Welders And Welding

I've also been welding for 40 something years. At first, it was just read the book and try to come up with something that worked. Then several years later, took a welding class at the U. The class was good. Still have my original Craftsman buzz box I started with. I built a DC bridge for it using used EMD locomotive diodes from my buddy that was an electrician BN's Livingston shops. Also scored a high frequency unit to go with it. Made a reasonably decent unit. The gas setup is a Victor professional unit with a very nice cutting head. And most recently I bought a 215 Lincoln MIG unit with their magnum spool gun. Saves a lot of time when switching materials on a frequent basis and the gun does a decent job on aluminum.

Still debating a TIG. If I was a few years younger, it would already be in the garage but not sure I would get a lot of use out of it at this point.

 

You have a TIG welder with that set up. Get regulator and clamp style torch head and thats it. Add potentiometer in a pedal or on torch and you have HF start with the HF box. I made my lincoln ac/dc buzz box into a scratch start TIG welder. It did reasonably well for steel. I did not have a HF box, so no aluminum or HF start. I now have a Miller synchrowave 180. I have no idea what i a doing, but my welds hold and sometimes look good too. If you want to learn right, a class is in order. I need that.

 

I have no class, would like to get some. there's a good cc not far from here that does 'joe public night' stuff. My little lincoln and my angle grinder get lonely if I put them both away...

and 2x on the hold, and a double-down on the 'sometimes look good too'

 

you and me are both " like school on a saturday, NO CLASS"

 

No classes near me. One thing I found is it is much easier for me to weld with gas than flux core. Welds are easier and look much better. Flux core spatters.

Xwhatever getting an auto-darkening helmet. Your welding will be much better instantly.

Oh, and a flame proof shirt. When welding it is not a matter of if you will set yourself on fire but when.

 

I think my first welding classes were in 1967, gas welding first, then to stick and MIG. Geology classes. and all of the other stuff they think you need to know, concrete work, framing and then interior trim work. It's Interesting, the brain still works but the body isn't happy. I still want to go to a welding class to pick up TIG welding.

 

X eleventy bazilion on the grinder. Metal prep takes 3 times longer than the actual weld to get good penetration and a strong joint. I have had to grind out many a weld and redo the joint before I was happy with it. And as others have stated, a grinder can make any weld look good.

 

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/support/Pages/resources.aspx

 

one thing pop's in my mind . went to welding school in shipyard (77) . didn't know jack s_ _ t about welding . the instructor did a vertical weld . with us watching . finished welding . looked like crap . and I didn't know , you had to knock the slag off . not a easy as he made it look . day one in school .. anyway the instructor welded this with only work gloves and no sleeves . fast forward many years . I do quite a bit of position welding with only work gloves and a flip down hood . now back to welding machines . MIG will do a major amount of the welding on body and frames . Flux Core is strictly a production type welding job . mild steel . most like stick welding . TIG is a whole different welding all together . much cleaner finish welds . aluminum . stainless . mild steel . something similar to brazing but a electric arc

 

twin 2 would that shipyard be Newport news ?

 

So today with the arrogance you thought was only reserved for our youth, I took out my welder and headed straight for the Jeep. Confident in my abilities, even though I've never welded anything in my life, I've spent countless hours watching welding videos on youtube so I figured I'm already an expert. I checked the wire tension, wire speed, and we're good to go!

I figured I'd start on custom mount I fabricated myself, so you know I had a few holes that I drilled incorrectly so I needed them deleted. Lets do this!

I lined up on my target, took a slow breath, and pulled the trigger. I was blinded almost immediately as I waved that wand around like I knew what I was doing. I released the trigger and stood back to admire my wonderful welding work. If a weld is suppose to look like lumpy uneven bird $hit, I am king you all should take a step back and acknowledge a true professional.

I've decided to take my show on the road. I will be forming a custom fabrication shop this fall. I will call it Bird $hit Industries, Inc.

All kidding aside, I really suck. Like no kidding, my work looks more like the person holding the wand was Stevie Wonder but only if he developed Parkinson disease just before the trigger was pulled. I'm going to achieve Jedi level grinding skills in no time.

 

I'm no expert by any means. I took 4 years of metal shop in high school back in the 90's. The biggest lessons I've learned is that welding is like shooting a rifle. Get comfortable. Control your breathing. Support your gun with your free hand. Always make sure of your target. I'll stop and reset myself if I'm not sure. Never get in a rush. Especially when it matters.

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This was done with a little Century 110 volt buzz box. I won a $300 safety award back in 95 or 96. It was at Costco for 400 bux. It can run flux or a bottle. When I dove into my current project I put the bottle on it. I use the mixed gas with .030 wire. If I was gonna do a lot of body work I would switch to the smaller stuff, .023 I believe. Practice. Practice. Practice. Never ever forget to have fun. Time spent welding on Jeep parts is all good time.

 

Also, never, never, never use Brakleen to clean your metal before you weld. See thread regarding this here: http://www.earlycj5.net/forums/showthread.php?67758-warning-brake-cleaner-heat

I generally use lacquer thinner and make sure it's dry before I weld.

 

I read that guys experience about brakleen and welding and his subsequent significant he alt problems from it. Phosgene gas as a byproduct. Really really bad stuff. Laquer thinner or acetone.

 

Tymbom,

You did that with a flux core welder and no shielding gas?

 

Noooooo. That's with .030 wire with shielding gas... Flux core splatters too much. I know that's not a perfect bead, but I'm proud of it... I'm friends with a couple professional welders, so I've seen some stuff that is silly awesome. How about a tig torch in each hand, welding at the same time, on a curved piece? Flawless welds too...

 

So I was hanging out with my cousin and he told me that welds will not stick to copper. Since I was deleting holes today, my first thought was "penny"! So I stuck a penny behind a hole I wanted welded up, and guess what I found out? My flux welder will weld copper. Now I have a penny perminately welded into the inner rear fender (F*#% me)

Side note. When deleting holes, how do you weld it up without adding to much metal and ending up with a small mountain? Granted I'm still figuring out things like wire speed and heat. I tried using the diagram chart on my welder but at that setting its putting down way too much wire. Below is one of my welds, I'm not proud of it. Sad part is this is one of my better welds. I really suck at welding.

What I noticed is that when I try to build my welds from side to side, I end up blowing a hole bigger than what I started with. So I have to build upward, and then sideways. Hence the small weld mountains.

 

You will always have some amount of metal to grind down. That's why some people are called grinders, not welders... Lol.. For welding thin sheet metal use small sized wire. If I'm filling a hole I like to angle the gun so the wire is going across the opening. And just do short bursts. Again like shooting a gun. If you just squeeze the trigger, you get too much heat and blow through. I've used the copper before and it works well. It absorbs a lot of heat too... Keep practicing. Maybe get some scrap. An old fender or hood. Something that also works nice is the flap wheels on a 4in grinder. They remove metal slower than grinder stone does. You can get different grades like sandpaper. If you hit that weld with a flap wheel it will clean right up and look just fine...