Welding Tips and Tricks

A guy in our shop has been using a new technique, and I'd like your opinion. Several of us already have an opinion, but we don't know anything...

I think he's trying to make a Mig weld look like a Tig weld, but the technique he uses is to weld a series of little circles stopping the arc between each one. Across the shop you can hear Bzzzt, silence, Bzzzzt, Silence.... Would you trust a weld made that way?

I can't figure out how to add a photo... I'll be happy to send it to anyone curious of what it looks like.

Welcome to the site theatrewelder. Your first post here at WT&T has to be approved by a mod and some features are not available at that time. (that's how we control outside spammers) If you hit reply and then look just below the text box you should now see a tab that says "upload attachment". Click it and go find your picture. note: if it's to large it won't load but the system will tell you.

That is common when butt welding body panels with mag to reduce heat shrinkage and to overcome variations in gap.
If done correct you will have 100% penetration and very little build-up.
I have done repairs this way that passed road-worthy inspection with a smile on the inspectors face afterwards.
For other applications I cannot comment

theatrewelder wrote:A guy in our shop has been using a new technique, and I'd like your opinion. Several of us already have an opinion, but we don't know anything...

I think he's trying to make a Mig weld look like a Tig weld, but the technique he uses is to weld a series of little circles stopping the arc between each one. Across the shop you can hear Bzzzt, silence, Bzzzzt, Silence.... Would you trust a weld made that way?

I can't figure out how to add a photo... I'll be happy to send it to anyone curious of what it looks like.

I've used it a few times on thinner steel it comes out looking like dimes but for thicker metal I have no idea

I use the tacking method often for thin, rusty steel or body panels on a car/pickup.

I'm not a fan for 1/8" and above - and I'm not a fan of trying to imitate the look of tig at the sacrifice of known quality practices.

I'm pretty much a mig-like-tig hater IF it means letting quality suffer for the sake of a look.

You did not tell us how thick the material is and is it a structural part? Keep in mind, many manufactures of aftermarket car frames and accessories do exactly what he is doing. I see nothing wrong with it on thinner materials but would NEVER recommend this on thick plate.
Thing you must remember, it may not be the conventional way if doing it and you may not like it, but it might just pass a bend test and be fine.
-Jonathan

The material is 1-1/4" sched 40 pipe, used as structure, not for pressure.

Coped Joints. Structural.

Photo attached

Yep, I'm still a mig-like-tig hater for this guys welds...

Not going to lie, I welded a brake chamber bracket* night before last and my first beads on all 3 pads looked incidentally like a TIG weld This wasn't the end goal, it just happened to work out that way. I was doing the old cursive 'e' type deal, and the puddle cooled into well defined ripples like that. Then I welded the bejeezus out of it because the original welds failed due to undercut on one side (the bracket) and cold lap on the other side (the axle tube). If I do 1 fillet weld, they look awesome. I'm not so good at doing multi-pass welds with MIG yet :/

In this application though, I would prefer to see a continuous bead, but that's just me. My biggest issue with the stack of dimes look on steel is that unless he has a way to do NDT and verify penetration and integrity, he could have incomplete fusion between everyone of those 'tacks' for lack of a better term :/

I only button pulse on thin stuff or when I know it's getting too hot but not usually on thick stuff. The technique an old timer taught me when I first taught myself to mig weld has been my go to and I use it for thick and thin and it works better for me and comes out looking like tig most of the time and it looks like this: VVVVVVVVVVVVVV Just weaving pretty much but each time across moves forward and you don't waste too much time. I just set the machine hotter than normal and go and have had great success.

mcoe wrote:I only button pulse on thin stuff or when I know it's getting too hot but not usually on thick stuff. The technique an old timer taught me when I first taught myself to mig weld has been my go to and I use it for thick and thin and it works better for me and comes out looking like tig most of the time and it looks like this: VVVVVVVVVVVVVV Just weaving pretty much but each time across moves forward and you don't waste too much time. I just set the machine hotter than normal and go and have had great success.

That's the same motion I use, it normally comes out looking good and a nice flat weld

I would not do this fwi and I've done lots of structural pieces