Welding Tips and Tricks

I have welded many years with stick and gas. Bought my first mig Welder (Miller) and found, which I have never seen any reference to on welding sites, the big problem with mig is actually seeing the puddle. The cone of the welder pretty much obscures it. I have a auto darkening helmit (Miller) and that really helps (set on 9). I can do a really good bead but it was hard to keep on track of a dark seem. I bought a quartz iodine desk lamp on a magnetic base. It has a flexible neck and has been a real help lighting up the area ahead of the arc. This has been a real help in seeing where I am going.
Anyone else have this problem/remedy?
Dave

I'm guessing you're using pulsed MIG or welding aluminum (spray transfer)? Guess I never noticed. There is a learning curve with MIG just as with any other process. Once you get the feel for it, it's very easy.

I was in the same boat as you. After almost 40 years of TIG, gas and stick I had trouble seeing what I was doing with MIG.
For me it was partly wearing bifocal glasses... by the time I got my eyes focused I had already shot out 5 feet of stinkin' wire.
With a little practice you'll find it quickly gets better.

As a brand new welder in school, our first semester was stick and MIG. So, I learned on that first. I found, for me, pushing the puddle to me, I can see the puddle pretty good. On the other hand using the nozzle sometimes, to block the arc, you can see the puddle better.

Maybe it's just me. I have no problems with seeing the puddle using stick. I can see the puddle using push method with the mig but sometimes it is just not clear, where as using stick welding it always has been. Don't get me wrong, I really like this welder and use it a lot. It is so handy! It's one of my favorite toys.

Off topic, I had always wanted a band saw to cut steel but had no room for one. I saw one of those portable cut off band saws that Milwakee sells, instantly thought "that is the answer". Bought a used one on Ebay, made a stand for it and it is the handiest thing for all kinds of metal cutting, and you can pick it up with one hand. If I could post a picture of it here I would. If anyone is interested, can you tell me how to post picture here?

Dave, sometimes it comes down to positioning yourself for a better view. Tilt your head to the left if you are right handed and MIG welding, to the right if sticking. I know it sounds rediculously simple but it is common. Obviously welding in a flat position is easiest way to test the head tilting theory.

Migwelder wrote:Maybe it's just me. I have no problems with seeing the puddle using stick. I can see the puddle using push method with the mig but sometimes it is just not clear, where as using stick welding it always has been. Don't get me wrong, I really like this welder and use it a lot. It is so handy! It's one of my favorite toys.

Off topic, I had always wanted a band saw to cut steel but had no room for one. I saw one of those portable cut off band saws that Milwakee sells, instantly thought "that is the answer". Bought a used one on Ebay, made a stand for it and it is the handiest thing for all kinds of metal cutting, and you can pick it up with one hand. If I could post a picture of it here I would. If anyone is interested, can you tell me how to post picture here?

hope someone can help you with pictures..i'm thinking about buying.one. i hope i'm posting this correctly..this is my first time

tom
http://tomblackart.com/

romij wrote:Dave, sometimes it comes down to positioning yourself for a better view. Tilt your head to the left if you are right handed and MIG welding, to the right if sticking. I know it sounds rediculously simple but it is common. Obviously welding in a flat position is easiest way to test the head tilting theory.

It's not a "Big" problem, just saying it's much easier to see/control stick welding puddle I guess..

milwiron wrote:I was in the same boat as you. After almost 40 years of TIG, gas and stick I had trouble seeing what I was doing with MIG.
For me it was partly wearing bifocal glasses... by the time I got my eyes focused I had already shot out 5 feet of stinkin' wire.
With a little practice you'll find it quickly gets better.

Thanks for the response.... Again, it is not a "big" problem, just easier to control the puddle with a stick welder...

Hi,

I tilt the torch to about 15 degrees ( left handed) and drag to the left with my head on the far right , up close and can see the weld puddle nicely. If I push, it's the same, 15 degrees, push with my head tilted to the right close up. Maybe your electronic mask setting is too high. You may want to adjust it so you can see the weld better.

metafos wrote:Hi,

I tilt the torch to about 15 degrees ( left handed) and drag to the left with my head on the far right , up close and can see the weld puddle nicely. If I push, it's the same, 15 degrees, push with my head tilted to the right close up. Maybe your electronic mask setting is too high. You may want to adjust it so you can see the weld better.

