Learning to MIG weld

[Frickman]

Last evening I stopped by a friend's repair shop for a visit. He was working on some of his own stuff, doing some fabrication work. When he got out the MIG I remarked that I had never MIG welded before. No sooner had I said that I had on a helmet, a pair of gloves, and was going at it on some scrap steel. I didn't know what I was missing all these years! It was much easier to learn than stick welding, and seemed to work great on lighter materials. I guess I'm going to have to get a new toy now!  

[Danny_S]

Just a couple of tips... push a mig, pull a stick.. when your running your beads. Set the wire speed up so it sounds like bacon frying.... it creates alot of spatter but gives you a more superior weld in most cases. Super clean the metal that your welding... migs dont like rust or mill slag..  

I am not a professional but just what I have learned in the past 7 months mig welding...

[Fla._Deadheader]

 8) 8) Ain't it FUN ???  :D :D :D

  Now, if I just had that laser treatment on the eyeballs, I could probably even follow the seam I'm tryin to stick together.  : :D :D

[isawlogs]

 Harold ...
  My dad had trouble seing the bead also until I got him some magnified lense for the shield you can get them in different magnetude  really helped him out on his welding .... He can now see what he is welding ....

[Fla._Deadheader]

 
  Marcel, I have trouble with the light coming in the back of the hood and creating a glare or foggy effect on my glasses. I tried a towel over the back of the hood one time, and it fell off and I set it on fire.  Wondered why the heat had gotten so bad.   : Life is truely an adventure, EH  ???  ??? : ;D ;D

[slowzuki]

I love MIG for small stuff but I have been missing stick welding.  Recently got a buzz box from a neighbour and it sure is nice having both available!

[Weekend_Sawyer]

 I mig, stick and gas weld, they all work very well for their applications. I do agree that the mig is the easiest to use. I am not a professional but I can stick stuff together. Like all things some basic instruction then practice, practice, practice.

[Danny_S]

In about 11 hours at work, friday afternoon and this morning ... I burnt up a roll, 45 lbs, of .045 wire. That is alot of welding. Prettin near stared holes right through the lenses in me helmet  ....    :D

[isawlogs]

  Harrold
...  I was a welder on the high steel......adventures  you say.....  My memory aint what it used to be but some do come back to me  : ;) ;D ;D

[Furby]

Used a mig for the first time a week and a half ago. Pretty cool!
Only my 3rd or 4th time doing any welding...............on purpose anyways. ;) ;D

[etat]

I like welding with a mig. A couple of things.  Don't necessarily expect good results with a cheap or off brand one. The first one I bought was an off brand one.  It was a pretty good sized one that ran off of 220 volts  The thing NEVER lived up to my expectations no matter what I tried.  

For 'thin' sheet metal it's hard to beat one of them little 110 volt millers.  Sometimes I do use it for a bit thicker material but when I do to get the best weld it pays to preheat the metal a bit with a torch.  

I've got a wire feeder that I ocassionally use with my big welder for thicker stock.  It'll run up to .045 wire and you can cover a lot of ground fast with it.  Mostly on thick stock I stick to rod welding though.  I reckon I just used them rods for two many years and I'll have to say I still like to rod weld.  A larger stick welder with AC DC settings is a lot easier to get a good weld with than just a little crackerbox AC welder.  Dont get me wrong, I used one of them little lincolns AC welders for years.  But it's a LOT easier to run a good bead and there's a lot more rod options when you can weld with DC voltage.

It's really really important to have your stock free from rust and paint and grease when mig welding. Especially with a small one. It just won't burn through that stuff near as well as a stick welder.  On thin stock at lower heats if it's not clean it'll try to overheat the welder and or try to build the weld up on top of the rust or paint instead of getting good penetration.

The electronic helmets are REALLY nice in a shop but if you're outside or if you have bright shop lights behind you they become much less effective.

If you're going to buy a mig take into acount what you'll mostly be welding and size your welder accordingly.  A big mig is not as effective on thin sheet metal as a small one, and a small one is not big enough for thick stock.  I suppose that if you wanted to really spend a lot of money you could get one that would do both but the cheaper or hobby type versions won't.

[Don_Papenburg]

I like the mig ,but for real nice looking welds on thin stuff the tig  is the way to go.  Buy the name brand equipment.

