Welch Plug Replacement (Welding Question)

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dgoodwin10

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Is anyone here using a MIG welder and spool gun to replace welch plugs? If so, any tips or tricks? I recently picked up a spool gun for cheap and was going to try my hand at welding these myself. Before you say it, yes I need an AC TIG welder.
 
If you are going to try it make sure it is completely clean and pre-heat the pipe. The pipe is a big chunk of cast aluminum and the patch isn't.
 
It's possible with MIG, but my experience with it proved that I get a lot of tiny pores in my weld. I'm not a good mig welder, and much prefer tig for jobs like this. But if it leaks a little, I wouldn't worry. Smear some JB weld on it and forget about it. If you get a few drops per minute will be absorbed by the scuppers and nobody will ever notice. If you want to test it once you weld it up, you can pressure test it. You'll have to get creative to close the big end, and bolt a piece of wood with a rubber gasket across it to the small end. Use the water injection port to supply pressure. You don't have to pressurize it a ton, just enough to make some bubbles with soapy water. Use pencil to circle the pinholes.
 
Good info. I'm going to give it a shot regardless since I need to buy argon anyway. Our local seadoo salvage yard is having a going out of business liquidation, so I plan to grab a few pipes for practice.
 
Good info. I'm going to give it a shot regardless since I need to buy argon anyway. Our local seadoo salvage yard is having a going out of business liquidation, so I plan to grab a few pipes for practice.

grabbing some old pipes is a great idea, even some of my buddies with welding experience found their first plug replacement a bit of a challenge to get it right because its an odd shape, by the time they did their 3rd or 4th they really got the hang of it and it went much faster and looked better as well.

Actually grinding out the old one (PITA) was the same way, once you do a few you tend to get the hang of it.

I wish you were in FL I've got a few up in my attic serving as a spider nursing home.
 
I took mine to be welded. The shop used a MIG. It was a PITA. I made a jig to pressure test it (5PSI) with air. It failed multiple times. Finally he got it sealed, and told me he would never do another...
 
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