Well, my brother and I bought a welder today. It's just your standard wire-feed welder, and so far it's been working really well.. we're just looking for some tips and tricks as to how to do this. We had some pretty ugly welds to begin with (I personalyl still do), but they got better as the day went on. Pics below show a good and a bad weld. Anything would be helpful at this point.

Bad Weld (one of the first ones):


Decent Weld (of course the picture would be blurry on the good one):


<FONT COLOR="red">Bonus pictures!!:</FONT>
1: picture of our contraption... lots of odd pieces of pipe welded together, with a downpipe flange on one end and a GS-R crankshaft on the other end!


2: Same contraption, only standing up!

 

hahaha!!! We need some practice!!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TurboDC4 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">hahaha!!! We need some practice!!</TD></TR></TABLE>

We need water/air tight welds.

 

ARHHHH hope that wasnt a good gsr crank. .......

 

hahaha hell no, the threads were screwed and a part of the keyway sheered off. Got pics if you really wanna see 'em.

 

u need a lot of practice....us a method like your drawing a loop with the wire.

 

Your getting better, but it looks like your going to fast. Take your time, when your welding it, go up and down slowly, almost like zig zags.

 

Need some definite work there lololol.


pffaaahahaha.

 

find some flat bar and practice on that
just fart around for a bit till you get the heat and the wire speed to your liking, write you're name, just have fun
then get 2 pieces of flat bar and weld them together at a 90 degree angle

ex. get 2 pieces of 3/8ths flat bar and weld them together with a 2-3i inch weld, once that's done get a hammer and break the ****** apart. make sure you have at least 1/8th inch penitration on both peices of flatbar

that's a good way to figure out how to use your machine
make sure it's not too hot or else you'll melt right through you're pipe (or whatever you're working on) and make sure it's not too cold or else you'll have more welding like in your first pic

hope that helps
:]

 

welding on pipes is pretty hard. u should practice welding on some flat pieces of metal to get the feel of your welder, and then when you go back to welding pipe u'll find its much easier.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
just fart around for a bit till you get the heat and the wire speed to your liking</TD></TR></TABLE>

I agree

wire speed is what took me a while to get used to.

greg

 

What model unit are you welding with??..the quality of the welder can make a big difference sometimes!!...there is a Hobart/Miller discussion board that I have learned allot of info off of....and you dont really need to have a Miller/Hobart unit to post there...post the pics of you weld and they will make suggestions on how to improve them...good luck!

http://www.hobartwelders.com/mboard/

 

We all have some serious tan lines today. Lesson learned.

 

Whenever i weld i do little circles to make sure i have good penetration and solid beads.

 

I do it and it just all clumps up and i cant get a good bead going

 

When i weld i usualy turn it to the lowest feed setting(1 of 4) and go very slowly making almost like moon shapes. Ill show you some of my welds when i get to my brothers house. They best thing to practice on is steel square tubing i usually practice on 1 or 2 inch square tubing and weld it together side by side. Ill show you later on tonight. Just keep practicing. Be careful too.

 

I started out on piping, im guessing thats not the best to start on. How do you get a continuous bead going?

 

What model welder?

 

Its hard to get a continuous beed going when welding pipe together because there is no "crevasse"(sp) for the weld to go into. Try slowing the feed down and slowing down dont just go in a straight line, like i said do it in liek a moon shape. I am in no way the best welder. Im probably not even that good. But this is what i found to be easiest. lay your left hand down with the palm up and kinda lay the handle of the weldet on it with your right hand gripping itlay the wire where you want to start and hit the button, slowly go from top to bottom in a (((((( kind of motion. I dont know how good of an explanation that was but just practice until it ffeels right.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by shorti &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">find some flat bar and practice on that
just fart around for a bit till you get the heat and the wire speed to your liking, write you're name, just have fun
then get 2 pieces of flat bar and weld them together at a 90 degree angle

ex. get 2 pieces of 3/8ths flat bar and weld them together with a 2-3i inch weld, once that's done get a hammer and break the ****** apart. make sure you have at least 1/8th inch penitration on both peices of flatbar

that's a good way to figure out how to use your machine
make sure it's not too hot or else you'll melt right through you're pipe (or whatever you're working on) and make sure it's not too cold or else you'll have more welding like in your first pic

hope that helps
:]</TD></TR></TABLE>

I am a Union auto worker. I weld in the body shop of Mitsubishi Motors in Normal, IL.

I can tell you that The above quote is pretty good advice.

Picture 1:
Wire speed too fast or not enough heat. Turn down the wire speed and/or turn up the heat!!

Picture 2: A little bit better, but I'd say you still aren't getting good penetration.

 

Looks like a flux core welder. If possible purchase the "Gas" kit it will make much prettier welds and will make getting the bead started and keep it continious. If you are stuck with the flux core be sure to keep the welding nozzle close to the work. The flux core provides the gas envelope to make the welding possible. Do you welding in a still air place, not in a windy place as the shielding gas will be blown away from the weld location. I would recommedn a class at your local technical college.

 

When you are making a good weld, it should sound like sizzling bacon! Gas shielding will be a little better and easier to use, especially on thinner metals. Just keep practicing! It looks like you guys are having fun learning!

 

Go and sign up for a welding class at a local community college. You will usually get hours of hands on instruction, learn how to set up your work, how to get the most out of your machine, and important safety stuff.

Make sure you have the right safety equipment and welding appropriate attire (don't weld in short sleeves). Pick up a hobart guide too. Tubing can be hard to start on, I would recommend you start by running some straight beads along mid steel to get the fell of it then work your way up to more complex things.

Good luck