Welding Tips and Tricks

When I started in engineering oxy/acetylene and stick welding were the go to options for manual welding, but later everyone said MIG was easier. So when I returned to home welding I bought a cheap 150 amp MIG machine, figuring that as a welder MIG would be a doddle. But not so. I found MIG frustrating to say the least, with very inconsistent and poor welds.

Then I found Weldingtipsandtricks.com. Yes it was inspirational marveling at Jody's ability to consistently lay down beautiful MIG and TIG welds but it frustrated me even more. Until I finally listened to Jody and realized that MIG welding is mostly about the machine settings. I then started to put into practice Jody's most basic of tips, things like measuring the actual wire speed of your machine. So simple and yet brilliant. I now use the Miller app for wire speed and the machine's table for a voltage start point. I have cleaned my welding lens so I can actually see through it, added more lighting and added cheat lenses to my helmet, brilliant. Now I can see the weld clearly and carefully guide the gun tip as I work.

So thanks to you Jody I can now lay down a good looking weld of the required size with good penetration on a consistent basis, quickly and efficiently. Brilliant and much appreciated.

Welcome to the forum, it's funny how things are under your nose and you don't realise it until someone shows you, mig does take some practice to lay in the welds properly, thats technique...setting up the voltage and wire speed is follow instructions that usually come with the machine...and write down what works for different applications, this has worked for me.

JeffDarby wrote:Welcome to the forum, it's funny how things are under your nose and you don't realise it until someone shows you, mig does take some practice to lay in the welds properly, thats technique...setting up the voltage and wire speed is follow instructions that usually come with the machine...and write down what works for different applications, this has worked for me.

Thanks JeffDarby, exactly as I have found. The practice and more practice.