Learning to weld

[Vimes]

Looks much better! Are you pushing or pulling when you are welding? I prefer to use the pull method when I'm mig welding since I feel it jumps around much less.

Neither, yet. Still getting a feel for doing it to begin with. I'll make sure to try pulling.

Turn up the heat imho. Also watch some videos to learn how to sweep in an arc. Those welds are not ready for anything structural imho. Sorry to be harsh but this is safety.

Maybe one of the experts will chime in.

Don

Heh heh... that is exactly right. I was using setting 1-3 for most of the welding because I didn't notice that my finger had strayed from the 115V to the 230V setting line on the chart. Completely my fault. That last weld was at the end of the day, and was the only one I did on setting 5 but I didn't have time to do any more. Next time I try I'll have time to grind off my earlier screwups and will try it again. I was pretty happy with it though because that was the first gas weld that actually stuck the two pieces together! That being said, my weld was complete crap and I definitely know it. Don't worry about harsh, because you're correct - safety first. I have a long way to go before I'll be willing to do any sort of structural work.

Get closer .. keep the tip about 1/2 ..3./4 away from the metal , move slower and more heat ... best of luck

Will do, thanks.

[JustJohn]

You really should take a look at the above or other instructional videos. Learning the basic techniques and best practices will move you forward a lot faster and take out guesswork.

[Vimes]

You really should take a look at the above or other instructional videos. Learning the basic techniques and best practices will move you forward a lot faster and take out guesswork.

I've watched them before, but before I go back out there I will watch them again.

[Vimes]

OK, watched the videos several times, fiddled with the settings, and have made satisfactory welds. Everything looked just as it did in the videos and the welds came out like professional welds. Destructive testing showed that I had good penetration, so I gave a little project welding a shot. Welded a replacement light housing on a trailer, and when I was finished I was able to bounce on the outside edge of the housing on one foot (I weigh 230ish lbs) and it felt as solid as doing the same on the trailer itself. I'll need a ton more practice before I'm up to structural welding, but I think I'm up to the light welding I need to do now.

I appreciate the advice everyone gave that helped me become successful at welding, but I don't think we need to continue this thread anymore. Thanks for the help, everyone.

[raustinss]

Thats fantastic ! Glad to see you were able to see some success and develop a new skill ..cheers man