When to weld vs bolt

As the story goes, more were splitting in half, pounding up and down in the N. Atlantic, than the Germans were sinking.

The solution was a 3 foot strip of steel down the sides (forgot how long) that was riveted on (fancy bolt). This solved the problem.

I bolt in heavy vibration and weld otherwise. Weld is quicker but I feel comfortable seeing the "steel clamp" that the bolt offers..... ..... ..... ..however, as of lately, I switched from my old favorite welding rods and welder and got a DC (vs AC only) stick welder and now almost exclusively use the 7018 stick. This combination puts out some mighty fine welds and have yet to have one fracture (they say on the box that the 7018 resists fracturing due to vibration.

The other thing done (of late) is always scab a piece of metal over the joint to be welded (if welding 2 flat surfaces together...like a mower deck fracture) rather than butt joint. Haven't had a crack yet.

I'm not a professional, I'm a 25 year hobby farmer self taught welding. I can do a pretty fair job.

My 2 cents

Mark

one thing i like about welding is that once you drop the helnet and start burning one, you are in your own little world, not many will disturb you while you are working.

ingeneral weld frames, bolt components

It's very rare that you should choose bolting vs welding.

If you need to disassymble a part then you bolt it. If not then a weld is almost warranted every time. A weld is most cost effective and will hold better given time.

Use isolation pads from the genset to the frame. That will prevent most weld cracking problems along with a good engineering design.

T_Bone