First welding project - behind-the-couch table

[gtae07]

I realized that unless I actually picked something to make with my welder, I'd never sit down and really try to use it.

So I decided to make a table like this at the request of my wife, to go behind our couch and give us a place to put computers, drinks, and phones out of reach of our toddler.

The goal:

I decided to use 1.5x1.5x16ga square tube, partly because of the price and to keep the weight down. The thin wall is going to be a challenge.

First thing I learned: I need to get a bandsaw to cut this because the abrasive chop saw is giving me **** cuts. The cut angle has been a little less than 45 degrees as well, leaving me big gaps to fill. It's much nicer when they fit neatly.

But here is a sampling of my first few welds:

I think I'm getting a little contamination of the welds from the inside of the tubes (these things are dirty). I've blown through a few times and had to blob filler back on to close it up.

I know my fixturing and stuff needs work too, but so far it's coming out close enough for furniture purposes.


So have at it... critiques welcome.

 

[jimgood]

Nice! Don't worry about those welds. They'll get better the more you practice. I noticed that you didn't tack the outside of your miter joint. Watch this video to get some tips for welding those kinds of joints to prevent distortion.

 

[gtae07]

Nice! Don't worry about those welds. They'll get better the more you practice. I noticed that you didn't tack the outside of your miter joint. Watch this video to get some tips for welding those kinds of joints to prevent distortion.

I didn't tack the outside of the joint because of the gap and the angle, but I did tack it on the top and bottom (at each end of the welds shown in the first two pictures) on all four corners before starting to do the full welds. Not sure if that will provide the same benefit though.

 

[Kaizen]

Not bad. You can carefully use a cut off wheel to dress that inside corner.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gtae07]

Some other observations from further work today:

Filling a gap wider than your filler rod is a pain.

I played around with trying to manipulate the puddle a little more, particularly where I had blobs of filler that weren't melted in well. I tried heating those blobs and then trying to "draw" them towards a desired direction with little pulses of more heat. It kinda seemed to work. No idea if this is a valid technique or a big no-no.

I think I welded something in the wrong order because part of it is slightly out of square. I kinda made a trapezoid, though it'll work for its intended purpose. Course, that could just be a short leg...

I still need a lot of work at controlling the heat with my foot while standing. I know this is a suboptimal learning scenario but eventually it'll take, right?

"Dipping" the filler is really hard on this; I don't know if it's because the walls are so thin I don't get much of a puddle or because I just **** (both?). I've had more luck laying my filler along the joint and then just working the torch down.

 

[C91x]

Not many people buy a Tig for their first welder. With tig your fit up of parts needs to be really tight or its almost impossible to have a pretty weld. Keep practicing and making stuff and like anything you'll get better.

 

[matt_i]

The finer you want to control the arc the sharper the tungsten point. Also for steering the arc better it can be advantageous to grind a smaller included angle more like a pencil point. To fill gaps push /feed the tiller extra fast. Then let it cool.

 

[letMeIn]

hehe, got a TIG myself as a first welder. My welds look just like yours...

 

[Crazyjake8493]

I'm another one that started on TIG. It also does stick so I've done a fair bit of stick welding as well. I've only MIG welded once or twice in my life.

TIG has a steeper learning curve but worth all the extra effort in the long run. Check out Jody's videos at Weldingtipsandtricks on Youtube, he's a fantastic teacher. Lots of great info there.

Good joint fit-up and clean metal is absolutely key with TIG. I've been thinking about getting myself a bandsaw as well. Right now I just use an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel or occasionally a jig saw.

 

[gtae07]

Not many people buy a Tig for their first welder.

Yeah, I kinda tend to do things the hard way. But for the things I'm interested in welding in the future (possibly airframe, engine mount, etc.) TIG was the way to go. Plus, since the machine can do stick it's more flexible than just a stick or MIG machine.

With tig your fit up of parts needs to be really tight or its almost impossible to have a pretty weld.

Good joint fit-up and clean metal is absolutely key with TIG.

Yeah, I'm discovering that. I'm looking at options for cutting because the bandsaw may not be in the budget any more. I guess either I should get better with the chop saw, or get a new blade for it, or just mark the final dimensions and rough it with the saw, then finish with the grinder.

As far as the cleaning goes, I did the outsides... and then didn't think about the inside melting through and contaminating things. I'll at least wipe the inside ends of the next pieces down to get rid of oil and dirt.

 

[Greyhorse]

Wire brush the inside..... the smaller brushes should fit ok.

 

[gtae07]

Three legs tacked in yesterday; going to fit the fourth this weekend and at least start to weld it up. My understanding is start from the outside in, and work my way around a little at a time rather than completely welding up one leg before doing the next one, to minimize distortion?

It's amazing how much I seem to have regressed, having not touched it in two weeks. I blew a hole or two in it just trying to tack

I'll also add another observation from two weeks ago--if you forget to hook your ground clamp up, and lean on part of your project (or the metal angle supporting it) and try to start an arc, you will get lit up . I got a nice electrical burn just below my left knee that finally appears to have healed up this morning.