Tips on learning to weld?

[Greyman]

I keep trying to remember this, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to eventually learn the hard way...   :D

[Crusarius]

you would think. By now I have learned it the hard way more than enough times for everyone else to know it already 

[bwstout]

And you would think after 50 years that when you get through it is HOT have a 2" blister on my arm making those continuous mods on my mill ;D

[Don P]

I was hurrying to clean up at the end of class tonite and had a dustpan stacked high with hot 1/4" t coupons and was headed for the recycle box. One fell off and with my hands full I kept going. I turned to look back and one of the guys was just bending down to pick it up barehanded when I yelled "Its HOT!" Luckily he didn't grab it, that stuff stays hot for quite awhile. I usually leave it on the workbench for as long as possible but the last round we have to carry out pretty warm.

I think he'll try for testing us next class, I've got to get more consistent fast! These were a few from tonite.  These were the straight forward and back whips, pretty tight with the gun at about a 30-45° forward angle. One thing that is helpful for me is to lock my elbows and feed my body side to side with my legs to keep the nozzle angle uniform. I tried to get fancy and popped the trigger to try to fill the divot at the end of my weld here, didn't work out so good :. You can see I lurched about an inch back from the end, more to work on.





I had turned up to pretty much spray welding and turned the wire speed down in an attempt to get deeper penetration. It's also much less spatter. The instructor heard my welder and came over "you'll never penetrate like that, you have more than enough heat but you need to shove the wire down into the hot base metal, look at the end, good heat signature but no penetration". I was going to cut these up at work tomorrow if I have time and see what the penetration looks like in the middle of the coupon.

[Crusarius]

that is why I teach with stick first. learn proper technique and penetration then make it pretty. as you found you can lay down a very pretty bead with mig but how deep does it go.

[doc henderson]

getting there!  pretty is not always as tough.  just like in life.  Do they test with a sledge hammer, x-ray, or cross section?

[Don P]

I've made plenty of ugly welds  ;D. These were pretty typical of what I was getting at both settings n my last round, I just grabbed a couple as he was killing the lights. First in and last out, I'm taking all they'll give me.
On the 14 gauge they looked them over visually then smushed and folded them in a press and looked for puckers or tears. We were over a backing plate for the butts there which isn't typically what I have in the field when I cut the top off the bush hog :D. I'll quiz him on how they are doing this set. We'll submit a butt and T and then if we make it he'll teach us whatever we want for the rest of the class. I'd like vertical and overhead coaching. I've had an AC stick buzzbox for I guess about 20 or 30 years and have done farm and minor structural stuff with it and have played with homeowner MIG's but when this class came around it was too good to pass up. We are getting to play with an unlimited supply of steel coupons on really nice equipment under a really sharp instructor. His comment last night was priceless to me, I've been of the "turn it up" school and he explained if you don't shove something in there it doesn't help to simply crank it up. I had been cranking it up and slowing the feed down in hopes of slowing down and penetrating deeper, that was kind of upside down.

[sawguy21]

Know what the difference is between a farmer and a welder? A welder doesn't think he can farm. ;D Seriously, I am enjoying this thread, I know just enough about welding to leave it to the pros. I would never trust myself to do structural although I can lay a bead (sort of). I did a night class many years ago, wore polyester pants to the first session. YIKES! Never did that again.

[RichTired]

 

 

I am more of a $15 @ hour welder

[doc henderson]

I am more of a $15 @ hour welder

then the next question is "does your state have a 15 dollar per hour min. wage?"   :D :D :D :D :D :D
or is your welding worth that!  (intended as fun!) 8)

[thecfarm]

My welds may not look the best,rusty metal,but I can use the project hard and it don't come apart. That's all I need.

[luap]

ok, so this weekend I reminded myself it was T-shirt weather in the shop. I had to do a quick repair on a mower deck then did about a dozen tack welds.

The mower deck repair was about 2" worth of weld. The 12 tacks was not a big deal. Or so I thought. Flash burned my one arm like I have a hundred times. I always forget the short welding is just as bad as the long welding.

