welding tutorial

[preliator]

I am looking for some instructional material and personal experiences on welding. it has never really been a strong point for me as i have done a bit back in high school but didnt have the oppurtunity to go further.
I am peronally looking for stick welding plate steel for me but i am sure that any knowledge passed here would be greatly appreciated by all........
any pics as well not necessarily you and your work but if you have some files on your puter or you come across something to show proper beads and such as well as technics.

I am going to ask oliver to make this a sticky.
thanks a bunch folks
anthony

[Ozarks_1]

I'm just a backyard welder, piecing stuff back together on the homestead, so I'll be interested as well.

Auto-darkening helmet + wire feed welder = even my welds look and hold together decent.

[StatHaldol]

Shade tree welder here too....I'd be interested in a tutorial...
Thanks!

[gwynyvyr]

Hang on fellas...my welding classes start in August ;D
*bounces around room in gleeful anticipation*

Yup, I am taking a class in Ag mechanics and part of the course is devoted to WELDING...
*bounces some more*

OooooOOOhhhHHhh ...I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait!

(And I got into the passive solar building class too! :o )

[swampcedars]

Anthony,

Lincoln Welding Mfr, makes a great book for begining welding. Also, check to see if BOCES in your neck of the state offers and introduction to welding, we have one here that is 2 nites a week for 4 weeks...I really want to do that soon.

HTH.

-Swamp

[NHboy]

Practice, practice, practice, and more practice. That's basically all there is to it Pre.
A boilermaker told me it takes 5 minutes to learn how to run a bead, 30 years to learn how to weld, then you go blind.
DC is easier to weld with, so once you learn on AC you will be ahead of the game.
If you are welding overhead you need DC, AC will not do well for that.
6011 rod, or farmer's rod as some call it will weld just about anything you need to weld for home use.
And did I say practice?
Good luck Pre.
NHboy

[StatHaldol]

Hang on fellas...my welding classes start in August ;D
*bounces around room in gleeful anticipation*
Yup, I am taking a class in Ag mechanics and part of the course is devoted to WELDING...*bounces some more*
OooooOOOhhhHHhh ...I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait!
(And I got into the passive solar building class too! :o )

Cool! I'd like to take a class, but the only one here is an 18 month class. I wish they had just an intro class one or two nights a week...

[762xIan]

Here's some basic info links from my stash ;D.....some have more in depth than others..the Aussie one has better info than some of the books have!

Hope this helps out. :)

http://www.aussieweld.com.au/arcwelding/

http://www.khake.com/page89.html

[StatHaldol]

Wow! Thanks for posting those links! The aussie site is probably the best one I've run across!!

[preliator]

okay all i got a couple of great manuals online in pdf form, now who knows a site that will host them so we can post links......
some titles are :
Haynes welding manual

metalurgy edition 2

welding methods 60 pages

metalworking and welding manual 96 pages

ESAB welding handbook 5th edition

basic welding and thermal cutting

a guilde to welded steel construction-lincoln arc welding

[Vinland]

Here's another link:

http://www.twi.org.uk/j32k/protected/band_3/jk40.html

One of the better one's to show correct positioning and control of the bead/arc.

I wish I had a scanner, All my books would really help you.
Always make sure that you do this, after you finish doing a weld....bring the arc back across the tail end of the weld about 1/4 inch or so...if not, you will see a crater. That crater is the weakest point of the weld and will be the 1st place a crack starts....then it will progress until the weld breaks. Returning back 1/4 inch adds filler to the crater and it's as solid as the start of the weld. Any specific questions you have on this feel free to ask!! As I stated in a previous thread, I weld at night for a side job and would be more than willing to help a fellow NY'er out *:)

[Vinland]

As a side note, the BOCES class is well worth it! It cost about $440 for the 8 week Welding I and II just to learn TIG and the refresher helped me break some bad habits I had. If your slick enough, and can prove to your employer that your know-how in this field would benifit them, they would foot the bill, that's what I did. :) And the class focouses heavily on stick welding in WELD I.

