Learning to weld

varova87 · Nov 13, 2012

Decided it was time to learn to weld. Bought a cheap 90 amp flux wire welder this afternoon and picked up a few pieces of 3/16 steel. I'm leading myself to the slaughter here, but I have no shame. This was the first time I've ever touched a welder and want to learn.

So those of you with experience, what do I need to improve, do differently, etc? This is .030 wire, max power, and an 8/10 wire speed. Not sure what imp that translates to.

The spatter - it's heavy, I know. I think this is mostly due to a cheap welder, cheap wire, and the fact that as a beginner, I tend to have at least 1/2" of wire out while welding. Still learning how to watch the puddle with less wire out during the weld.

edit: these welds were left to right, dragging the tip at about a 45 degree angle. I can't figure out why the ends of my welds are so large. I think I might be looking for the end of the metal, thus slowing down and creating a bigger puddle?

and after knocking off the slag:

D Chapman · Nov 13, 2012

The splatter is just the nature of flux-core wire.

Just watch your puddle. Easier to learn by pulling the weld vs pushing it. It really does not matter how ugly the weld is as long as you have penetration. If you can learn to weld with flux-core, you'll have no problem once moving to gas shielded.

Ryanleea · Nov 13, 2012

Looks fine to me, grind off the slag and your good to go.

Ryanleea · Nov 13, 2012

I though Dan was banned.

Mongo · Nov 13, 2012

What Dan said, dissect one of the welds and check penetration...I've seen welds that look perfect, but have broke apart with the smack of a 5 pound sledge...

Ryanleea · Nov 13, 2012

Also 90amps on 1/4" steel probably won't penetrate enough- I'm assuming it 1/4" based on the pics.
I would go super slow with that welder.

LRflip · Nov 13, 2012

As far as welding skill goes, I'm just ahead of you but if those are your first welds, you've got a pretty good head start. My very first welds looked like hammered dog shit.

I tend to get a better weld if I push with the flux core instead of pull. I tried the pull but I was going too fast to get penetration.

maybe try that and see if you get better results?

varova87 · Nov 13, 2012

Ryanleea said:
Also 90amps on 1/4" steel probably won't penetrate enough- I'm assuming it 1/4" based on the pics.
I would go super slow with that welder.

It is 3/16". Sorry, I buried that fact in the first paragraph.

I beat the T weld with a hammer and it only bent, no breaking. Surprising, but I'll take it.

I think my biggest fault so far is penetration is not near even on both work pieces. If it's deep and good on one, it's shallow on the other. Need to learn how to get more of a 50/50 split between the two.

Mongo · Nov 13, 2012

Cleaning the material helps... A 80 grit flap disk works wonders, never use brake cleaner, ever to remove oil, simple green works great...

varova87 · Nov 13, 2012

LRflip said:
As far as welding skill goes, I'm just ahead of you but if those are your first welds, you've got a pretty good head start. My very first welds looked like hammered dog shit.

I tend to get a better weld if I push with the flux core instead of pull. I tried the pull but I was going too fast to get penetration.

maybe try that and see if you get better results?

I'll try pushing. I remember some YouTube video talking about pushing vs pulling.

That flat (fillet?) weld was my first one, then I went to the T. Actually, it was the first time I had ever struck an arc. Scared the shit out of me!

LRflip · Nov 13, 2012

varova87 said:
It is 3/16". Sorry, I buried that fact in the first paragraph.

I beat the T weld with a hammer and it only bent, no breaking. Surprising, but I'll take it.

I think my biggest fault so far is penetration is not near even on both work pieces. If it's deep and good on one, it's shallow on the other. Need to learn how to get more of a 50/50 split between the two.

It's probably your angle. if you're welding down, it's going to penetrate deeper into the bottom plate. Try to get more into where the two pieces meet.

LRflip · Nov 13, 2012

Again, I'm not an expert by any means...

But, I find that to get the best welds, you have to be very comfortable. Lean, sit, squat, lay, do whatever you have to do to get a really steady hand...that will help make things more even.

varova87 · Nov 13, 2012

LRflip said:
Again, I'm not an expert by any means...

But, I find that to get the best welds, you have to be very comfortable. Lean, sit, squat, lay, do whatever you have to do to get a really steady hand...that will help make things more even.

That's my other issue. No stool at the work bench, so I'm going to have to work on a different welding position. At the very least, find a way to rest my elbow.

The auto-dimming helmet was a good call, too. I can see exactly what I'm doing and strike the arc whenever I'm ready and exactly where I want it. I can't imagine having to blindly start the arc on a typical #10 mask.

LRflip · Nov 13, 2012

varova87 said:
That's my other issue. No stool at the work bench, so I'm going to have to work on a different welding position. At the very least, find a way to rest my elbow.

The auto-dimming helmet was a good call, too. I can see exactly what I'm doing and strike the arc whenever I'm ready and exactly where I want it. I can't imagine having to blindly start the arc on a typical #10 mask.

I have a nice autodimming hobart mask, it defaults to light and you have to push a button to get her to activate.

I was working for a while with it on my head, and didn't think to re-activate it...got a good burn that day and won't make that mistake again.

Nomar · Nov 13, 2012

I took a 12 week(1 night/week) basic welding class at the local vocational school. At the time it cost about $375 for the book and to cover materials.
Then we burned up all metal in sight for 12 weeks.
We learned to cut with acetylene torch and plasma.
Welded with flux, mig, tig.
Did some brazing, too.
If you wanted to get certified the instructor would help with that as well.

rwhitmo04 · Nov 13, 2012

LRflip said:
I was working for a while with it on my head, and didn't think to re-activate it...got a good burn that day and won't make that mistake again.

Did that once as well. It scared the shit out of me. That's one mistake you won't make twice.

chris snell · Nov 13, 2012

Good thread. It motivated me to look into welding classes at the local community college.

p m · Nov 13, 2012

I bought a similar welder four years ago, and never used it. It motivates me to break it out.

antichrist · Nov 14, 2012

Forget the butt and fillet welds starting out. Learn how to run a good bead on flat plate before trying butt welds, fillet, vertical etc. Learn how to manipulate and control the weld puddle.
It's true you can have a great looking weld that is actually crap, but a crap looking weld is a crap weld.
Use both hands to weld, one holding the gun/torch/stinger and use your other one to brace with.

The suggestion of looking in to local class is good. Learning on your own makes it really easy to pick up bad habits. Particularly with flux core and MIG. It's super easy to get cold lap with them.

pinkytoe69 · Nov 14, 2012

My disco was rusted to shite, so I had to learn to weld too. I have a thread on LRF about it. These links were really helpful to me.

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/
http://weldingweb.com/
http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/improving-your-skills/mig/

http://youtu.be/lzBGZaS1apw

Learning to weld

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