Looking for feedback on Noobs Mig Welds (Pics inside)

[sciff5]

Just got a Lincoln Electric weld pak 175 for a late christmas gift and have been practicing with it for about an hour or so each day, burning up a lot of material and messing around.

This is my third day welding and I decided to weld some 16 ga tubing to 1/8" plate steel. Also fixed the burnback issue and most of the general issues I was having. The feedwheel was loose once I noticed that everything was gravy again. Still just using the factory specified settings with C25 gas at about 15cfh and trying to do more welding of materials of different thicknesses as thats what I'll be doing more so with cars and I've read to just spend more time on the thicker material and less on the thinner stuff.

Looking for feedback though. I know theres assloads of room to improve.














These were from my second day

[Dagazenterprise]

why are you pulsing the gun like that?, i know it's thin mat'l but you should be able to make 1 inch stitch welds, if you're going to pulse it, pull them a little bit closer, it'll look nicer as well. they do look good though but try to run continuous beads, that's the point of it.

[:Quirk:]

^^^^yep looks like just a bunch of tacks. Practice makes perfect when welding, so just keep at it. Remember prep is important and so is the condisions in which you are working in. Also a pretty weld dosent mean its the strongest.

oh and dont stick the tip of the welderinto your skin and press the trigger after welding something...it makes your arm go black...i llearned this the hard way

[polarisman14]

Yeah they do look pretty good man. Good for you for picking up a welder...I can't wait to get one.

[Zoom6]

you should be able to make 1 inch stitch welds, if you're going to pulse it, pull them a little bit closer

+1

[sciff5]

Thanks guys

Yeah the pulsing I learned from this vid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JohBHzhOyPg

And have been practicing it first because there are a few crush sections in my exhaust I'de like to replace with mandrel bends.

[83beast]

not too bad. ive found it works when just my wrist is moving. a few degrees to the left, a few to the right, repeat. and ya, exhaust takes time to get without burning through. like said previous, practice is everything. if you know anyone near you with a shop who welds, stop by some time and watch their technique.

keep at it, its some nice to be able to deal with metals. when it breaks, you can fix it.

edit: just watched the vid. thats good for thin stuff and making it look good after. it will take a bit of time to get that. im usually down for making it work. plus it will be different when you get two pipes together, the addition of thin on both sides. try what he did, cut a pipe and weld it back, keep doing it till you feel you got it down.

[shizon]

This is the one skill I really wish I had. Good for you man

[Innocent1]

the welds from the plate to the pipe look good, the only advice I can give which you probably already know, unless the weld needs to block off exhaust, coolant, oil or whatever, 1 - 2 inch stitch welds offer much greater strength than solid beads (I found this out the hard way with subframe connectors that I really f-ed up)

[dan03235]

looks superior to my fluxcore herpes welds well done man

[speed6tech]

i'm no pro by any means but i weld day in day out at work (light fab)... just by looking at the welds that your "pulsing" or what is called stitching the heat is not up high enough and/or your taking too much time when laying the next stitch on top of the last... the last stitch should still be mostly molten when laying the next one on top of it if its not u cold lap it and it gets the crater thats in the middle of the weld in your pictures ..also try to get them tighter a lil more but for a self taught welder you have a lot of potential to learn

[sciff5]

i'm no pro by any means but i weld day in day out at work (light fab)... just by looking at the welds that your "pulsing" or what is called stitching the heat is not up high enough and/or your taking too much time when laying the next stitch on top of the last... the last stitch should still be mostly molten when laying the next one on top of it if its not u cold lap it and it gets the crater thats in the middle of the weld in your pictures ..also try to get them tighter a lil more but for a self taught welder you have a lot of potential to learn

Thats awsome. I was going slow and using less heat I think than I could. Also a little more uniformity would be better. I was basically starting on the plate because its thicker and then dragging it up to the tube to keep more heat in the plate but it still wasnt enough.

Funny thing is though on the edges of the material you can see the ends melting. I almost feel like when I get to the edges I should turn down the heat and crank it up in the middle of the material. If that makes any sense?

[MVM]

why are you pulsing the gun like that?, i know it's thin mat'l but you should be able to make 1 inch stitch welds, if you're going to pulse it, pull them a little bit closer, it'll look nicer as well. they do look good though but try to run continuous beads, that's the point of it.

X2

I will try to find a chart I had a few years ago that gives you set temps, gas rates, wire size, spool speed, and ect ect. This should help bunches with all different gauge steel.

[Evo_Bill]

giving me motivation to learn basic wielding myself. good stuff.

[MVM]

giving me motivation to learn basic wielding myself. good stuff.

Its excellent knowledge to have. Opens many doors in our industry.