weld pac 100

[BrettW]

What about supporting the pieces your are welding? Can you hold one and not get shocked? As long as you dont get too hot through the glove> bw

 

[TOMLESCOEQUIP]

Brett.......When you order the auto darkening shield from harbor freight( If you ever borrow one you'll want one of your own...usually on sale in their catalog for $79) get a couple of their welding magnets to hold the pieces you are welding in place till you can tack them together. The magnets come in 2 sizes and sell for between $3.99 and $ 10.00.........Very usefull for holding small pieces when benchtop welding...........Tom

 

[Tractors4u]

It won't shock you even if you hold it with your bare hands. As some one mentioned about getting the welding magnets, also get some C clamps and a set of the vise grips with the deep jaws for welding.

 

[davesisk]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Can you hold one and not get shocked?)</font>

Depends. You have to make sure that you have the work lead (often incorrectly called the "ground clamp") hooked to the workpiece AND capable of conducting electricity. The current flows out of the MIG Gun, through the workpiece, then back throught the work lead. If you don't have the work lead hooked to the workpiece or the metal worktable OR it's not a good connection that will conduct electricity, then you generally can't start an arc. However, if you happen to the holding the workpiece with a bare hand and touching something else that's truly grounded with bare skin, then it start an arc by conducting electricity through you! So, always make sure you've got that work lead connected to a good connection, whether it's the workpiece or the table. Electricity will always take the path of least resistance, so just make sure you're not it! I wear big electrically insulated leather gloves regardless, I think it's a good safety measure.

Get a variety of C-clamps and vise-grip pliers, etc. Some things just take 3-4 hands to hold, and you simply can't do it and weld at the same time. HF usually has plenty of vise-grip pliers and C-clamps on sale, so check it out...

Dave

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

<font color="blue"> I dont have time for a college course in welding </font>

I didn't, either. It was one night a week from 6-10 PM... and it was the best thing for which I ever made time . I'd even had a number of people offer to show me how to weld and, quite frankly, one of them was probably a better welder than any the school had as instructors. I still opted to go for the formal class simply so that I would have all of the safety training and best possible environment in which to learn. I'm glad I did.

As to tips, I'm going to pass along some things I picked up there with the full disclosure that I'm sure I'm leaving something out.

Wear long sleeves at all times. Button your collar. If you're wearing a shirt with pockets, wear one with flaps and close them. Get and wear one of those silly welding caps with the bill out the back. It can keep sparks, etc., out of your hair and from landing inside your collar. You can get protective clothing in leather, which offers the best protection, or in a treated cloth. which is very good though only for a limited number of uses. Each protective material is available in the form of a jacket/shirt, an apron, sleeves (above elbow to inside gloves) and even chaps (to protect your legs). Good leather welding gloves are a must.

Never wear tennis shoes. Wear good leather work shores instead. Always make sure your pantlegs extend beyond the top of your shoes even when you're seated. It'll keep sparks and worse out of your shoes.

I have an auto-darkening helmet that was a great help. Mine happens to be a Hobart. If I were buying one today with what I know I'd spend a few dollars more and get a Jackson as the time to darken is less than half that of the Hobart. To be fair, we're talking 1/11,000th of a second vs. 1/25,000th of a second but we're also talking about your eyes.

Learn to ARC weld first. The class I took in MIG welding required an ARC welding class as a prerequisite. At the time I was taking it I couldn't imagine why I needed it because I wasn't going to ARC weld. I was going to MIG weld.

The first night of the MIG welding class I understood why. The ARC welding class was where I learned what welding was and the how and why of welding. The instructor laid down a beautiful bead with a MIG welder and asked what I thought. Of course, I thought it was great. He then banged the material on the table and the two pieces came apart cleanly. I learned right then that you can't just glance at a MIG weld and tell whether or not it's a good weld. The MIG welding class taught me the proper techniques of making a good MIG weld instead of just a MIG weld that looks good.

Again, my best advice to you is to make the time to take a class at your local vocational technical school or community college. Sorry for beeing so long-winded but I wanted to cover these things as I sincerely believe them all to be important. Good luck with whatever you end up doing. I hope this helps. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[pajoube]

Gary,
Great commentary, good advice for all welders to be.
PJ

 

[CSAW]

Preparation, preparation, preaparation. Grind any dirty metal before you weld it. Also grind where your ground clamp is going to hook to work piece. The better things fit together before you weld them the better they are going to be after you weld them. They will also be much easier to weld if you are not trying fill gaps. Have fun welding and did I mention preparation? If I can do an attachment I will post a picture of a welding project (bumper) during a test fitting before painting. The bumper has since been raised a little and painted black.

 

[BrettW]

Gary, thanks a bunch for taking the time to help. Tell me if you can, what made the instructors first weld so bad? I know he did it on purpose but what was the difference? thanks agian, I'll look for a class, bw

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

<font color="blue"> what made the instructors first weld so bad? </font>

He just ran a bead down the seam. It looked very nice. It just hadn't fused with the metal. It was just laying on top of the metal. I'm so new at all of this I hate to try to tell anyone how to do something like this. The best description I've heard was that you need to 'stitch the weld' to get a good weld.

It probably not only takes a better welder but also a better writer to really be able to explain this in print, but I'll give it a shot here. To stitch the weld you move your point from one piece of metal to the other and back much like a continual "Z" pattern if you're welding vertically. You'll naturally hold the weld a bit longer at the ends of your sweeps and that's good. That's what fuses your weld into the metal you're welding.

Again, I'm sure there are better explanations out there, but I hope this at least conveyed part of the idea, anyhow. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

I'm happy you're going to look for a class to take. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif I sincerely believe you'll be far better off having done so and be genuinely glad you did when all is said and done. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

I think I learned more in the ~100 hours I spent there than I would have in five to ten times that much time spent trying to learn on my own and from friends despite their best efforts and intentions. Just learning NOT to follow my first instinct to put my foot into a bucket of water if I ever get something hot down inside my boot was worth the money. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

DON'T worry about getting shocked,you won't get shocked,this is not the same as,say, taking an extension cord and cutting the ends off it and trying to weld with it,you got a machine in there that cuts down the voltage and steps up the amps,so even under the worst circumstances you won't get hurt,just tingled a little,thats if your gloves are wet,etc.. You can hold onto the piece you are welding on and won't get shocked,with your bare hand,now you might get burned from the heat if your to close,but not shocked,so quite worrying about getting shocked.Have you ever heard of a welder getting shocked to death while welding? Not from his or her machine anyways.You will probably want to upgrade on your machine after you get started and relize you are not in any danger here,don't worry to much about the eye burned effect,you will know if you get a flash and how it happened,you need to start with about a shade 10 or more lens and don't look at the arc without looking through that lens.A little flash won't burn your eyes much. I have had mine burned shutin the morning,after getting to much that day,when I first started out helping on gas pipelines.If you are welding,[by your self anyways],you know when the arc starts,so you got your hood down.But I have had my eyes burnt 2 or 3 dozen times,some alittle,a few times a lot,and I can still see,I do this stuff for a living so its a working condition you might say,I will say that its been several years since I've had my eyes burnt.So don't worry to much about getting shocked,etc., dive in there,and use common sense,and you will be none the worse for it. RICHARD GAUTHIER