How to transition to MIG?

[MinnesotaDaveChalmers]

I know it’s frowned upon, but I try to leave a little gap and downhill MIG whenever I can. I run it HOT and fast.

Just personal projects of course and nothing to code.

I wouldn't worry about that being frowned on. Some procedures are to bevel, gap it, vertical down mig root.
Plus, it's super easy to do that way

Anything 1/8" and below I vertical down with mig.
Open outside corner, even 1/4" is nice vertical down.

 

[Big Barn]

Open outside corner, even 1/4" is nice vertical down.

Thank you for the insight, Dave. Outside corners, vertical down, it actually looks like I know what I’m doing.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Gapping and beveling are very important for full penetration welds. Less than 1/16" gap is not necessary. Over that the gap needs to be the width that the rod/wire is in diameter. Over 3/16" beveling needs to start. The land at the bottom again as wide as the rod diameter. Poor fit up gap (like manual flame cutting) at the widest opening. 4.5" grinder is your tool of choice for creating the land and bevel. With SMAW root pass needs to be done with a penetrating fast freeze rod like 6010/6011. MIG I am not an expert.

If you are serious about quality arc welding of all methods SMAW, MIG, TIG and their variations invest in Lincoln's "Procedure Handbook of arc Welding". It is the Industry Bible and used at most welding schools as there textbook of choice. Well worth the $60 on Amazon. If you can afford a decent welding machine you can afford the manual. There are a myriad of other help books there also. The small hand books are great for, in the shop/pocket" ready reference.

Ron

 

[Big Barn]

Gapping and beveling are very important for full penetration welds. Less than 1/16" gap is not necessary. Over that the gap needs to be the width that the rod/wire is in diameter. Over 3/16" beveling needs to start. The land at the bottom again as wide as the rod diameter. Poor fit up gap (like manual flame cutting) at the widest opening. 4.5" grinder is your tool of choice for creating the land and bevel. With SMAW root pass needs to be done with a penetrating fast freeze rod like 6010/6011. MIG I am not an expert.

If you are serious about quality arc welding of all methods SMAW, MIG, TIG and their variations invest in Lincoln's "Procedure Handbook of arc Welding". It is the Industry Bible and used at most welding schools as there textbook of choice. Well worth the $60 on Amazon. If you can afford a decent welding machine you can afford the manual. There are a myriad of other help books there also. The small hand books are great for, in the shop/pocket" ready reference.

Ron

To Ron’s good comments I will add that in addition to Lincoln Electric’s Procedure Handbook,



they also make available a comprehensive resource of educational materials for schools and individuals free of charge.

 

[California]

If you are serious about quality arc welding of all methods SMAW, MIG, TIG and their variations invest in Lincoln's "Procedure Handbook of arc Welding". It is the Industry Bible and used at most welding schools as there textbook of choice. Well worth the $60 on Amazon.

Thanks for the advice! I just went and bought the '94 edition (Y2k is latest) on Ebay for $12. I'm not doing anything state-of-the-art so this should be sufficient.

 

[ovrszd]

I know it痴 frowned upon, but I try to leave a little gap and downhill MIG whenever I can. I run it HOT and fast.

Just personal projects of course and nothing to code.

Me too Terry.

My Grandson says never go down unless there's logistical reasons you have to.

 

[coxhaus]

Gapping and beveling are very important for full penetration welds. Less than 1/16" gap is not necessary. Over that the gap needs to be the width that the rod/wire is in diameter. Over 3/16" beveling needs to start. The land at the bottom again as wide as the rod diameter. Poor fit up gap (like manual flame cutting) at the widest opening. 4.5" grinder is your tool of choice for creating the land and bevel. With SMAW root pass needs to be done with a penetrating fast freeze rod like 6010/6011. MIG I am not an expert.


Ron

Here is the way we did MIG in class for the bend test. We took 5/8 inch plate and cut a 45 degree angle using a torch mounted on a car that automatically traveled across your plate which cut the angle. You cleaned up the angle cuts. You placed a strip of 1/8 plate under the bevels with the bevels spaced 1/8 inch apart. This had to be perfectly flat when you fitted them up. You welded a root pass and then a fill pass with the cover pass last. If you did not completely fill up to the original 5/8" steel plate it was an automatic fail. Next you had to wash the bottom 1/8" plate off with a torch. If you cut into the original 5/8 plate you failed. Last was you cut this into 2 strips of steel. You ground and polished the strips so it looked like 1 piece of steel each. If there were any cracks or holes you failed the visual test. Once you passed the visual test they performed the bend test. If it bent without and any cracks or separation then you passed the bend test. They would bend it in a U shape.

 

[aczlan]

Nice welders. Not affordable by retired me.

When I took a Stick class in the late 70s we used Lincoln 250 amp AC,DC+,DC- machines. They were sweet welding machines with 6010 using DC. I think about buying one every now and then. They weight a lot and pull a lot of electricity so I have not.

You might look at the Everlast stick welders, I have their PowerArc 200 STI, it is lightweight and can be plugged into either 120V or 240V.
I am have run 6010, 6011, 6013, 7014 and 7018 on it (in sizes ranging from 3/16” to 5/32”) and it welds much nicer than my previous 200 amp AC only Lincoln "Tombstone" welder.

Aaron Z

 

[coxhaus]

I have a Wards 295 amp AC welder. It was a copy of a Lindsey 295 made by Union Carbide. It has a high low range and between them it welds 6011, 6013, 7014. and 7018AC fine. I bought it new in the 1970s. My favorite welder was the old Lincoln 250 amp which I learned on. It welds 6010 really well. If I end up with a tractor with a front end loader I will probably buy one of the old Lincolns. They are just too hard to move around.

I have done a couple of stress jobs with my old Wards 295 welder which I thought were good. I put a shock mount back on a jeep that a buddy of mine broke off off-roading with really large wheels and tires. This held for many years until he finally sold his old CJ7. I put a front end loader back together for a guy that broke his bucket moving large rocks for a neighbor of mine. He could not get a mobile welder to come fix it. I told I would take a shot at it and if it held he would owe me for job otherwise it was free. His tractor was too large to fit in my 2 car garage so he parked it so the bucket fit in my garage. I put it all back together and it held. He used the tractor all day moving large rocks. I made enough money to cover my welder that day.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Here is the way we did MIG in class for the bend test. We took 5/8 inch plate and cut a 45 degree angle using a torch mounted on a car that automatically traveled across your plate which cut the angle. You cleaned up the angle cuts. You placed a strip of 1/8 plate under the bevels with the bevels spaced 1/8 inch apart. This had to be perfectly flat when you fitted them up. You welded a root pass and then a fill pass with the cover pass last. If you did not completely fill up to the original 5/8" steel plate it was an automatic fail. Next you had to wash the bottom 1/8" plate off with a torch. If you cut into the original 5/8 plate you failed. Last was you cut this into 2 strips of steel. You ground and polished the strips so it looked like 1 piece of steel each. If there were any cracks or holes you failed the visual test. Once you passed the visual test they performed the bend test. If it bent without and any cracks or separation then you passed the bend test. They would bend it in a U shape.

Most of the test back in my younger production days was with 1/2" plate, beveled both sides and schd. 40 and 80 pipe. We had to do the pipe up hill with 3/4 done in position and the last 1/4 done in horizontal position. 5 coupons from the positions of the 3/4 phase and 2 from the horizontal. One coupon had to be from the start stop in the overhead position/horizontal zone. That was the most failure coupon, horizontal next.

Good old days of Fleetweld 5P.

Ron