The outside of a motorbike engine seen up close near the exhaust

Home Repair And Restoration

Better Grinder Than Welder

Bodge Date - 20 May 2016

By Ren Withnell

I need to do a spot of welding tomorrow. I'm not a bad welder, no, I'm a terrible welder. I can make blobs of snot and bird poop on metal, quite often these randomly shaped bits of ugliness don't even connect the 2 bits of metal together let alone look all neat and strong.

What I lack in ability I make up for in sheer stupid determination. Today I thought I'd get a bit of practice in and do something I've been meaning to do for a while. My centre stand on the CBF 125 bent where your foot presses down to lever the bike onto the stand. I've replaced this stand with another second hand one...only to notice that one is bent too. I've bent it back with the sparing use of a large hammer but I want to brace it some more to prevent further distress.

I have a gasless mig welder that comes recommended by real people on real forums for "occasional use by novices". In fact several folks comment how good it is for the price. I also have a trick welding mask that goes from a green tint to dark in the blink of an eye using some clever electronics. So I am definitely in the "all the gear, no idea" camp. 

I create a strip of metal, clean down the welding area and prepare to weld. My first attempt is easily removed with a pair or tweezers. so I grind the snot away and start once more. My second attempt still comes asunder with pliers.. This time I turn the wick up on the welder. Finally I can no longer remove the strip of metal even when held in the vice so I decided that will be "strong enough".

I suspect I have more weld than stand by now though. While I cannot weld I'm handy with a bench grinder so I put that to use and a thick coat of paint covers up the rest of my feckless work. Wish me luck tomorrow, Sharon won't be quite so forgiving.

A centre stand with a poorly welded brace across itMeh...it works I suppose.

Reader's Comments

Daf said :-
'An angle-grinder and paint make me the welder I ain't...' - I'm the same, this is why I won't do any welding on frames. I only trust my welding up to 40 MPH!
23/05/2016 14:36:39 UTC
Ren - The Ed said :-
Ha! Cheers Daf. If I required welding on something safety related like a frame I would definitely NOT do it myself. A broken stand might lead to a dropped motorcycle and tears but it would be remarkably unlucky if it lead to serious injury.
23/05/2016 16:09:24 UTC

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