How To Excavator Bucket Repair

2 months ago
72

I received this bucket last week that had been repaired previously by another welder. I was pretty much appalled by what I seen, it was repaired with MIG, and never excavated to get weld penetration. MIG is fine for new clean material, but an excavator bucket that has been used and has cracks, those cracks will fill with dirt, and unless you clean it very well there will be issues, MIG does not like dirty material. I use 3/32” 6010 a DC rod that will create a somewhat cleaning action, (3/32” 6011 rod if using an AC welder). I bevel out both sides of the cracks to the center of the materials thickness with a 4-1/2” grinder and cut off wheels, I then blow out as much dirt as I can, run a hot pass of 6010 at 70 amps to burn deep into the parent metal. I will clean each pass with needle gun to remove as much slag as possible. Then I will run 3/32” 7018 weld rod at 90 amps as a strong cover over my root. After the inside of the bucket is completed I turn the bucket over and do the same thing on the outside creating a very strong weld that will last a long time.

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