My first MIG beads

[iScream]

Started practicing with my MIG welder tonight so I can hopefully weld up some frame notches on my project truck soon. Just a couple pieces I cut out of my cross member so about 1/8" thick.

I know I should have cleaned the metal a little better and there was a breeze coming through the garage door so I think my shielding gas was blowing out just a little. Still messing with the darkness setting on my helmet to get the best view of the puddle.

Can you guys tell anything by looking at them though? I'll try to cut across them tomorrow evening to see what it looks like underneath. The first ones are on the bottom then later as you go up.

 

[Kaizen]

Hard to tell from the pic. Looks like you were either moving to slow or had too much wire feed. They look fat.


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[iScream]

Thanks. I was definitely moving too slow on the first few. I know it's hard to tell from the pics but the last couple beads aren't as tall.

 

[sberry]

That is not all that bad. Good melting,

 

[bradleykd]

You're getting better already.

I'd definitely turn up the voltage or slow down the wire feed. I'd lean more towards more voltage since you aren't going to blow through that metal.

You are going to want to practice with cut pieces so you can get good at holding your line and you'll also want to practice vertical welds before the real project starts because you won't have the luxury of laying it on a bench.

When you weld the bottom of the notch (overhead) I like to form a puddle, let off the trigger, move to the edge of the weld and do it again. It lets you weld for a couple of seconds, gather yourself, then weld for a couple of more. It'll keep your line straighter under there.

 

[bczygan]

This is what my first ones looked like:

Bill

 

[Kaizen]

I will add that you should keep scraps around to get your setting right on in the future. Welding flat like that is tough. Remember what the welder giveth the grinder taketh away. Keep up the practicing. I love Welding. Painting with molten steel. If you are a diy type it opens up so many possibilities


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[Bretny]

Not to bad at all. Alot of welding after the correct settings is being comfortable. Sit down, rest at least one of your arms on something and relax.

 

[joseph.a.owens.9]

Not to bad at all. Alot of welding after the correct settings is being comfortable. Sit down, rest at least one of your arms on something and relax.

+1 on alot of it is needing being comfortable. If your not at least half *** comfortable and you really have to try and strain to hold your position to weld it wont be a good weld. Another thing like stated above welding with a mig it's ok to stop and go as long you long enough to puddle the steel.

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[iScream]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. In a previous life I did some MIG on sheet metal in my old man's body shop. But that was 25 years ago and I really didn't know what I was doing. So I'm pretty much starting from scratch. I'm taking the Youtube video self training approach.

Getting in a comfortable position where I can steady my hands is something I'm really trying to do. Makes it much easier to do the cursive E thing. And having an auto darkening helmet is amazing compared to what little I remember.

I think the only real benefit I'm getting from the old experience is not being nervous or feeling overwhelmed by the whole thing. Makes it easier to focus on trying to apply an actual technique.

I've got a chunk of frame I cut out to clear my AC compressor so I'm going to cut that up and practice different joints and orientations. I'll mess around some with slower wire speed and or more juice, as you guys suggest. I definitely felt rushed putting those beads down, like I was having to move too fast to keep up with the welder.

 

[skrap metal]

practice makes perfect

 

[sberry]

The E works but I rarely use it. I turn the machine up hot enough, wire speed equals heat, that I can keep the arc in the root of the joint, especially on heavier material and let the machine do the work.

 

[bradleykd]

The E works but I rarely use it. I turn the machine up hot enough, wire speed equals heat, that I can keep the arc in the root of the joint, especially on heavier material and let the machine do the work.

Yup. A lot of people always talk about little shapes or letters, but in reality, that just makes it look different. You can get just as good of a weld by pushing a straight line.

 

[sberry]

I wiggle more than a real e. Wiggle with a pause on the sides sometimes. You can see where there was a stop in the center of the middle pic, changed a volt to try to reduce spatter.

 

[MarkG]

Practice LONGER beads! A lot of guys do these short little worms because they are so anxious to see what they are doing! A quick little weld, flip up the helmet :S In real life, you need to do a continuous bead for both structural and cosmetic reasons and making 1" worms won't tell you anything about your consistency because you aren't welding long enough to establish any!

I welded at both Elgin Sweeper (street sweepers) and Knaack and they expect welds to be continuous. It's more sound, more visually appealing, and more efficient. Just try to get used to welding long beads without stopping to continually 'inspect' your work! You should be able to tell how the weld is going while you are welding.

Keep up the practice! Just do LOOOOONG beads without stopping and follow either a joint or a soapstone line or something too-----not just a random, free-form worm in the middle of a plate. If you do these things, you will dramatically improve!

 

[sberry]

Yup. A lot of people always talk about little shapes or letters, but in reality, that just makes it look different. You can get just as good of a weld by pushing a straight line.

Yes, you can push solid wire as well as pull. Sometimes it keeps the arc in the root better. On thin sheet this isn't such a problem but heavier it is. These little welders are often used wide open too. They are small enough its a deal to get every drop wringed out. One can use the settings for thicker on thinner if travel speed is taken in to consideration. In the real world I often sacrifice a little appearance for ease of use and fusion, I am so hot its all I can do to avoid burning thru.
These are not picture perfect but no doubt its well melted in and a little hot for real great control. In back of the second pic can see a first pass blazed in and the second being well melted over the first. A good way to do thick pieces with a small machine.
Last pic has the machine dialed in a bit better for appearance, it wasn't critical but on lifting equipment where we don't want doubt at first glance about the welding, it was getting painted.

