flingwing1969
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2008
- Messages
- 694
- Tractor
- LS G3038, JD GT275, and Bolins H16
Thank you for that - learning is always good.
Criticize my welds please
- Thread starter Tractorguy24
- Start date
- Views: 4938
Thank you for that - learning is always good.
def38
Platinum Member
The USS Zumwalt broke down in the Panama Canal and bumped the lock wall, likely not any fault of poor welding.
MatHaas
Silver Member
It indeed appears you were "stacking tacks". Aka pulling the trigger to puddle a single bead, let off, then move, the pull the trigger for the next bead, let off, etc. As Rock Crawler mentioned. Just making repetitive tacks, loosing heat from the puddle, jeopardizing penetration, etc.
That's definitely cast material. The "flame" is from contaminated metal. But hey, it's cast. Prep is everything, Make sure paint is removed from both sides of the material if the material is thin enough. Use acetone to clean any contaminates like oil, etc (that's a lot more important for TIG, but it really does help. any time you're getting a "flame", you're MIGing dirty metal). Anything "heavy" duty, also bevel the weld joint. Or as you mentioned, a groove. Make it a V.
Here are my favorite way's the weld cast: PRE HEAT! use a MAP gas torch or oxy/acetylene with rose bud and get er nice and hot. Next, use stainless wire if you can (i forget the exact explanation, but a long time again when i was welding differential housings regularly, i knew the explanation of why the properties of stainless were preferred when welding cast. the weld will not be stainless after you weld it, since you'll using regular 75/25 gas, but still). Third: directly after welding, shot peen the weld, either with an air chisel pointed end on low/medium setting or harbor freight sells and air needler (stress relieving) Last, slow cooling as much as possible, easiest way is to cover the piece in sand. Bag of play sand is cheap.
Here is my opinion on MIG welding. Someone said always push. That's not true. you push, pull, and stay straight 90 for many different occasion/positions/etc. And actually Pushing keeps less heat in the puddle, pulling keeps more heat in the puddle. (to clarify, pulling is keeping your torch angled more toward the puddle, pushing is keeping your torch angled more to the unwelded joint) You should probably just stay 90/perpendicular to the weld joint to keep it simple and in the center of the joint (unless you have two different thickness of metal, where sometimes you focus more heat on the thicker piece, or change where you keep your puddle/heat based on physical location like it's over head horizontal weld joint)
Next, my preferred and recommended technique is to "whip" the torch. Where you focus the arc to puddle in the absolute center of the weld joint to get full penetration, move slightly forward, then roll/rotate your wrist to "whip" the torch back over the weld you just moved from that is still molten to add a more material. (do this in a slow controlled manner) IN MY OPINION, this is the best weld joint you'll ever make. because you get the full penetration of the weld joint and get a sufficiently large bead, as opposed to sitting in a spot longer to let the weld bead profile build up, where the puddle "spills" abit in the joint just infront of your puddle (as opposed to you moving the torch/puddle there immediately and getting full heat and full penetration).
The whip is the best way to get the "stack of dimes" look. Which was essentially desired from TIG welding appearance. But you still get full root joint penetration. The C pattern, making semi circles, halves moons, or Z's isn't preferred in my opinion. With those patterns you're moving the heat away from the MOST important part of the weld joint, the root. If you need to build up a larger bead then run another pass/stringer up each side of the root weld tying in the material. (or sure, i'm some cases if you know you're running hot enough, you can run a nice large puddle over top of that root; or "whip" by moving forward in to the root and then back up a little extra far if you building up a bigger puddle). If you ever see professional TIG welding, they always do a root pass first, which is a small weld fucosed soley on the weld joint, ensuring the entire weld joint is fully penetrated and fused. Then they come back over top of it with a cover pass to tie all of that extra material in between the two pieces. That's why i stand by the "whip" technique for MIG.
Getting your welder set up properly is the key. Most of these new MIGs have an auto set feature, which you set the voltage, and the wire speed is auto determined.
Are you running .030" wire or .035"?
Regardless of your answer, you'll get a nicer puddle and be able to have better puddle control with .030" wire. So I would you use .030 if you aren't already. That way you can move nice and slow and control your puddle perfect. get full foot penetration and get a nice weld bead also. A good helmet does make a big difference in seeing what you're doing too sometimes.
