Ok, learned a few things today during my first ever mig welding session! I layed a few beads on a strip of ~2mm steel, tried rather unsuccessfully to
butt weld two thin sheets of galvanized steel, then tried (also rather unsuccessfully) to weld over a crack in my rusty old muffler.
1) Welding, apparently, is mostly chipping and wire brushing 'til your arm hurts.
2) If your wire gets stuck to whatever you're welding, don't drop your shield and pop it off with the trigger, unless you also like staring
at the sun.
3) Don't weld on a laminate countertop. Burnt laminate smells terrible.
And lastly...
4) Molten welding wire in your hair is bad... Very, very bad. o_O
Any other gems of first-timer wisdom?
The good news is, you've already made most fo the mistakes we've all made, all in one day! So you've learned a months' worth of
lessons already. The rest should be easy! And, by the way, welding galvanized steel (whether with MIG or gas) is always ugly if there's any
trace of the zinc left...and when your breathing passages get clogged solid by the toxic smoke guck, it makes your lunch taste funny...
Don't weld Galvanised steel either!!!!
I gives off cyanide gas!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you must weld it, remove it from both sides with a grinder/soft pad and wear a mask to sheild you from the fumes.
Welding onto galv directly causes bad welds.
[Edited on 17/11/2006 by nitram38]
quote:
1) Welding, apparently, is mostly chipping and wire brushing 'til your arm hurts.
Dont be afraid to turn up the power... It you are blowing holes in the metal, then its a bit too high. Especially on thin plate.
Best advice I had, was when you remove your shield, your eyes should squint when looking at the weld, it its still RED HOT!, andthing else and its
probably not hot enough and has not penetrated.
Agree on the Galv, the gass given off is poisionous. grind back to clean steel. ie remove all galv / zinc.
Good prep of the welding area, ie clean it, even a light whisk over with an angle grinder with a sanding disk makes a difference, ie a clean bare
metal surface.
A GOOD earth and clamp, repair any frayed leads as they wont carry the full current, and thus affect the weld.
Have fun, Practice plenty.
Its a damn useful skill to have.
quote:
Originally posted by millenniumtree
And lastly...
4) Molten welding wire in your hair is bad... Very, very bad. o_O
Any other gems of first-timer wisdom?
quote:
Originally posted by millenniumtree
And lastly...
4) Molten welding wire in your hair is bad... Very, very bad. o_O
Any other gems of first-timer wisdom?
quote:
Originally posted by ecosse
quote:
Originally posted by millenniumtree
And lastly...
4) Molten welding wire in your hair is bad... Very, very bad. o_O
Any other gems of first-timer wisdom?
Yeh, don't weld with a hole in your glove, no matter how small, because I guarantee hot spatter will find it!
Cheers
Alex
However hot it is... don't weld with you shirt off!
Not unless you want (firstly) really bad sun burn and (secondly) skin cancer!
Cheers,
James
quote:
And don't weld with your trousers tucked into your work boots, as weld finds its way down there too...!! Its called the welders dance....
A baseball cap on back to front always stops bits going down your neck too....
Cheers
Peter
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/
this site may help .
im doing a corse on mig.
quote:
Originally posted by jollygreengiant
Even worse is getting a small peice of spatter decide that its going into you ear while you are welding lying on your side. You know its hot cos you can hear it boiling what little wax you have in your ear. THEN it hurts.
)
And the next $64,000 tip is..... shortest lead possible to your power source or a really meaty extension lead if you must use one - couldn't
believe the difference in welding when I started using a nice thick lead.
Also practise makes..... for better welds if not perfect.
Cheers, Pewe
Clip the end off the wire before you arc up if you have a long stickout, it arcs better and you aren't too far away for the gas to shield.
If doing any body repairs on your tin top make sure you clean EVERY trace of underseal/antichip from a much larger area then you think you need , Molten underseal sticks like the proverbial ! hurts like hell and scars. Get yourself a Hotsleeve.
And it has a nasty habit of setting fire too. And since everything's now red hot it can be an ar$e to put out. I've had a friend weld a mini
boot floor and wlak away, only to turn round and realise the car was on fire!
quote:
Originally posted by rusty nuts
If doing any body repairs on your tin top make sure you clean EVERY trace of underseal/antichip from a much larger area then you think you need , Molten underseal sticks like the proverbial ! hurts like hell and scars. Get yourself a Hotsleeve.
quote:
Originally posted by nitram38
Don't weld Galvanised steel either!!!!
I gives off cyanide gas!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you must weld it, remove it from both sides with a grinder/soft pad and wear a mask to sheild you from the fumes.
Welding onto galv directly causes bad welds.
[Edited on 17/11/2006 by nitram38]
Welding galvanised steel gives off zinc oxide fumes, not good stuff to inhale as it causes fume fever like a flu symptom which doesn't occur straight away. You can see the reaction like yellow fuzz or threads building up on the metal.