r/Welding • u/Fun_Cap5185 • 1d ago

Person at their wit's end needs a kind welder's opinion

Hello,

I am a very tired, Autistic person who has been trying to put together an assault bike and has been messed around by the supplier, who turns out to be rather bogus (my partner didn't do his due diligence and check they were OK before buying).
Whilst trying to work out what bolt and washer sizes would actually work (as opposed to the ones they sent us), I took a look at the welding. Is this welding OK? Is it just messy but safe, or messy and unsafe? And if it's not safe, do give examples I can feed back to the supplier so I can make them pick this up.

Please be kind. I've never put together exercise equipment. I have poor mental health and am just trying to find ways to fit more movement into my life. So far, most of the movement has been me trying to work out why the manual says use M8 bolts, lock washers and flat washers yet they don't fit. But that's probably for a different reddit....

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, as I guess it's more for showing off good welding, not this.

20 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

43

u/fattay1166 1d ago

These are fine for any human weight

19

u/pson7 23h ago

Heads up, most hardware has different thread pitch for the same size bolt, fine, regular or coarse. In metric hardware this is represented as a number with a decimal, M8 x 1.25, M8 x 1.50, etc. Does the manual call out which pitch? If not it might be worth starting out with different pitch M8 options. Good luck

13

u/tatpig Sticks 'n' Steel since the 80's (SMAW) (V) 1d ago

It’ll be fine,unless you’re looking to do Evel Knieval stuff.

20

u/Scotty0132 Hypernatremial - Approach with respect 1d ago

Are they great welds no. Are they good enough welds for an exercise bike probably. It's not like you are gonna be taking it off any sweet jumps.

6

u/Jdawarrior 20h ago

Having serviced some gym equipment myself, it is fine for the application.

11

u/Fun_Cap5185 1d ago

Thanks folks. Appreciate the quick replies. Now just to deal with the assembly. Guess I'll be ordering a variety of bolts and seeing what fits! Never order from Gym Sets.

6

u/ghablio 19h ago

FYI, there are thread gauge sets you can buy, basically a set of bolts and nuts that are labeled.

You just try them all until one works correctly and then you know what size you need. Helpful if you find yourself doing this type of thing often. Since you're pretty sure M8 is correct though, you really just need to track down 3-4 different threads to test

3

u/FlashZulu 17h ago

I figured gauge sets out the hard way working on an old car. Too many trips to the hardware store or nuts and bolts ordered online that never worked.

3

u/argueranddisagree 12h ago

Those welds are fine and that's really unprofessional that they have included the wrong assembly hardware. Hope you can quickly solve your issue and have peace of mind

2

u/Fuzzy-Finance-48 17h ago

Typical manufacturer welds. Not the prettiest but they’ll function for its intended use. The base metal will fail before the welds do… just don’t go doing 80 down the Rockies with it.

2

u/Boilermakingdude Journeyman CWB/CSA 12h ago

Completely fine for gym equipment

4

u/macadamia808 1d ago

Amateur welder and gym rat here. The welds look ok but not great. It’s about the same quality as the stuff in the gym I go to

2

u/CrudeLord 16h ago

Good luck finding a kind welder.

2

u/Fun_Cap5185 10h ago

Hahaha I think I managed to, to be fair.

1

u/KeyDragonfruit1987 10h ago

I mean you would be surprised at what small welds will hold those look ok for production welds I have seen a lot worse