MIG welding....push or pull
- Thread starter Chain Bender
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wroughtn_harv
Super Member
Like most I push and pull just working the puddle. HOWEVER, I would never encourage a newbie to pull mig. I've always been told that with gas you push and without you pull.
I have rewelded way too many pretty mig welds over the years that were cold joints. Every one of them was a drag weld.
So if you are a newbie push gas mig.
One of the things I tell newbies is to not worry about the appearance of a weld as much as you worry about the weld. If you make a good weld then it will look good, just the way it is.
I have rewelded way too many pretty mig welds over the years that were cold joints. Every one of them was a drag weld.
So if you are a newbie push gas mig.
One of the things I tell newbies is to not worry about the appearance of a weld as much as you worry about the weld. If you make a good weld then it will look good, just the way it is.
Dargo
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I have welded for well over 30 years. I go both ways. 
No, not that!!! It depends on the situation. I just welded a hydraulic thumb on a guy's JD 790 excavator last weekend so he could load a bunch of huge boulders and yank stumps out easier. Since I didn't have any rods (okay, for you picky people, electrodes) I wanted, I just used my MM251 with 35 wire and cranked it up. The backing plate was 1" tool steel and he is an animal with his machine. The weld obviously was strong enough because he did everything he could to tear the thumb off and nearly turned his machine over several times and nothing even remotely moved.
Being that I had to weld at nearly every angle to get it welded on, I mostly pushed the puddle, but I also dragged when needed. I ran 2 really hot and deep passes for what would have held but went ahead and ran my machine as hard as it would go making 'pretty' U passes over the welds to make it look like one heavy caulk weld from a factory. As someone before said, I've seen many "pretty" welds fail because they were far too cold. When I was blowing through some spots at times in his 3/8" plate on his dipper stick, I was pretty comfortable I was getting good penetration.
I'm easy, after all these years, I'm not gonna argue with anyone. I do take pride in nice looking welds, but my main priority is to make d*** sure the welds are solid. I can say that I really don't think I can recall having any of my welds fail. It's always been someplace else that's broken when I have to fix something again. I kinda take a little pride in that too. Just don't talk to me about welding really thin aluminum. I see absolutely no practical reason to weld a pop can back together after it's been cut in half!
No, not that!!! It depends on the situation. I just welded a hydraulic thumb on a guy's JD 790 excavator last weekend so he could load a bunch of huge boulders and yank stumps out easier. Since I didn't have any rods (okay, for you picky people, electrodes) I wanted, I just used my MM251 with 35 wire and cranked it up. The backing plate was 1" tool steel and he is an animal with his machine. The weld obviously was strong enough because he did everything he could to tear the thumb off and nearly turned his machine over several times and nothing even remotely moved.Being that I had to weld at nearly every angle to get it welded on, I mostly pushed the puddle, but I also dragged when needed. I ran 2 really hot and deep passes for what would have held but went ahead and ran my machine as hard as it would go making 'pretty' U passes over the welds to make it look like one heavy caulk weld from a factory. As someone before said, I've seen many "pretty" welds fail because they were far too cold. When I was blowing through some spots at times in his 3/8" plate on his dipper stick, I was pretty comfortable I was getting good penetration.
I'm easy, after all these years, I'm not gonna argue with anyone. I do take pride in nice looking welds, but my main priority is to make d*** sure the welds are solid. I can say that I really don't think I can recall having any of my welds fail. It's always been someplace else that's broken when I have to fix something again. I kinda take a little pride in that too. Just don't talk to me about welding really thin aluminum. I see absolutely no practical reason to weld a pop can back together after it's been cut in half!
crazyal
Super Member
When I was blowing through some spots at times in his 3/8" plate on his dipper stick, I was pretty comfortable I was getting good penetration.
Maybe that's why I'm less concerned about pushing or pulling too. My Lincoln 255 has no problem putting the heat to the steel when needed. There's no doubt in your mind when you see cherry red metal.
OP
Chain Bender
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XXXXXXXXXXXXX
That seems to be a problem with my welder/welding. My Handler 140 is 120V and is plugged in to a 30 amp dedicated line that only runs about 3 feet from the breaker box. Using 10ga wire from breaker box to plug box. I can go with a heavier guage in about 5 minutes.
