Perfect on the gas mix. I was not sure by the original post photo and you mentioned argon valve. Carry on.

One big confidence builder for me Jim was when I discovered there was nothing I could F up that I couldn't fix. The only penalty is time lost. Get a $12 HF dig caliper so you know the gage/inch/mm. It's important info for novices like us. It looks like your letting your tip get too far away in some of those pic's. I heard you say that you were having a problem seeing a puddle. Do this; instead of welding 2 pieces, scribe a line and run a bead on a flat piece of steel. It will be much more visible . Run that bead until you get a good fix on it. No pressure to get it right, just keep steady movement and maintain tip distance while watching the puddle. It only takes a few passes this way to "see it".

Practicing on slightly heaver stuff is good too.. It gets you used to the fundamentals.Try a variety of joints too. Tees, Laps, etc. As posted before a bit of a weave can also be good.

yesterday I did weld on some flat metal. it turns out that not only are mig settings important, but hand travel speed is important too, and distance of TIP to metal as well. as stated above. not changing mig settings, I sometimes get a nice looking smooth melted bead, then the second pass was crap. I think this was do to hand speeds and distances not being kept consistent by me.

a mig may be considered the HOT GLUE GUN of welding, but there is more to it than just hoping for the best

practice is crucial, thus having lots of clean metal to practice on is crucial as well.

thanks guys!!!

question - what can I expect when I switch to 023 wire/tip, from 030, when welding on my 20 gage scrap metal???

I assume I will need to turn my mig settings up as 023 will carry less heat???

Yup.

Another tip, brace your welding hand on the work piece. Most people walk up and try to weld with no contact between them and the work piece. Their hands and arms are floating. It's like trying to shoot a sniper rifle standing up. If you can't solidly brace against the work piece, at least use your other hand to touch both the torch and the work piece so you get some tactile feedback about when and how far you're moving.

nice tip.

I just returned from home depot to get 025 wire and some 025 and 030 tips.

now I know why my machine had a plastic thumb bolt in it - for the smaller narrower 2lb spool. at first I started to rig it with a bunch o washers, but then used the plastic bolt.

got me 2 wire brushes too.

with the naked eye and even with my cheaters on, I can barely see the difference between 025 and 030 - see pic.

I will say - when a bead is going down nice - that steady SIZZLE sounds so sweet

QUESTION >> do you guys all use grease on your nozzle and tip ????

I've never used the grease, but supposedly it works. Buy a pair of welders pliers. They are shaped to fit inside the nozzle. A good scraping with those does the trick. it also gives you a wire cutter, and a good inside grip for removing hot or stuck nozzles / tips

you're going to need to cut your settings back a tad bit for the .025, but not much. Once you get comfortable with it, you can turn the heat back up and get a better " melt in " when tacking one spot to another.

I can see the grease not being critical - thanks.

I did get a pair of harbor freight plyers but the wire cutting section ain't the best.

Can't believe I just watched that WHOLE video.....Buut, definitely learned a few things.

the second video is good too - especially the warnings

safety first - machine should almost always be unplugged when side cover is open.

there are some 110v exposed cables in there.

Good tip, Something most experts dont even think about until they see someone attempting it.


I typically weld with one large glove on my left hand and only put a glove on my right hand if Im doing more than a couple minutes worth of welding.

I've had the grease, it helps a little bit. I typically hit the nozzle against the floor to remove any pieces of metal stuck to the tip, and especially if its made contact between the two (It happens, Its OK, just fix it and shut off the welder.) Then I take the cover nozzle off and debur it against the threads of the tip (that you just unscrewed), its not really the best way, but it works for the pinch works.

Just a couple minutes exposure to triple range radiation can cause damage to your skin. Infrared, visible and ultraviolet radiation do not cause ionisation of body tissue, but they can still cause damage to body systems and membranes.The ultraviolet waves wont get you an island tan but can cause damage below the skin surface by heating blood vessels and water membranes below the skin layers. Gloves provide thermal insulation as well as blocking out UV and visible light frequencies.

Helmet, welding coat with collar, gloves and at least a N95 particulate respirator are the minimum that should be worn. R and P series respirators are also fine. Shielding gases and flux surface coatings which are burned or exposed to ultraviolet arc rays, they can generate harmful gases such as carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen oxides, gaseous fluoride and phosgene.

I have seen to many people with short and long term damage from welding and I'm not talking about pesky ear mosquito or slag burns. Its really easy to take safety precautions and only takes a few extra seconds. If you wear a helmet with a filter to keep from getting keratitis why wouldn't you protect the rest of the body?

Be Safe!

Thank you for your concern and voicing these medical threats.

Sigh.. NO!!!!! A mig gun "Dip" is available at any welding supply. Grease isn't good for obvious reasons(contamination). Beating the gun on the floor is also negative.(beating on parts isn't good) Get some gun dip!!

by grease - I meant DIP

so we have one DIP fan

I think I will get some - gotta go to dover de - as my local home depot did not have it.

