Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello all,

I'm new to welding but excites to learn. I'm mainly going to be focusing on automotive fab and auto body stuff (patch panels and such) with some general welding.

I've had a Welder for about a year now but just recently started tinkering with it. It's a Harbor Freight 90 AMP Flux Welder I got for $90. It does ok I guess. Leaves ALOT of slap and spatter though. My first project was a new transmission crossmember for an s10 v8 project



Not the greatest but only the first attempt. I don't really like the Welder so I just bought an Eastwood 175 that came with an aluminum spool gun and cart.





I'm pretty excited to use it. I'm picking up my 125 cu ft argon bottle tomorrow and am going to retry my crossmember this weekend



trxmstr

Welcome to the forum, there is a lot of good advice here - you're going to need it! You've made the first good step.

Don't take this the wrong way, no offense intended, but you can't just decide to take up welding and go straight to critical weldments like transmission cross-members. Those welds have little to no fusion or strength and they will come apart. Getting a better power source may not improve things for you.

A novice welder seeking to achieve critical weldments should have some training first, lots of practice on coupons and scrap and develop skills with mentoring before attempting serious work.

That's my bit, others with flux experience will chime in with specific advice.

Good to hear. The problem with those cheap machines is that they don't give you anything. On a well set up, quality machine, it's easy to work out where the problem is. But if you have to fight it every inch of the way, it's much harder. (a pro might even struggle) Hopefully that Eastwood will give you that Chance. Remember, keep the arc on the leading edge of the puddle. The rest will come in time.

trxmstr,
First off, welcome to the forum.

You stated that you are going to buy a 125CF cylinder of Argon, that will work fine for use with your spoolgun and Aluminum welding, but you're going to need a mix of Argon/CO2 (somewhere between92/8 & 75/25)or straight CO2 to weld steel. If I was welding mostly light sheet metal, I would opt for a Argon heavy mix like the 92/8, but people weld all manor of steel with 75/25, they each have their place. The more CO2 in the mix helps with heavier members in the 1/4" range, which is about the max for your machine.

Len

Greetings and welcome to the forum. S10 V8 swaps are cool. A friend had one some years ago. Good times
Cheers.
-Eldon

Hi trxmstr, me again.

Others may know I can be vocal at times regarding safety and ppe. You are new here, but that does not spare you from my vocalizing.

Now in the pic of your new 175, right behind it is a gasoline tank and beside it is a pressure pak can of engine enamel. I hope these items are moved well away to their correct safe storage locations prior to grinding/welding.

I'm not going to get started on the flux process again, so can you please inform yourself (if you are not already) as to the health risks associated with it and appropriate precautions and recommended ppe. (flux wire msds).

Coldman,

Thanks for the safety tips! That can is empty and the Welder get moved across the barn when it's needed to the 240v plug. My father in law is the same way and working as a contractor at the Ford plant here in KC I get safety training rigorously.

Thanks!!

Welcome to the forum.

Braehill,

I will be doing a 75/25 mix. And I'll probably just get a little 20 or 49 cu ft bottle for straight argon

You opened your intro by telling us that you were new to welding, but we can't tell just how new. With new members we're not sure of your experience level so some responses may seem elementary but we get questions from all levels here. If you become a regular you'll find your answers will become more targeted for your experience. It's kind of like calling the IT dept. and their first question is "is the computer turned on", so please don't take offense, we're just getting a feel for where your at.

Len

No offense at all. I'm as new as it gets here so any advice, tips, warning, etc. are extremely welcome. Sorry it my last post came off rude. I'm gonna start watching Jody's videos and practicing.

Jon

Jon,
No, not rude at all. Just letting you know where we're coming from with our responses. We get questions from folks with all levels of experience here. If you become a regular then you'll find the responses will become more targeted.

We might be guilty of highjacking a post or poking fun at each other, but you'll never get beat over the head for asking even the most basic questions. If learning to weld is your objective, I feel you've come to the best place on the internet. You can ask any question possible about just about anything here and someone will have the answer and if we don't, some of us will spend hours finding it. We all learn here from both the questions asked and answered.

Len

Well I started practicing yesterday like Jody says to and I ran beads on 3 plates like so



And ran through an entire 2lb Spool of wire lol