Quench tank welding and sealing

You know I don’t mind 6013 but it can be picky. It’s not a drag rod like 7018 and it’s picky on angle. If you don’t hold a steep enough angle the flux will run around and be caught in your puddle creating bug holes. A little trick is stainless rod. That stuff lays down like butter and is not picky about the base material. But generally if it’s not anything structural I will just run 7018 around it. 7018 does not penetrate real great and if your welding up a weld prep 7018 will let flux under it. You should first fill with a 60 series like 6010/6011. This rod will burn deep and will fill the prepped area and not trap flux underneath it. Then cap that with 7018 and your golden.
 
When fixing grind into the weld so that you can start the weld in sound metal and your area of repair is the thinnest spot and start your weld a couple of inches away so that your rod is burning good when you come up to the leak. Preheat the area to drive of any moisture that it may have.

Getting a good weld is not difficult so long as the position is easy. Remember that surface tension is what controls your puddle. Sometimes you may need to move the rod so that the puddle wets both surfaces. Once both surfaces are wet surface tension will pull the top of the puddle flat. Another way of seeing this is that you should see the puddle cool to black from the edges to the deepest part in the center. If one side stays bright as long as the center then you know the puddle never fused to that side.
 
As it turns out, a friend of mine does in fact have some welding skills, and I got a lesson from him.

I ground off the crappy bead and re-welded. Took a little while, and while its still not awesome, the result certainly looks a lot better, and appears to hold water.

Still, not being one to take unnecessary chances, (and since I had already bought it) I cleaned the inside thoroughly, mixed up 10 oz. of JB Weld epoxy and poured it in there.
Got a long piece of wood, reached down the bottom and smeared it completely over everything. Coated the entire bottom, joint, and 5" up the sides.

JB Weld is waterproof, and is 100% resistant to gasoline, and about every other petroleum product or automotive chemical

Nothing will ever leak through there. Ever. :)
 
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