 we TIG with.

To prevent sticking weld with two hands. Hold the rod near its tip at first. your glove will protect you for a while. When you start to feel heat, move to the stinger. You'll be surprised how much better arc length control you'll have. To start, you want the flux to tickle the work. It ain't a match you're striking.

 

We broke a track chain on an old caterpillar up on a side hill in the early 70's. Hit up the local farmers for oxy-acet tanks and a coat hanger for a temporary repair. We heated and beat the link back together and my brother welded the link with the coat hanger on the premise of grinding it out and arcing it when we got it back to the shop. Which never happened as 30 years later when it was sold it was still holding!
That just don't make coat hangers as good as those anymore!

 

So one could say the weld hung in there.

 

I was referring to O/A welding in the post the OP quoted me in as well. As noted above, if you got lucky you had a good weld. If you got a crappy hanger, you got a poor weld. Like Willy, I liked to use the copper coated steel rod so I knew what I was working with. It's probably been over 25 yrs since I've done any O/A welding, but all this talk and my (relatively) new torch set is making me want to get back into it. It would be interesting if someone who could test coupons would do a few in different hangers and the proper rods to see what the difference in weld strength really is.

 

I have a sense you know early into a hanger whether it is strong. When torch welding it either works well, or not. If there is a wet puddle with minimal spatter, it lays there smooth, the weld is strong. If it glows, spatters, hisses, or won't wet, it won't work well. There will be no strength.

 

When I was a apprentice with 597 in 1970, there were shops that had OLDTIMERS that were gas welders. They could do a 6'' pipe weld as fast as some guys doing stick. There were simply amazing ! The beauty of the welds would make many welds look sick today.

 

Worked with a old timer out of 597 out at ohare airport late 90 or Earley 2000s he was working 39 hr a month retire when times were good and what you say is very spot on, he didn't have to gas weld but he welded a joint with gas and it was very sanitairy, I guess just to show me or to prove it could be done to all the doubters

 

LOL...gotta like a well hung weld...

 

whtbaron> "One of my instructors often told us it was like knitting, just add fire and rods instead of those dangerous pointy needles." Now that.... made me laugh. I'm game... I'll add trying to my 2016 Welding To-Do list.

 

Smilexelectric, "Crap maybe I should worry about that pipe that had to x ray then."

As long as it's plastic pipe, you should be good.

 

Don't know why anyone would go all the way to the house for a coat hanger when there is bailin wire hanging all over the place. ")

 

That's funny. about 10 years ago I scrapped out an old feed mill in a cattle feedlot. We hauled out 26 tons of wadded up baling wire alone. Mostly rust flakes by that time, but the scrap yard still took it.

 

If you roll the coat hanger with wet newspaper, then let it dry, you can "Arc" weld with it.

 

I am looking at building a 15 Ton trailer to pull behind my Ford Focus. So would a coat hanger with the coating renewed be better then a Horrible Frieght 90A mig. I think a few bed rails and a JB weld I would be good to go 75 mph down the xway hauling 2 skid loaders. The focus is only rates at 800 lbs. I think I can push it just a little bit farther.

 

Old barbed wire also works.
Was watching one of those Alaskan shows the other day and it showed some old home movies and the guy was using it.

 

Old barbed wire also works

let's hope all the zinc is gone off it.
Mike

 

Do the barbs give it some muscle?

 

Never seen old barbed wire with any coating other than rust.

 

As for old days using wire coat hangers, you CAN do that. But that was when men were men and coat hangers were steel. But really man, buy some rod so you know what your getting.

As for the aluminum coat hangers, I ACTUALLY HAVE LOADS OF THEM!! My wife's grandfather used to run the local anodize plating company. WAAAAAY back in the last millennium, he had a job come in from the local vo-tech school. The Kids made some tooling in metal shop and produced a thousand or so of these really heavy duty roll formed and twisted ALUMINUM rod coat hangers. They had him anodize them all kinds of colors. Being that I and my youngest son (9) are the ones in the family line who LOVE all of Grandpap's TREASURES; his piles of random mismatched tools, thing-o-mo bobs, junk yard contraptions, home made garden/farm inventions and other "junk" as the rest of the relatives call it, HE GIVE IT ALL TO ME. YEA!!!! The kids gave him a few dozen as payment, and he still had them some 60 years later. Now they are in my closet.

As far as plastic coat hangers... I ACTUALLY WELD WITH THOSE sometimes. I find myself doing a lot of plastic welding. Just because it's cheap plastic made crap and broken, why throw it away when I can crack open the plastic welder and fix it. Yeah the color usually never matches, but hey; waste not, want not.

Yup, Owen and I are carrying on Grandpap's torch! My family calls my son the junk man, he has ideas for every scrap thing how he can use it. He even wants to save piles of saw dust. That he squeezes together with some glue to make tiny hay bales for LEGO people!

XRyan

 

As far as plastic coat hangers... I ACTUALLY WELD WITH THOSE sometimes. I find myself doing a lot of plastic welding. Just because it's cheap plastic made crap and broken, why throw it away when I can crack open the plastic welder and fix it. Yeah the color usually never matches, but hey; waste not, want not.

What kind of plastic do they make those from? I've never seen any that were labeled.

 

Coat hanger and barbed wire are over the hill; too tough to find good quality now.
Y'all gotta get with modern times - wire bale/handle from 5-gallon bucket.
:laugh: