Welding General Thread - A general guide on turning hot steel into trucks, trains, and airplanes as well as posting your own welds.

[Hello Fellow Teens]

I know I'm very late but to help with not sticking your electrode to your work in SMAW, take a look at the tip of your electrode before you try and strike an arc. There is a pretty decent variation to how much tip is exposed on a fresh electrode, sometimes part of the tip is completely coated in Flux. Choose a side with a a very small amount of the wire protruding from the flux or even even with the flux, avoid starting on a side with too much extra flux or a a large stick out of wire past the flux. When I put a new electrode in my stringer I spin it and pick the best spot on the tip to strike an arc with. some electrodes may have no ideal spot to strike from, if you want to use these on a project I recommend burning an inch or two on scrap before getting into what you want to weld (trimming the tip back is a real crap shoot as the flux is very brittle and cutting it can break off long chunks of it and really ruin the electrode).

Don't use the HF wire. Go to home depot or lowes and get some lincoln wire.

The hobo fuck wire is no good? The stick electrodes are great, I stock up when they have the sale 30% off on items under $10, 22.26 with tax for 6lbs best price I can get locally.

How do I make an environment conducive to welding? Do I put a ventilated output on my garage so I don’t turn it into cancer city?

Wear a respirator with the garage door partially open, standard garage doors have an opening at the top and bottom which will help create and air current to pull air out. It's worth it to always wear your respirator regardless of how good your ventilation is, also while you cutting and grinding metal it's just as important. They have the added benefit of reducing condensation on the inside of your lense from your breath. With a p100 filter and a well fitting respirator you should smell nothing while cutting or welding. Most respirators paired with the pancake style filters will fit under most welding helmets.

 

[Barry McKockner]

The hobo fuck wire is no good? The stick electrodes are great, I stock up when they have the sale 30% off on items under $10, 22.26 with tax for 6lbs best price I can get locally.

Back when I typed that, the Vulcan branded wire was essentially just crap. Idk what it is now, but the general consensus at the time for beginners was to go get Lincoln wire instead as it ran much better, even if it was in a Vulcan welder.

Stick rods are harder to fuck up tho.

 

[Among Us Gaming]

Back when I typed that, the Vulcan branded wire was essentially just crap. Idk what it is now, but the general consensus at the time for beginners was to go get Lincoln wire instead as it ran much better, even if it was in a Vulcan welder.

Stick rods are harder to fuck up tho.

It seems to run fine for me, though I'm using the flux core stuff. Never really had any issue with the hazard fart welding supplies

 

[God's drunkest driver]

The hobo fuck wire is no good? The stick electrodes are great, I stock up when they have the sale 30% off on items under $10, 22.26 with tax for 6lbs best price I can get locally.

The HF flux core definitely doesn't run as smoothly as some of the nicer options, it splatters more, but I've never welded with HF MIG wire. The filler rod for TIG is just fine in my experience.

 

[The man The only man]

I want to try welding as an at home hobby just for my own enjoyment because it has piqued my interest for years, is it recommended and is it doable with a starting budget of 10.000 euro's? Furthermore, how do I create a shack for welding in my backyard and what does it need inside/outside of it?

 

[ifunny pride world wide]

I want to try welding as an at home hobby just for my own enjoyment because it has piqued my interest for years, is it recommended and is it doable with a starting budget of 10.000 euro's? Furthermore, how do I create a shack for welding in my backyard and what does it need inside/outside of it?

I'm not familiar with what's available in the EU but I have a $200 Toolium multiprocess welder from amazon. It does everything I need it to, stick, MIG, TIG. I've used it for everything from furniture to automotive and firearm stuff. I'm just an amateur but I think that you reach the point of diminishing returns on price pretty fast as a hobbyist. You don't need a thousand dollar machine. Once you've picked a machine, you'll end up spending a few hundred more buying your helmet, clamps, wire/electrodes, gas regulator, gloves, gas regulator, tank+ gas. You'll also need tools for grinding and cutting metal too if you don't already have those. My entire set up was about $600. You can get even cheaper if you're willing to have a machine that only does fluxcore or stick (like $100 range) because you don't need the shielding gas + accessories. The gas bottle is the biggest pain in the ass in my opinion because you have to rent a gas tank and find someone who is willing to fill it. You also have to be able to transport it safely or find a provider that will deliver it.

For your backyard shack you just need to have an outlet with the proper capacity, once again I don't know anything about euro standards so you'll have to do research. If the outlet isn't up to the task you can fuck up your house or limit the welder's power. If you end up with a gas tank you need a way to secure it upright. Mine is secured by a chain I bolted to the wall. A welding table is a must and for a lot of people they DIY one as their first project. I would start by watching some videos on the different processes (MIG, TIG, stick, flux) in order to decide which type is the best for the type of projects you want to do. TimWelds on youtube was really helpful when I first started out.

