Welding Tips and Tricks

i let the weld speak for my self.

Acctually, you seem to be getting there. You can tell by the shape of the puddle(an even u shape not a v or a u with a high crown) that you are running about the right tempeture. The nurmerous dings are cuased be hitting the slag off before the weld cools. Your workpeice may not be clean or you are not staying ahead of the puddle, cuasing spatter. Other than that it seems to be just that your motion is not steady enough, it looks like you might have weaved a little, or just tried to wait until the puddle built up. Quick weaving is better than a slow build up drag when it comes to quality.

In the first peice of your weld, you obviousley skipped a beat(left the puddle behind). Dont worry if the happens, just quickly move back to around the spot where you left the pubble behind and contenue welding. Trust me, it'll look and perfom alot better then getting freaked out and trying to finish the weld like nothing happened. Thats right, I remember the panic of the early days!

good luck,

-Rick

Thank you i apreciate this.

i agree with rick with the addition that it appears that your arc length is varying quite a bit, its pretty common amongst those who are just getting comfortable running a stick. try to make sure that you are traveling at an even clip, which it appears you're doin a decent job of, and concentrate on the distance between your electrode tip and the workpiece depends alot on the machine settings class of rod etc. what that distance should be but as a rule of thumb between 1/16 and 1/8th inch is usually suitable. another good way to gauge your speed is to try to remember that if you are just dragging the rod with no weave (stringer) your finished weld should be no greater than two electrode widths on most rods so if you keep the puddle sized so that you have half an electrode width on either side of your rod. if your weaving however you can basically pick your line (the middle of the joint) and cross over it just so that the rods edge passes the center of the weld, quick pause, then back over the center. with the right speed and arc length (and not too harsh of a rod angle) you cant miss keep practicing, youre almost over the hump!

counting whips (little zig-zags) "1up 2up 3up 4up 5up stop" is my favorite trick for consistent welds...if you learn this trick when you are still new to welding, it will stay with you into other process types, old timers call it "counting strokes"....i think that's a sex joke. but old welders full of those references, so get used to it.

arc angle-arc length-amperage-speed-correct rod-metal make up-steady nerves-good eyesight. other than that, piece of cake-har har