Welding Tips and Tricks

Okay - I know these first welds are super ugly.. ..but besides that what guidance would you give in terms of making adjustments? Starting from the left - these are my 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th welds. Although none are close to "good" - they actually got a lot stronger as I went along. The metal could have been cleaner I know now.

The welding gun was hard to keep at a consistent distance from the weld...it was really hard to see how far I from the weld I was with the self-darkening mask). I found myself pulling back way too far.

The welder is a Hobart 140, with .35 wire, using gas. I had the voltage set at 4 and 3 in different trials. The wire speed was between 30 and reduced to about 10, then back to about 25. Gas pressure is about 20 psi.

The steel is 1/8 inch.

Wow dude.. What kind of wire is it, what gas you running, how far away are you from your workpiece? Did that thing come with some sorta training video? WATCH IT if it did!

bubble gum, it's ok man, not everyone is a pro right off the bat. First thing, get a new ground clamp. I don't care if you just bought the welder 3 days ago, get a new ground. Not some cheap one either, get an old school ground clamp. Start with trying to weld with smaller pieces, your just wasting material like that. Start off doing surface passes, the move on to doing a 5 pad. (5 surface passes overlapping eachother). Make sure you keep a tight arc gap, i like about 1/4" with steel. Try and holding one hand on the nozzle and resting ur pinky on the work piece and hold the mig gun with the other. If you find that your being pusshed away from the metal chances are, your ground clamp is junk, or your wire speed is to high. Your first weld looks like you lost sheilding. Don't try and weld to fast, and stay with the puddle, listen for the correct sound to, if it's poping a sputtering, somethings in wrong. You want a nice smooth sounding arc. Don't be afriad to move your head in a little closer if you can't see the puddle. You might want to get a cheater lens. Once you get your 5 pad down where there are little to no valleys between beads, move on to lap welds, then T-fillet. Stick with it, it takes time to get good.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVyYvcEqkcQ This video is on flux core but it has some very good information, and good arc shots this same guy makes lots of welding videos you can buy from http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/ ... 537+771332 heres the link



Hope this helps

Jhic91 - thanks. Appreciate the detailed guidance and videos very much. I will practice welding straight beads on a single piece of metal in the way you've mentioned.

I wonder if my 20 psi gas flow may not have been enough too? Anyway - back to practicing - and will post some photos of progress.

Thanks!!

Not a problem man, like to help anyone out who has trouble with welding, i set my mig to about 15-20 cfh.

Okay - day 2 welds are somewhat better. The hand position suggestion helped.

Less popping - but my beads zig-zag, instead of being one solid line.

Also - my auto darkening mask still gets so dark it's hard to see much at all. The adjustments are for sensitivity and delay only - no shade adjustment.

Here are the results:

, , wow, this is a huge improvement, i like where this is going. Well first off i would say, lose the auto darking helmet, go to a welding supply and pick up a cheap soild shade #10, and i would go ahead and buy a shade less and a shade more, just to see what you like better, your already saying you can't hardly see with this auto darking you got now so i'm guessing you might be needing a #9, or it's a crazy ass #13. one of those junk jackson auto darking lens. (sorry just not a fan, like the Nexgen tho, great helmet) But anyways, try not weaving as much, weaving slightly side to side about 1/8'-1/4'' is fine, i'm guessing your weaving to wide. I see one weld in there that i like, which is ok for someone with ur experience. 4th one from the top. Like i said try a lighter shade, you might not even have to buy another helmet depending on what kind it is just the lens. See if hat makes things better should, you will be able to see the puddle clearer and get nicer welds then what you are getting right now. But overall i like what i saw on this one from ya, keep practicing man it takes time.

I would say slow your travel speed (how fast you move the gun) as well. Watch the puddle build to the width you want and then move forward. Try diff movements as well, I like circles with MIG.

I use a #9 shade, I could not see that well with a #10 and if you have a #13 wow it's like closing your eyes. I picked up the cheap spark and dark that Jody reviewed and I like it a lot, only $50.

Hey guys - wow - seems it really helps if you can actually see what you are welding!! I ditched the auto-dark mask and got a #9 and #10 lens (together less than $5), and put them in my cheapie mask. Works great. I mean what a frickin' difference! The #9 allowed me to see better, but I bumped up to the 10 just to be safer on my eyes. Both work and make a huge difference. I also lowered the gas to about 17psi and used a circular, pull motion - which enabled me to keep my eye on the puddle pretty well.

One bad thing - my Hobart 140 started blowing the 15amp circuit on the panel. I'm hoping this should not be an issue if I move to one of the outlets attached to one of the 20 amp circuits? Just when I started getting "good" - the darn circuit began tripping on me!

Thank you guys a ton!!

Day 3 results:

Great man, this is a huge improvment. Keep practicing, look like u got a little bit a porosity in a couple beads but no biggie. Nice job!

Thanks - I think I'm getting close. Any idea what causes that porosity? I'd assume that would equal weak points in my welds.

dirty metal or no sheilding gas, cause porosity. And you got it, porosity=weak welds.

Looks a lot better...
To me, the beads look tall. Which means you’re not getting enough penetration. Turn your heat up a little bit and see if you can get the beads to lay down.

Okay - I'm going to boost my gas back up slightly to 20ish to hopefully combat the porosity.

In terms of increasing penetration - I believe I was on setting 4, which is the highest. Maybe I can reduce the wire speed a bit - I think I may have increased it to just above 30.

I feel 1000 times better that I'm to the point of dialing it in, versus all over the place like when I started....thanks to you guy's providing the expertise.

I hope I can get past tripping the breaker though.....that's the last thing I need to worry about when trying to produce decent welds.

Thanks!

Okay - I'm probably getting ahead of myself - but as an experiment, and knowing I still need to practice - I welded some square tubing stock together in several different configurations shown below. The strength of the welds seems decent - as I could not break them apart with hammer and vise, anyway.

just bought a Mig, just had to say you are an inspiration for me