Get the settings down where you're running enough heat to have a really nice "wetted" puddle, but not too hot that you're burning off the wire.
as everyone says, trying to get the "sizzling bacon" sound of frying bacon. Too hot or not enough wire and you'll see the end balling off as it melts the wire before it gets to the puddle. Too cold or too fast of wire and you'll hear the machine pushing the wire harder/with resistance and your puddle will be colder.
Weldingtipsandtricks.com is a great resource. Jody has a youtube channel and has a lot of useful beginner and expert info. but there are some specific recommendations that may vary from one expert to the other.
my personal preference for a good all purpose wire is Lincoln Super Arc L56 which they sell at Lowes in 12lb spools. i've found cheaper generic or Harbor Freight wire really doesn't weld as nice. it's worth the extra $1-2. IMO.
hope that helps some.
everyone is different.
biggest thing is just doing it frequently enough to establish and maintain the fine motor control of moving your torch properly. that and dailing in your setting properly. I always test weld material or a scrap before hand if it's something important or nice i'm doing the permanent weld on.
check out my thread in the build it yourself forum where i posted recently on the backhoe subframe i made. 0.5", 0.75", 1", and 1.25" material i used. You'll see the beveling, the way the puddle lays in joint, and the bead profile from whip. I weld something once every few months and my consistency with torch control fades quickly in between.
-Haas
That's definitely cast material. The "flame" is from contaminated metal. But hey, it's cast. Prep is everything, Make sure paint is removed from both sides of the material if the material is thin enough. Use acetone to clean any contaminates like oil, etc (that's a lot more important for TIG, but it really does help. any time you're getting a "flame", you're MIGing dirty metal). Anything "heavy" duty, also bevel the weld joint. Or as you mentioned, a groove. Make it a V.
Here are my favorite way's the weld cast: PRE HEAT! use a MAP gas torch or oxy/acetylene with rose bud and get er nice and hot. Next, use stainless wire if you can (i forget the exact explanation, but a long time again when i was welding differential housings regularly, i knew the explanation of why the properties of stainless were preferred when welding cast. the weld will not be stainless after you weld it, since you'll using regular 75/25 gas, but still). Third: directly after welding, shot peen the weld, either with an air chisel pointed end on low/medium setting or harbor freight sells and air needler (stress relieving) Last, slow cooling as much as possible, easiest way is to cover the piece in sand. Bag of play sand is cheap.
Here is my opinion on MIG welding. Someone said always push. That's not true. you push, pull, and stay straight 90 for many different occasion/positions/etc. And actually Pushing keeps less heat in the puddle, pulling keeps more heat in the puddle. (to clarify, pulling is keeping your torch angled more toward the puddle, pushing is keeping your torch angled more to the unwelded joint) You should probably just stay 90/perpendicular to the weld joint to keep it simple and in the center of the joint (unless you have two different thickness of metal, where sometimes you focus more heat on the thicker piece, or change where you keep your puddle/heat based on physical location like it's over head horizontal weld joint)
Next, my preferred and recommended technique is to "whip" the torch. Where you focus the arc to puddle in the absolute center of the weld joint to get full penetration, move slightly forward, then roll/rotate your wrist to "whip" the torch back over the weld you just moved from that is still molten to add a more material. (do this in a slow controlled manner) IN MY OPINION, this is the best weld joint you'll ever make. because you get the full penetration of the weld joint and get a sufficiently large bead, as opposed to sitting in a spot longer to let the weld bead profile build up, where the puddle "spills" abit in the joint just infront of your puddle (as opposed to you moving the torch/puddle there immediately and getting full heat and full penetration).
The whip is the best way to get the "stack of dimes" look. Which was essentially desired from TIG welding appearance. But you still get full root joint penetration. The C pattern, making semi circles, halves moons, or Z's isn't preferred in my opinion. With those patterns you're moving the heat away from the MOST important part of the weld joint, the root. If you need to build up a larger bead then run another pass/stringer up each side of the root weld tying in the material. (or sure, i'm some cases if you know you're running hot enough, you can run a nice large puddle over top of that root; or "whip" by moving forward in to the root and then back up a little extra far if you building up a bigger puddle). If you ever see professional TIG welding, they always do a root pass first, which is a small weld fucosed soley on the weld joint, ensuring the entire weld joint is fully penetrated and fused. Then they come back over top of it with a cover pass to tie all of that extra material in between the two pieces. That's why i stand by the "whip" technique for MIG.
