Learn to weld?

[wesintl]

I'd be happy to teach you how to booger weld

John welded up my unobtanium ps line input with gas which seemed to work better than tig

 

[nakman]

Hey Slavin this Sunday am I'm likely going to be doing a little welding- adding a couple tie-down points to my trailer, maybe rigging up a new spare tire carrier underneath it? All I have is a stick welder, but if you find the sweet spot of power/stick size/material thickness you can actually dial up some nice welds. I'm a total hack, but you're welcome to come over and zap a little if you want, PM me. Bring some old control arms we'll make a sculpture.

 

[OilHammer]

I'll chime in here with my experience. I learned to weld watching a guy in Atlanta that was a bad-azz stick welder. His stick welds were nicer looking than just about any TIG I've seen. His deal with me was, I do all the prep and all the finish, but he would burn the stuff in. So I grabbed a second helmet and I would watch exactly how he moved and when. 99% of the time, the only finish work I ever did was hammer and wire brush, but never much "grinding" of extra material. When you see the various techniques for puddle manipulation first hand, it sinks in your brain quicker I think.

From there, it's all about spending time with the bacon.

Get a good helmet, no a really good auto helmet.

Get a welding jacket. Don't under estimate a welder's ability to sunburn the snot out of you. Like blisters on exposed skin kind of burns.

Set up a bright lamp pointed away from your helmet but illuminating what you are going to weld. Sounds silly, but it makes a difference.

I started with a 110 MIG on flux core, but the 220 Miller on Argon/CO2 is WAY better.

Don't try learning to weld on rusty metal! Grind it clean if you need to.

Start with easy stuff...lay the material horizontal so the puddle won't run away from you and where you can brace your arm/hand better. Welding UNDER a truck is difficult, don't start there!

Then just practice practice practice. Each time you are done, try to beat the snot out of the scrap to break your weld. When you do, and you will, post up pics of the break so we can see the weld properties.

Oh, and don't breathe the smoke!

 

[rover67]

I am working on the 40 more and more lately which means I am in the garage some nights/evenings. If you want to pick a project to try first (like a stool or something as mentioned above) you could come by and weld while I wrench. I could give you some pointers to get you going. I bet in a night you could have it figured out.

It'd be good to wait till it warms up a bit so we can do it with the doors open though. Next few weeks is out for me though (moab, work, ect.)

 

[AxleIke]

isaac - you're missing the point - my point is to learn gas, then you can do any process better. Gas is all about puddle control, and even the gas flow comes into play with the puddle. it's very tricky stuff. but, when you can learn to control the heat with gas, you can do way more on stick/Tig when you switch over.

most people use way too much gas pressure on oxy/fuel, and the wrong size tip. Plus, you really have to pay attention to prep, just like on tig/stick.

mig is wayyyy too easy imho.. it takes work to learn how to get-r-done on gas, and it only benefits you on the other processes.

as for sheet with mig, go 110 with low voltage, or go to a really big 220v machine, that has the capability to go real low. a 110v hobby welder with gas and .023 will do wonders on sheet, but you do have to move really quick and increase your gaps.

That makes sense. I can certainly see the benefit in that.

 

[nakman]

Ok as long as the peanut gallery is getting warmed up here, here's one. Tonight's project was adding 2 light tabs to a bike rack, for use either as tie downs for the bikes, or more likely straps to the bumper, to reduce side-to-side action.

Both materials are about .100" thick, which makes it easier. I struggle when I'm trying to stick a .250" plate to a .065" tube... keep blasting through the tube. But tonight's only real difficulty was I couldn't get an arc started until I sanded off the paint below both the clamp and near where I wanted to weld. I'm usually attaching stuff to things that have already been painted so I'm used to this.. ended up cranking up the welder a little more to get it going, and in hindsight probably could have backed off another 25 amps or so, since I had to go really fast.

 

[nakman]

6011 sticks, welder on about 115 amps? My other favorite stick is the 6013, but I usually use those on thicker things.

 

[smslavin]

nakman and marco, thanks for the offers. just got home from the airport so let me see how the weekend shakes out.

 

[kurtnkegger]

I think 6011 is a pretty good all purpose stick. It burns pretty hot, and sets quick so all positions can get welded with 6011. We used to burn right through paint with that stick in another job, but an easy welding stick for sure. If you are grinding off all paint, and are welding horizontally, a 7018 lays down a real pretty bead in my opinion. A little tougher to strike, and sets slowly.

 

[RedCreeper]

6011 and 6010 is a great cutting rod. Nakman from the look of the bead it looks like your just dragging it. try a whip and pause and your bead will start to stack. And your right your are hot. I think the max spec on that rod is 100 or so. just a thought.

 

[RedCreeper]

7018 will weld in all positions. Same with 6010 and 6011. 1 meaning all positions and 8 is flux type. 70 meaning 70000 psi tensile strength. Just saying.

 

[Beater]

here's my tip for you in all seriousness.
buy the little calculator cards. I still have them in the drawer with all my consumables and pull them out often. Miller has them for all processes. I don't have room in my 46 year old brain to remember all the different amperage and filler specs for all different metals, so it's nice to have a handy cheat sheet all the time.

Second tip. don't get lazy. clean everything. before, during and after. including your equipment.

 

[J Kimmel]

here's my tip for you in all seriousness.
buy the little calculator cards. I still have them in the drawer with all my consumables and pull them out often. Miller has them for all processes. I don't have room in my 46 year old brain to remember all the different amperage and filler specs for all different metals, so it's nice to have a handy cheat sheet all the time.

Second tip. don't get lazy. clean everything. before, during and after. including your equipment.

is there some sort of process to clean my mig? Aside from wiping down the exterior, I don't know what to clean but if it helps its longevity and effectiveness I'm all for it

 

[RockRunner]

I have a Mig welder but am in need of welding some stainless steel. If I understand it right I can but wire for the mig and change the gas from argon mix to ????

Question is how different is welding SS compared to normal steel?

 

[RedCreeper]

You need to change to pure argon for stainless. There is a big difference in the metals. I have never done mig with stainless but if it is like tig you have to watch the heat. To much and it will sugar the backside. Not sure if you can set a post flow of gas or not. With tig i have it set for a post flow of at least 5 seconds to keep the weld shielded so it wont sugar. Sugar is basically a bunch of porosity that looks like black sugar. A fab shop i worked at used mig for stainless but on a bigger mig machine that had way more settings then i wanted to know about. Watch the fume plume or smoke. can be toxic. Also stainless takes a litter longer to heat up but not sure how this affects the mig process. Not sure if this helps any.