1/4" to 1/4" welds.
With welder on highest/hottest setting and wire feed on 50 +/- with .030 or .035 solid wire I cannot get the puddle to puddle like with a medium/warm 6011 stick. My welds basically look like catalpa worms. If I make quick u's then I get absolutely no penetration. If I get a little penetration I get what looks like a dirt-dobber nest. I've run both polarities without good results. Argon is turned up to as high as 50.
Any suggestions
Chain Bender
Shield Arc
Super Member
Yeah, turn that gas back down to 20 CFH! You don't have a lot of options with that welder, but you could try a different gas, 100% Co2 will give you a little more horse power.
Chilly807
Elite Member
You can try slowing down your travel speed, that's a stab in the dark since I've never seen you weld. The smaller welders take a little more time to put heat into the metal. My 135 Miller would turn 1/4 plate cherry red, but it was slower going.
It took me a long time to finally realize I had to slow down my travel speed, not just with the 135, but with any welder. My results are better, but I still tend to string the weld out occasionally.
Learning to watch the puddle is the single biggest hurdle to any self-taught welder, at least in my opinion. The next one is learning how to manipulate it to get the weld you want.
When I first started, I knew nothing about watching the weld puddle, I just drew the mig gun along at what I thought was "the right speed". Good welds were purely accidental in those days. The strange thing was, I don't remember anything I ever welded breaking, except maybe a couple of lengths of chain I cobbled together to get a longer piece.
Sean
Turbys_1700
Elite Member
Just a suggestion...
Take it for what it's worth...
For a very reasonable cost, you can enroll in your local community college and take welding classes...
That is, if you live within a reasonable driving distance to the school and they offer
welding...
I have worked at the local community college for 17 years and welding has been offered most of the 51 years the school has been in existence...
Classes are offered in the evenings after work...
Just a thought...
Take it for what it's worth...
For a very reasonable cost, you can enroll in your local community college and take welding classes...
That is, if you live within a reasonable driving distance to the school and they offer
welding...
I have worked at the local community college for 17 years and welding has been offered most of the 51 years the school has been in existence...
Classes are offered in the evenings after work...
Just a thought...
OP
Chain Bender
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There is a vocational/technical school about 25 miles up the road. Pretty sure their night classes run up over $1200 for a class.
Usually I run the 75/25 argon at 30. I only mentoned I had run it up as high as 50 to see if that would help. It didn't. I have run it to almost completely off as well without change.
I've tried slowing down but get even a bigger dirt dobber weld. I've turned teh ehat up and the wire feed down and just cannot get a puddle up, except on a really long weld (16") that finally at the end few inches the weld puddled out and "thinned out" like a stick weld would.
Might rewire from the breaker to the plug today with some 8 and maybe rewire the cord on the machine itself.
Probably won't et any chance to test it for several weeks. Having a left knee TKR Monday morning and have many things to get put up and stored before church time tomorrow.
Gentlemen, thans for all the input and free schooling. I do appreciate it and will do my best to apply as much of it as I can when I can.
If I dont reply back in a few weeks it will be becaus i cannot sit at the computer table.
much thanks,
Lee
Usually I run the 75/25 argon at 30. I only mentoned I had run it up as high as 50 to see if that would help. It didn't. I have run it to almost completely off as well without change.
I've tried slowing down but get even a bigger dirt dobber weld. I've turned teh ehat up and the wire feed down and just cannot get a puddle up, except on a really long weld (16") that finally at the end few inches the weld puddled out and "thinned out" like a stick weld would.
Might rewire from the breaker to the plug today with some 8 and maybe rewire the cord on the machine itself.
Probably won't et any chance to test it for several weeks. Having a left knee TKR Monday morning and have many things to get put up and stored before church time tomorrow.
Gentlemen, thans for all the input and free schooling. I do appreciate it and will do my best to apply as much of it as I can when I can.
If I dont reply back in a few weeks it will be becaus i cannot sit at the computer table.
much thanks,
Lee