Welding Tips and Tricks

Machine: Ironton Flux Core 125
Wire: Lincoln Innershield NR-211-MP .035
Material: 1/4" Steel

These are my first ever welds, I'm 100% new to welding and I know this machine is not exactly first-rate, but it's what I got. I'll step up to a better machine when I think I'm ready.

Machine was set to the higher voltage level and I played around with the wire speed...found that it was sticking well between 5-6. Mild steel, some slag left but you get the idea. Any pointers you awesome guys & gals can provide would be amazing, thank you!!


*No wire wheel cleanup, looks messy*

*Wanted to show how tall the welds are*

*Tried my hand at my Initials *

**This one was much thinner metal, around 1/8"**

Work on being consistent and smooth, you'll do fine.

Have you tried .030 wire? I was given a machine kinda like yours, a Forney 125, and I find it runs much better with .30 wire. The smaller wire seems to wet in better with the very limited power of these 115v welders.

like jdawg said work on your smoothness it looks like you have the heat about right it's just you need to steady your hand and move in a consistant way.before you strike arc place your arms down and move like you would if you was welding when you get into a comfortable position and you have a good range of movement without having to res position then strike arc. i do this before i strike arc every time. there is nuthing worst than having a good puddle going then you run out of space and have to move your arm or pull more slack on your mig gun or whip. but for those welds being your first they ain't that bad at all. in my years i have come across welders that put down stuff far worst than that.

Thank you for the advice, you are right about the steadiness of my hand...I seem to jump up and down a bit and I can feel it happening. I find I have to reposition myself often, I think I'll be following that advice pretty closely...doing a dry run on the weld before striking arc.

I haven't tried any .030 wire yet. I bought this welder with a 10lb spool of the Lincoln .035 wire so I'm stuck with it for a while. That's the 3rd time someone has mentioned using the smaller wire to get a better weld pool going. Definitely going to grab some soon and see if my welds improve some.

MK2MR2 wrote:I find I have to reposition myself often

Like was said, dry runs will help with avoiding that but sometimes re-positioning is part of the game. If I can do a weld without moving, I'd rather but sometimes you can't. Not that you'll be doing this with 115v flux-core but a 6G pipe test, for example, will require you to move around while you weld. A long seam that can't have more than one tie-in (or none) will require you to find some way to re-position yourself while welding. And the biggest problem I had to overcome with that was "hard propping."

I call it "hard propping" when I put a lot of my weight into the hand/elbow/whatever I am propping with. This puts me in a bind if I start welding and I have to re-position. If I only put a little weight into it (a "soft" prop), it still helps keep me steady but I can slide my glove or elbow if I need to re-position. Not saying you should try to learn the fundamentals AND re-positioning at the same time, just try to avoid making "hard propping" a habit you'll have to unlearn later. Being relaxed (some people hold their stinger/gun like it was a rattlesnake fixin' to bite them), loose and doing dry runs until you find a comfortable way to make a weld helps a ton.

I tried my hand at welding some thin steel, 16 gauge and for the most part it went pretty well. Turned down the voltage and wirespeed and just went at a moderate pace. Wish I had taken pictures to show you guys, but I managed to practice more on the thicker steel some more. Did some weave patterns, I found that I managed to keep my hand much steadier this way than running a straight bead (running horizontally, at least) I did a Z pattern and this is how it turned out.

Bottom left welds...



Straight bead (right) after I hit the piece with a blowtorch...


I am going to pick up some 1x1 square tubing from HomeDepot and try my hand at cutting/welding it, I want to try and make a welding cart as my first project.

After a while you will learn to watch the puddle and time your moves. You may move faster on one part of your Z or pause a bit longer here or there. This will give you a more even overall width and look. Your definitely making progress and that only comes with practice.

I used the same wire in a Lincoln 100 and now in a Lincoln 180.The wire works well but what really helped me was anti-spatter spray. Doesn't take much -just dampen the area and weld. Seems to make adjustments less critical and very easy to clean the weld. I also find I can weld thinner material much easier and cleaner. Good luck.

I haven't tried the anti-spatter spray yet...but I keep seeing people use Pam cooking spray on their welds. Think I'll pick up a can of both and see what the deal is

I never tried the Pam but I have heard it works ok. As I prime and paint all my projects I went with a spray that was paint compatible and had doubts about the Pam. Once you have welded it mostly disappears and I just do my normal cleanup with a wire wheel and paint. Stuff I have painted a couple of years ago and has been outside is fine. I just use a variety of small wire wheels in a high speed ( 3200rpm) 3/8 drill to clean up. One thing I do if new material is dirty ( mill dust and oil ) is give it a quick wash with brake cleaner before it comes in the shop door. Good luck.

Anything I paint that's had spatter spray on it gets wiped with acetone more than once.

Steve S