So another lesson to be learned. No matter how little welding you plan on doing, at least put 1 sleeve on to cover the arm opposite the gun.

over exposure to ultraviolet rays will lead to skin cancer. I have had all three types of cancer, not from welding, Aqueous, Basil, and carcinoma. Though I was a maintenance repair welder for 10 years I always used ppe. My dermatologist says protection from the sun is just as important as the effect of the rays can be acculmative.
To avoid the divot at the end of your bead, back up slightly and let the puddle fill in, lengthen your arc as you time it to stop as you let go of the trigger. 

[btulloh]

Most of the time I end up welding with short sleeves and and open collar and I haven't gotten any welding burn.  Not sure why that is the case.  Dumb luck or something.  I don't usually button up unless it's dirty or overhead.  Sounds like I should cover up a little better.  

Good discussion.

[Al_Smith]

You can buy the fire retardant jackets ,usually green in color relatively inexpensively .I've got a full set of leathers,jacket,bib overalls and spats but it's been decades since I've used them . I gave up that burning myself also decades ago .I've got weld burns all over my body from being stupid in my youth .Get a hot one through the top of your trousers some time .That will really made you dance . :D

[Crusarius]

I don't typically take vanity shots of my welds. This is kind of a rare occasion. The only reason I took this picture is because it needed to be ground smooth for the slide pieces. It was necessary to add an extension to make my sawmill dual width.

[LeeB]

One point mentioned many times is being able to see. I know you can get cheater lenses for a regular helmet but my question is can you get and auto darkening helmet with cheaters? In lieu of that, are any of the auto darkening inserts for a regular helmet worth buying? 

[Dave Shepard]

I believe you can use cheaters  with auto darkening helmets. I don't know if it's worth buying an insert for an existing helmet. The helmet is the cheap part. A friend bought a Lincoln auto darkening helmet this winter. Easy better than three supposedly good one I bought a few years ago. I don't know the model, but it says Viking on it. It has a knob on the side for darkness setting, as well as a grinding mode.

[Don P]

Yes, they slipped inside the helmets we had in class. Look for a track inside the helmet, I'm not sure if they all have one.

[btulloh]

I've tried cheaters in a-d helmets and didn't like the way they worked.  Using a pair of readers seems to work the best for me.  It's worth experimenting to find the best way for you though.  Seeing is important!  The cheater lens was only about 15$ at a welding shop.  

I don't think changing a regular helmet to auto-darkening would turn out well.  

I've bought some cheap helmets that work pretty good and some that don't work well so they're not all equal.  A friend loaned me a nice Lincoln (viking series I think) to compare and it is a much better piece of equipment.  Around $240 vs. $60 for the cheap ones.  Suspension much better, view much better.  You get what you pay for.  That being said, the $60 one is not too bad and I'm still using it - with my reading glasses.

It's really worth experimenting to find what works for you.

[Al_Smith]

With a fast freeze rod you can"long arc" through rusty steel or painted .It won't look very good but with a second pass it will pretty up .Old machinery etc some times you just can't get a grinder to the part being repaired .Don't try it on cast iron though but most people won't even try to weld cast .
Arc welding once you get it you never really forget it .You might get a little "rusty" but it comes back fast .

[Al_Smith]

As far as hoods ,when I was younger what  I used at work was the small glass type with a number 12 lens and a 2.5 flash google under .That was when I was lot younger and had better vision and was burning over 50 pounds a day of 7/32 iron powder rods at around 300 amps .
These days I have both a self darkening plus a large glass type with a number 10 lens which is dark enough rarely using anything larger than 1/8" rods . Eye glasses work a lot better in a large glass type because you can get the bifocal line right in the middle of what you are trying to weld and see 4 arcs .It gets rather confusing .

[doc henderson]

I have a Jackson helmet and auto dark and the magnification fits perfect.

[Bradm]

Here's another safety tip - Never forget that the part you just finished welding is hot.

No pictures, but I gave myself that reminder a few times over the weekend.

[btulloh]

Good point.

99% of the time I remember that.

100% would be better though.

[luap]

As far as the gas goes I have a 5 year lease with American Gas. I can exchange tanks at the local auto parts as they are a distributor. They don't do any of the billing although they can sign you up for the lease. Can't recall cost of original lease as I started with a ten year lease. They have had specials where you can renew the lease for$50.00. They have a store about an hour away where I can deal directly with them and they have in stock welding machines , plasma cutters, rod, wire, etc.