welding tips

Real world tips and tricks for the do-it-yourself ethusiast. Tools and parts that make life easy, and simple fabrication tips and tricks.
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clem
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welding tips

Post by clem »

Just a few things I've learned over the years, always get comfortable before welding, brace your arm against something to keep your hand steady, tack everything first and check. When welding vertical weld from bottom to top so the puddle doesn't fall into your path causing a false sense of penetration, this is true more in thick steel than sheet metal. Cover your exposed skin not just from splatter but uv burns, don't leave your shoes or boots unlaced, a spark in your shoe hurts like f#*k. :D
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jeffb3041
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Re: welding tips

Post by jeffb3041 »

Anyone that does not know these things already probably should not be welding on a vehicle!!!!! :idea:
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tekatlarge
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Re: welding tips

Post by tekatlarge »

jeffb3041 wrote:Anyone that does not know these things already probably should not be welding on a vehicle!!!!! :idea:

You would not believe what people do with tools even when they are supposed to be trained!!!
Sorry, But I am a firm believer in Safety First. I didn't get this old and crusty by ignoring the instructions! Agreed they should not attempt it but did you always do everything your parents told you? :D
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clem
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Location: Nova Scotia

Re: welding tips

Post by clem »

I should listen to my own advice sometimes, as I look at the little burns on my arm. :rolleyes2: :redneck:
'87 bII d44,9",np435/205and a 302 ( on hold)
'73 vw bug
'70 vw camper van
'98 jeep tj
2010 ranger
'56 international s110
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Ranger Dave
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Re: welding tips

Post by Ranger Dave »

clem wrote:I should listen to my own advice sometimes, as I look at the little burns on my arm. :rolleyes2: :redneck:

that comes with the job :D
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tekatlarge
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Re: welding tips

Post by tekatlarge »

Them is called manly work burns!!!!!!!
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tickturd
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Re: welding tips

Post by tickturd »

or if tou are hurtin for machines and dont have the experience some local highschools have 'classes in machining courses' that you can bring a project in and work on it the one in my area charged 65.00 for one night a week for 6 weeks and i got to use every machine in the building including a mill a cnc mill sandblaster, moldmaking they even have a tubing bender, so check the local paper their usaully in there
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C_Sanchez_A
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Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: welding tips

Post by C_Sanchez_A »

tickturd wrote:or if tou are hurtin for machines and dont have the experience some local highschools have 'classes in machining courses' that you can bring a project in and work on it the one in my area charged 65.00 for one night a week for 6 weeks and i got to use every machine in the building including a mill a cnc mill sandblaster, moldmaking they even have a tubing bender, so check the local paper their usaully in there
I wish the schools in my area did this. Unfortunatly there not that smart. I would love to learn how to weld properly.
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DBrown
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Re: welding tips

Post by DBrown »

I was taught by an older farmer...best way to learn. I always wear a long sleave shirt when grinding and drilling holes too. hot shavings do the same thing a splater from a welding rod.
71 Bronco - twin sticked, full width, 2" lift, wristed arm, lots of rust...

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101btp
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Re: welding tips

Post by 101btp »

dont forget to wear spf 100 if you do end up welding a lot my shop I have to wear it every day
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tekatlarge
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Re: welding tips

Post by tekatlarge »

A MiG or wire feed welding tip.

I discovered this a while back and before I found this fix I pulled what remaining hair I had out my head.

I have a millermatic 180 MiG and used it a lot during the Philstang build. It stayed in my brothers shop for about the last 6 months of the build. His shop always had a high humidity level.

The last time I used the machine I had to do some welding on the bottom of the car. I went to tack things and I will be damned if I couldn't get the machine to do a decent tack weld. The wire would spit and stick, and I could barely get a tack and I had to run the volts up to get it to tack worth a darn. I just wrote it off to my lack of being comfortable welding right over my head.

Now fast forward to this last July or so. I have had the welder home since finishing Philstang and was getting ready to do some more welding on the TCoupe project. This time it was easy flat and should have been a NO Brain-er.. Again I was having problems getting a decent tack and when running a bead it was hard to make a decent weld. I still couldn't figure out what the problem was. I tried a different ground, I had made sure everything was clean and freshly ground.

I finally called an old friend whom is a master welder and described the problem. He came over and confirmed something wasn't working right. We spent about 30 minutes testing things when he started laughing and removed my wire spool and brought it over to the bench under a good light. There you could barely see some tiny little black spots on the wire they were almost invisible and in the shop in the machine you couldn't see them.

Apparently leaving your wire in the machine or just setting on a shelf exposes the wire to moisture and it causes oxidation. This growth like corrosion causes you a high resistance to current flow between the wire and the machine roller.

We took the spool of wire and ran off about 200 feet thinking it would get better the deeper in the roll. That was no good as the spots were all the way down. What I did do was grab a ball of steel wool and wrapped it around the wire and just held tight while the roll was re rolled. We cleaned the drive wheel also and when we tested it it welds smooth just like new again!

I was told by my friend the best thing you can do is when you are done welding put the spool in a large plastic bag and evacuate all the air you can and then seal the bag and store in a clean warm dry place.

So if you keep wire in your machine all the time watch out for oxidation!
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101btp
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Re: welding tips

Post by 101btp »

yeah I have a dis functional mini fridge but seals the air out I use it for (especially welding rod because it's able to pull in moisture and ruin the flux and give you porosity) but I have a shelf for my wire too

we usto have that issue in the shop with techni weld 500lb barrels not the fact that we diffident go through them fast enough but from the fact the warehouse stored them wrong
wmmichael20
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Location: edmore michigan

Re: welding tips

Post by wmmichael20 »

I've had good luck just clamping a piece of scotch brite or steel wool to the wire just before it goes through the rollers so it cleans itself off before it even hits the rollers and i dont have to remove the spool and refeed it through the gun every time i want to use it.
Mudhog1977
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Location: Warren,tx

Re: welding tips

Post by Mudhog1977 »

Lol I just go to my brother's house and let him weld for me easiest way I've found yet lol
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101btp
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Re: welding tips

Post by 101btp »

two things hey you yeah you get a pair of Kevlar sleeves you're arms won't get burnt they are really a savior when comes to vehicle over head welding and general work too!

https://www.google.com/#q=kevlar+weldin ... 1519448943

see their cheap enough! ;)

and ok a really good tip if you get a bolt that vicegrips have worn down so badly it turned into a round dowel, get you're self a cheap pair of harbor freight aka china poor quality easy to bend the jaws of vicegrips clamp it on you're new dowel aka old bolt and tack as many points of the nub of the bolt to the vice grips and you're chances of taking it out are much better, because not only did you just make a total connection to the bolt you just heated it up almost as good as torches would, ive done this a few times and a note-able one would be the bolt on my inspection plate saved me all sorts of work for a few bucks it was worth it!!!
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