Need to learn more about welding

[swines]

Obviously, the only way you learn to weld is by actually welding. But, I understand your dilemma, you want some type of reference material so that you can better understand some of the parameters and be able to troubleshoot what you're doing. I'd buy a number of welding books like the Audel Welding Pocket Reference (James Brumbaugh, Rex Miller), Practical Welding Technology (Rudy Mohler), The Procedure Handbook of Arc Welding (James F. Lincoln Foundation), and Modern Welding (Althouse, Turnquist, Bowditch, Bowditch).

If you have those books as part of your welding library, you should be able to research any problem and process from a number of different viewpoints and come up with your own procedures and methods to fit the welding problem you're trying to solve.

Oh...and practice...just run welds at different settings with different rods to see the results you get - make notes and keep a notebook of projects with welder settings and welding results for a reference. I go back in my notebooks from as long as 20 years ago and am often surprised that I've done a procedure, made notes on it and have forgotten how I setup the welder, prepped the metal etc.

 

[BigBlue1]

I watched a few videos and then spent some time practicing today. I can do pretty well on flat surfaces. Inside corners are still tough but I did figure out a bit more about how to do them better. More experience with amperage settings and rod types will be good to accumulate over time. Here are a couple pictures where I was practicing with different rod types, different amp settings, and an inside corner. To me they don't look awful. The butt joint turned out pretty solid. Enough to lift up the corner of my workbench when I had the piece in the vice trying to break it to see how strong it turned out.

Rob

 

[BMan2005]

Starting with 6010/6011 was the best advice I got and did. Really helped me to learn to watch the puddle and easiest to do with the very light slag it has. It's helping me to know how to manipulate the rod & amperage. I'm very new to this, but these guys on here are great and give good advice to help.

 

[BigBlue1]

Starting with 6010/6011 was the best advice I got and did. Really helped me to learn to watch the puddle and easiest to do with the very light slag it has. It's helping me to know how to manipulate the rod & amperage. I'm very new to this, but these guys on here are great and give to good advice to help.

I've been mainly practicing with 6013 rods. I do have some ancient 7014 ones that I've tried too, but the flux is kinda flaky.

One thing I'm unsure of is how best to finish a weld. As you can see in the pics the way I pull away at the end leaves a divot. There must be a trick to avoiding that?

Rob

 

[BMan2005]

I've been mainly practicing with 6013 rods. I do have some ancient 7014 ones that I've tried too, but the flux is kinda flaky.

One thing I'm unsure of is how best to finish a weld. As you can see in the pics the way I pull away at the end leaves a divot. There must be a trick to avoiding that?

Rob

I think 6013/7014 run and look about the same welding. Haven't ran 6013 but been playing with 7014. Love how easy it is to use but I can't see the Puddle well at all with it. Looks like a slurry of slag behind the rod. Maybe with time I can read it better,. Other than 6010/6011 I really like how 7018 runs far as watching the Puddle, I can see it better than 7014. Take what I say as a grain of salt man, I'm really new to this but reading and practicing a ton trying to learn the art.

Maybe shield arc or some others will step in, but SA told me to back step just a hair and pause in the Puddle just a brief second to fill the crater then break the arc.

 

[BMan2005]

3 min 40 sec you can see him fill the crater and talk about doing it.

6013 Stick Welding Tips - YouTube

 

[Tractor Seabee]

I've been mainly practicing with 6013 rods. I do have some ancient 7014 ones that I've tried too, but the flux is kinda flaky.

One thing I'm unsure of is how best to finish a weld. As you can see in the pics the way I pull away at the end leaves a divot. There must be a trick to avoiding that?

Rob

I have seen a lot worse welds than yours. Appearance is not as important as the soundness and the penetration. I have seen welds that look great but no penetration, all on the surface. Like others have said, practice and more practice. At the end of a weld you need to full the arc back a little and add more metal at the end.

Ron

 

[BigBlue1]

3 min 40 sec you can see him fill the crater and talk about doing it.

6013 Stick Welding Tips - YouTube

Thanks for that video.

Rob