 

[The Grognard]

If you have 10K to spare, spend like 2K max for welding and the rest for other machinery you'll need to set up a proper workshop for metal. You want proper grinders, measuring tools and vices for the work you'll be doing.

 

[Rakovnik]

I want to try welding as an at home hobby just for my own enjoyment because it has piqued my interest for years, is it recommended and is it doable with a starting budget of 10.000 euro's? Furthermore, how do I create a shack for welding in my backyard and what does it need inside/outside of it?

I'm going to assume the 10k euro budget includes the welding shack you want to build, otherwise you can start welding for very cheap. The Hobart stick welder I use to fix everything on my farm was only about $500.

Airflow is one of the most important parts of your building, especially working over winter with the shack sealed up you'll need some way of removing fumes. You can build one out of pipe and one of those air mover fans that are tube shaped (Harbor Freight has them here, not sure if there's a Euro HF equivalent) or find a used fume extractor being sold by a welding shop, those typically also have spark arrestors built in. Those can get expensive but you can't buy new lungs.

Next up is size, how big are your projects? Do they have to fit inside or can they be welded outside? If it's something small like metal sculptures or art pieces you could get away with a 10x10' room but you'll fuck up your lungs if you forget to turn on your exhaust fan.

You really don't need anything else besides your welder, safety equipment, and a wire brush. Everything from a concrete floor to a special welding table are optional.

 

[Big Fat Frog]

I know I'm very late but to help with not sticking your electrode to your work in SMAW, take a look at the tip of your electrode before you try and strike an arc.

For stick, I usually find that used electrodes with flux extending past the core are the best for striking an arc. I call it a “flux foreskin.” Anytime the core sticks out farther than the flux it’s more prone to sticking to the base metal.

 

[For The Lulz]

I did some stuff on the weekend, you could barely call me an amateur as I only did a semester of welding in high school which was a good long while ago.
I've got a decent stick welder and a gasless mig (not overly happy with it though).

Please bare with my reddit post, would really appreciate someone with a more laymans level explanation or guidance on the problems I'm having.

Decided to make an improvised trailer riser thing for my mower over the weekend for a sprayer trailer I'm working on, used the stick welder (reasons to be covered later) which proved a bit difficult as I was trying to weld 5mm thick steel caps to 1.6mm thick steel square tube. Biggest issue was getting penetration into the bigger end cap plates without blowing holes in the tube, even getting tacks to hold was a pita. Fucker aint pretty but i chucked a snatch strap on it and gave it a good couple of pulls with the ute and it held up without issue (and is way more force that it will see in its intended use). Drilled and tapped each side (one to bolt to the mower, the other to run the bolt down to hitch the trailer.) but I had become over lubricated at that point (shed talk round here for drunk) and the top hole is drilled off to the side instead of towards the back somehow, still works fine though.

Probably my biggest issue with stick is getting it to strike, tried a bunch of different ways, with foreskin, without, partially with, angles of dragging etc it to get it to arc without grabbing and i've checked and I'm using the right kind of rods for what I'm doing and I'm running the the amperage at the welder in the range listed on the box. Even fiddled with the amerage within that range with no real noticeable change. I also find it hard to gauge how much / how fast I should be feeding the stick and what height the arc should be kept at to get decent pooling thats not just what the stick is leaving behind.



Now the gasless mig I have is a cunt. I'm not sure if there is some sort of graphite lube or something I should be putting up the neck of it but the wire feeds very inconsistently (feels kinda like its getting caught up along the way) and when I get a decent run of it, it never seems to really penetrate that well and most seems to spark off as slag. I'm using the right sized wire, it's good hitachi shit I got from the local engineering shop (comes on the big arse rolls) and have played around with the settings but I just can't get the fucker to produce anything but frustration and disappointment. It is a cheaper sort of thing akin to harbor freight stuff in the US so I'm not really sure what I should expect from it, maybe it's just a piece of shit generally and I'm never going to have any luck with it?

Here is an example of the frustration, You can see the seam on this thing I made for a filtration / uv treatment system and its all fucked up because I could never get it to start a decent pool and ended up with pits and holes all through it. Took me that long to get through I ended up with sun/welders burn on my upper arms and legs. The fucking thing is lucky it didn't get launched into orbit.

God help me, I still want to do more

 

[Rakovnik]

I was trying to weld 5mm thick steel caps to 1.6mm thick steel square tube. Biggest issue was getting penetration into the bigger end cap plates without blowing holes in the tube

Try heating the thicker piece and leaving the thinner piece cold.

I also find it hard to gauge how much / how fast I should be feeding the stick and what height the arc should be kept at to get decent pooling thats not just what the stick is leaving behind.