Getting your welder set up properly is the key. Most of these new MIGs have an auto set feature, which you set the voltage, and the wire speed is auto determined.
Are you running .030" wire or .035"?
Regardless of your answer, you'll get a nicer puddle and be able to have better puddle control with .030" wire. So I would you use .030 if you aren't already. That way you can move nice and slow and control your puddle perfect. get full foot penetration and get a nice weld bead also. A good helmet does make a big difference in seeing what you're doing too sometimes.
Get the settings down where you're running enough heat to have a really nice "wetted" puddle, but not too hot that you're burning off the wire.
as everyone says, trying to get the "sizzling bacon" sound of frying bacon. Too hot or not enough wire and you'll see the end balling off as it melts the wire before it gets to the puddle. Too cold or too fast of wire and you'll hear the machine pushing the wire harder/with resistance and your puddle will be colder.
Weldingtipsandtricks.com is a great resource. Jody has a youtube channel and has a lot of useful beginner and expert info. but there are some specific recommendations that may vary from one expert to the other.
my personal preference for a good all purpose wire is Lincoln Super Arc L56 which they sell at Lowes in 12lb spools. i've found cheaper generic or Harbor Freight wire really doesn't weld as nice. it's worth the extra $1-2. IMO.
hope that helps some.
everyone is different.
biggest thing is just doing it frequently enough to establish and maintain the fine motor control of moving your torch properly. that and dailing in your setting properly. I always test weld material or a scrap before hand if it's something important or nice i'm doing the permanent weld on.
check out my thread in the build it yourself forum where i posted recently on the backhoe subframe i made. 0.5", 0.75", 1", and 1.25" material i used. You'll see the beveling, the way the puddle lays in joint, and the bead profile from whip. I weld something once every few months and my consistency with torch control fades quickly in between.
-Haas
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OP
Tractorguy24
Bronze Member
MatHaas,
Thank you for your detailed post and all of that information.
I think I will have my neighbor stick weld the piece with some ni rod. That should be better than the mig.
Again, thanks for your post!
Thank you for your detailed post and all of that information.
It indeed appears you were "stacking tacks". Aka pulling the trigger to puddle a single bead, let off, then move, the pull the trigger for the next bead, let off, etc. As Rock Crawler mentioned. Just making repetitive tacks, loosing heat from the puddle, jeopardizing penetration, etc.
Acctually I was using the "cursive e" technique because I had seen it in one of Jody痴 videos. See "welding technique taught by old timer. At least I tried to use it
That's definitely cast material. The "flame" is from contaminated metal. But hey, it's cast. Prep is everything, Make sure paint is removed from both sides of the material if the material is thin enough. Use acetone to clean any contaminates like oil, etc (that's a lot more important for TIG, but it really does help. any time you're getting a "flame", you're MIGing dirty metal). Anything "heavy" duty, also bevel the weld joint. Or as you mentioned, a groove. Make it a V.
Here are my favorite way's the weld cast: PRE HEAT! use a MAP gas torch or oxy/acetylene with rose bud and get er nice and hot. Next, use stainless wire if you can (i forget the exact explanation, but a long time again when i was welding differential housings regularly, i knew the explanation of why the properties of stainless were preferred when welding cast. the weld will not be stainless after you weld it, since you'll using regular 75/25 gas, but still). Third: directly after welding, shot peen the weld, either with an air chisel pointed end on low/medium setting or harbor freight sells and air needler (stress relieving) Last, slow cooling as much as possible, easiest way is to cover the piece in sand. Bag of play sand is cheap.
Here is my opinion on MIG welding. Someone said always push. That's not true. you push, pull, and stay straight 90 for many different occasion/positions/etc. And actually Pushing keeps less heat in the puddle, pulling keeps more heat in the puddle. (to clarify, pulling is keeping your torch angled more toward the puddle, pushing is keeping your torch angled more to the unwelded joint) You should probably just stay 90/perpendicular to the weld joint to keep it simple and in the center of the joint (unless you have two different thickness of metal, where sometimes you focus more heat on the thicker piece, or change where you keep your puddle/heat based on physical location like it's over head horizontal weld joint)
Next, my preferred and recommended technique is to "whip" the torch. Where you focus the arc to puddle in the absolute center of the weld joint to get full penetration, move slightly forward, then roll/rotate your wrist to "whip" the torch back over the weld you just moved from that is still molten to add a more material. (do this in a slow controlled manner) IN MY OPINION, this is the best weld joint you'll ever make. because you get the full penetration of the weld joint and get a sufficiently large bead, as opposed to sitting in a spot longer to let the weld bead profile build up, where the puddle "spills" abit in the joint just infront of your puddle (as opposed to you moving the torch/puddle there immediately and getting full heat and full penetration).
