Teach us how to weld

Loganwayne

Loganwayne

#BTL
Joined
Feb 15, 2013
Location
Clyde, North Carolina
It was brought up in a different thread so I thought I'd start cause I know I'm not that good

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First two pics are of a 1/4"? Plate to thin wall weld seam plate sitting flat on table and tube on top. The rest are of 3/8"? Plate to thin wall weld seam plate is vertical and tube horizontal to it like in pics. I know not the best to get feedback on but that was the first I found in my scrap.

Millermatic 200
Low voltage 10-20 setting
With voltage setting on 4
Wire speed at 5
 
tknopp said:
10-4. Hard to tell from the pics. You may need to slow down the wire speed abit. It looks as though the weld is just sitting there in some places and didnt fully melt.
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I have been told before that in that case I needed to slow down my gun travel, or turn up the wire speed to get more heat. I'm pretty sure the only time I've ever turned out a weld better than the pics was luck.
 
From the looks of it I'd say it's a combination of moving to fast and an inconsistent forward backward movement. When I mig weld I keep a 0 degree angle going into it and with each step forward, I take half that step back and wait for the puddle to build up while I travel along.
 
I like to do a forward progressing u shape with mig and try not to go back into the puddle too much. Kind of like "UUUUU".
Logan, from looking at that weld to me it looks like you could either use to decrease wire speed or increase travel speed slightly.
 
I learned what I know from trial & error and some pointers. Gotten a lot better over time. I had a simple understanding of melting the steel while adding to it, but with the weld talk on here I've realized I'm probably not good at all and possibly no better than JF...
 
Need some videos if possible. I know there's a ton a YouTube but, be cool to see folks we know on here doing it.
 
Focus on the toes of the weld. The toes are everything.

Always keep your eyes a step ahead. You need to be looking where you are going to put the wire.

If you watch the puddle fill in behind the wire, you are already behind.

A big thing to focus on, is that the speed of you weave can change constantly. Aspects of the weld joint can make your manipulation speed change at different locations, so focus on the sound of the weld staying consistent and smooth.
 
Practice the path of your weld before pulling the trigger. All too often I see welders start out good and screw it up 1/2 way through because their torch got hung up on something or there was something in the way they didn't plan for or view was blocked.

Start and stop welds where it's easy to get to for grinding to prep for next weld.

I think it's easier to learn on thicker metal as I think it's more forgiving.
 
I have trouble welding uphill. When I welded my steering box bracket on my toyota I struggled on the inner frame bracket.
 
YotaOnRocks said:
I have trouble welding uphill. When I welded my steering box bracket on my toyota I struggled on the inner frame bracket.
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Practice helps for uphill, that and I turn the wire speed down a touch and go slower, I still hate welding over head. Gravity is a bitch lol.
 
I am not a welder, but I do weld. Mostly learned on my own. but things I have learned:
start with nice shinny metal,
much more shine than you think you will need
Get comfortable, as much as possible
As said above, do a cold run, to see what will get in your way.A lot can get in your way, my biggest issue is when welding on a vehicle, is the helmet it's self
Some "tack welds" will help keep piece from pulling from the heat draw.
tack first then look at it, tacks are a lot easier to grind than a long bead.
when finished, look at surrounding colors, it will tell you a lot about the penetration
I tend to have best results if my ground is closer to the welding area
Before starting, make sure you have gas, and gas flow.
make sure you have a good(condition) welding tip, and tip, gas shield are clean.
When you are learning, practice on pieces of scrap. Beat the hell out of welded pieces with a BFH, and cut through some of your welds inspect, then try again.
thin stuff, slower feed lower heat, thicker stuff higher heat, faster feed, chart on welder is good starting points
thick weld, doesn't mean stronger weld

We have some awesom welders on this forum, they need to chime in!.
 
If you are just learning, throw the tubing in the corner of the shop, clean up a bunch of flat plates and start running beads.
Flats, tees, butts and filets are easy. Uphill and downhill are hard .... and one instructor taught us to never weld uphill unless there is absolutely no other option. Uphill welding on front hubs of racecars a few years ago lead to a bunch of failures. (BUT this is just me).
Also IMHO welding tubing or pipe is the hardest to do, much less learn on. Constantly changing planes and angles make it almost impossible to get consistency.

If you think you are welding too fast, you usually are welding WAY too fast.
IMHO ...... 2 cents or whatever it's worth.
Matt
 
I'm a 100% uphill welder unless it's impossible to do so. I know for sure MIG and flux core can be done downhill but after seeing a few students at welding school try to get away with it on their coupons and fail bend miserably, I'll never do it again. TIG downhill just feels weird and stick would get to little penetration.
 
Can someone clarify uphill vs downhill for the rookies like me?

Say I'm welding something flat on a table, I will start at point A and pull towards me to point B. Is this incorrect?

If I were to start closer to me, and continue the bead away from me it looks awful and I have no consistency. I don't get too many chances to practice like I'd like to. This thread and the others have got me wanting to take a class. I think @MarsFab should offer another training thing.
 
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