Welding Tips and Tricks

Just wanted to introduce my self. I am new to the forum and welding in general. I have always wanted to learn to weld but life gets carried away and here I am in the early stages of middle age starting to teach myself, with a lot of you tube assistance. I shopped and shopped for many months for a welder, trying to narrow down something that would suit my needs. I also wanted a generator for back up power at the house as well. Alas, after much craigslisting I located a practically new Lincoln Ranger 10000 with only 9.4 hours on the meter. They initially asked $2,200 for it but I talked them down to $1,900. It came with short leads, the four wheeled cart, canvas cover and a bit of Lincoln 7018 and some Fleetweld something or other.

I bought it from an electrical contractor in the LA area and they guy told me that they purchased it about 7 years ago for a job and it was cheaper to buy that welder and hire someone to operate it than to hire a welder with his own equipment. He said it was used for that one job and put away in the warehouse I picked it up in with the cover on it. Needless to say, it was in damn near perfect condition until I trailered it home, minor shipping damage, my fault. Anyway, I couldn't find a reason to pass the deal up so I made it happen and plunked down the money. So here I am starting this weld journey in life and needing help along the way. I would like to get good enough to produce some items out of my house upon my retirement within the next decade or so.

Please see attached photos of my initial beads. These were done using 6011 (unknown brand), at 145 amps and the fine set to 7 on that ranger. The steel is what seemed to be a piece of a plow or something so it was pretty thick. The others were done on a piece of a homemade bumper that was about 3/16, I think. Anyway, don't be afraid to hurt my feelings concerning these welds, I need all the feed back I can get and I have pretty thick skin...

Welcome, Gary,

What an awesome deal! I'd have begged, borrowed, and maybe even stolen to raise the funds for that purchase. Did they treat the fuel and/or drain it, or did you have to go through the fuel system before getting it up and going? Either way, you're a Craigslist hall of fame candidate in my book!

Between Jody's great videos and the incredibly broad and extensive experience here, you'll be posting on weldporn.com in no time...

Steve S

Otto Nobedder wrote:Welcome, Gary,

What an awesome deal! I'd have begged, borrowed, and maybe even stolen to raise the funds for that purchase. Did they treat the fuel and/or drain it, or did you have to go through the fuel system before getting it up and going? Either way, you're a Craigslist hall of fame candidate in my book!

Between Jody's great videos and the incredibly broad and extensive experience here, you'll be posting on weldporn.com in no time...

Steve S

Lol, thanks. Those kind of deals don't come around very often in life, I just happen to get lucky...

Actually, they drained it when they put it away. The day before I showed up, they even put a new battery in it. The guy pulled the choke, hit the starter and there it went, fired right off. I was so happy I could have just crapped myself.

You didn't mention my shatty welds, what do you think?

gr8gary1 wrote:...You didn't mention my shatty welds, what do you think?

A first go with a new machine on unknown metal with unknown brand rods? I didn't think any comment would be meaningful, beyond knowing everything seems to work as it should. Get a little practice, get used to setting the machine, get known metal and known brand rods of recent vintage (not old and crusty), and we'll have something of value to add. In the meantime, have fun melting metal.

Steve S

Otto Nobedder wrote:

gr8gary1 wrote:...You didn't mention my shatty welds, what do you think?

A first go with a new machine on unknown metal with unknown brand rods? I didn't think any comment would be meaningful, beyond knowing everything seems to work as it should. Get a little practice, get used to setting the machine, get known metal and known brand rods of recent vintage (not old and crusty), and we'll have something of value to add. In the meantime, have fun melting metal.

Steve S

Thanks Otto! I will get my ducks in a row and figure out my materials so I can be more informative to all that read my postings so I can get a true bead from you guys on where I am.

I was more referring to my technique (the way my beads look) rather than the really technical stuff. I am so new, I don't even know where to start as you can tell but love this little welding bug I caught.

Gary,welcome to the forum.

Thanks for the welcome. I look forward to learning from you veteran welders. I will stick to stick welding for now then learn the other methods. I want to perfect the basics first.

Hey gr8gary1, any welder (new and experienced) is a friend of mine. Try turning your amperage down. I use a Miller and for what we're doing now, my amperage is set at 90. But each machine/job is different. There are A LOT of charts on the net that tell you what your amps should be for the particular material and rod you're using. Its important to know what your working with. You'll get it. Keep at it!

I appreciate the words of encouragement. Don't have a lot of time to practice so it'll take a while... Still working at it though, what little I have done I really enjoy.