[markhait]

I love welding, but I suck at stick. I do exclusively TIG at work with a Miller 250.
As with the other posts...practice is the best teacher. Of course you need to have some general guidelines to follow, but practice will get you there.

I don't get to weld much at work anymore, but when someone asks me to, I jump at it! I'd really like to get good at stick, but don't have enough time to devote to it. Once and a while, we have a lot to weld at work with a tight time table to meet. I've tried stick on a couple of occasions, but not very pretty.
I used to tell my old boss, who couldn't weld worth a flip,
that anyone can melt metel together, but that isn't welding. It needs to look good also because that has alot to do with the quality of the weld.

I still every once in a while sneek back to the welding area to try my hand at stick. Maybe one day it will all click. err...stick ;D

[preliator]

I can email any of those titles to anyone, just PM me your email addy and Ill send them out.

as for the differences between stick and tig...i was always under the impression that stick was a harder type of welding to get good at as the newer tech with mig,tig etc has made welding easier to learn for the beginer
anthony

[762xIan]

With the newer machines and controls I would agree its a bit easier with mig and tig.

Stick requires a bit of "finesse" and practice to master
. :)

[Vinland]

It's true. Tig is easy on steel, but it's very tricky on aluminum. You can also wear an all white outfit tig welding and be as clean as you were when you started! Stick is a messy way to weld, but lets face it, It does the job, and does it nicely!! The most challenging welds to master in stick (IMO) are the vertical up welds. Get the basics of horizontally welding first. And MIG, by far the easiest, just pull the trigger and go! Another tip for anyone new to welding....Get yourself a hunk of brass. This metal is priceless in its uses in welding.
Example: I had a worn hole that was more oblong than circular, instead of scrapping the piece, I stuck the piece of brass under the hole, and ontop started welding the steel to the brass, like a plug weld. Well, after I completely sealed the hole with weld, I just knocked the brass off the backside with minimal effort(Brass will not weld to steel) ground the weld flat, centered where I wanted the hole and drilled it out...And its better than new cause weld is much stronger than steel!

[Vinland]

Any update on the new welder? Like it??

[MountianDreamer]

Hi there all; I'm new to this group and looking around a bit then found something I know a little bit about. My dad tought me to weld with an old Lincoln 220v. AC stick welder(buzz box) back many years ago. Now don't get me wrong, I'm no where near being an expert, and all I've read here is pretty much on the money, LOTS OF PRACTISE! I find that stick welding is a lot easier than wire, not as neat and pretty, but on the farm we don't care to much about looks, just as long as it works. Also, I use a lot of 6013 rod in 1/8 " and 3/32". I've found that the 1/8 rod works best at 115 amps to 135 amps on regular mild steel.And the smaller rod works best at 75-90 amps depending on the thickness of material. As always, one should clean the "weld path" as I call it and bevel it as well.

As for up-side-down welding, I haven't done much however what little I have done was with 7014 rod in 1/8 " at 140 amps. Splttered like crazy, but got the job done.

Just the other day I welded an aluminum bed onto a steel frame for a neighboring farmer ( flat-bed pickup truck). Drilled holes in the aluminum plate over the steel cross members and filled in with rod. Had to use a lower amp setting than normal and melted a little aluminum, but it's holdin.

One last note: make sure to use the right rod to material: cast iron rod for cast iron, stainless steel rod for stainless steel; ect.

Hope I've been of some help. Happy weldin.

Duane

[Vinland]

Duane
7014 and 7024 are great rods! Most asthetically pleasing too in appearance. Aluminum is very tricky if you want it to look good. DC is a must. Plus, if you have a rosebud on an oxy/ace you can heat the aluminum at your starting point because you know 1/2 way through your bead that metal is red hot! The key is motion and feeding it at a good speed! When you cold start an aluminum weld, you'll notice that at the beginning of the weld it looks like #$*T. Heating the aluminum at your weld start will cure that. 4021 is a good aluminum stick rod, although MIG is much easier W/O the heating process. Here's a little link I came across about welding Aluminum:

http://www.nomma.org/support/Welding%20Aluminum/Welding%20Aluminum.html

Have fun!

