Anyone weld?

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Jun 7, 2017
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I just got my stepson a little Eastwood Mig welder as he does all of his own car work and has been wanting one. It does flux and gas welding. I have been meaning to teach myself to weld for little jobs around the house. Doesn't look that hard. Anyone here a welder or at least know how to weld? I am looking for tips and such.

p20165-MIG-135-Cart.jpg
 
I have a 110v Lincoln 125 wire feed welder. It just does flux core welding but it's a nice little machine for little things around the house.

The basics of welding are easy but it's one of those skills that just requires tons of practice to really master.

That little wire feed box you got your stepson is about the easiest thing you can weld with. Wire feed welders are very forgiving to a lot of mistakes.

If you can find a nighttime welding course offered by a local tech school or run by your town that is a great way to learn welding basics with hands on training. For me seeing how welding was done was way more helpful than reading any books about how to do it.

I am not a pro welder by any means and hardly even an amateur but I can manage to stick two pieces of metal together thanks to a welding course I took in college.

Basic tips for getting metal to stick :
Clean the area to be welded either with a grinder or wire wheel the metal should be shiny and free of paint/grease/rust
Ensure you have a good ground connection. The ground lead should be firmly clamped to clean metal as close to the weld as practical.
Use dry, clean, and fresh electrodes (i.e. the weld wire). The flux in flux core wire will absorb moisture over time and go bad. Wire that is rusty will also make it very hard to weld.
Cheap weld wire is cheap for a reason. Its worth it especially while learning to weld to use good wire. Once you learn to weld you will be able to compensate for the short comings of cheap wire.
Go slow and take your time welding is a skill like learning how to play an instrument.

In general the book that comes with your welder will be full of useful information and is worth reading a couple of times. I should also give you the basic settings to put the machine on for different welding jobs.
 
I put this together last year out of scap metal and an old heating oil tank that started leaking.

It's for making maple syrup.
 

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18 years welder and instructor.
+1 on getting some c25 gas for that machine. Flux cored wire welds but on a small machine like that, it's tough to make anything that looks decent. Adding gas at least gives your half a chance. It's easier to see the pool, less spatter, less smoke and cleaner finished welds.

Stick to .023 or .030 solid wire for that machine. (With gas if you can...c25 is a mix of argon and Co2)
Keep the nozzle clean and fresh contact tips at the ready.
Keep nozzle close, 1/4 or so away while welding for good gas coverage.
Dont kink the cable while welding, try to keep it straight. The wire has to get fed that and if you bend it or loop too tight it won't feed smooth.
Wear good ppe,decent gloves and decent helmet with leather shoes and long sleeves. Aside from getting hurt, there is nothing more distracting while trying to make a good weld than getting a hot spark when you don't want it.
Use the inside panel to make your settings and adjustments whenever possible. They are usually quite accurate if you follow the chart but some fine tuning is sometimes necessary based on the circumstances.
Make sure you have a clean ground for your workpiece clamp and keep it close to the weld area. Grind off paint and rust as needed at ground location and weld location.
If it feels like the wire is pushing off the metal, the wire feed is too high or voltage is too low. It's a ratio that you have to balance. Run as hot as the base metal will allow without making holes and adjust the wire feed to flow smooth into the pool without burning back or pushing off the base metal.
Make sure your power source is good, don't plug into a 15 amp outlet fed with 75' of 14 gage wire plus an extension cord. You'll end up dealing with a drop in voltage and lots of frustration. Try to use a deticated 20 amp circuit and minimize extension cords unless properly sized as indicated in the owners manual.
Watch the puddle, get comfortable and have fun.
Theres a lot more but those are some general tips of common issues off the top of my head. Read, watch videos online and weld. Arc time is key, it takes lots of practice and every situation requires a different skill set and teaches you something new.
 
Buckmaster said:
18 years welder and instructor.
+1 on getting some c25 gas for that machine. Flux cored wire welds but on a small machine like that, it's tough to make anything that looks decent. Adding gas at least gives your half a chance. It's easier to see the pool, less spatter, less smoke and cleaner finished welds.

