dialing in your welder feed rate setting

[jared8783]

I have gotten much better at connecting a bunch of little dot spot welds together without creating much warping, but the bead looks like a 3 year old welded it while wearing Scooby Doo sunglasses.
I really like my angle grinder and flap discs!

Man If I had to pick only one power cutting tool I could own it would be a 4.5" angle grinder. With some cutting wheels, grinding discs, and flap discs you would be surprised just how professional of a product you could make with that. I could easily modify a fresh chassis i from the ford factory into a motorhome chassis with tube steel with the only cutting tool being an angle grinder from start to finish and ready to paint. Time consuming vs big band saws cutting 50 tubes at once. Man I love me my angle grinders.

Keep in mind you can pull the wire back to drop the voltage to help fill gaps.

I've got two welders at home, a 115 harbor freight flux core mig, and a 230v 100 sec amp (whatever sec amps means) gas mig welder. Both are twenty percent duty cycle. I'm disatisified with both of them. But they function properly. I probably don't like them cause I'm used to 480v 3 phase 300 amp 100% duty cycle welders.

 

[jared8783]

...If that means propping your elbow or arm on something, so be it...

Agreed. Me personally I would consider it a necessity.

 

[el Diablo Guapo]

propping your arm on the work can be helpful, but do be careful to SLIDE your whole arm, not just rotate your wrist (or elbow). That twisting arc changes the distance of the gun from the work, and so changes the voltage.

 

[Greg58]

I don't have a lot to add to setting up, so ill add thing I have learned NOT to do. Always wear gloves when welding,even if it something simple. Never put your knee on the floor, hot things seem to find your knee. And NEVER weld in shorts! I have the scares to prove all of these.

 

[GearNut]

propping your arm on the work can be helpful, but do be careful to SLIDE your whole arm, not just rotate your wrist (or elbow). That twisting arc changes the distance of the gun from the work, and so changes the voltage.

Every time I weld round tubing I get all kinds of weird angles, distances and booger welds to prove it.
I just try my best to keep the puddle where I want it and damm the rest...
That is why man invented files and grinders.
So long as I get good penetration and a strong joint, that is what counts the most.

 

[flybytaco]

I concur!! The key to good welds with these machines is a properly set 'feed speed'.

If it's set too slow, the wire burns away from the work surface too quickly; If it's too fast the wire kinda 'stubs' into the work without penetrating for a quality weld.

Norm, you went to welding school back in 09 or 10 right¿ I remember that lol bit i cant remember where i put my car keys last night..

 

[Venice Motor Bikes]

Norm, you went to welding school back in 09 or 10 right¿ I remember that lol bit i cant remember where i put my car keys last night..

I did!
I used to be in the So-Cal Ironworkers Union- Local 433. All the schooling I did was for structural stick welding... Everything I know about wire feed is self taught.

 

[2door]

I just came in from the shop after repairing one of my wife's Christmas decorations. It was a steel sled with a raindeer pulling it. It's one of those rustic, patinaed arty things you find in tourist shops. The artist who made it was talented in that he formed the sled and deer out of thin sheet metal and used 1/8th welding rod for the frame and the deer's antlers. When she was packing it away one of the antlers broke off. Just a case of a poor weld. I said I would fix it and took it out and fired up the MIG.

The reason for the story was to use it as an example to pass along a hint.
The antlers were in two pieces and bent into a 'U' shape where it had been welded to the deer's head. I used some thin wire to hold things together at the right angle and put the end of the wire at the point where I wanted to make a small weld. I didn't want to heat or arc damage the surrounding area so I used an old trick to make sure that when the arc started it would be exactly where I wanted it. Sometimes the arc might be off a little, dropping your hood or a slight movement when you squeeze the trigger.

Here's where all the rhetoric is going. Just before droppng my hood I squeeze the trigger just a quick 'click', just enough to charge the wire and touch where I want the arc to start. Usually the wire will arc and stick to the work at the precise point where you want it. Now any movement will not effect where the arc starts and dropping the hood or adjusting your head or arm won't change it. The wire is stuck there.

Now you can pull the trigger and, presto, a neat little weld bead at a precise point.
This method can be used anytime you need to make a precision weld where you don't want to take the chance of damaging the surrounding area but keep the arc confined in a small space.

Sorry for the rambling but I wanted to set the stage for an example of where to use this old welders trick when the size and placement of the bead is critical.

Tom

 

[rustycase]

Well if the handsome devil will allow me to stray a bit...

One of our sons was a card carrying union welder using big blue dynasty series machines.
They are great.

That work is now gone.

I don't want him taking my tig machine out of my garage, banging it round in a pickup and such, so I picked up a small 110v buzz box so he can make a few bucks fixing a trailer or gate, here and there... He does NOT like it.

So I bought a harbor freight 90amp flux core welder so he can do odd jobs...
It's no Dynasty, but he's pretty happy with it!
The china wire it comes with is junk, but when he burned through that I got a spool of ESAB wire he's happy with.

Emptied the spool 3 times so far, and still ticking.
Not bad for $100, delivered!

Best
rc

 

[rohmell]

I have the Harbor Freight 80A inverter welder. Smaller than a loaf of bread and can do stick and can easily be adapted to do TIG.
Also have an older Harbor Freight flux-core wirefeed welder.
Both units serve all of my fabrication needs.