[MountianDreamer]

Vinland;
Interesting link, I've looked into getting an aluminum handle for my dad's mig welder, one with the spool right up at the tip. However the cost is to great for my wallet. They run something like $750 for a cheap one.

When I weld cast iron I heat the area first as you mentioned, never thought about it for aluminum, I'll remember that bit of info for the next time, thanks.

Duane

[preliator]

Any update on the new welder? Like it??

hey Vinland,
sorry for the delay in responding, been a bit crazy this week...as for the welder, i have been foolin around with it a bit. not as much as i would have liked. I have not had a chance to run the 220v line for it yet so all foolin around hase been done on 110v. not crazy about that but to run a few small beads on the back of an old shovel (burned a few holes too) i just brought home some heavier stuff today from work to fool around with but wont have a chance to do it till sunday or so...ill get back to ya on it and let ya know, it is not as easy as i remember it though but like riding a bike, once i got a bead going it was just a matter of keeping the right distance between the stick and the work.......like riding a bike i guess huh? ;)

I will be using my wirefed welder to tack weld the pieces on my smoker first as it is much easier to do (for me anyway) then follow with the stick to finish the job. i just want to get a bit better first i want my smoker to look as professional as possible.

anthony

[preliator]

duane,
thanks for the information, and welcome to the forum. I also learned how to weld in high school on an old 220v lincoln buzzer. but that was almost 15 years ago..... i have been reading alot and hopefully will get back into the swing of it. I wanst bad either, i used to weld up all the engin stands and shop work for the machine and auto shop classes, seemed like i was the only one who could run a bead at the time, but i realize just how much of a novince i really am lately lol
anthony

[MountianDreamer]

Anthoney;

Yer welcome, and thanks fer the welcome to the group.

Sometimes I believe that the best welders are those of us who learn from experience, and lots of it. Lord knows I've had to torch apart many peices of steel and start over.

By the way, I like the picture of you in yer buckskinning outfit I also am getting into re-enacting, any pointers?

Duane

[NHboy]

Don't know how big of a project it is for you to get 220 Pre but I made a little 30 AMP breaker box and ran two 110 lines out of it.
I have male plugs on the lines coming out. Now I can take my welder anywhere to get 220.
You must have two seperate legs of 110 and it works like a charm.
NHboy

[MountianDreamer]

NHboy;

That seems to be a great idea! Have one question though; by useing , I'm assumeing, regular household current, aren't ya afraid of hurting the welder since most household outlets are only 15amp, sometimes 20?

I've got 220 ran out to the shed with an old fuse box and run the buzz box off the two main lugs giving me a full 60 amps on each leg.

Nonetheless, you have a great idea, and if it werks fer ya then great.

Duane

[preliator]

okay NHboy now you got my interests peaked with a breaker box..hmmmmmm.....i got 2 seperate 15 or 20 amp not sure circuts in the garage now.....woulod be a whole lot larbor intensive to make one of them for the welders 220 feed. any possible way you could post a pic of the interior of that box so i can get a better idea of what exactly you made.

If i understand correctly it sounds like you took a sub-panel and made a junction box out of it, ising 2 H-d cords to power the feed side of the breakers with a 220 cord for the output or a direct wire-up for the welder.....am i correct in stating that?

i had thought about something like that but was a bit confised on its configuration....and being i told my electrican off on the job this week i dont think he will be willing to spell it out for me ;D ;D ;D
thanks and not a hijack NHBoy, this sticky was made for us by oliver to discuss welding and all that goes along with it....this is part of it and dont feel the need to take this valuable information to the PM sector.....keep it right here for all of us to learn from....thanks for the information and help.
anthony
anthony

[NHboy]

Yes you have the right idea on it Pre. Sounds like you have limited electric source so this would work great for you. It also makes you more portable. I use this little breaker box on jobs all the time. Don't have to get an electrician to wire up 220 for me. It supplys our mixers, wet cutting saws and welding machine, all one at a time of coarse. This is all done with two simple 110 extension cords.
Check your welder to see how many amps you need, If It's a 30 amp welder you need two 110 15amp breakers and a small box to hold them. If It's a 40 amp welder you need two 20amp 110 breakers, get the idea?

