Welder Recommendations

[California]

Maybe I wasn't clear. During the welding process, hood down, if I don't see any penetration on one side of a weld then I stop immediately and figure out what the problem is. I thought everyone does this. No?

 

[Runner]

Maybe I wasn't clear. During the welding process, hood down, if I don't see any penetration on one side of a weld then I stop immediately and figure out what the problem is. I thought everyone does this. No?

The key word is SEE. For me, actually seeing what I'm welding is pretty hard. I wear readers under the hood, but it's still hard to actually see the weld puddle.

 

[tstex]

The key word is SEE. For me, actually seeing what I'm welding is pretty hard. I wear readers under the hood, but it's still hard to actually see the weld puddle.

If you cannot see the weld your making, how can you tell if the weld is being properly done, or not? It's been over 48 yrs since I welded in Jr HS Metal Shop. Made a bench press out of angle iron and used it for over 25 - 30 yrs. Had 325lbs on it and it held up perfectly. All angle iron

Before we painted it blk, i remember taking a sm pointed like hammer and always knocking off the slag. We only had stick welders then, but i got an A on the project & the welds were pretty robust.

 

[paulsharvey]

If you cannot see the weld your making, how can you tell if the weld is being properly done, or not? It's been over 48 yrs since I welded in Jr HS Metal Shop. Made a bench press out of angle iron and used it for over 25 - 30 yrs. Had 325lbs on it and it held up perfectly. All angle iron

Before we painted it blk, i remember taking a sm pointed like hammer and always knocking off the slag. We only had stick welders then, but i got an A on the project & the welds were pretty robust.

Well, if we want to go full send; you can't see the quality of a weld; you need to A) X-ray it; B) cut and acid etch it; C) stress load it to the ultimate yielding point (IE break it). Even a perfect looking "stack of dimes" doesn't necessarily mean a strong weld, fully melted into the parent material.

This is easier to do/miss with a MIG/Flux, which is what he mentioned by the glue gun. Arc, easier to get penetration; but also easier to get slag inclusions, voids, and all.

So for this trailer jack; there was likely a very fine, dark line, that was visible after clean up; which would be more visible with a bright light in a dark room; but there would be a distinct lack of undercut on the picture forward side, on the trailer tongue. Some of it clearly did get a good enough "bite", and the axle side clearly was all on the jack.

So, the guy welding it; after clean up, "should" have seen that there might not have been good burn into both pieces. At which point, he could either run a 2nd beed, half on the frame and half on the 1st beed, not text book, but effective; or grind out the questionable part, and start over.

 

[paulsharvey]

We can also note; this jack took load in an un-intended way, and was side loaded, at the end of a 24" lever. It was designed for straight tension (the jack pulling vertically away from the tongue), but when they drug the jack; they introduced a bending moment. If it was Designed to resist that, it would be specifically welded at the corners, to prevent the start of the bending.

Still, more amps, slower travel speed, better pre-weld cleaning, and a post weld/post clean-up inspection would show the weld wasn't great.

So, if Mig, the pass should have looked down to the frame if swirling, or should have been at a 45, right in the V of the joint, with a slower speed, and "possibly" more amps, but not necessarily.

If Arc, your amps look fine, but the rod needs swept down to the frame more on each "C", looks like we just stuck the rod and got an arc and rolled with it.

 

[California]

The key word is SEE. For me, actually seeing what I'm welding is pretty hard. I wear readers under the hood, but it's still hard to actually see the weld puddle.

The best thing I ever did to improve seeing what I'm welding, was attach part of an old black t-shirt at the back of my helmet so there's no light getting inside. A huge improvement in visibility!

 

[BnRidge]

The best thing I ever did to improve seeing what I'm welding

Readers and a hood. I struggled trying to learn stick on my own. Did ok, but very inconsistent. Until I put on a pair of readers and something to eliminate glare. All the learning, trial and error over and over and over, different rods, settings, positions and rates and weaves - bingo, all is well now. I couldn't see what I was doing. I have an AC225 and a stick/tig/plasma to get started with (Lotos LTPDC2000D). The AC225 mostly sits idle. It was my dads, have a lot of memories, but the Lotos is so much easier to work with. Higher current, digital readout, versatile, it can cut 3/4" plate and turn right around and weld it in place. One stop shopping.

 

[California]

First trial run with the black T-shirt blocking all light from getting inside my helmet. This worked so well that I cut down the T-shirt and mounted a piece of it, permanently.

Light blocking trial run

 

[chim]

Good thing my first experiences were before all this social media. I probably would have been discouraged by the comments after posting pictures. My welds were not things of beauty. After tinkering with a few small things (not nearly of a size to call "projects") I bought an old Belleview winch and mounted it on my K Blazer.

A couple years later I bought an older Blazer that had a Western power angle plow, kept the plow and resold that Blazer. To mount the plow, I added on to the winch frame on my Blazer. The way it worked out the winch could still be used with the plow fully raised. The winch didn't affect handling too much, but when the plow was hanging out there it wasn't something you'd want to run in a fast slalom competition. Back then enthusiasm outpaced finesse, but blasting into snowdrifts, hard winch pulls and general misbehavior never damaged my welds.

 

[brewdog]

I like that welding cart.

Thanks Dieselscout80! I had some steel odds and ends and an old shelf unit I welded up 15 years ago and didn’t use so I cut the 4' shelving unit up and threw it together. The MIG and TIG fit on it with all the cables.