Cascade Crew

[iansane]

Title says it all. I've got an arc welder and mig welder in the garage (both my dads from years ago) and I want to learn the basics. I've been using the torch for the last year to mess with brackets and stuff but now I want to finish the solid axle swap on a blazer in my driveway. Even a website I can read up alittle and start playing around and maybe what kind of wire, etc.

TIA

[Twilightoptics]

Get some scrap metal and startwelding!

Basics:

Best to have bare metal, and CLEAN! No paint, rust, etc.

Make sure your hood is down!

Gloves are handy.

Wirespeed is semi proportionate to voltage IE.

If you turn the voltage up to weld a bigger piece of metal, you better turn the wirespeed up.

If your welds are mounds, turn the wirespeed down and voltage up. Or a combination.

It takes alot of practive. With wire, it's best to use a C shape when traveling. I like to run with a leading angle. Means point the gun the direction of the weld, and pull away from the weld as you go. C shape, back and forth from one side to the other. Watch the puddle, not the arc.

Arc and Mig are both arc welders. MIG is wire feed and MUCH easier than a SMAW Arc welder. SMAW uses a stick/rod of steel with a flux coating. Good for thick metal.

Don't weld on anything important, IE solid axle, until you are proficient. You don't want that thing coming off while wheeling!

[Xophertony]

when i learned to weald it realy helped to look at an example of a good weald before i started. go to a metal shop and ask fro scrap, get a box full. just start wealding it together. do but healdt first (two pieces end to end) then once it is cooled put it in a vice and hit it with a hammer until it bends the mettal or breaks your weald. if it brakes your weald your weld is not good enough. once you can master that try a lap weald (two pieces over lapping just a bit) and then a .... i forgot the name, but the form a right angle or corner, weald that. one you can do all three without burning through, leving gaps, and without being able to break it you are "proficient" enough to try it on stuff that matters.

good luck

[iansane]

Thanks guys. The back of the blazer is full of scrap metal so I'll have quite a bit to practice with before I actually start welding brackets to the frame.

And if it breaks, I guess that just means I need an onboard welder on the truck!

[Wolffy]

pretty much what twilight said
practice, practice, practice
gloves might be required depending on how long your pass will be
bare metal is greatly preffered if u want a good weld
try to weld horizontal or flat, rather than overhead or vertical
if u have to weld vertical turn your volts & wirespeed down, overhead is usually set about the same as flat & horizontal
definately watch the puddle & not the arc
there are many ways to weld, weaving as Paul said oscilating where u go forward & then kinda backwash over where u were, but u gotta be careful doing that so u dont go back over the slag & get porosity (IE holes)
that method is a little harder to do, but it can be good for fixing undercut
if your weld looks like rope, then you need to adjust your volts or wire speed or both
also see if u still have the manuals for the machines or try to get it off their website as that will give u some guidleines for settings for various thickness of material & what position you are welding in
hope that helps some more

Shawn
WABO & AWS certified welder

[Twilightoptics]

You don't want to come back over where you were with wire wolfy. The whip and pause doesn't work well. There is very little slag if any on the mig. I just recommend he us the mig. Stick is a whole other ball park.

I've got 3 quarters of stick! LOL Tomorrow starts the 7th of 11weeks in the quarter and I've been done with all the stick projects for a week! Stick is fun though once you get used to it. Makes some seriously large beeds! 3/16" Rod! Makes beads like a half dollar!

[Wolffy]

i wasnt refering to stick Paul, i dont use it, so i didnt comment on it, most fab shops around here dont use stick, wire is so much better for their needs usually, out in the field stick is much better
going back over where u were is ok, as long as its done right, thats not a method they taught me in school either, it has its pros & cons, if done correctly it covers/fills up undercut if present & can give a more uniform throat
but as i said its a harder method, ive been doing it for 3 months now at work all day long & its been the last month that im getting it down

[iansane]

Okay, I've been playing with the wire all morning and I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. The only problem I'm having now is the wire seems like it's binding up. I'm not sure if it's the cheap harbor freight spool or what but it keeps jumping and kicking the wire and it really screws up my beads. Care to comment guys? Is this me or the wire or the welder? I found the manual for the wire so I started with it. I've welded all ten of my old lug studs to the outer ring of a machined down rotor (for an upcoming brake swap). It loooks like a freaking steering wheel on a boat

[chevymad]

Make sure you don't have your torch line kinked somewhere. My little lincoln came with a short 5ft torch lead. I now have a 12footer but if it has too many turns or loops in it the machine can't push the wire smoothly. You could also have a bad liner/tip/ or maybe it just needs some lubrication.

[iansane]

I played around alittle more and am welding angle together pretty well. Even with the sputtering. I think it's from the tip, it seems to go through the line fine but as soon as I put the tip and nozzle back on and start welding it sputters and kicks.

Damn cheapo welder.

[BigDaddyVu]

make sure you have a clean stinger and also check the wire feed tentioner that drives the wire through.

[iansane]

Stinger?

[rjmcgee]

If it is a cheapo flux core machine that the sputting might always be there.

[iansane]

It didn't seem to show up until I had used it for a bit. I was playing for awhile, cleaned it off and went to get food and then I came back out and noticed it doing this. I may just pony up for my buddies lincoln that he's selling for cheap.

[Xophertony]

the "whip and pause" method is normally used when wirefeed wealding aluminum. it is not recomended for stick or steel as far as i know.

[BigDaddyVu]