I'll try to get some pictures taken of this thing and put it on here this weekend.

[preliator]

cool beans NHboy,
that is exactly what i thought you did....i actually just picked up a 2 space 60amp main lug panel and a male and female 220v plug adapters , as i have breakers out the wazzu, as well as pleanty of 10-2 and 10-3........tons of H-D 110 plugs.
Ill put this together this weekend and get the welder running at the proper voltage and amps.....I dont care what that welder says they run better on hotter volts versus 110v.
thanks for the great pics, i will also post a few pics of the construction of the box, so you can confirm and there will be a step by step screw turn tutorial on building one.....the main lug panel cost me 11 bucks at lowes by the way.......the 60 amp breaker for the 220v circut i would have had to buy would have been at least double that.....

thanks buddy
anthony

add to edit:

this is a pic of the box i picked up from lowes today for 11 bucks....

http://images.lowes.com/product/040892/040892519495.jpg

[Naughty_Pines]

I just downloaded the Aussieweld manual. Looks like about the best instruction manual around.

Going to be a lot of reading but lots of fun also. I'm a closet welder but now I may be able to come out of the closet.

Thanks for the links and information.

Keep your sticks hot. ;)

[Vinland]

Very Nice Pre!! I must add that I put a double 50 breaker in my box...overkill maybe for a 220 welder...but better safe than sorry. The reason alone is if you ever crank that baby up to the 180 range, you dont want any 'mishaps'. Just food for thought. as far as burning through the shovel....remember...you can always start out at a lower setting....getting the root of the weld in, then pass over it on top and bottom of the root (3 welds) the heat from a larger Amp weld doesnt make it stonger...the small passes over and over make the weld stonger.....just a heads up, not tellin ya what to do :)
GOOD LUCK!!
Darrin

[crafty2002]

I hope you haven't burned your house down yet, but you will if you aren't careful.
10 gauge wire is rated at 30 amps. Hooked to a 60 amp breaker the wire is a fuse. If you put more than 30 amps on it, the breaker will not kick, but the wire will burn into and can cause a fire.
8 gauge wire is rated at 40 amps.
6 gauge wire is rated at 50 amps.
And 4 gauge wire is rated at 100 amps.
If you ever end up pulling a full 60 amps through the lines you need 4 gauge wire.
If I were you I would swap the 60 amp breaker for a 40 and either buy 8 gauge wire which would be best, or if money is tight as it is with me, double the 10 wire that you already have. two #10's = 60 amps but a kink or stretch in either of them will create the fuse effect that could start a fire. I always lean to the saftest side when fooling with wireing.
40 amps is pleanty for a welder and lights and you won't be using grinders etc. while you are welding.
I have my little basement shop set up on a 40 amp breaker.
That is for the welder, lights, and I have a bunch, and 12 double duplex recepticals. I have never kicked the breaker yet.
The breaker is supposed to be the safety link. If the wire is too small, that is a fuse link and when it blows, something will be burning.
Better safe than sorry.
I have to run now but I will come back on the welding part.
Dennis

[sawyerob]

Don't know how big of a project it is for you to get 220 Pre but I made a little 30 AMP breaker box and ran two 110 lines out of it.
I have male plugs on the lines coming out. Now I can take my welder anywhere to get 220.
You must have two seperate legs of 110 and it works like a charm.
NHboy

So, your on two seperate 15 or 20 amp breakers that "aren't" connected, and have undersize wire...

Do you realize that if "one" breaker closes, unlike a 220v breaker, the other one doesn't. And "that" can and will cause all kinds of problems, with one of them being your welder will be history... Then it goes down hill from there!

SR

[sawyerob]

I just reread this whole thread... YIKES!! It should be renamed,

HOW TO BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN!

I hope you guys reconsider some of the things your doing, or AT LEAST quit telling newbies to copy you!

Rob

[crafty2002]

*I just reread this whole thread... *YIKES!! *It should be renamed,

*HOW TO BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN! *

*I hope you guys reconsider some of the things your doing, or AT LEAST quit telling newbies to copy you!

