Tips For Learning Welding

[ISL33P]

you will find that can only weld steel.....actually you can weld aluminium with it, but the welds dont turn out all that well for the amps the machine can pump out. they look more like a mig weld, but if steel is all you want to do, it should be fine. If you also want to do aluminium, look for a ac/dc machine.

[W0rp3D]

so this would be fine for basic exhaust pipe, body work and sheet metal plus some alloy but the welds will look ugly?

By the sound of it this would be a good beginner machine.

[ISL33P]

yep, thats sums it up quite well

[gtr fan]

Great thread,

I just bought a Cigweld tranmig 165 a few weeks ago and and just playing with it at the moment and trying to teach myself but hope to do a course next month.

Theres plenty of info on the net about this stuff but I have learnt so much for from practise and good advise from a few forums.

[warps]

so this would be fine for basic exhaust pipe, body work and sheet metal plus some alloy but the welds will look ugly?

By the sound of it this would be a good beginner machine.

Just to clarify - welds on ally will look ugly. Welds on steel should come out fine

I just fired up my ebay special stick / TIG today to finish fitting brakes to my son's go-kart. From the first weld they all came out looking pretty good. Normally after not using the welder for 6 months or more, I need to practice to get nice welds. These all came out beautiful (except the one where I blew a hole in the thin tube from leaving the rod in one place too long).

As for stick welding being useless - that's horse hockey. You can do a hell of a lot with stick, only limited with very thin stuff. Anything down to 1.6mm is pretty easy for an average back yarder to weld with a 2.5mm rod. I still find the old stick very versatile, and only bother with the hassle of TIG when I want to make sure the welds look perfect, or on a tricky weld where the stick is likely to not work for me.

That's speaking as a rank amateur welder. Pro boilermakers can weld with anything and make it look good.

[Risking]

Manymoons ago I was welding compressor tanks with stick welders. we'd grind a 45 degree V into both ends and run 3 continuos welds around them. Also welded all fittings and bungs in with the stick. I beleive the guys there still weld that way.

I've just bought a new welder last minute eofy choice.

3 phase, 315amp AC/DC with all the bells n whistles watercooler blah blah.

Works a treat.

My old AC/DC 160amp welder is up for sale. It's a pretty gutsy little machine has no problem doing 8-10mm alloy

[Craved]

send me some details on the welder brad

the kempii im using will be going back to its owner soon

[Risking]

No problem chris.

It's a toolex industrial series.

AC/DC

2T/4T trigger and HF switching

Adjustable base current

Adjustable pre gas

Adjustable slope down amperage

Adjustable AC frequency

Has a new gas cooled BOC flexi head lead kit that's 6m long and done about 2 weeks work.

Your welcome to come and try it out see if you like the way it welds. Given me a couple of good years welding but I needed a 3 phase welder and water cooler for some of the stuff I do now.

[gts133]

Pipe welding is done with stick to isn't it?

Not to mention you can bend the electrodes, some times stick is the only way to get to a job.

[Destero]

Im a fridgy so i do alot of work with copper so if you want any tips with a oxy or copper let me know.

Practice makes perfect. I have used mig and tig welders before and i remember the first time i tried welding 2 chairs together for my dog to sleep on and melted a holes in everything from the frame to the mat i was welding on so dont worry if it takes you a while.

make sure you invest in good personal protection clothing....

[StageIan]

Hey guys little bit of a thread ressurection, was trolling the forums & found this one.

The old man & I were thinking of buying a welder that had a bit hor grunt & stability than our current arc welder.

Has anyone heard of these, and if so any thoughts???

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-AC-DC-PULSE-TIG-MMA-INVERTER-WELDER-PLASMA-CUTTER-/230621596130?pt=AU_Welding&hash=item35b21e49e2

[33GTRV]

although they can be horribly expensive, i highly recommend Ferronius welders. I have 2, i have a full inverter 130 amp caddy with tig, which can hold the same stable bulsewidth over a 100m lead length and i have a 175 amp mig welder. They are an exceptional piece of equiptment and the caddy welders are well worth the look for people starting to weld at home. There isnt much you cant weld around the home with a 2.5GP rod or if it calls for it, tig

[33GTRV]

TP125-10VRD caddy welder is a great place to start, and its fronnius

tig capability, VRD, inverted, runs on a 10 amp 230-240v mains supply and can weld up to 5mm cellulose rods, but i wouldnt recommend that lol

[30ed32]

sorry don't mean to ask a stupid question, but sometimes I see tig welding with a stick and other times just the gun. Are they both tig? What's better?

[Daniel R32]

Havent been on this forum for a while now but this thread caught my eye..

Im a sheety by trade but have been doing boilermaking for nearly 4 years now so have done alot of MIG, TIG and ARC welding.

30ed32- TIG's can also be used as an ARC welder, you just need to remove the TIG torch and attatch the ARC hand piece and change a couple of settings depending on what machine you have.

I have a UNI TIG AC/DC welder http://www.bridgeswa...p?ProductID=217 that i use at home mostly just to make things for myself. Its packed with heaps of features and even has a wheel on the torch (like a mouse wheel) to adjust the amps.

A tip i havent seen anyone say yet is to keep your hands as steady as you can.. You can be the best welder but if your hands are moving around and it dosnt need to be much at all (a few mm) then the weld pool will follow and you will end up with a weld that can be messy. I always try to support my arms on something, like ill use my elbow as a pivot point or if there ist anything to rest on then ill tuck my arms into my chest area just to keep steady.

The DC TIG's can be good to use but for a first timer they can be frustrating. The reason is that they are a scratch start, meaning that you need to scratch the tungsten tip on the work to strike an ark. When you're learning to TIG you will end up grinding and re grinding the tungsten enough times to drive you crazy. If the tip isnt a sharp point then the arc will wander around and will make it hard to control the weld pool. AC/DC has HF (high frequency) start meaning that when you press the button (or foot pedal) then the arc will automatically start or jump to the workpiece without touching it, plus with AC you can weld ally.

And 1 last thing for now that a few people dont know.. When you finish your TIG weld and you get that little pin hole in the center of the weld pool, that is from the arc suddenly stopping. If your TIG has a downslope setting you can turn it up a little bit to stop that from happening. For those that dont know, the downslope can be used to make the arc slowly fade out instead of a sudden stop. Just remember to turn up the post gas flow aswell if you turn up the downslope

[warps]

Steady hands are a must. I think that's where the experience comes in. Wherever possible, I also use surrounding bench / vice , structure to steady my hands and it makes a huge difference. I look at some of the work the boom welders at work are putting out (solid wire) and it's pure art. The photo below shows dragline boom lacing to chord welds after capping. These are 6" and 8" pipes being welded onto a 14" main chord.

Some of the modern DC TIG machines also have a HF start. My cheap ebay unit does, and it makes it very easy to strike the arc. I find TIG the most fiddly, but it gives good welds. Stick is pretty straight forward, and can give you very good welds, specially if the work piece is properly prepped, correct orientation etc.

I bought myself a MIG a few months back and that thing is cheating. It's just point and shoot, and I wonder why I didn't get one sooner. Now actually looking for welding projects instead of shying away from them.

Edited October 28, 2012 by warps

[gumflapper]

^ damn thats some good welding there...

[r33_racer]

It looks like a bunch of capping runs. Or do you just weave as your welding style?

[warps]

I look at some of the work the boom welders at work are putting out (solid wire) and it's pure art. The photo below shows dragline boom lacing to chord welds after capping. .

[r33_racer]

lol sorry mate i missed that part! Must have been half asleep when I was reading that!

Ignore my silly post.