Welding Tips and Tricks

I got bored today so I welded the crap out of some 1/4" plate in a t-joint. Took 2 hours welding and cooling. 55 passes and 2.5 miles of wire at around 18.4 volts and around 260 ipm. Good practice stacking beads and to get better at reason and watching the puddle. As you can see, one side was favored more than the other which I am thinking had something to do with by the time I got to the top of the joint it was hot as hell so it sunk deep into the metal and other welds.

"If you can step across it I can weld it, and if ya can't, I'll weld till you can" HAHAHA

Good consistency!

How long did you let it cool between beads?

shady wrote:How long did you let it cool between beads?

Between the individual beads, little to none. Every time I finished a layer though I dunked it for awhile. That kept the heat under control pretty well

I do the same thing sometimes when there is nothing to do and I get bored...usually when I am at home here.. i'll do it vertical or overhead maybe horizontal...I hate welding flat for some reason.. sometimes i will do it at some crazy angle or throw some other crazy thing into the mix just to make it more difficult. Good practice

You should have my job. I thought working in a machine shop would be great until the second week I got 7 pieces dropped off in my corner that were about 15 feet long 2 inch thick and 30 inches wide on bottom, 8" wide on the top. They said "add 3/16" in paint pen on each end of them. That was about 15 hours of running .045 metal core and grinding.

Turbo wrote:You should have my job. I thought working in a machine shop would be great until the second week I got 7 pieces dropped off in my corner that were about 15 feet long 2 inch thick and 30 inches wide on bottom, 8" wide on the top. They said "add 3/16" in paint pen on each end of them. That was about 15 hours of running .045 metal core and grinding.

That sounds like a ton of fun!

Farmwelding wrote:

Turbo wrote:You should have my job. I thought working in a machine shop would be great until the second week I got 7 pieces dropped off in my corner that were about 15 feet long 2 inch thick and 30 inches wide on bottom, 8" wide on the top. They said "add 3/16" in paint pen on each end of them. That was about 15 hours of running .045 metal core and grinding.

That sounds like a ton of fun!

Are you anywhere near Kaukauna? I'm not quitting yet though.

No I am in Beloit so about two hours-but I'm just a junior in high school right now so...I have to think about what kind of work I want to do-and see what I am best at. I figure I'll do what I'm best at and make money doing a damn fine job and work on my skills at home in the mean time.

Farmwelding wrote:No I am in Beloit so about two hours-but I'm just a junior in high school right now so...I have to think about what kind of work I want to do-and see what I am best at. I figure I'll do what I'm best at and make money doing a damn fine job and work on my skills at home in the mean time.

I suggest dropping "do what I'm best at" in favor of "do what I like best".

What you like best will ultimately pay you more, because your enjoyment equals enthusiasm for it, desire to improve at it, and willingness to show up every damn day to do it.

I'm good at a bunch of s@#t I don't like doing and would never be happy making my income with.

I can finish sheet-rock mirror smooth, then put a hand-done skip-trowel texture on it, and finish it in a five-color glazed rag-roll faux-finish that will make you think you're in a 1000 year old Tuscan Villa. I would be paid damn near "fine-art" wages for this. I won't do it. I stopped enjoying it a long time ago; The fun went out and it became tedious.

Steve

Yeah I know what you mean except one problem: if it involves welding and building stuff with metal I am 95% of the time happy. It just is what it is. I just get excited to weld, fix, and build stuff. And since I enjoy every process I've done so far, whichever one in best at ill do full time and always wok on the other skills if I get a small side gig going.

Another question: what exactly is metal core arc welding. I know it is a wire feeding process but one day I looked it up and there wasn't a ton on it, I didn't dig too much but regardless. I know I'll learn about it at tech school at some point(I will make sure I run every damn machine that school has and every process and wire/rod size it has). So what is it and what are its benefits and uses?