Help Welding a Welder Cart

[Rickabilly]

The only reason I mentioned the cleaning of liners, is that most folks forget about them and how easily they are soiled by a careless previous owner, but if you are the only person ever to use the torch, lead or whole machine it's probably not the problem.

It often pays to use a gas flow meter at the torch nozzle, as well, you'd be amazed at how many MIGs have kinked or blocked gas hoses, and just hearing a hissing noise at the tip isn't necessarily good enough, I once had a machine that made all the right noises but was exhausting half of the gas inside the main welding machine case due to a split line after the solenoid valve.

and 14 guage is significantly thinner than 1/8th sheet, and I've got a feeling that you might have been laying the torch down too far, it is a trap for young players as with a MIG it is hard to see what is happening behind the tip shroud unless you rock it over, but when you do rock it over the gas flow will suck air into the weld.
Regards
Rick

[EdK]

Rick,

I bought the welder new a couple of years ago and I'm the only one that has used it. I haven't even run a half a spool through yet, (that would be the small spools, not the 8" spools.)

On 1/8" steel, is it better to push or pull the torch or does it even matter? I've only used the pulling method so far.

Ed

[arvidj]

(09-16-2012, 06:10 PM)EdK Wrote: Rick,

I bought the welder new a couple of years ago and I'm the only one that has used it. I haven't even run a half a spool through yet, (that would be the small spools, not the 8" spools.)

On 1/8" steel, is it better to push or pull the torch or does it even matter? I've only used the pulling method so far.

Ed

I am sure Rick will provide the correct answer but half way down this page gives the ubiquitous "either will work - it depends on what you want for an outcome" answer.

I prefer push because (a) nothing I am doing is 'structural' in nature so reasonable penetration is adequate and (b) I feel I get a better view of what is going on.

Arvid

[Rickabilly]

(09-16-2012, 06:49 PM)arvidj Wrote:

(09-16-2012, 06:10 PM)EdK Wrote: Rick,

I bought the welder new a couple of years ago and I'm the only one that has used it. I haven't even run a half a spool through yet, (that would be the small spools, not the 8" spools.)

On 1/8" steel, is it better to push or pull the torch or does it even matter? I've only used the pulling method so far.

Ed

I am sure Rick will provide the correct answer but half way down this page gives the ubiquitous "either will work - it depends on what you want for an outcome" answer.

I prefer push because (a) nothing I am doing is 'structural' in nature so reasonable penetration is adequate and (b) I feel I get a better view of what is going on.

Arvid

Thanks for the vote of confidence Arvid,

I believe you are supposed to push but everyone has their own way, I always pull, regardless of thickness, power level or wire feed, in fact I pull when I MIG, TIG or stick, it's just what I am used to,

And regardless of what the "experts " say it makes no difference on an x ray or an ultrasound, so strength will be near enough to identical, just make sure your torch angle is right, about 15 degrees from vertical works for me on MIG, pull the trigger, allow a pool to form, and then go, but never leave the pool behind or overfill it, and all will be fine, most importantly get comfortable and even run the torch along the proposed weld before starting just to make sure it is comfortable to weld the full length, so many people set their bench up all wrong or try to weld on the floor and without being comfortable your hand won't be steady, and your mind will wander off thinking about the twist in your back, you wouldn't try to learn to drive or play golf or any other activity like that so why should welding be any different.

Good luck,
Rick

[EdK]

Thanks guys. I'll stick with pulling for now then since that's what I'm use to. I have a video on MIG welding and he says that if you're welding thin material it's best to push since it gives a little less penetration and thus less chance of blow-through, or something like that. This is the video I have and it's great because it shows a nice, clear close-up of the weld puddle as he's welding.

http://www.weldingvideos.com/gmaw.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mcTl0VrvWQ

Ed

[Rickabilly]

I find when pushing the risk of the shroud dipping into or catching on the new weld leads to a less uniform weld, but the pushing action means that you are pushing the shroud into a previously formed inert gas cloud which is slightly better at shielding the weld.

It is very much a matter of "swings and roundabouts" and as I said before when I was doing weld xrays there was no clear difference between the two methods, so yes do what feels right.

Regards
Rick

[SnailPowered]

I am no welder myself but when my dad was helping my brother learn to weld he talked about drawing tiny V's or C's that connect at alternating points as you weld. This helps give a pretty weld. It looks to me like maybe you were going too fast too but it has been a LONG time since I tried to weld and I was never any good at it. I could get two pieces of metal to stick together and it wouldn't look QUITE like pigeon droppings but it certainly wasn't good. Practice makes perfect and while some people have a natural talent to weld the rest of us have to practice a LOT! Keep at it, it isn't impossible by any means!!

[Rickabilly]

Hello,
the tiny Cs and Vs are called "weaving" or a "Weave" the main purpose of this is to cover more ground, effectively to build a larger fillet or bead than could normally be achieved in a single pass, without needing to run multiple passes.

Your first priority should be to run smooth consistent welds first and worry about joining metal and worry about bead size and fillet formation next as you need to start logically in order to build welding skills quickly.

Regards
Rick

[SnailPowered]

I have only welded a few pieces of metal together. I did notice that I did better when I would draw a chalk line for me to follow.

[Rickabilly]

Hello all,
In my experience one of the issues that plagues many welders is the balance between being safe/comfortable and being able to see what they are doing, this also gets much worse as you get older.

Keeping clean lenses is a good start, for the old style ones wash them regularly with a little dish washing solution. for the modern electronic ones I use a cloth dampened in dish washing solution and water and finish off with a cloth dampened with water only,

A chalk line helps many people to keep to the right line, and they make and sell fluorescent chalk to use in conjunction with a lightly tinted orange lens that really makes the chalk line glow, Of course you use the orange lens on top of the normal green lens,

The most important thing to do is get the right lens to start with, and I recommend that anyone doing any electric welding should buy a half a dozen spare lenses;

1. at least a couple of spare clears,
2. at least three or four different shades,
3. if you wear glasses there are magnifying clears available as well, so I recommend you get a couple of these in various strengths, I don't need Glasses, but have used them on very close welding work and while it was a little disorientating the first time I lowered the flip visor, however they did give me an advantage, so would use them again in the same situation.

The magnifying lenses made a world of difference to my Dad's welding, which had degraded badly along with his eye sight, It was really sad to watch his welding degrade, but with the right gear he was able to do good work right up until he passed away.

If eyesight is the problem the first indicator is often regularly missing the join altogether, everyone does it from time to time, but when eyesight fails it becomes very common.

Regards
Rick