I bought some rods at £12/kilo (maybe 40 rods) and had a go at some proper welding.

It is MUCH harder than teasing along a two handed weld pool, but my efforts improved with time. I have not included any of my dodgier efforts.

Leasons learned so far:

1: Filler rod angle needs to be very low.

2: Comfort while while welding is of complete importance, start stretching and it all goes to pot.

3: Filler rod is still hot even after weld pass complete. Don't ask.

4: Do not rush, turn the amps down and let it come to you in the learning stages.

5: Dipping the tungsten into the weld pool means you have you grind it up again.

6: At this stage I might as well have bought a scatch start unit as the tungsten needs grinding after every other weld.

7: I can weld equally well (or badly) with a 'dipped' tip. I am looking forward to the time when I can tell the differnce.

I ended up with 40 amps on the Rehmann gauge and I could go really slowly, slow enough to see exactly what I was doing. Slow enough to see when I was running out of comfortable travel with both torch and filler rod.

I know I wont be an expert overnight, this was after 30 mins, what do you think?


Description


Description

David

EDIT - bloody pictures
[Edited on 10/11/07 by Mansfield]

[Edited on 10/11/07 by Mansfield]

[Edited on 10/11/07 by Mansfield]

Amazing - i can't see the weld / join! that's fantastic work

:p

(the pic hasn't attached)

(ok, it has now)

[Edited on 10/11/07 by MikeR]

Imagine how could I will be with another hours practice!

Ignore the funny vertical bit, it is an old MIG trial.

Tig welding when you get it sussed is far more enjoyable than mig. Stick is the same, get that right and makes mig look mickey mouse by comparison.

Try ali if it's an ac/dc tig, now that is wierd stuff to weld for the first time but groovey when you know how.

Mark

Its all practice practice practice, then you move to good and bad days.

100% correct with being comfortable, set yourself out with a table at the correct height etc, it really helps if you can rest your hands on something when welding then you stop dipping the tip.

When doing ali get the torch as close to right angles to the work to concentrate the heat.

My Mig is now a dusty box in the corner.....

Looks a bit like a bit too much filler rod, if you work at low amps and do this you risk not having enough penetration. Try using rod to fill rather than build a bead or a fillet, when you cut through the weld you will be amazed at the penetration achieved. Get used to using enough amps to get a good weld pool and keep moving, if you stop you should blow a hole as this means you have enough heat to get full weld penetration.

Keep going, I have never managed to get a good mig weld and my stick welding isn't to great either. I moved from gas to tig and have returned my gas bottles now as I can do pretty much everything I did with Gas using the TIG, only exception is that you MUST work on clean metal, gas is much more forgiving and does work on not perfectly clean metal, having said that I have managed to get acceptable results patching new steel onto old when I could only get to one side of the existing metal, you will get a few bubbles under these circumstances that you may be able to burn out by running over them again if not you just have to accept them which is OK on non structural metal.

Caber

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mansfield
1: Filler rod angle needs to be very low

---

Hi

Looking good.

Just a question of keeping an even rhythm going, both forward speed and adding the filler rod.

The rod should not be added in blobs, but dipped into the FRONT edge of the molten pool.
When you get a rhythm going you don't really see the rod melting.
It's only when you stop that you realise that the rod is now shorter.


When watching a beginner I often talk to them as they weld, and it can help them find a rhythm if I say;

"dip dip dip dip dip dip dip" as they proceed.
(The speed that you read that is probably about right.)

It may help if you "think" this as you weld.
Don't say it out loud, as anyone within earshot will think you are a complete nutter.


hth
Paul G

your numbered points exactly echo mine when I first started, although you'll soon see the difference between a "dipped" and "undipped" tip when welding thin stuff.

The dipped tip makes a much wider and less focussed arc and pool.

Arc and pool size are something I want see a bit more of. Distance from tip to work seems to have an effect on that.

There is so much to see at the moment, as soon as I focus on one aspect the rest go to pot! Focus on the red hot tungsten and I dip the tip. Focus on the filler and I dip the tip. Focus on not dipping the tip and I stick the filler rod to the tip.

There is a recurrent theme here, poor old tip.

I feel I need to slow it down as far as I can until the actions become a bit more natural.

The weld looks better in real life, the bead is only 1mm max proud of the surface and is about 5mm wide, you cant really tell that from the photo though.


My trials have been limited by my disposable bottle of gas, see my post 'Bargain Argon' for the solution to this problem.

Thanks for all of your comments.

David