The dip gel stuff works. I don't know if this is Snake Oil but last trip to the welding supply I bought these felt disc's that slide over the wire before the feeder that are supposed to lub and clean the wire. We shall see.

we shall - keep us posted.

right now I am citrus stripping some panels for my welding practice.

pretty sound advice from Stacey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOAjQWKVHos

ok - versus trying to weld big gaps, I sliced up some sheet - to try some tacks.

firstly, HF clamps are not square a cause seem to widen as clamp is tightened. no quality control on the manufacture of these.

so far it seems that HF mig cart and magnets and helmut are good buys.

also, I see that I did not keep my 2 pieces of sheet perpendicular to each other and the few beads I made cause big warping.

I have another 2 pieces set up, will try again.

my hope is that 18 and 16 gage are a lot more forgiving than 20.

so I started to tack up 2 new test strips.

seems fine but wow - it must take a lot of tacks to seal up 15 inches of butt.

no bead - no warping.

I NOW fully understand why cars are assembled with spot welds.

seems to me - that in order to check ones work - the work must be back lighted - as it is hard to see the pin holes, from looking at the row of tacks without lighting from behind.

and I can see why and EASY(er) GRIND wire would be nice

i'd like to see your work - a tack row of 2-3 inches - front and back on 18 gage or so.

seems once the tacks on front are ground down, no seam would be visable, BUT on back it seems that quite a bit of seam would still be seen.

Easy Grind is the cats ass( but a tad pricy).You can even use it for structural welds.....it is still tougher than the base metal.....but for thicker material I do use .035 "normal" wire.

Most body/chassis material is made from cold form steel.....35,000 psi + yield strength easy grind is close to that and grinds closer to the same rate....it's harder because it cools quicker than the base steel when it's rolled.

"Normal" wire is around 70,000 yield as is hot rolled body/chassis material and with the .035 you get better penetration on thicker material....strenght is good on your roll cage, ......but sux for grinding on body work.

All these yield strengths are approximates off the top of my haid, BTW. You have to read the "certs" of the melt (heat lot) to get actuals.....the ASTM ranges are fairly wide. A Ryerson Data Book is a good thing to have around.

I'm near sighted but even then I have to take off my glasses and get my haid up reeel close the the "puddle" to see it clearly.....I'm talkin' 3-4 inches. Auto darken hoods are the greatest thing since sliced bread......and are now pretty cheap.

I have no problem running downhand (pull) on body work, but always up hand (push) on structural stuff.

I found that the "feeds, speeds, & amperage on chart of Gary's 120V Miller
was spot on for .025 easy grind.....don't remember for .035....didn't use it as much but it's a good place to start, IIRC.

Like everything else, practice, practice, pra.....you have the idea.....and cleanliness is next to godliness.

jp thank you and nice mustang BTW

looks like easy grind comes in 023 and not 025 $66.00 11lb
my machine wants 025 or 030
https://weldingsupply.com/cgi-bin/einstein....NDEF:OR:130TF43

No problem & I hope it is of some help.
I haven't done any serious rootin' around on that Mustang....yet.
I know the abysmal front suspension if gonna need some work but (Internet rootin') I think the replacement will be a bolt on deal......done by the folks that dominate SCCA CP nationally.....so, tho I want a welder I may not need one. Being a CSOB, that gives me some time to root around on CL for a good sed 120V.....I know, lotta rootin' going on. Won't know till I get up close & personal with the nose of the thing.....it's even older than any 914.
It'll go up on blocks in Oct., methinks. I'll play with the thing till then & finger out what to do......a man has got to have a plan.....even if it sux.

good tack and grind video - no audio : (

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Nk4JFKj9hM

and another

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj8p5upXHfU

seems that 023 is far more available than 025 wire

.023 NOT .025 is the size I meant....sorry. My fingers can't seem to figure out what I meant to type.

Without going out to the shop to check....IIRC, .025 is the tip used for .023 wire.
A little self contained set of tip reamers ( various sizes) is a good tool.

66 bucks is about what I paid about 10-12 years ago for easy grind.

I sold off/gave away most all of my "stuff" a couple years back....about 2k of Porsche tools, auto darken hood, left over weld wire....I won't miss the special tools, but will need to replace the a lot of the "normal " tools.....duh.

jp

my reference to 023 was due to my mig seems to require 025 or 030

I need to find out if I can use 023 in my machine

i'm assuming I can but want to be sure before I buy an 11lb spool

update - just found my mig's manual online - aseems 023 is fine.
http://www.lincolnelectric.com/assets/Serv...COLN3/IM536.pdf

thanks
jim

my first tool made with mig : )

my 220v compressor, that I never used yetm but a friend did at his shop some years ago, has been siting in my garage for years with some water in the tank but I could not remove drain plug, until today.

I welded a short socket extension into a pipe and WA LA, it loosened.

compressor all cleaned up
now I need to get 220 into my garage