*Rob

I hope you aren't talking about me. The info I gave him is solid. Been doing wiring for better than 40 years and never burned down anything yet.
Dennis

[sawyerob]

I hope you aren't talking about me. The info I gave him is solid. Been doing wiring for better than 40 years and never burned down anything yet.
Dennis

Dennis,

I absolutely was NOT refering to you... From your post it's plain to see you agree with me that some dangerous and dumb things are being suggested here...

SR

[validus.mus]

Hi, I'm also new to this site. I've mostly just been reading through all the very interesting ideas in each forum but I'm especially enjoying the Aussie Weld link, so thank you 762xIan !!!

I'm in the midst of a move right now so my life is kind of on hold, but since my wife and I are moving to a whole new town I had been thinking of starting a whole new business and getting back into welding. I did some work with it, mostly MIG, about 5 years ago making sculptures and am now thinking that I'd like to reteach myself and eventually get good enough to go round fixing autobody damage (such as rust holes.)

It was my wife (Comixchik's) idea and having originally only used this as part of my Art Degree (which ended up majoring in printmaking) I really hadn't begun to consider many practical uses. Now my head is teaming with ideas for bird feeders, candle stickets, trivets, plant holders... When (and this may be months) I eventually get on that I'll post pictures of my progress but does anyone else have creations to show?

Anyway, the Aussie Weld site; I was very happy happy to find that here, thanks.

[huckelberry]

i worked as a millright,being able to weld was part of the job,i fooled them..i did have my welds pass the coast gaurd inspection,an some in powerplants...i just asked the OLD GUYS they were a big help...i did read some an practice a lot never had a class though..good luck ...huck

[Oldman]

Huck, I've never seen a millwight that had to pass a welding test but things are surely different in different parts of this country.
I have worked as a millwright but only because I was to drunk to pass a welding test the day they called me up.
What can I say, we had one heck of a get together and I got the call to go to work about two hours after I was supposed to be there. ::)
Busted out on the test and the super gave me a list of tools and said to be back the next morning "READY FOR WORK" with all the tools on the list. ;D
I took the test again about a week later and passed it. Well, they shouldn't have kept me waiting on a job so long. More than two weeks off is too long for any construction welder. It leeds to destruction of the welder. :-[
I see the OP is from way back in 2006 when the world wasn't as scary as it is now, and thought maybe some pointers from a person that used to be a pro at welding may be helpful to anyone that looks in here.
There were some good points already made. I think the best one is practice, practice, and more practice, so far.
Well, I have another one. The first two things you need to learn about welding is to get the heat set right (the amps) and to learn to see the puddle.
When you first start welding "YOU WILL NOT SEE THE PUDDLE"
I don't care if Obombanation says you will, you won't do it.
You will see a lot of red metal (what you think is red metal) floating arounf the tip of the rod, but that is a mixture of molten slag (which is the coating on the welding rods that keeps imperities out of the molten metal) and the actual melted metal.
You must first learn to see the difference between the slag and the puddle ( melted metal) before you can get it to do anything right.
You don't weld with the slag. You weld with the puddle. You must make the puddle melt into both side that are being welded together. The slag will get in the way, make you mad sometimes, and make you want to just give up, but you have to keep learning.
Heat has more to do wit welding a good bead than anything. If the heat is set right, the slag will pretty much stay out off the way anyway.
Another thing is there are diferent rods for down hill welding, up hill welding, over head welding, different types of metal, etc.
You also have AC and DC welders. If you can afford it, buy a DC machine. It will use any type of rod designed for AC or DC. I use a 7014 most of the time on DC. It's a rod made for AC which in an AC type of a 7018 low hydrogen rod. Either one of these rods will weld nearly anything you will come across, but the 7014 is easier to use.
As someone said in a post above, by the time you truely learn to weld, you won't be able to see to weld. I weld now from knowledge. Not from what I can see.
Another thing is buy a good auto darkening shield. Try you best to weld with it set on the 13 shade darkness. Lighten it up if you have to, but go for the darkess lens you can see with. That will save your eyes for years down the road.
If anyone has any questions please PM me because I probably won't look at this thread again for a while.
Oldman