Welding Tips and Tricks

I've been using a Yeswelder MIG250-PRO for the last year, 14 months or so. I've build a couple of BBQ smokers, I feel like I've gotten 1000x better than when I started. I thought my Yeswelder was a decent machine for the $400 or so we spent, it's a multiprocess, but I don't really use anything but the gas MIG function. Like I said, for a newbie getting into a new hobby, I feel like it was a decent investment - especially given how little I knew back then (way, way back, right???).

I'm entirely self-taught on YouTube - watching hundreds of hours of video before I ever picked up a MIG gun.

Now, I'm wondering if I've 'outgrown' my machine and if I need something better to be able to step up to making better welds. I think my current ability is 'ok', though it's not perfect, and I wonder how much the machine is contributing, or if it's mostly just me?

Some pics, just for reference -

My first welds, ever, after watching a ton of videos online from Jody, Bob Moffatt and Tim from Tim Welds:
Some 'typical' beads for my work recently:

This was a month or two ago, just sat down one day to run line after line after line, trying to get a bit better.
These are decent, as far as I can tell, but this is of course, playing with settings, working on positioning, trying to take my time and specifically working on doing a good job. I am inconsistent. Also, if I am out of position, it's all out the window - trying to weld uphill, downhill, or (God forbid!) overhead, and all bets are off!

I'm trying to work with manual settings, I don't like using 'Synergic' mode, as often I am welding 2 different thicknesses of metal and I don't know where to set it, and I want to learn to set things myself so I can adjust by eye for my need - not depend on the machine to tell me what to do.

I don't know if I'm going about this the right way - I don't know if this machine is just a POS and I need something better to progress to the next level, or if it is just me and my weak eyes and shaky hands. I'm not a surgeon, I don't have the greatest 'steadiness' in the world. I'm just a hobby guy, trying to improve.

I don't have $3k to spend on a new welder. I'd love to get something really nice, but if I stretch it, and if I can sell the latest smoker I built, I might be able to pull about $1-1.5k to spend, so I'm thinking of the Lincoln 211i or Miller 211, or a Lincoln 215, or, an Everlast 251si - as I think having pulse capability might be nice to play with.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Am I way off, and this is just all ME causing issues, or is my machine truly holding me back? I thought it was a 'decent' starter machine, till I saw a comment here from Jody about how all Yeswelders were total crap. I know Jody sells Primeweld, and I've looked at some of those, but they seem very TIG-oriented, something I'm a long ways from getting into. And honestly, I had thought Primeweld was also a Chinese-made machine similar to some of the others, but I could be wrong. I don't "need" a red or blue, but if I'm looking to step things up to a nicer machine, those are always the first recommendations, and a green or yellow (Everlast or ESAB) is another seemingly good option. Or so I thought?

Just out here looking to improve... please don't judge me too harshly.

A better welding machine doesn’t make a better welder. A good welder can weld with a crap machine. That is because technique, understanding, and muscle memory have everything to do with great outcomes.

MiG is a “misleading” process. It looks easy enough, some can make decent looking welds early in their career, but often they aren’t strong welds. MIG as a process is often restricted from structural welding unless there is a specific WPS for it.

From the welds you posted, your gun manipulation is fine. Your travel speed looks to slow in many instances. This is evidenced by the tall, ropey looking welds. If you are doing hobby welding and mostly using thinner steel, I prefer to use thinner wire. Most use 0.035, 0.030 even, but it is my preference to use 0.024. I am not putting as much wire down as quickly, I can manipulate the gun as needed, and I run slightly lower temps too. This is all personal preference and experience through practice.

Structural stuff, I am stuffing 0.035, 0.045, or even 0.058 wire in the suitcase and pouring the heat to it. Or I use Stick

To teach yourself properly, you need to cut and test your welds. Jody has tons of videos on doing precisely that. Overall, you should be confident that you’re learning and improving. Never stop doing that because every great welder aims to make their next bead better than the last one.

Thank you for the feedback! Seriously! I truly appreciate it, as I have zero help from anyone who can watch me and troubleshoot my procedures as I work, or even critique things in person.

As an explanation, I have been trying to purposely slow down my travel speed in an attempt to get my welds to 'wet in' more. Does this mean I might consider turning my settings UP and increase travel speed? I could switch to smaller wire, yes - I've exclusively used .035 wire to this point, as I'm welding mostly 11g tubing and thicker on tanks, mostly has been about 3/16, 1/4 or up to 5/16, a little 3/8. Didn't think smaller wire was a good idea in this case. But if increasing WFS and voltage but increasing travel speed to prevent overheating is the right idea (if I'm thinking about things properly), I am open to trying it!

Thank you again for ANY critique that can help me improve!

If you can increase the voltage without adding WFS, try it. Some machines tie voltage directly to WFS so you may not get anywhere in which case a bit faster travel might be helpful.

If you are welding 1/4” and up, I’d stick with the 0.035. But also try some 0.024 with thinner materials as an experiment. Depending on the types of tanks you’re fabricating, even using 0”024 on 1/4” is fine because you’ll slow down and fill the joint with wire. As long as you get the proper penetration, wire diameter doesn’t matter as much as a a setting. You just need to experiment and test your practice pieces to be sure.

have you tried the O's gun manipulation?
one advantage of it is you tend to slightly favor one side, the side you move forward on, which is handy for welding different thicknesses or horizontal.
i'm not a huge fan of the back/forth style, try to make it look like tig.

only time upgrading machine helps is if its complete garbage (like a fluxcore welder) or its not designed to do what you need it to do.

