New member of the welding fraternity!

[DaveNay]

Well, I couldn't let Cliff have all the fun of owning a new welder, so after negotiating with the CFO, and receiving our tax return, I finally purchased a welder. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Eve nthought I have never welded before, I have always wanted to learn, and I am sure I will have no shortage of things to make or repair.

I am sure my choice of welding style is probably not the most popular though, I went with a Hobart Stickmate XL AC/DC unit. For some reason I feel that the stick welder will be a little more flexible in its uses around the farm than a MIG would be...just an hunch from someone with no practical experience.

I can't wait to start practice! My father in law says he can teach me, so I will give him a shot before I take some community classes.

Dave

 

[johnday]

Dave; Good for you. I started welding classes about 2 months ago. Right now I'm having problems with verticle up fillets. I completed all my MIG projects in 2 days, and most of my stick before that. If you can do a good job at stick, you'll do fantastic at MIG. I bought a LINCOLN 250 Idealarc AC/DC from one of the welders at work. I try to practice at the plant whenever I can, we have 15-20 welders that all have offered to teach me. One on one is the absolute best way to learn. I don't really need to be an industrial welder, but that's how we're being taught in class. Most of the welding there is done with 1/8th" 6010 rod. The instructor is teaching us the hard way to do it so when we're on our own we will have already done the worse case welding, and be able to get good then. There is a site called WeldTalk that I also am a member, and you pickup alot of good advice from those guys. One thing that is stressed to no end, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, and then PRACTICE some more, sooner or later you'll get it down using all kinds of rod. There are some very experienced welders at this site also, EddieWalker and Rotten, I mean Wroughton Harv are two that come to mind. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif And have fun learning. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Oh, and a decent autodarkening hood will do wonders for you too!

 

[DaveNay]

I hve been reading the Hobart forum for the last week, but haven't posted anything yet. Lots of good info there!

I bought an auto darkening helmet at the same time I bought the welder.

Dave

 

[Tallman]

I learned to weld on an AC/DC welder. DC is easier strike an arc then it is with AC. The welds are usually a lot nicer and flatter. I welded for 20 years in a shop that manufactured valves for power plants and for nuclear Navy ships. 90 percent xray welds. I am retired now and have a Craftsman AC/DC welder, that I bought at a yard sale that I play with occasionly, mostly repairing things for friends and neighbors. I'm sure you will enjoy learning to weld. The key is to get a lot of pratice. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[LarryD]

I once got some instruction from a guy that was a certified nuke pipe welder. He laid the prettiest beads I think I've ever seen, perfect width and every lap the same.
All I can say about my education is I can stick two pieces of metal together. It aint pretty but it'll hold.

 

[Cliff_Johns]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Well, I couldn't let Cliff have all the fun of owning a new welder)</font>

Yeah, Yeah, I have a new welder, but I don't have any power to connect it to, so where's the fun in that?

Working on solving that problem though.

Congradulatons on your welder. So first you weld up a welding table, then you weld up a welder cart, then you weld up a shelf unit to hold the rods and the gloves and the helmet and the clamps and magnets and all the welding crap you have to get, then you weld up some industrial burgler bars so no one will steal your welder . . . Yup, lots of projects when you get a welder.

Cliff

 

[Taylortractornut]

Dave For every inch I weld with either of my Mig welders theres probably 50 or 60 inches i weld with my stick machines. Im really too clumsy for a mig gun to. I have a friend thats a welding shop setup man that told me in the old days migs ran down hills only on the verticals because o the sheilding gas was heavier than air. Im still working on my veritcle up welding on the Mig. I do good on a fillet weld going up but a flat verticle up is my downfall. lol

 

[Henro]

Dave,

This is almost kind of stupid sounding, but make sure you can see well and focus good at the distance from your eyes that you will be welding .

The reason I say this, is I did not realize that I was not seeing well when I was taking a stick welding class at the local community college. And I am sure it affected my weld beads.


Actually, the ONLY reason I realized this, is that I have a stick/tig combo welder, and after getting around to trying the TIG side, where there is no smoke or slag at all, it became apparent that I was not seeing as well as I should with my glasses or contact lenses, at welding distance.

In my case, I can see close, but not far, so I ended up doing a lot better with my glasses off...have to hold my head a little closer though...

Anyway, just thought I would mention it, since I THOUGHT I was seeing OK, while the smoke and slag were just confusing the issue and I was not... /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Being able to see well, and practice, practice, practice are two key parts of being able to make good welds.

 

[DaveNay]

Well, I got my 220v outlet installed, and my welder set-up this weekend. I even burned a rod, just to make sure it all works.

Question...what do you all do for cable management? In the pic, you can see I have the cables just tossed up on the (very messy) workbench, but that jsut seems like they would be in the way all the time.

Also, I noticed something very bad after I got everything put back in its place, but luckily I corrected it before I started playing and making sparks. Take a look at the picture, and let me know if you see the problem (hint, yellw and red).

Dave

 

[crk133]

how about i throw in another hint...BOOM!