Best welds thread :D

[redlinemotorsportts]

FCAW welds on my mower axle

 

[Felineman]

There are some INCREDIBLE welders here, puts me to shame. Some of you do such good work you should be working in the field. Most of mine is just fixing stuff with whatever I have on hand.

 

[davidbooth1991]

Just some standard mig stuff.

 

[machinist@large]

Nice!!

 

[andrewmacc]

Not my world's best welds, but I think they'll hold up just fine on the bender. I was fighting a gas leak on the welder, pain in my butt.

 

[machinist@large]

Those should work.

 

[landuse]

Nice welds Andrew

 

[andrewmacc]

Those should work.

Nice welds Andrew

Thanks guys.
I'm more comfortable with bigger wire like 1/16" though, got used to such a large fillet size in one pass that all the .030 and .035 stuff seems tiny.

The bender comes in a cool jig-it-yourself box to save on shipping, these weld washers are a nice little reinforcement for the ram and die pins

Had to whip up an axle track bar mount literally right before a 4x4 run

Little shaky but she's not going anywhere. I worked almost 24 hours straight on it so I could make it to the big 4x4 community run, that weld was the last bit of welding. Even had to go without a hood on the truck haha.

 

[happy_8637]

tig on aluminum no filler
then stick welding

 

[Gary P]

Pretty nice welds here. I went to school for two years for welding. I have 3 certificates and a welding degree. Welded for about a year at a fab shop welding aluminium, steel, stainless, on metal ranging in thickness from .06 to 1 inch.

Loved the job, hated the environment. No AC, dressed in pants, long shirts, leather, gloves, boots, and then having glowing red hot metal in your face while its 110 degrees in the building you are working in is the definition of **** lol.

Wish I had some pictures to post. I'll have to get out my little welder and see if I still got it, it's been at least a year since I've done any welding at all. Used to be best in class out of about 120 ppl. And was the youngest at my job, but the best there. Loved doing it.

 

[Sweep]

I don't really take pictures of my welding, don't have time! But was happy with this last week..


Picked this little toy up a couple of months back too.


200 amp AC/DC, also treated it to a pedal a few weeks back.

This was when I first got the plant just using the button on the torch, you can see the heat spread towards the end of the weld.

 

[Wertles]

First MIG ever for the school, think I did a pretty good job.

 

[Felineman]

Word of warning to first time welders DON'T use magnets near your welds does something awful to you welds. SHESH I should have remembered that from high school. OK it was 30 years ago.

 

[Wertles]

Word of warning to first time welders DON'T use magnets near your welds does something awful to you welds. SHESH I should have remembered that from high school. OK it was 30 years ago.

How near can it be? I had my magnet propping it up at a right angle and had no problem.

 

[mckutzy]

It's called arc blow. The magnetic field interferes with the electrical field produced by the welder, causing it to have an unstable arc and generally bad welds.

 

[Felineman]

What he said I used to have clamps and everything for my welding so haven't used magnets in 20 years totally forgot about it.

 

[Gary P]

First MIG ever for the school, think I did a pretty good job.

Not too bad for your first ever mig weld. But It's not very good as far as welds go. There Is a picture of an excellent steel mig weld above yours that is a perfect example of what you need to strive to achieve. In the example picture, there is no excess weld metal, and it has obviously fused to the work piece very well. Your weld is lumpy/has a lot of excess metal and didn't seem to fuse well.

I would turn up your heat a little and turn down your wire speed a little. And you can either push or pull mig welds. Most prefer pushing because of the possibility of superior penetration and fusion and your welds often come out flatter, which is better. It looks like you pulled this weld because of the amount of spatter that is on it and because of the heavy metal build up.

Just some advice

 

[DS13]

I would turn up your heat a little and turn down your wire speed a little.

you have to increase your wire feed speed to increase heat... they are not two different adjustments

 

[andrewmacc]

you have to increase your wire feed speed to increase heat... they are not two different adjustments

.. What? Incorrect.

You have amperage control and voltage control separate of each other. Wirefeed speed controls your amperage, and voltage is controlled separately. When people refer to turning the "heat" up, they are referring to increasing the voltage. And yes, once you increase the voltage, you must increase the wirefeed speed as the increased "heat" consumes the wire faster and will cause burnback into the tip.

For example, I can weld with 26v at 380ipm AND weld with 28v at 380ipm. The 28v setting will produce a more powerful arc (and give you a pretty good sunburn if you tack up a job at that heat too without gloves or helmet, hazards of the job sometimes).


Referring to SMAW you'd be correct. You have your amperage control on the machine, and you control voltage through your arc length.

And you can either push or pull mig welds. Most prefer pushing because of the possibility of superior penetration and fusion and your welds often come out flatter, which is better. It looks like you pulled this weld because of the amount of spatter that is on it and because of the heavy metal build up.

Just some advice

Couple things: pushing does allow for a flatter bead, but it does not provide superior penetration. I actually push my own welds, but in reality, a properly dragged stringer bead penetrates more than one that has been pushed along. Not much, and for us, not enough to matter, but enough that it IS true.
In a perfect world, a weld is neither dragged nor pulled. Torch angle is a product of our own making to allow us to see the weld better, just like a weave or whip allows us the time to rearrange or produce a rhythm for more consistent welds.

 

[DS13]

.. What? Incorrect.

You have amperage control and voltage control separate of each other. Wirefeed speed controls your amperage, and voltage is controlled separately. When people refer to turning the "heat" up, they are referring to increasing the voltage. And yes, once you increase the voltage, you must increase the wirefeed speed as the increased "heat" consumes the wire faster and will cause burnback into the tip.

For example, I can weld with 26v at 380ipm AND weld with 28v at 380ipm. The 28v setting will produce a more powerful arc (and give you a pretty good sunburn if you tack up a job at that heat too without gloves or helmet, hazards of the job sometimes).


Referring to SMAW you'd be correct. You have your amperage control on the machine, and you control voltage through your arc length.

I have not heard of turning up heat meaning voltage.

Yes wire feed speed and voltage are separate. Voltage increases or decreases the arc length and therefore width. Turning the "heat up" has little if nothing to do with voltage, if you are welding you don't even set voltage till wire feed speed is set. That 2v difference you are talking about can make a big difference in weld appearance and whether it has wetted out. Amperage is what consumes the wire not voltage.