I've tried lots of different torch techniques. I don't care for the whip and pause or weave method too much, I find myself doing the cursive 'e' method a lot. I assume this is what you mean by the O's gun manipulation? I realized at one point I was doing a forward-rolling O and didn't like the results, so I changed mid-bead to a cursive 'e' style - extending the puddle forward on the bottom toe of the bead and rolling back up on the front, back on the top and down again to repeat the forward movement. Basically just like making repetitive "e" letters when writing in cursive. I will admit, when I did this, I saw a huge difference in the bead profile and appearance just on that single run.

Here is an example. The left side and top surface fillet weld is what I am talking about - first, I think I was doing forward-rolling O's -
Then I noticed what I was doing, and switch on the last half of that run up top to a 'backward e' - and I found it significantly improved:
Unfortunately, this was one of the last welds I did on this smoker and it was pretty well complete, so I haven't had much opportunity to work on improving this technique yet, so I need to get back to work...

I am left handed and mostly weld left to right, in a 'push' direction, with slight leftward tilt to the gun - 10-15ºback. Thus, I can mostly keep my head to the right of the nozzle, looking down into the puddle as it moves toward me. I try to keep stickout short and consistent gun angle and distance from the work.

I have gone to great lengths, even suspending this entire unit upside down - which is quite difficult and possibly dangerous, working 100% alone - so I could try to get positioning to weld horizontal from above rather than upside down, which is really bad, my results are pretty horrific welding overhead.

This big thick multipass weld is an example - this thing is placed upside down with the heaviest part suspended higher so I could try to get a decent weld - it came out... somewhat fair, I suppose?

I don't know if any of this makes sense, it does to me, but then... this is how I understand things and the way I do it - so it would. To me. lol

Hope ya'll realize how embarrassing it is for new guys like me to post detailed examples of our 'work' (if you wanna call it that) in an attempt to get advice and critique, 100% in an attempt to improve. I have seen lots of welders of all experience levels online who are very critical and dismissive of people asking for help. This is just me trying to improve - like I said, I don't have anyone who can mentor me in person, particularly, so I am essentially all self-taught with the aid of YouTube and a few guys who will give me pointers via online messaging at times. And specifics are really hard to get - one of the most specific repetitive things I get is, "Just try to weld downhill as much as possible." Well... that's not particularly possible when you're working alone and welding together a 600lb 3/8" thick firebox onto an 1100lb 5/16" thick tank. Just getting them lined up together is challenge enough! lol

First off, as much as possbile, avoid MIG downhill! You should only do that as a last resort, and never for material 3/8" or thicker. You and your machine are not ready for that.

What I notice from these pictures is a consistent cold weld. You really need to crank up the amps and get the bead "flatter" and better wetted-in. If you can see the rolled edge of the bead, you're too cold. Grind it out as best you can, and do it over. These welds are prone to failure and if that heavy tank falls on someone, you're in for a heap of legal trouble.

Now the not-so-fun stuff: If you are welding for "others" and selling these items or charging for your service, then the very best advice I can give you is get business insurance and make sure all payments are to that business. It can protect you personally from liability should an accident occur. Even your Homeowner's policy won't help you. This is the "ugly" part of a welding hustle. Insurance and Liability.

Absent of specific certifications, you will be accountable for damages. If you have the certs, that helps protect you, but insurance is a MUST because they won't offer it without you getting certified in MIG positions. Work towards that promptly!

I truly do appreciate the feedback. I will work on my welds, partially by having the guts to increase my settings and my travel speed.

Just a quick update - I've been working on the things mentioned above, have had some variable results.

But, I'm now on hold, as my Yeswelder MIG-250PRO died yesterday. Yes, I know, everyone's gonna say I should have bought something better to start with and I wouldn't be in this situation. I get that, and I never intended this welder to be a full-on production unit for an industrial shop - this was a hobbyist welder with a hobbyist budget investment. If I'd approached my wife with a budget of $1200-2000 for a hobby I'd never tried, this would have been a non-starter to begin with, so the Yeswelder at least showed me that this is something I can do, I enjoy and it did help me build numerous projects in the 14 months or so I used it. I'm not mad at it - but I know I was pushing it probably beyond its intended use and duty-cycle.

I am now looking at several better welders to decide which I would like to 'step up to'. I'll start a different thread on that.

Thanks for all the help.

Ok, I just wanted to revist this. So, my Yeswelder died, and I think it's probably one of the best things that could habe happened to my confidence levels.

So I tried out my friend's Esab EM 215I today... jist fired it up and ran some lines on scrap, then a few fillet welds on some scrap. I have to say, my welds with this machine, barely even TRYING, are light years better than the best welds I achieved with the Yeswelder in 15 months of practice.
So... I guess the more appropriate question would not be, "Can a better machine make me look like a better welder?" But, "Can a cheap crappy machine keep me from achieving decent (appearing) welds, no matter how much I practice my technique?"

Maybe so. You can judge for yourself. But personally, I feel a lot better now, all this time I was questioning myself and my technique, in spite of practice, practice, practice.

a cheap machine can hold you back, especially if your fighting the machine.
one of the common issues with cheap machines is they don't always deliver the amps/volts they say they do (or do for the first bit then drop down). therefore tend to run cold welds. also why some people use settings that are a lot higher than others.

also good machines have incoming voltage correction, so if you have a long lead, poor power supply, you will still get the same weld (within limits of course). also PFC helps as well.

I would also add that your buddy very likely has his Esab tuned just about perfect. Drive roll tension, spool tension are factors often overlooked when MIG welding. The consistency of the filler coming off the roll has a significant bearing in the appearance of welds. If it sticks and stutters, you get poor welds because as Tweake mentioned, the voltage readings change and your machine might not adapt to it.

tRidiot wrote: ↑Sat Mar 23, 2024 12:10 pm "Can a cheap crappy machine keep me from achieving decent (appearing) welds, no matter how much I practice my technique?"

Yes, very well stated.