CK5
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noob welding pics...beware preety bad..

X2 on burning your eyes sucks. I forgot to turn my mask setting up when I first started and I thought I was welding safely, but it turned out later that night I couldn't see much anything. The orange county chopper guys make it look cool though...:rolleyes: Keep workin' at it though and you'll be a welding guru yet!
 
I mostly use the stick welder for 1/2" thick material or larger. Buy rod size according to the thickness of material you are going to be welding :thumb:
 
I was tig welding and forgot to get the 14 shade lense and was using a 10 or less. While driving home late after work my eyes just closed and I could not open them. Lucky the ditch stopped me instead of another car. YOU NEVER WANT TO DO WHAT THOSE RETARDS DO ON AMERICAN CHOPPER. I understand what they are doing but you get people such as your self thinking its ok to do it. Burning your eyes hurts like hell and then you crash the end. Dont do it.
 
merace19 said:
I was tig welding and forgot to get the 14 shade lense and was using a 10 or less. While driving home late after work my eyes just closed and I could not open them. Lucky the ditch stopped me instead of another car. YOU NEVER WANT TO DO WHAT THOSE RETARDS DO ON AMERICAN CHOPPER. I understand what they are doing but you get people such as your self thinking its ok to do it. Burning your eyes hurts like hell and then you crash the end. Dont do it.
i cant do it if i wanted to...not that good..
 
I fit and tack without my helmet pretty much every day...ain't no big dealio. My criteria for grabbing my helmet is if it's only 10-20 tacks over a few hours I fit stuff up without it. If it's one of those jobs requiring 200+ tacks in a short amount of time I put it on...not because I want to but because I don't like the welders tan.

Shade 14 for TIG???? Dang dude, what are you TIG welding that a #10 ain't doing you right? For TIG I usually drop down to a 9 if it's light stuff...the darkest I've used with TIG was a 12 when I was doing some 1/2" wall Aluminum. I don't even use shade 14 for gouging at 400 amps...

Rene
 
no one has said it yet so I will. learn to lay a good bead before you try to weld two pieces together. get a thick piece of metal, like the frame chunk you have and just keep laying passes on it until you have a good looking bead with good penetration.

make your self comfortable. set the piece on a table and sit down. a steady hand helps and if you have never welded before then hunching down in the driveway with no helmet is no way to learn. I have a basic snap-on helmet. no auto darkening, no flip up glass. You don't need an auto darkening helmet. they are great if you do a lot of welding, they are really for seeing after and before the weld so you can continue working without flipping the helmet up. you are not doing production work.

I would suggest taking a night course or finding someone local to help you learn. If I were closer I would come down and give some pointers. Learning to weld is a rewarding thing. I have been on trail rides where friends and I welded parts up with batteries.
 
the helmet just came w/the welder...i dont like it im just gonna buy a stanard all black one...i have been over to a family friend fab shop and he has shown me some pointers but his equipment is alot better...i need to get good on mine...i was thinking of making a table with 2 sawhorses and a piece of plywood but i was afraid the wood would catch fire...
 
having a suitable work area makes all the difference. I have an old stainless counter out of a restaurant that I can weld on. What did you do with the bed of the ford? a big chunk of the bed side or floor would be better then plywood.
 
im going to be picking up either a millermatic 252, lincoln 255c or a hobart ironman 250 here pretty soon. i figure i might as well learn on a good one that i am going to keep for a long while. i am sure i will go through some learning pains just as you are now. i invite the challenge though!
 
As far as brands...Every shop I've ever worked in has had Miller welders. I picked up a Lincoln PowerMIG 215 for home. Two things I don't like...Lincoln mig guns suuuck and wish I had sprung for the 251 with the infiniteatly varible voltage knob- mine has 6 or 7 fixed voltage settings. Nice to be able to fine tune the arc alittle better. Other than those two things, I like Lincoln stuff over the Miller. The arc is different- "softer" and easier to control the puddle. It seems to handle repeated tacks alooot better than Miller machines. Every Miller I've ever used always spits, spats and farts for half a second before any welding/tacking happens. The lincolns seem to start hotter...no farting and spattering at all. Smoooooooth. Consumables are cheaper for the Lincolns too. :wink1:

That all changes when ya start getting into the bigger machines though...at work we have a Miller 350P setup with a push/pull style wire feed system with aluminum wire. It's pretty cool, has a small feed roller thingy in the gun as well as a voltage adjuster dial- Sorta like a ready welder. It's the craziest damn welder I've ever used. :eek1: It sounds like a crazy hummingbird that just ripped a line and did some 'roids...and its LOUD.:eek1: :haha: :haha: It makes me laugh out loud everytime I hear it.

Smoothest migwelder I've ever used is the SP22A wire feeder with a seperate 200amp power supply, cant remember model #. Pic-
P1010029.jpg


Upper right corner of the pic you can see the feeder on the swinging boom, power supply very upper right corner. I never knew mig welding could get that smooth. Almost as much control over the puddle as you do with a TIG machine. :eek1:






Anyways...I dunno where all that came from, lol....maybe its the 14hour work days?
 
kid jethro,

i like the idea of a smooth welder. if you remember that model number let me know. what do you reckon a setup with the seperate power supply will run. i know it will be at least 3k but not sure how much more.
 
Just a few tips:

Make you a fab table and get your metal up high. Don't try to learn to weld hunched over on the ground. Get the metal up above waist level. Get comfortable. Use welding gloves, rest one elbow the table and steady your stinger hand with that one. Have slack lead on your stinger so that the weight of the cable isn't pulling while you try to weld. Use one piece of flat metal to practice on. Learn to adjust heat, and your drag speed for metal thickness. Then work on a bead technique as far as motion with the rod.

I use 7018s.
 
I learned on a dc stick, with 6013...

For my latest project i was using 7018 ac rods that they sell at home depot, and the same machine you got...I would have got something better for rods but the depot is so close to home:rolleyes: heres a pic of one that i did a little while ago...Triple pass and looks pretty decent

Biggest thing is keeping it clean and to make sure you get rid of all the slag. Use a slag pick and a wire brush:D

Like rene said earlier, a straight drag is the way to go. You wnt to be about at a 10 * angle to your work surface

Klx 110 swingarm 012.jpg
 
http://www.lincolnelectric.com/knowledge/articles/content/stickweld.asp
http://www.lincolnelectric.com/knowledge/articles/content/arcweldfund.asp
http://hobartwelders.com/techtips.html#stick

Get yourself a Jackson chapie $35. There is some really good information out there on the web for the beginner. I have never had a welding class myself (im not the best welder but I trust my llife to my welds ; my cage) but I have tested the structural soundness (is this a word?) and they appear to be very strong. I would like to someday take a class for some real world training. The key is to pratice pratice and pratice.
 
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