Per my original post, I have my Miller auto dark helmet on (9), that's as light as it goes...
Dave

Hi Dave,

Wish I could be next to you when you do a pass. My screen goes from 5 to 12, set to 7 unless I do some heavy current welding. Just keep practicing I would think. How about if you adjust the wire speed, increase it maybe a little so the wire projects a little further outward. This might make the puddle more visible. Two things I've learned , I'm sure you have the same thoughts, practice makes perfect and..........................never give up.

Georges.

Thats funny, its one of the first things I noticed also. But I do mig every day now and I still hardley ever see the puddle. I just guess based on timing and sound and i still get a roll of dimes. This can be troublesome though when wearing earplugs.

I don't know, but with MIG I want to see the penatration happining in front of the puddle. And I do this best with a darker shade lens. That way you can see past the puddle glow and see how much penatration is taking place. A #7 shade lens is crazy, I can't imagine welding with that all day. Or even just a little as a hobbie. If your having trouble seeing try a little darker lens, becouse mabey the reason you can't see is the glare from the arc. I work with load bearing steel and aluminum, from 3/8" to 1 1/2" plate. No less than a 12 shade lens is used, mainly a 14 shade to save my eyes. And I can see everyrthing that is happining in bonding the material, which is in fact welding. If you can't see that then you are just lapping a puddle on top of the material with poor penatration at best.

Doing some multi process pipe welding in school right now. 6010 root with fcaw caps and fill. Seeing the puddle is definately a challenge. I tend to use the "head-lean" method and it is working pretty well. The issue I am having is the tie in at the "6 o'clock crossroads". If I get underneath the pipe I can't seem to keep the upper cap pass from undercutting the pipe above it. If I stay off to the side I often miss my tie in to either the top or bottom of the bevel or to the lower cap(this is occuring bhind the puddle). It's especially frustrating because I'm donig this in preparation for a job and the rest of the weld looks like a wedding band. Seeing the puddle seems pretty critical, for me at least, as some of the welds I've tested that were made without a clear view of the puddle diplayed I.P. in the fcaw part of the weld. I didn't even have to acid-etch them, the flux core was a differentshade than the rest of the weld/basemetal. You've got to see the puddle cutting into the previous pass!

On the topic of lens shade I use a 12 emeraldview(gold mirrored) and by Tuesday night, after 13 hours of welding a day for 2 days, I have a hard time focusing. My instructor reccomends a 13. I just haven't had the money to get one.

Funny,
After I had completed a couple of projects, I don't have the original problem anymore. I think I was trying too hard to see the weld puddle details all of the time, which apparently came down to "I was just trying too hard". After getting the knak of seeing a good start and listening to the arc then just monitoring as I go along it has worked out great! Great welds and the iodine light went by the wayside. I really like this machine a lot (Miller) and my arc welder is gathering cobwebs.....

One of the best investments you can make is to get a cheater lens for your helmet and I agree with some of the other posters that you shouldn't be using anything under a shade 10 for mig work. For the most part I push the puddle since I can see the joint better, but there are times when you have to pull it. Either way gets good penetration if your machine is set up correctly. I normally wear 2 power magnification safety glasses and they were fine up to about 6 months ago when I had to add a 1.25 power magnification to my helmet. It's really quite amazing how much better you can weld when you can actually see what you are doing.

Tom

wow, guys that's all i can say. It seems that you could find something better to talk about! If you can't see your puddle move your head ,body ,or what ever you have to. And if someone has to explain that to you, well you know. and all that push pull,straight in,15deg. madness, I'll just let you noobs argue about that one

in response to the uploading pictures question earlier in this thread, if you load a file in the the 'upload attachment' section directly below the message body section, it shows up at the bottom of the message. if you're trying to put a picture in from the web, paste the full address (http://www.bullshit.com./your_picture.jpg) in, select it then click the 'Img' button right above the message box.


as far as seeing the MIG puddle goes, most of the time I'm running MIG, I just move my head to the side. I've got my autodark set @ 9.5 which I use for MIG/TIG, but the odds of me welding anything thicker than 3/16 mild steel are pretty slim. all low amp sheet metal work 'round here.