Anything welding

Do what ever you need to do to control the heat .

Stop and start let things cool down what ever works

 

As far as your settings you can watch this. He’s setting his machine 85-90% as hot as he does for welding flat he says.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uvjZNTqi_aU

Looks like you’re getting too far from the joint - could be from moving your arms too much and having them propped better could help - also getting your eyes up in there usually helps with controlling the motion until you have the muscle memory down. The closer your eyes are to anything you’re welding never hurts though.

Setting up some practice pieces in a vise or off the side of a welding table is a good idea to mimic something you’re having a hard time welding, too. It’ll help particularly when you’re doing something small / short like that and don’t have a lot of time to adjust and react on the finished part.

For a welding in a narrow space you can take an old nozzle and flatten it down to fit better in those instances - don’t go crazy and completely pinch it but you can still get decent protection from an ovaled nozzle (the weld will tell you how well you’re shielding it for non critical stuff like a decorative piece).

 

Been laid up for a few days and thought I’d review some of these videos from years ago while I was bored - I usually find something I hadn’t noticed before or have forgotten. Cool short series on vertical downhill with some etching tests to prove what’s happening on each pass. There’s a good comparison to vert. uphill at the end of the last video too.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=n9clLynTEJ0

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3VKEWRHqhfs

 

So far I've got 95% of my parts cut out; I'm starting to think this might come out closer to 5' 6" give or take

 

Any excuse !! looks like a fun project.

 

You know it!

 

I like these videos. Efficient with out a lot of meaningless talking!

 

Any excuse







Just to give you a visual on the size of this thing



Once I cut the remaining two toes and spine/tail, I'll be able to weld the rest of it up

 

Go easy on me, never welded anything this thin before. Tubbed the truck for 37's over the past few weekends. Used 20 gague as that's what seemed pliable yet still easy enough to stitch weld without blowing holes in it. Had some blow through but was able to get it all together eventually once I was able to get the welder a little more dialed

 

looks good!

never forget the old GM method. if everything else fails, Seam Sealer doesn't!

 

Thanks! I killed the lights in the garage and threw my shop light in the truck. Didn't see any light shining through anywhere but still slapped on some seam sealer over my joints for safe measure as well as some rubberized paint lol.

 

in all seriousness, as i learned myself with 0.030 flux core wire and a spare trunk lid that now has a rather large welding hole blown through it(i was trying to plug some holes no longer needed), the right way to do thin metal is to use a TIG welder.

but barring buying more crap i'll never use, 0.024 welding wire and a gas MIG setup is the closest i'll ever come to a TIG. as long as the panel holds on, the seam sealer will do the rest, and it'll still likely be better built than many domestic vehicles on the road!

 

Yep, flux penetrates more than MIG

 

Yeah, maybe some point further down the road I'll look into a multiprocess machine that can tig. Until then my Hobart 140 has done everything I've asked of it. I plan on taking a welding class after I seperate from active duty next March. If I end up taking this whole welding thing a little more serious I'll upgrade. I used .024 wire for that job. I typically run .030

 

No more chair force huh?

Even without the welding class, it'd be nice to upgrade and have options.

Ever since I learned welding, I just look for reasons to glue shit together I mean look at the above post

 

i used to really obsess over comparing and looking at buying a multiprocess. but now after getting into it, i've since realized there's enough nuance in each welding discipline that it's hard enough to be a good MIG welder, and a really long shot to fully understand and be proficient at all the processes, applications, and methods, especially at a hobbyist pace of 'do a project, do a different project in 3 weeks'. i've forgotten enough in 1 week that MIG is hard enough!

i've watched the youtube-- puddin's fab shop, he does mostly MIG. bought a TIG for the same idea, to try to be proficient at it. if i'm a 2/10 MIG welder, he's somewhere near 7-8/10. and every time he shows himself trying to TIG, it turns out ok, but always closer to 2/10, showing me that literally the first step to learning TIG is to 'forget everything you know about MIG', which means that even switching back to MIG after getting good at it is going to have some difficulty, even for people that do it every day...

 

The new Miller multimatic 220 are really nice. I have the 215 and only thing I miss is no ac tig. The dc tig is only lift arc which kind of sucks but I h think the 220 has hf start which is nice. The auto set sucks on the 215. I made a bunch of setting I use and they work well. My experience is the wire speed is to high on auto set

 

If you understand one process, it's easy to understand multiple!

The real trick is when you're switching base metals; TIG welding aluminum is vastly different from stainless, and even stainless forces you to move faster than mild.

Same with MIG, as stainless will showcase failure in technique due to its heat tolerance.

Push pull aluminum on cast....I do not wish on anyone, I hated it.

But learning those three processes all on mild would be simple for most to do.

 

Woah, you get to weld in the house??