[jwood]

Harold stick a cheater lens in your helmet and take your glasses off....i tried the glasses only but the sweat drippin in them made it even harder to see..i use a 1.50 cheater in welding helmet and cuttin goggles ;D

[slowzuki]

One thing too, the MIG is near useless outdoors!  Doesn't take much breeze to blow the gas away.  Flux core wire is great for outdoors and has great penetration.

Don't discount the large welders for thin stuff, many have lower amp settings than the little cheapos.  You have to switch to light wire too though.  I have a 110v Lincoln mig and it doesn't work as well as a friends 220 v Lincoln Mig on thin stuff.

[mudpupdave]

Frickman,
I bought a Millermatic 175,  220v about 5 years ago and love it ! I have done alot of research on the welders and have an Uncle that is a professional welder...learned alot of tips from him--- I have read the responces below and agree that a little breeze can effect the weld---what my uncle told me is if you are welding in a shop with little breeze turn the gas down to 5 cfm and if your welding outside you can turn it up to where you need to but don't go much past 15 cfm....I have tried the flux cored wire and absolutly HATE it---it should'nt sound like bacon frying either---it should be a steady buzz....if it sounds like bacon frying you have the speed up to high and the voltage too low....if you use flux cored wire and you oops ya better keep a flux chipper with you because you will need to clean it extremely well before fixing it....When you get one you will love it too!!! but spend the money to get a good one  i.e Miller, Lincoln  what seperates them from the rest is the speed and the voltage can be dialed in where a Hobart and a cheaper model will only have 3-4 settings for your voltage etc.

[Frickman]

Around here alot of the guys use the Miller 200. They say that it is a good, versatile welder. I might have to get me a real early Christmas present this year.  

[Murf]

The one thing you have to be really careful about with a MIG welder though is they make it super easy to have a gorgeous-looking weld that is structurally nearly useless.

The culprit is the wire, compared to a stick it is very tiny, that makes it simple (and unfortunately) easy to melt the wire quite nicely without heating the material you are trying to join together enough to make it a solid durable weld.

I have had to re-weld more stuff built by people with a MIG than I care to remember.

The scariest was a guy I came across at the gas station near the house, sitting at the far end of the parking lot looking around under his trailer. I went over to see if he needed a hand. He had a shiny new 6' x 12' box trailer heaped in fresh cut maple firewood. He said as he was coming up the highway it had started to sway behind him violently, then all of a sudden the swaying stopped but it wasn't running true behind him anymore it was dog-tracking badly. When I looked under the trailer I found the cause, the only thing holding the axle or suspension in place was gravity, there wasn't a weld that hadn't torn apart. I took it back to my place on top of my truck and emptied it by tipping it over, as I did it just fell apart.

This poor guy nearly fell over, it had just been doing 60mph with a ton or better of foirewood in it on a busy highway.

Get good, then get fancy.  ;)

[slowzuki]

Did you reverse the polarity? If not it makes a mess.  It is cleaner than stick by far, and much better penetration than straight MIG.

I have tried the flux cored wire and absolutly HATE it---it should'nt sound like bacon frying either---it should be a steady buzz....if it sounds like bacon frying you have the speed up to high and the voltage too low.....

[Ironwood]

Frickman,

  I just live up the road in Greensburg. I recently bought a new Millermatic 210. I have all kinds of old rusty iron wood shop equip. and machinery but given I don't know much about mig Welding I spent the big money and just love it. I have been stick welding for 20 years and just got concerned about all the fumes from the flux on the sticks as my welding has increased over the years. You know you should get concerned when the lawyers start advertising for you in class action law suits!!!!!! :D :-/ Look me up sometime. Cell 724-331-0723.

                       Reid Crosby

[EZ]

I would like to try aluminum mig welding.
Any thing you guys can add to this.
EZ

[Furby]

You can do that???
Oh COOL! 8)

Yes, please someone give us some info?

[jwood]

i dont know what you want to know about the mig welding of aluminum but i have done it using several different machines..
i've used the cobramatic, Esab, an the miller and airco spool guns.Some say you can use a a miller 135 and push the wire thru the 10'conduit and gun but its hard to do.
aluminum wire swells and softens and is hard to push thur a 10' liner,so a spool gun makes it eaiser to weld only having to push it several inches.some make wire feeders and spool guns that will operate with portable gas welders an the larger stick welders..the miller 200 has a plug so you can just plg in a spool gun when its needed..argon is used as sheilding gas.Aluminum wire can't be run thru the same liner thats used with steel wire .as the aluminum will be contaminated.
look at this site  www.millerwelds.com/education/tec_articles