Feedback on these welds?

[ncfireman1918]

I got a Lincoln 140 amp Mig welder for Christmas (a bit smaller than I would have bought myself, but hey, it's my first welder and I didn't have to buy it!). I was able to pick through the scrap pile at a local machine shop, and got some material to play with. I got a great price on a Lincoln 2450 helmet from Baker's Gas, and picked up an 80 cu/ft bottle of shielding gas from Arc3.

I managed to lay my first MIG weld beads the other weekend, and am looking for some feedback. I have never welded before, and my "instruction" so far has been from watching a bunch of Youtube videos, and being generally aware of how it works and how it should go. I've been trying to find a local class, but the pandemic has screwed up the normal course schedules of most of the local community colleges. I think that I've found a weekend boot camp type course in April that I'm planning to take.

That being said, could one of you awesome welders that hang out around here give some feedback and pointers? I know how these threads can go, and it's really hard to properly critique something like this on the net. This was just 4 sides of some square tubing. I ground it down with a flap wheel, and it looked pretty decent to my untrained eye, but I didn't cut and etch it to see how the penetration was. Just playing around for now until I can manage to get some real instruction. Thanks!

-Chris

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[Montucky]

Turn up the heat maybe they look cold. At least a few do to me but I’m a hobby welder. The third pic down shows some bluing from penetration and that’s what you are going for

 

[kelpaso1]

Laying a bead on top of steel doesn't really give you a good indication or feel of welding. Cut that in half, bevel the edges with a grinder, and then weld the 2 pieces back together again. And add more heat. You want to be close on the heat to 'almost' burn through. Not sure you did that or just layed a bead on top of the metal.

 

[fordkid88]

Bevel the edges, bare minimum grind the mill scale off. Try doing a whip as well, move a 1/4" forward, and an 1/8" back and repeat

 

[ncfireman1918]

Should have clarified... that tubing was 2 pieces, and the edges were beveled. I’m still learning the settings on this welder, but my understanding is that the wire speed equals the “heat” in the weld, then adjust voltage to make the arc behave. I went with the settings on the machine for the wire size (.025) and the thickness of the material (worked out to 10 gauge). My machine is a Lincoln Easy MIG 140. I don’t love the adjustments on it, especially with the voltage just being A-D, but I didn’t buy the welder.

I need to figure out travel speed, as I think a proper travel speed is slower than I would naturally want to move across the surface.

 

[tarmy]

Join Welding Web forum....lots of great info and experienced folks that will help...

 

[ncfireman1918]

Join Welding Web forum....lots of great info and experienced folks that will help...

Thanks for that. I haven’t run across welding web in all my searching for information.

 

[Monza Harry]

I think they look pretty decent for a first timer with a new to him machine. I feel that your Christmas Present will do a lot more than your currently thinking. I have a similar sized machine (Mac Tools 130) I bought this way back in 1996 I think, and until this last Nov. when I just bought myself a " Lincoln 210 MP" I haven't even been able to use it yet! So to know definitively how well you did, cut across the weld and grind it until you can interpret/discern the penetration. That is ultimately the main concern, I think you are off to a good start, keep being inquisitive and self critical, and you will be doing a great job in no time. The little machine will make a great back-up machine, small/portable and you can leave it set-up for an alternate process (flux-core small wire etc.) If when you decide to upgrade. Back to the original question. The weld bead should flow into the base material without undercut and without the look of being "piled" on top. Harry

 

[4 FN 27]

For your first welds I would say pretty good. I mean in no uncertain terms I would not tell you to hang up the helmet.

Practice...and more practice. Try different techniques and heat/speed settings and keep some notes for reference.

I have seen guys that have welded for 10 years have way worse beads that that.

Only things I see is you are starting to far in and not carrying the welds far enough. And as fordkid88 mentioned "whip it" and I'll add "Whip it Good".

Nice work...a year from now you will have earned the title "The Gobfather"

 

[lilscorpion]

Looks like you have control over speed. To get a really nice looking weld you'll need to practice puddle control. Managing penetration also involves puddle control. Google "Mig Welding Patterns" and look around YouTube for some examples. Seeing someone do it a few times, then practicing the same patterns, you'll see a big difference quickly.

I use a circular weave pattern almost always. You only need to know one of them. Once you get the hang of one, then all you need to do is learn how to manage the puddle for the various material thicknesses you weld.

e.g. if you're welding a thicker piece of material to a thinner one, you try to keep your pattern focused the most on the thicker material and spend much less time on the thinner more or less.

Previous recommendations above for checking out welding web is a good idea. Ton of info there. If you can find someone local to give you a lesson or two doesn't hurt either. youtube is almost as good.

Best of luck.

 

[Kaizen]

I use that wire or .023 for sheet metal work. .030 might be better if you buy more.
Jump in it and see if it breaks. If not grind and see the end result.
I disagree that you should not run beads on surface. Much easier to make and play with a puddle and no burn through.
I had an Eastwood 130 for years and did a ton of stuff. Mine used flux core wire for 1/8 or so welding. I get what you are saying about settings. I prefer the sweeping set up like Eastwood has.
Have fun. Just keep going. Mig is quick and useful. Ability to weld opens up a lot of things even if just around the house


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[greenlizard]

Looks good so far. The mantra my welding instructor used was, “Watch the puddle.” Basically, if you can’t see the puddle you are just wishing for a good outcome. I’ve found that with mig especially, travel speed is also very important. Welding is a great resource for any diy’er. Good for you.

 

[ncfireman1918]

Thanks for all of the feedback! I've been browsing over at welding web, and will continue to do so in my free time. I need to pick up some coupons and some other scrap, just to keep at it. Learning to weld has been on my list for over 20 years now (I'm 39, 40 later this year), and I'm finally getting to do it. It became a lot less intimidating once I had actually pulled the trigger on the gun. I decided several years ago that it's easy to weld, but it is difficult and takes a lot of practice to weld well. Hopefully I've started down the path of eventually welding well!