Pre-Welding for a novice

[BTDT]

During the winter months we used to do undercarriage rebuilds on cranes with a Lincoln wire feed. That thing would run 8 hrs a day and never had a bit of trouble. They (the company) finally bought it after going through boxes of rods trying to save money. But by the time you welded, chipped, swept up, that wire feed would run circles around the stick. The more you weld, the better you get...practice every chance you get. I tried to get a guy to weld part of a muffler back on one time, he said it couldn't be done, stuff was too thin (to stick weld). I turned down the heat, welded it up, and it's still on the H Farmall today.

 

[gemini5362]

BTDT We had a piece of equipment that used some flat metal spring that was not a lot thicker than shim stock. One of those broke and we did not have a spare. I turned the mig down as low as it would go and welded it back together. I had several burn throughs but just welded them back up. I put it on and it worked until we got a new one.