That's probably the hardest part. Sometimes I cheat and use a thicker rod so there's more filler metal, as long as you have penetration it's okay. Use something to hold your arm up to keep it more steady and make sure your mask isn't adjusted too dark where you can't see your arc. Once you are moving and laying down good weld just keep the same pace as best you can. I listen to the weld as much as I watch it, you should be able to hear when you're too close or far.

it never seems to really penetrate that well and most seems to spark off as slag

It is a cheaper sort of thing akin to harbor freight stuff in the US so I'm not really sure what I should expect from it, maybe it's just a piece of shit generally and I'm never going to have any luck with it?

I tried using a cheap HF flux core welder like that when I was still new to stick welding. I had the same problem as you, a friend showed me how he uses it on slightly thicker metal, it was maybe 1/4". The best way I can to describe it is make sure your wire feed speed is high enough and when you're starting a bead keep it on the spot your starting at longer (you'll feel like you're blasting the metal away compared to stick) but it's heating that spot up and beginning to build up, then slowly start your bead from there.

 

[TheGoodNamesHaveBeenTaken]

I know this is a reply to and old post.
However I wanted to share my experiences with a cheap flux core welder just incase anyone found them useful in the future.

One Black Friday I bought the absolute cheapest wire welder Harbor Freight had.
The only way I could get it to sort of stick metal together was throw away the Chinese wire it came with & go down to .030" (.8mm) wire.
I found the Lincoln brand wire from Lowes ran good.
The next trick was turn every control all the way up.
Then it could weld bed frames together.
That was it.
Any thinner metal it would burn through, any thicker you had to bevel and do multiple passes.

This particular welder kept the wire electrically connected any time the welder was on.
That was a pain.

We are truly in the golden age of cheap inverter welders now.
I now have a Toolium Mig/ Tig/ Stick welder I got for less than $100 from a local guy that sold Amazon returns.
I think that model was about $300 on Amazon back when I bought it.
For that price you can get their higher amperage model now.
It is 100x a better welder than the Horrible Freight special.
Yes, getting a bottle and getting it filled is a pain but actual MIG welding is so much cleaner than flux core it is worth it.

If you are in North America I would recommend getting a welder that works on 110 and 220 Volts.
They don't cost that much more than 110 only machines and sooner or later you will need the extra capacity.

 

[Iron Jaguar]

Picked up one of these a while back, for use on a govt contract.




I don't have any difficulty using the lift start on my old TIG but the HF function is nice to have, especially as I need to do pulse welds.
It is a nice machine. Very easy to use. I'm not a fan of the UniMig torches so I'll probably swap it out for the CigWeld type.

I wouldn't have bought this if it was purely for hobby work - my WeldSkill set was quite sufficient.

 

[Evan Kor]

If you clean something off with chlorinated brake clean before welding, make damn sure its fully evaporated before welding. Otherwise you'll get phosgene gas poisoning.

 

[Lurkor]

If you clean something off with chlorinated brake clean before welding, make damn sure its fully evaporated before welding. Otherwise you'll get phosgene gas poisoning.

I've always found brake cleaner to leave a bit of residue either way, denatured alcohol is prefered, you can use it as a finish cleaner if your part is absolutely filthy.

 

[For The Lulz]

I've been dicking around with the stick a bit more of recent after one of the hangers on my mower deck decided to not be on the deck anymore. I'm starting to get the hang of it though, laid a coupe of decent welds and was able to tap the flux scale shit and it came off real easy in nice lengths instead of having to beat it then grind it back.

I listen to the weld as much as I watch it

This was probably the most useful bit of advice, I really started listening to the noise the arc was making and particularly the sounds of the welder changing/straining.
If i can just get my speed and feed under control i'll be a semi pro home welding hack job amateur in no time.

That said, I did have one little oopsie, forgot I'd taken off my glove to grab a new stick and pushed on the thing I had been welding to help get my arse up. Stung like a bitch but settled down after a couple of days and didn't even leave a scar.

will probably make the same mistake again at some point because I'm a daft cunt

 

[Uncle Holter]

If you clean something off with chlorinated brake clean before welding, make damn sure its fully evaporated before welding. Otherwise you'll get phosgene gas poisoning.

Don't keep Chlorinated brake cleaner anywhere near your weld shop. Use alcohol or acetone to clean, if you want to use brake cleaner, make 200% sure it's the NON-Chlorinated kind with all those lovely carcinogens like Benzene and Toluene.

it never seems to really penetrate that well and most seems to spark off as slag.

This might seem like a dumb question, but have you doubble checked that the polarity is corect for the wire you are using?
I remember a lot of people complaning online that my cheep flux core welder had the same problems, but I thought it was fine.
I calked it up to people not switching the polarity like instructed and used the same polarity as you do with regular MIG.