Welding Tips and Tricks

Not sure to put this here or metal cutting, but tomorrow I start carbon arcing, any tips or suggestions?

Joe,
Safety first. Wear proper PPE. Earplugs are a must and be prepared to get grit in places you didn't know existed. Once you get everything set right it will work like a champ. Also just putting this out there in case someone doesn't know, it is just like welding in the fact that you will need a shade 10 or darker. Believe it or not I have seen some try to use a 5 and regret that very quickly.
-Jonathan

I usually go with shade 11, and yea heat index is 109 tomorrow and I'll be wearing 3 layers including flame resistant coveralls.... Gonna be nice and toasty

Joejoe8455 wrote:I usually go with shade 11, and yea heat index is 109 tomorrow and I'll be wearing 3 layers including flame resistant coveralls.... Gonna be nice and toasty

Better you than me just kidding!
In all seriousness, be careful and stay hydrated.
-Jonathan

A leather skullcap is always a good friend when carbon arcing. Got a couple small bald spots on the back of my noggin
to prove it! Carbon arc slag really, really burns! Back in my shipyard days I was really quite good at it. Or so our
burner/grinders use to tell me! I always found that it worked better if you ran it on the hot side. We always ran 1/2"
carbons with the power supply maxed out. 900 to 1K amps. You could clean out the root and shape the bevel in one
pass. But we were working with awfully thick stuff.

I always used a 12 when I did it. Don't forget the earplugs, I know it was mentioned already but it's way louder than you'd think. Be prepared to be annoyed at first, but once you get it, it's pretty fun. I would always wear a respirator also.

The best advice I can give in addition to the above is try not to gouge too much off in one run. Multiple thinner runs gives you more control and a more flatter, even finish. Lots of fun though.

All good advice. The only thing I can really add is to look around you and see if there is going to be anywhere that can deflect sparks back at you. Nothing fun with that. And air arcing is the process I got burned the most on than any other process. Good Luck.

Yes I'm def. wearing my respirator while doing this stuff, but my first day of doing it I actually had a blast (pun not intended) and quickly found out that multiple passes do make for a better result.