For seasoned, veteran welders, welding a cone is old news – a task they mastered long ago. For a student and aspiring welder, home project welder new to welding, this task may seem a bit daunting at first – it’s certainly not as straight forward as welding your basic angle-joint, however, it's probably not as tough as you think.
The following is a list of five tips that will help you effectively navigate the process of welding a cone, enabling you to add one more nifty move to your bag of welding tricks.
Create a Pattern for Your Cone
Draw a triangle shape with a rounded bottom on a piece of paper, with the apex of the triangle equal to the height of your cone, and the circumference of the rounded bottom an half an inch wider than the circumference of your actual cone. It’s probably a good idea to draw the rounded bottom with a drawing compass to ensure a smooth, easy to follow shape when you’re cutting out your working pattern.
Once you’ve got your shape drawn to perfection, cut out the pattern and test the size by wrapping the paper cut-out cone shape around the object your cone will be surrounding.
Trace Your Cone Pattern onto Your Sheet Metal and Cut Out
Place your paper pattern onto the sheet metal and trace the shape. Once you trace it and transfer the pattern, use metal sheers to cut out the shape.
Form Your Cone Shape
Wrap your sheet metal cut-out into a cone shape and clamp the shape in place. Be sure to form your cone properly – in the exact size required – because you’ll basically have to start over if your cone needs to be resized after you weld it together.
Weld the Seam
If you’re a beginning welder, a MIG welder is probably your best bet for this project.
Fire up your welding machine and create the weld along the seam of your cone shape, pushing the weld puddle, forming the bead of weld by fashioning tight concentric circles, moving from the bottom (the open end) of the cone to the top (the pointed tip).
Sand and Clean Your Weld
Once you complete the weld, sand the bead along the seam, and then check the integrity to determine if you need to make an additional pass. If everything appears solid, do your final sanding and cleaning – and now you have welded a cone.
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