Welding Tips and Tricks

Still practicing those beads, I'm finally finding a comfortable position and not putting all the weight of my body on my right wrist. Still have a ways to go but I'm happy with it, this week I will pulling the wire from the house to the garage for the 220VAC Ckt.

infernoST wrote:Still practicing those beads, I'm finally finding a comfortable position and not putting all the weight of my body on my right wrist. Still have a ways to go but I'm happy with it, this week I will pulling the wire from the house to the garage for the 220VAC Ckt.

Looks real good Keith, if I'm doing build up work similar to what you show I try to (if possible) alternate starting the bead from one side to the other, that way you don't have all the welds ending on the same end, helps to keep a more even pad.

Thanks, I'll try to start alternating hands. I may need to order more tungstens before I attempt using my left hand though

Being able to use both hands is invaluable. I would recommend to start practicing.

infernoST wrote:Thanks, I'll try to start alternating hands. I may need to order more tungstens before I attempt using my left hand though

Being able to use either hand is valuable, however my suggestion was to simply turn the plate 180* after each bead to alternate the starting of the bead so all the starts are not on the same side.

I only suggest this as a way to make the pad look more uniform.

Well, when you're out in the dirt, sometimes you can't "flip" the pad...

Diesel wrote:Well, when you're out in the dirt, sometimes you can't "flip" the pad...

Quite true...my suggestion was meant as another way to practice, not replace what he was doing.

I've done repairs where too much material was machined off and an area needs to be built up, it's this kind of repair that I want to only add enough to cleanup, and keeping the pad (buildup) consistent is the goal.

I've worked for many years in the shop and only a few out in the field, so my suggestion is from the "working in the shop" point of view

YMMV