Some pictures of mig and tig welds I've done while practicing
MIG


I think Im doing pretty good with mig, while tig needs alot more practice. Tips are appreciated.

 

Your MIG shouldn't look like that. It should be a smooth bead, not little puddles. Don't try to make MIG look like TIG.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GeeGee &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Most of us on here do a lot of tig, so most noobies who got thier hands on a mig have the tendency to make it look like tig welding and that's kinda wrong.</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

My tig welds look more like migwelds than the general tig weld. Though I do make a thorough penetration. As for the OP's mig welds, those are going to be weak, make one bead thats it.

 

flashm, that is just one bead. That bead was on lowest amperage(miller 1/17). On higher amperage settings it has an oval shape to the bead.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sharkytm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Your MIG shouldn't look like that. It should be a smooth bead, not little puddles. Don't try to make MIG look like TIG.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Can you explain why?

 

don't listen to the bead talk - it looks pretty good but pic 2 looks a bit hot - more wire feed will act as more heat sink which will allow more heat or less penetration - adjust as necessary

 

The MIG welds are not suppose to look like that because it takes a fairly aggressive whip to get that look, and not much heat. Honestly, MIG is meant ot be run as hot as possible but not burn through. This means faster travel speed.
It looks nice, and on thin stuff you can get away with it if that is your thing.
If you do that on heavy stuff, a hammer will ruin your day.

The TIG welds look a bit hot, and maybe a long arc/didn't sharpen the tungsten enough/contaminated tungsten.
Turn it down, make sure the tungsten is sharp, stay close.
On stainless you want a nice salmon pink colour, grey is bad.
Other colours are ok too, but grey like that means too much heat.

All in all pretty good, keep practicing.

 

i agree with 9 bells it looks like on your mig you are jumping too far with the puddle...slow down and keep the ocellations closer