Bending something that's been welded

[ian_uk1975]

Need to tweak the angle of a welded bracket. It consists of 2 bits of 6mm mild steel spot-welded at 3 points and a couple of seam welds to form an angled bracket. I need to bend (by a few degrees) the 2 bits where they're welded.

Is this likely to break the welds, or is weld forgiving of being bent to some extent without breaking?

This is the bracket...

[Mr2Mike]

The welds themselves will likely be fine, it's the metal right next to the welds that tends to get brittle and a bend could start a crack in this area. That said it'll almost certainly be fine for a minor tweak.

[ian_uk1975]

Great, thanks.

[honestbob]

That bracket out of 6mm plate will not be spot welded. They will almost certainly be tack welds which are simply short lengths of weld.
Welds will only "give" a little if you're trying to move it in compression. If there is a weld under tension it will not move. You will break
that weld first and then have to get it re-tacked. Don't be surprised at how much force is required to move what appears to be quite
a small part.

[ian_uk1975]

Show's how much I know about welding!

I want to open the angle up of the bracket, so I expect the welds will break then. Oh well, if they do, I'll just it somewhere to be re-tacked.

Actually bought a cheap arc welder from Lidl last weekend but from videos and posts I've read since, they're difficult to use and limited. Started looking at MIG welders, but then I'd be spending upwards of £100 for something I'd probably never use again, so will just pay someone to do it!

[227bhp]

Arc (Farmers) welding is perfect for thick plate, it's thin car bodywork type stuff it can't handle very well.

[b2hbm]

ian_uk1975 said:

Actually bought a cheap arc welder from Lidl last weekend but from videos and posts I've read since, they're difficult to use and limited.

If you've got one, then give it a whirl, don't leave it sitting in the shed. As the previous poster says, arc welding is fine for thicker plate and with practice you'll be able to weld 2-3mm plate easily and make tack welds such as the ones you've shown with no problem. For your first welds don't try to weld thin plates together, get something like 3-5mm plate and then simply lay down a bead of weld on the plate. By the time you've got half a dozen runs down smoothly you'll be good to tack up and do simple fillet welds.

The most useful thing I have is a welding helmet which is clear until the arc strikes (EBay or Welding suppliers). The difference that makes to successfully getting the arc where you want it to be is massive.

The other plus point for arc welding is that once you've mastered it, should you decide you want to do body panels then you'll have a MIG set working minutes after plugging it in because you'll know how to weld. I have both and use an arc welder for everything other than body panels.