Welding Tips and Tricks

Here is my first project. My friend was building a pole barn and asked if I could help him put the roof trusses up. He wanted to do it buy hand lol. He had bought a attachment plate that mounted to his John Deer tractor and was going to use it for another project that never came to be. So I burned threw a couple 10# boxes of 7018 and decided to make him something with his lawn ornament plate. Was a little worried that my welds wouldn't hold but it worked great. Just wouldn't stand under it

[img]http://s1339.photobucket.com/user/tberg ... sort=1&o=3[/img]

These are the only pics I have. Wish I would have taken more but I was way to excited about my new welder and didn't. Not sure if you can see them but my birds mouthing definitely needs some work. Although so does my stick welding. Thanks for looking and I wouldn't mind some constructive criticism.

looks oustanding to me.

thumbs up

Thanks AK

Here's what an iron worker told me several years ago:
Your welds don't have to be pretty, they just have to hold.

Don't sweat what they look like as long as you know that you got good penetration and the welds aren't full of porosity. Don't believe me just because I wrote this. Take a look at the welds in most of Jody's videos and then go on over to wledporn on instagram. See the difference? Can Jody do that kinda pretty work? Im sure he can! Is it practical to try and make everything as pretty as the most smokin-hott babe that you've ever seen? No way.
Jody says in his videos that sometimes appearance is the main thing but that's usually not the case. There's usually a balance that has to be struck in order to make the customer happy with the appearance and getting the job done in a timely manner. In the case of your friend: free is free and the boom seems to be doing a great job.
You done good!