Welding help

[William B.]

I know that there are alot of welders/ fabricators on this site so I thought that this would be a good place to start. My new jobs requires me to do alot of welding, which is something that I have always wanted to be good at. I have never had anyone really teach me how to do properly. I've just kinda picked up bits and pieces from people. One of my main problems is choosing the correct wire feed and voltage. If you could get me any tips it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

William

[snowjoker]

What kind/brand of welder are you using? That may help us point you in the right direction. Also what are you gonna be welding? :weld

[William B.]

Sorry I forgot to add that info. We are using a Miller mig welder. So far I have been welding square tube and flat stock. The tube is usually 14 ga or 1/8 in wall.

William

[snowjoker]

What model miller? Also you could try www.shopfloortalk.com there is alot of everyday welding pros over there they could get ya making sparks in no time pimp

[William B.]

I'm not sure what model it is. I will check that out tommorrow. Thanks for the link as well.

William

[BRL]

There is this really amazing gadget that comes with the welders (and any equipment or vehicle one might purchase for that matter). The manual ;) See if it is there at work or if anybody there might know where it is. If not, get one at the local Miller dealer (or a Google search could probably find a source to get one mailed). The manual will have suggested settings for that particular unit for the particular work being done. Try opening the door to the unit also & see what's on it. I just got a new welder & was going back & forth to the manual while trying some stuff out. Then when I ran that spool out & was reloading I noticed there was a handy chart right there on the inside of the door. Don't know how I missed it when loading the first one, but it is quite convenient to check when switching materials on the fly. The manual also has a lot of other good tips & hints to improve your skills. I remember when I had gotten my first wire feeder. I couldn't make a weld to save me for the longest time (had learned bits & pieces using stick before). One day I happened to come across the manual & thumbed through it & was finally able to weld with the thing lol. Hopefully someone with that welder will also chime in, as I believe the settings would be unit specific (my welder's settings won't be the same for yours).

[Pickering Snow]

One word high school voc classes , Back in high school i dont think i missed anything that had to do with trades i took autoshop, welding, machineshop, woods classes, its sad that today when i visit the same high school for my daughters stuff the welding shop is know a computer lab and the autoshop has been reduced from 6bays to two. My daughter is taking autoshop its my reqirement to her before i let her drive she is and iam proud to say getting A's her teacher talked with me during parent teacher confer and was amased at what she knew he said she was the only kid including boys that picked up a scanner and knew how to retrive codes from a car papa'a proud :o .

Any way william like Brl and Walt said everything is diff from welder to welder only thing i would say is i dont care what welder iam using i have gotton were i do alot by feel and go i can tell and so will you with practice when wire speed is to fast or to slow and heat setting the same way so really imo it doesnt matter what brand welder i use i go by feel, sound, apearance.

Ask your boss if he cares if you stay after work on your time and pratice with some scrap stock Practice is the key to welding nobody got it right the first time trust me.

[wyldman]

Like Fred said,experience is key.If you really want to learn,practice on a stick welder.You will quickly learn how to watch the arc,and the weld pool,as well as what it should sound like when laying a good weld.Travel speed,heat,and feed direction will determine the weld style and penetration.

Mig welding is much easier,and everything you learn welding with a stick transfers right over.The main difference is you keep your travel speed the same,and adjust your wire feed to suit.

Like BRL mentioned,there should be a chart somewhere for referencing the common settings for most metals\thicknesses.If there isn't,find the manual,or go to www.millerwelds.com,and you can download setting charts and manuals there..It is a starting point only,and the settings will need to be tweaked.As you get more experience,it will be much easier.

I always start a little on the hot side,with less wire feed speed.At least this way I always get good penetration,instead of a crappy weld I will have to grind out and start over.If your wire feed speed is too high,the gun will push back,and the arc will short out.

[William B.]

Thanks for the info guys. We have a Millermatic 250 running 75% Ar and 25%CO2.

BRL, I was able to find the chart. I used it today and it was helpful.

Fred, I hear ya on the shop voc programs. I gratuated highschool in 03. We had a building trades class where we built a house over the course of the school year, several auto classes and wood working classes and a metal working class where we built 3 wheeled ultimate gas milage cars. We built these out of conduit and ran small 3 hp motors. The key was to build the to get the best gas milage. We took the cars to a large competion in Des Moines against several other schools. We were given a pint of gas and the go til we ran out. It was fun. Part of the problem is finding good, quality voc teachers. My junior year the auto shop/metal shop teacher retired. They replaced the auto shop teacher with another very good teacher. As for the welding class, the wood working teacher took over that and the quality of the cars has gone down hill. Kinda sad.

William

[olive drab]

I am a new and probably an unexpected member being that I currently reside in the state of TN (Knoxville). I have been fabricating rollcages and custom frames for 7yrs now and have learned of a buisness oportunity in the state of maine(portland).

"The best advice I could give for starting mig welding is to try and match the wire diam. to the materials thickness that your working with."
These are the words of my H.S. shop teacher ,who consiquently taught me how to arc,mig,and tig with proficiency.

I owe alot to MR. Sandborn (shop teacher).
I hope that some of this is at least helpfull

Greg (olive drab)

[King of Diamonds]

Hi

I was very fortunate I went to a local Vocational High School for Metal Fabrication, spent four years in the Fabrication shop. At the time we had a state of the art program with three excellent instructors, two were AWS Certified for nuclear power plant welding, and the other instructor was a precision aircraft fabricator.

After spending four years there I worked for a Pre Fab building manufacturer and got AWS certfied for structural steel welding in all positions, with both smaw (stick) and gmaw (mig). Was also certified by Mass Highway and Bridges for building bridge girders.

I went back to college to become a vocational instructor, during my four years I worked for a company that did industrial furnaces and boilers ( company Dad worked for, nearly 50 years!), continued getting my AWS certifications in gas piping and high pressure steam lines.

After graduation I left the welding trade, to pursue owning my own Auto Body shop, did that for nearly twenty years. Had my fill of dealing with A-Hole Insurance companies and they're idiot employees!

Now for the past seven years, I'm back teaching at the Voc school I graduated from, and loving every moment, ( well maybe not everymoment, lol). I have the best of all worlds, I team teach in Auto Body, Auto Technology, Welding / Machining, Plumbing and Electrical. The old Metal fab shop was combined with Machine shop, its amazing how much has changed ! Cad/ Cam computerized plasma and garnet cutters, multi operated CAM equipment, etc, etc. but it still comes down to the same thing with welding, good theory and practice, practice, practice will get you there, there are no short cuts!

I would strongly recommend that you check out your local Vocational High School for adult and continuing education classes. I recieved a good portion of my Auto Body training taking evening classes, while i was taking day classes in college. I found it to be very beneficial and worth while, heck now I use both my trades rebuilding these plows! repairing all the steel and then repainting them when they're all done.