 

[iScream]

There are definitely a lot of different opinions on how to move the wire but most do seem to suggest some side to side movement is needed. Except maybe getting deep in the corner of a fillet type weld. I kind of like the cursive e because it gives me something well defined to focus on right now. But I still need to practice and get a better feel for how much to push ahead of the puddle and how much to loop back over it with each circle.

While I'm obviously not speaking from experience it does seem to me that common sense is important. There's a thing called gravity and it's going to affect the puddle whenever there's non horizontal surface involved.

I'm planning to pretty much stick with 1/8" material for my practicing the next 2 or 3 weeks. That's what I'll be welding on my frame so hopefully I can get really get my machine dialed in for it and get the different joints down well enough to tackle my notches. Then I will need lots more practice on different metal/wire gauges and on finding the right welder settings. Although the chart stuck inside my welder seems to be pretty close.

Do you guys have any suggestions for checking my progress on my own? I'm not sure how to say when I'm actually getting decent enough results to tackle my truck frame. Would the best thing be to cross cut some of my practice welds after actually joining two pieces together, sand it and them hit it with petroleum jelly like I've seen on some videos? Then just lock one side in a vise and knock the **** out of the other with a BFH?

 

[iScream]

I just ordered 10 of these metal kits after seeing them on Youtube. Still planning to hit a local scrap yard before long but I like the idea of having some, hopefully, clean and well cut metal delivered to my door.

 

[Kaizen]

Funny all of these long bead comments. I learned to do bodywork and the first 60 hours of work was only single tack welds. So really depends on the need.



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[Lelandwelds]

My big problem is vision. Four years ago I had to start using cheater lenses. I have not adjusted well.

I usually run straight stringer beads and push the wire (.035 S6) and use 75/25 mix. I dont really care for pulsed mig much. When I worked at a welding supply, I used to ask the pumper to put about 3% helium in my argon/co2.

For heavy stuff, I would use an old CP 300 with .045 S6 and 98 argon/ 2% oxygen. Cheap to run and great penetration.

Kobelco flux cored is my favorite dual shield. Esab 7100 ultra is pretty good. Hobart has some nice flux cored.

 

[iScream]

Did some more practicing this afternoon. Took a piece of frame and sliced it up then **** welded it back together. Probably wasn't the greatest piece to work with since it had a bunch of compound curves. While I was casually beveling the edges with my bench grinder I was wondering if the fact that I wasn't putting on a consistent angle would cause a problem. And it did in some places where I got it too thin.

After the first couple beads I started trying harder to make a full pass without stopping and restarting. When I get the practice metal I ordered I'm going to do some more **** welds on flat stock with better bevels before I move on to other joint types.


I numbered the beads in the picture from the first one I did to the last. Second picture is the back side. It isn't very pretty but it does seem nice and strong.

 

[sberry]

A big plus here is yours are well melted. A lot of people are scared to burn a hole. Once you get some practice you can do this without bevels.
The first pic is the front. The second is the backside. I stopped and left a little spot so you could see the joint design and I was going to break test it and needed to have a spot where a break would start. This is 3/16, maybe 1/4, I don't recall.

 

[iScream]

A big plus here is yours are well melted. A lot of people are scared to burn a hole. Once you get some practice you can do this without bevels.
The first pic is the front. The second is the backside. I stopped and left a little spot so you could see the joint design and I was going to break test it and needed to have a spot where a break would start. This is 3/16, maybe 1/4, I don't recall.

Are those pieces just just butted against each other with no bevel and no gap?

You only welded one side, right?

 

[sberry]

They were not butted, there was a gap. You can see on the back. I left a little spot. Yes, welded from one side. I had some more somewhere where the back was more flush. This was a demo piece to explain technique more than perfection.

 

[iScream]

Grabbed some 1/8" bar from Lowes last night and did some more tonight. Cut it into 4" sections and fillet welded them together then **** welded those together. I bought a cheap Eastwood welding table and I'm having trouble getting into good position on it. Don't have anything the right height to sit on and standing doesn't work very well when I'm trying to get into the side of a joint.

For some reason tack welds are kinda hard for me. I either don't get a connection between pieces or I lay in a bigger glob than I want.


First Fillets

**** Weld

One more fillet. It doesn't actually grow from one end to the other like it appears in the picture. I put a lot more metal into the last section when I went back and did it.

 

[iScream]

They were not butted, there was a gap. You can see on the back. I left a little spot. Yes, welded from one side. I had some more somewhere where the back was more flush. This was a demo piece to explain technique more than perfection.

That's a MIG bead?

 

[sberry]

Yes, mig bead.

 

[iScream]

So I'm feeling pretty confident about going at the frame notches on my truck now. I know you can only tell so much from pictures but are you guys seeing any obvious problems with my welds that should stop me?

It seems like I'm getting very strong joints, even if they aren't the most visually appealing.

 

[Furious Filipino]

What orientation will you be welding on your truck? Reason I ask is that I could be running 220 at 22 volts on a flat mild steel weld on a bench, but on the same material running vertical, I would run 170 at 21 volts. I would practice a few runs in the same orientation you will be welding just to make sure my settings work.

 

[iScream]

What orientation will you be welding on your truck? Reason I ask is that I could be running 220 at 22 volts on a flat mild steel weld on a bench, but on the same material running vertical, I would run 170 at 21 volts. I would practice a few runs in the same orientation you will be welding just to make sure my settings work.

Thanks. I will definitely be practicing some vertical welds before I touch my truck.

The main thing I need to do is fill in the cut out section below for clearing my AC compressor. So several different orientations will be needed. Most of the original frame is still there though.