 

[GearNut]

I used an old trick to make sure that when the arc started it would be exactly where I wanted it.
Just before droppng my hood I squeeze the trigger just a quick 'click', just enough to charge the wire and touch where I want the arc to start. Usually the wire will arc and stick to the work at the precise point where you want it. Now any movement will not effect where the arc starts and dropping the hood or adjusting your head or arm won't change it. The wire is stuck there.

Now you can pull the trigger and, presto, a neat little weld bead at a precise point.
This method can be used anytime you need to make a precision weld where you don't want to take the chance of damaging the surrounding area but keep the arc confined in a small space.

Tom

How does one do this where the arc will restart and the wire will not be stuck to the point where there is a dead short?
Also, I assume that one would close their eyes during this quick 'click' as the hood is still up. There is still a 'quick' arc flash, yes? ( I cannot imagine how there would not be one.)
You see, I get 'quick' wire stick all the time when I do my connect all the little dots technique, and it is highly annoying. I have to wiggle the gun back and forth to break the wire free, sometimes even use cutters to cut it free.
I really want to learn the secret to your technique!

 

[el Diablo Guapo]

seriously tho

seriously though, try shining a big work light on your work.

the difference can be surprising

I would love to hear back from some one who tries this for the first time.

 

[CTripps]

Good tip, thanks 2door.

When I had my little spending spree a while back I grabbed an auto-darkening/variable shade helmet (this one, actually) to go with my welder. The tint is a #4 base, darkens to up to #13. Very nice for what I need it for, compared to my old #11 plate basic.

 

[Goat Herder]

Agreed A good work light takes the cumbersome blindness away from the Helmet lens. Make or break a good project! Even with a auto shade.

 

[2door]

Let me see if I can explain it a little better.

I squeeze the trigger, fast, just a click. When you do that the wire is momentarily electrically charged. The capacitors in the machine will hold a small charge and that is in the wire. If you immediately touch your work with the wire there will be a very small spark when the wire touches and 'usually' the wire will stick.

The spark is really too small to be called an arc so you won't need a hood. It happens fast and the flash is really small. I always wera safety glasses or reading glasses under my hood so that protects my eyes from the potential flying thing/spark. That rarely happens but just in case...........

Keep in mind that I only rely on this trick when I'm doing something very small and in a tight spot and where if the wire touches and arcs outside of the area where I want to weld it might damage/burn something I don't want to mess up. That's why I used the deer antler example. The deer's head where the antlers were welded is made of very thin sheet metal and it has a patina finish; looks antique. I didn't want to make a burn mark on the head/skin but I needed to attach the antler to the 1/8" welding rod frame.

However, Mr.Handsome is also correct in that if there is a very bright light directed right at the work area it will make it easier to see the wire and your work.
I was just suggesting a trick that works for me when the area is small and confined.

Tom

 

[2door]

I had a bad experience with an auto-darkening hood and got flash burns to both eyes when it failed and I was TIGing and close to my work. The electronics in the hood malfunctioned, it never worked again. The hood wasn't mine but a company owned tool.

I've never trusted them since but I know many, (most) welders swear by them. Just be careful where you buy them. The one that failed on me came from a well known tool supplier that I often read about on this forum. They replaced it, free of charge, but I refused to use it.

Tom

 

[el Diablo Guapo]

auto darkening welding hood mask

i have several welding masks, some auto darkening, some not

auto darkening makes it easier, and i need the fates on my side

here is my most outstanding welding mask-

i got it at a well known tool bargain store, it works great but the headband self destructed- better than the auto darkening shade i suppose...

it was a heinous red and silver when i got it, so i taped over the lens and did a quick distressed finish with a couple of colors of rattle can. I ragged off the black so the teeth would be highlighted

 

[Goat Herder]

Heh heh Frankenstein at work! Silently smiles to myself. I am off to the man cave to build!

 

[GearNut]

Thank you for that explanation, 2door.
Quick click, stick the wire on the mark, flip helmet down and proceed to weld.
Got it!

I too have an auto darkening helmet, identical to CTripp's, but I got it on sale at Harbor Freight. It is solar powered although it also has a "non replaceable" back up battery.
Supposedly if the battery goes dead it might malfunction and not go dark quite as fast as it should, (1/300 of a second or something like that ) but still go dark none the less. It has worked flawlessly so far.
I was given an auto helmet by a friend who used to teach welding as well as was the lead manager of Parson's Airgas. That damm thing is battery only and has malfunctioned many times, hence why I bought another, different brand one.

I always use a Halogen work lamp to illuminate my work. Gotta be careful where it is pointed though. It is bright enough to trip the sensor in the auto helmet. Makes it hard to see anything when you get a premature darkening...

 

[rustycase]

Yup, I use halogen work lamps at my tig bench also.
Helps a lot because my hood is an old Jackson 411p with a fixed lens. as might be expected, I got it from a yardsale.
Our son uses a nexgen hood that works very well.

eDG's paintwork sure is an improvement over the wild paint on those skully helmets!

A while back, when our son was making sparks 10-12hrs a day, I was working on a device to provide positive clean-air flow into the helmet. PC fans powered by a rechargeable tool battery pack and a flex tube to the helmet. I think it would have helped him a lot... but the work stopped, and I set the project aside...
rc