Stick to .023 or .030 solid wire for that machine. (With gas if you can...c25 is a mix of argon and Co2)
Keep the nozzle clean and fresh contact tips at the ready.
Keep nozzle close, 1/4 or so away while welding for good gas coverage.
Dont kink the cable while welding, try to keep it straight. The wire has to get fed that and if you bend it or loop too tight it won't feed smooth.
Wear good ppe,decent gloves and decent helmet with leather shoes and long sleeves. Aside from getting hurt, there is nothing more distracting while trying to make a good weld than getting a hot spark when you don't want it.
Use the inside panel to make your settings and adjustments whenever possible. They are usually quite accurate if you follow the chart but some fine tuning is sometimes necessary based on the circumstances.
Make sure you have a clean ground for your workpiece clamp and keep it close to the weld area. Grind off paint and rust as needed at ground location and weld location.
If it feels like the wire is pushing off the metal, the wire feed is too high or voltage is too low. It's a ratio that you have to balance. Run as hot as the base metal will allow without making holes and adjust the wire feed to flow smooth into the pool without burning back or pushing off the base metal.
Make sure your power source is good, don't plug into a 15 amp outlet fed with 75' of 14 gage wire plus an extension cord. You'll end up dealing with a drop in voltage and lots of frustration. Try to use a deticated 20 amp circuit and minimize extension cords unless properly sized as indicated in the owners manual.
Watch the puddle, get comfortable and have fun.
Theres a lot more but those are some general tips of common issues off the top of my head. Read, watch videos online and weld. Arc time is key, it takes lots of practice and every situation requires a different skill set and teaches you something new.
Click to expand...

Thanks great advice! He already got a cylinder of gas. 75/25 I think argon and co2. $250!! Wow! That includes the 1st time cylinder charge so it'll just be the gas charge from now on. I thought that would be much cheaper I think it is a 40 lb cylinder. He also got a nice automatic helmet which seems to give a real good view of the work area. So far he fixed an outdoor chair for us and added some supports to it using an old metal shelf. It seems to be holding up he did have a couple of blow-throughs but overall the welds look good. He was joking with enough grinding any weld will look good. Of course that metal dust is now all over the garage so I told him we need to talk about where he is going to grind.

So far no power issues which surprises me a lot I thought for sure this would pop come circuits. The welder says it draws max 14 amps I thought it would draw more. Also even though only a 20% duty cycle he has yet to run into any cool-down/wait periods.

I'm going to get him some decent gloves and an apron this week. I'll try to get some pics of his work posted up for review. I'll take a stab at it myself too at some point.
 
I'd be a much richer man if I had a nickle for everyone who THOUGHT they could weld vs. a quarter for everyone who actually CAN! Man it's an art form! Have fun! And no...I can't weld.....
 
I thought of a few other small things.

Good welds start with good fab and nice fitup. Gaps from poor cuts, makes a simple weld more complicated so take your time and prep your joint correctly.

There are a few common variables relative to any welding process. Some of them are set on the machine, and some of them are the operators responsibility. For mig your constant machine settings are wire size and type, gas flow rate, voltage, wire feed speed. Your job is to control stick out/standoff distance (how far away the torch can is from the pool, travel speed, weave technique or oscillation of the torch if applicable and torch angles such work and travel angle relative to the work.

With those variables in mind, consider robotic welders. Automated machines make perfect looking welds because they are programmed to reproduce the variables the same every time. Master consistent variable control and you'll make nicer welds.
With that said, knowing the correct variables is half the battle and that can be had from reading and practice, trial and error on scrap but shoot for consistency, even if it isn't perfect. A less than perfect weld made the same the entire length will look better than a weld where constant adjustments and changes were made.
Thats not to say good looking welds are always better either but consistency is important.
When you inspect your finished welds after practicing, work on fixing one discontinuity as they are called at at time. Porosity? Get closer or clean the metal better, incomplete fusion? Check your standoff distance or up your voltage, or slow the travel speed. Undercut is from the wrong torch angle. Overlap, too much wire feed.

Lastly, when considering torch movements, for best penetration and fusion, always try to keep the wire at the leading edge of the pool. The best way to make a good looking weak weld with mig is to let the arc sit on top of the pool without bringing it around to the front and meting the root of the base metal. A small step motion or forward 1/8 back 1/16 can be used, tight controlled circles, lower case E can work well too.
As I said there's a lot info on the subject. I'll stop now lol.
 

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I learned to weld by working for a fab shop that built large shopping centers. My first weld job was to go behind the first welder and fill in 3/4" fillet welds on beam to column connections. I went through a ton of wire.

I still use the "If a little weld is good, a lot of weld must be better" philosophy...probably not the best technique.
 
I picked up a basic wire feed welder (240v that will handle gas and flux core) a few years ago as I wanted to learn and be able to fix a few random things around home. I spent a good amount of time just practicing running beads, eventually things started looking pretty good (imo) despite a cheap welder and no real training.

I wouldn't say the learning curve was hard, but definitely steep. Once I sorted out a better ground clamp setup, I was able to dial in the weld settings easier and start laying more consistent beads.

I say go for it! This is one of those skills (like driving a stick shift or keeping a pool clear) that everyone should be able to do even if not with a level of mastery.
 
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