WELDING TECHNIQUES

dont no if someone had said this but after you get good try to learn how to weld with your other hand it will come in handy when you cant get into a place with the hand you use all the time and also stand or sit wuth your weight on your feet and not your arms or hands and if you read the puddel it will tell you if your going to slow or not

you should check your local com..college...most offer corses in welding..tig mig and stick....and i think learning to weld right is much better then learing to weld pretty...if you make a good strong consistent weld..prep the steal right. and have your heat set properly and add enough filler you will get a strong weld with little under cut and thats way more important then it looking like dimes...and once you get that down the pretty welds will happen..

Originally posted by TwistedMinis



Originally posted by LowBlazin



Edited: 11/28/2007 3:50:02 PM by LowBlazin

anyone got any pics of good solid structural mig welds not stiched. If its not really a dime effect what should it look like. My welds look like shit cause im just practicing but i dont really even know what a good weld should look like

It can still look like a dime to an extent. But technically laying down a stack of dimes with a MIG isn't the proper way to do it if you go by textbook.



This is, more or less, a textbook weld.

the welds seth just showed are good strong looking welds and look good to...and like was sayed the row of dimes look is nice but its better to have a good strong weld...especicaly with a mig with its tendency to rip...

do you push or pull the weld when MIG welding? text books say pull for deeper penetration, but i keep hearing people say push.

also, is there a certain thickness that you need to start beveling the edges of the metal? im using a miller 250, so is it necessary to do that at all?

I like to pull the weld most of the time, because it is more comfortable. But sometimes I push it, just depends on the position. I've gotten good at welding in some fucked up positions, had to do it on the job a lot.

And as for beveling, I bevel everything from .125" up.

Edited: 11/29/2007 10:27:14 AM by BclassBD

Originally posted by Dejavu



Edited: 11/28/2007 4:36:52 PM by Dejavu

that idea about the gold lense sounds awesome!!!

about the comment about memorizing your settings.... thats not really a good suggestion... a weld is affected by too many things for a certain setting to expect it to work everytime even if on the same exact thing.i agree the machines settings are good starting places but never count on the numbers to produce consistent welds without some adjustment periodically to produce the optimum weld..no matter how good the machine, the numbers cant be expected to rpoduce the same weld every time, theyre are always too many things that affect how a weld is layed down to commit to a memorized setting.

my problem is welding around things.. like pipes joined to frames.... etc.. any advice?

i believe i did say memorize the settings. And yoru right i forgot to mention you willl have to adjust the settings. Im pretty sure i did say something about it will vary of every different application

and seth, ive never tig'd before. so i was mearly asking. thanks for thee correction. And seth you have to agree, there is a huge different from book to book, and person to person, since you do it for a living im sure you hear all kinds of crap

Originally posted by BclassBD



and seth, ive never tig'd before. so i was mearly asking. thanks for thee correction. And seth you have to agree, there is a huge different from book to book, and person to person, since you do it for a living im sure you hear all kinds of crap



Most definitely. Everyone has their own opinion on what is best. The books we have at school vary a little from the Miller book I have. But they all come across with the same point in the end, lay a bead and not stitch. I listen to my welding teacher, and my uncle more than anyone else. My teacher has been welding for over 40 years, and my uncle welds gas lines for PG&E.

I have been evolving. a few years ago when I built my mazda frame I noticed I was welding much better than I used to. I took it apart the other day and now the welds look like bird poop to me.

the advice to watch the puddle is right, if there was a single thing that made me a better welder, that would be it. You watch the metal melt and pool, and you can pull it all around.

I used to pull, now I push because my welder buddy told me its better with mig to push. My welds looked about 10000 times better after that even.

Its learning, and doing it enough to keep learning.

Originally posted by Dejavu

my problem is welding around things.. like pipes joined to frames.... etc.. any advice?

I had a lot of trouble with this starting out. But its all about position, and visibility. I usually start around the back side, or wherever is more difficult to reach. I weld as far as I can in that position, but you have to know when to stop. Theres gets a point where I know I won't be able to see after the next 1/8" of weld, or where I know I would have to reposition my hand to keep going. This is where I stop, and then restart my weld.

I am a pusher. When you push you are pushing the hot weld puddle as you go preheating the steel and keeping the gas on and infront of it. There are instances were you have to pull so I do so in those cases.