The whip is the best way to get the "stack of dimes" look. Which was essentially desired from TIG welding appearance. But you still get full root joint penetration. The C pattern, making semi circles, halves moons, or Z's isn't preferred in my opinion. With those patterns you're moving the heat away from the MOST important part of the weld joint, the root. If you need to build up a larger bead then run another pass/stringer up each side of the root weld tying in the material. (or sure, i'm some cases if you know you're running hot enough, you can run a nice large puddle over top of that root; or "whip" by moving forward in to the root and then back up a little extra far if you building up a bigger puddle). If you ever see professional TIG welding, they always do a root pass first, which is a small weld fucosed soley on the weld joint, ensuring the entire weld joint is fully penetrated and fused. Then they come back over top of it with a cover pass to tie all of that extra material in between the two pieces. That's why i stand by the "whip" technique for MIG.
Getting your welder set up properly is the key. Most of these new MIGs have an auto set feature, which you set the voltage, and the wire speed is auto determined.
I have a old Esab Migmaster 250. Good machine but no auto set haha.
Are you running .030" wire or .035"?
Regardless of your answer, you'll get a nicer puddle and be able to have better puddle control with .030" wire. So I would you use .030 if you aren't already. That way you can move nice and slow and control your puddle perfect. get full foot penetration and get a nice weld bead also. A good helmet does make a big difference in seeing what you're doing too sometimes.
I am running .035 wire because my machine is set up for .035 and because it was cheaper. I would have to change the contact tip, gun liner drive roll and buy a new spool of wire so I guess I値l hafta stay with .035.
My helmet was also cheap but I have no complaints so far
Get the settings down where you're running enough heat to have a really nice "wetted" puddle, but not too hot that you're burning off the wire.
as everyone says, trying to get the "sizzling bacon" sound of frying bacon. Too hot or not enough wire and you'll see the end balling off as it melts the wire before it gets to the puddle. Too cold or too fast of wire and you'll hear the machine pushing the wire harder/with resistance and your puddle will be colder.
Weldingtipsandtricks.com is a great resource. Jody has a youtube channel and has a lot of useful beginner and expert info. but there are some specific recommendations that may vary from one expert to the other.
my personal preference for a good all purpose wire is Lincoln Super Arc L56 which they sell at Lowes in 12lb spools. i've found cheaper generic or Harbor Freight wire really doesn't weld as nice. it's worth the extra $1-2. IMO. I live in Canada so no HF or Lowe痴. I got my wire from a welding supply store. They also had the Lincoln but the guy said it is still good wire and most of the shops have this wire. It was also half the price of the Lincoln.
hope that helps some.
everyone is different.
biggest thing is just doing it frequently enough to establish and maintain the fine motor control of moving your torch properly. that and dailing in your setting properly. I always test weld material or a scrap before hand if it's something important or nice i'm doing the permanent weld on.
check out my thread in the build it yourself forum where i posted recently on the backhoe subframe i made. 0.5", 0.75", 1", and 1.25" material i used. You'll see the beveling, the way the puddle lays in joint, and the bead profile from whip. I weld something once every few months and my consistency with torch control fades quickly in between.
-Haas
I think I will have my neighbor stick weld the piece with some ni rod. That should be better than the mig.
Again, thanks for your post!
MatHaas
Silver Member
yea Jody has mentioned the cursive E in multiple videos, but if you watch any new stuff, you'll hear him say about how he should probably get away from that technique, for the reason i stated.
don't think you should need to change your liner for .030. the feed rollers are usually good for .030-.035; it'll be stamped on it. you only need wire and the tip (in most cases...). But yea, run what you have.
I don't use autoset often, but it is helpful on occasion, preferably on thin stuff. I was just curious if that's what you were using. One of the biggest factors is having the machine set up right. That just comes with experience. I make little tweaks here and there depending on the specific material, but in general know what voltage and wire speed i want for different thicknesses.
Good luck and happy welding!
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