Galvanized to Steel

[JoshRushing]

Can you MIG a steel gate box to galvanized tubing from a chain link gate?

TIA

[bert the welder]

Yep.

Proper way: Put on a respirator, grind off the galv. on the post were the welds will be, weld the box on( wear the respirator, just in case you didn't get all the galv. off), let cool, clear coat or paint welded/ground areas. Not as durable as the glav. so it will need maintenance.
Hillbillie homer hack job: Just blast a big turd weld right on the galv. pipe and wonder how they made the white floss floating in the air smell sweet, leave it to rust, grab a six pack of bud lite. Used a "cold one" to cool your "sun burned" face and itchy eyes. And thank god you ordered those "Blue Blockers" off the TV cause they were WAY cheaper than a stupid welding helmet.
Alt method: Use pipe clamps or fab up a bracket to mount the box to the post with. Not grind or weld to disturb the galv.
har har har

[Desertrider33]

Using fluxcore self shield wire, you can weld directly through the galvanized coating without grinding it off. The arc burns off the galvi and the flux shields the weld from the galvi contamination and resulting porosity. This is part of what fluxcore wire was made for and is a code-accepted method of welding galvanized metal, covered under AWS D1.3.

Appropriate wires for this are E71T-GS and E71T-11. These self shield wires run DCEN, which means you will need to connect the torch to the negative output terminal and the work cable to the positive terminal, exactly the opposite of how it is connected for solid wire and gas. You can get a 10-lb 8" roll of fluxcore wire at Home Depot, Lowes, etc for about $40, or pick up one of the little 4" 2-lb rolls, if it will fit on your feeder's spool axle.

Use cold galvanizing spray to cover the welded area.

Like the caution mentioned earlier, wear a respirator and try to stay on the upwind side of the weld and keep your hood out of the smoke as much as you can.

[sailor]

I second all the stuff previously stated by dessertrider, I've never ground galvanizing. if I did I'd still be worken on last years stuff. The only thing I do different is cover the weld with epoxy primer first (100% vapor barrier) then recoat with cold galv. Everything around here is in the salt air.

[bretsk2500]

I second all the stuff previously stated by dessertrider, I've never ground galvanizing. if I did I'd still be worken on last years stuff. The only thing I do different is cover the weld with epoxy primer first (100% vapor barrier) then recoat with cold galv. Everything around here is in the salt air.

i've only ever *had* to once... i was anchoring some prestressed concrete slabs to the top of a backwash tank/foundation at the local water districts filtration plant. the T shaped anchors had over 1/8" of zinc on them, it was ridiculous.