picture worth a thousand words

[deereman75]

Oh and about the jacket, thats why I always wear carhart overalls and a havy denim jacket. Add in some leather steel toed boots, and you will be fine.

 

[BrianDT]

Harbor freight has welding jackets cheap. Pick one up and save your clothing!

Take your time and practice and things will come together. :thumbsup:

 

[BXpanded]

I suggest you drop by your local welding supply house and buy yourself a welding jacket. The treated cloth ones only cost about $16. They can still get holes but you won't go up in a flash of fire and smoke. There's nothing as exciting as catching your clothes on fire!

 

[Shield Arc]

i can`t see what i`m doing, the shade # is to dark. ?

Here's the first thing you need to fix! When you can't see, it makes welding just a tad bit harder, harder than it needs to be.
I'm really big on listening to a weld, the sound of a weld going bad will get my attention faster than seeing it, but at your stage you better work on seeing for now, hearing will come latter.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

Not all of your autodarks are shade adjustable. Even you more expensive brands offer a "cheapy" that is a fixed shade. Get one adjustable from at least 9-13 shade. My go to helmet is adjustable from 8-13.

As for the sticking... You should GRIND the area where the welds will be before you start welding to remove the rust and paint, particularly powder coated stuff which may be what you are welding with there. The difference will be night in day in both starting and how it welds.

IF you are welding that hook to whatever it is to use...don't. That hook is not considered weldable. And the welds are not good enough quite yet to trust them. They may hold, then again, they may not. Chip the slag, so you can see what is under the weld. A smooth surface on the slag does not mean that the weld itself is smooth. It could look like bird droppings underneath, or it could look like a fresh roll of dimes laid over on its side.

I see rod flux laying on top of the mount plate there...that is not good. If that much comes off you MUST trim the rod back until you have flux on the rod. Even though that can is sealed from new, I'd almost say the rods are wet, or you are having problems with pounding the rod when starting, and breaking off the flux

 

[Shield Arc]

When using doubler plates, you should avoid using 90 degree corners! A round, or oval doubler is much better. If you have to use 90 degrees corners, at least arc the tail out of each weld.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Oh so many things appear different in the welds. The first pass on the left in the first photo looks like you were too hot but the others look like maybe you turned it down too cold. Get rid of the paint and rust, even a professional welder cant make a pretty weld over paint and rust. Grind all surfaces at least 1/2" back from the weld area to clean, bright, grease free metal. Some areas of the weld look like you were also holding your arc too short,just dragging the rod. While some rods will weld this way, hardly any will to it over thick powder coated paint. It looks like you were using a 70xx rod, if so, a 1/16-3/32" arc would be preferable. Set your machine to where it starts welding without excessively sticking but not so high that it undercuts the base metal. Undercut is caused by either running too hot or travelling too fast. Adjust your travel speed according to the amps used.
Finally, get yourself some all cotton shirts. Even if you are using a welding jacket or leather sleeves, it is best to use cotton clothing underneath. They dont melt and are harder to catch fire than polyester or polyester blends.

 

[Baby Grand]

Just wait until you get a Hot piece of slag down your work boot. You will be able to get that boot OFF in seconds.

Been there, Done it.

Craig Clayton

Yup. Or goes in your ear. A good weld is supposed to sound like frying bacon, but that's cheating! Or maybe an argument for ear plugs.

Lots of good advice. I went to a trade school and spent a lot of time cursing that pesky red rod sticking to every piece I tried to spark off on ... then one day ... no more problem with that. Practice, practice, practice. After you spend a few hours cleaning up your pictured weld in preparation to try again, you should be motivated to spend more time prepping before you spark off again. Weld prep time is time well spent. And as someone stated - scrap is your friend! Get to where you are confidently and consistently putting down good beads on scrap before you point that thing at something valuable again. I suspect you're itching to finish this job, but step away and work on your technique, then come back to it when you have all the variables worked out: rod type, weld prep, heat, & weld technique.

 

[flyerdan]

If you're left handed like I am) you'll notice that the grinder will really take a toll on your clothes. I was always patching coveralls before I finally got smart and got one of those cheap blue welders aprons. Flame resistant and light enough to not be oppressive during the summer.

 

[PILOON]

Just wait until you get a Hot piece of slag down your work boot. You will be able to get that boot OFF in seconds.

Been there, Done it.

Craig Clayton

Better yet see how fast you can remove your under shorts.
I sport a burn scar in that private area.
(can laugh now but sure howled back then.)