Welding question

Here’s my (non-automotive) situation: I need to wire-feed weld two door hinges onto a 2’ strip of metal cut from a bed frame. So essentially weld one 1/8" thick piece of metal atop another.



When I did my test run, though, the hinge melted thoroughly along the edge, but with poor penetration into the bed frame rail. (Not having done much welding, I’m assuming this is due to the smaller piece of metal heating up faster.)



So, how should I handle this to get better penetration? I thought about either (a) centering my “bead” about 80% out on the bed frame rail, or (b) making one bead entirely on the bed rail, then welding the hinge to the (still red hot) bead on the rail.



Any advice from the welders? (P.S. this will be a “deliberately overbuilt” construction, owing to my novice status as a welder–the end product only has to support ~50#.)

If you are using real bed frame rails, the metal is really something different than that used in the hinges. I found it very difficult to drill through it. It’s not your fault, it’s just a rough job trying to weld that type of metal.

Use a grinder to clean the paint off first. You can’t weld paint and paint will spoil a weld. Galvanized steel is even worse. Many old bed-frames got painted with aluminum paint. That’s REALLY bad… Then as you run the bead along the joint, roll your wrist left and right just a little to favor the heavier object and slow your progress down the joint just a little…

Make sure your settings are for the thicker piece. Then do as Caddyman suggested by running the bead down the thicker part and sweeping up onto the thinner part.