Re: MIG Welding Newbie

very nice Jay. love the welding table...

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

very nice Jay. love the welding table...

Looking back Timb I think that piece of H-beam was the best 1K I ever spent on scrap metal. Very very heavy and takes 2 persons to carry it. It helped me a lot when I was learning how to stick weld. Let's see if this pictures are better now. Auto Focus w/ flash this time.

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

By the way I further inspected the previous Mig test welds that I did. I did cut the test pieces in order to see the weld penetration including base metal and filler wire fusion.

I thinks it's better to go manual setup from here and go as hot as possible. At least that's what the training video I'm watching says is best. Make it as hot as the metal can take. Metal welding loves heat.

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

grabe pala penetration ng weld ng miller na yan!

hindi lang penetration...melt talaga!

bangis!

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

doc,
try mo gumamit ng MIG, baka mapabili ka hehehe
oks ka na?

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

@ossie,

oi bro! bat bigla ka na lang sumusulpot!

post ka naman ng ginagawa mo jan...

thanks

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

Post ko na pati practice. Nanonood pala si Ossie kakahiya naman kung walang updates.

Found some practice metals

18 gauge to join to a slightly thicker base

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

Playing a lot with different settings and combinations of voltage, wire feed speed, wire stick out, gun angle, travel speed, push welding and pull welding. Gas however was set constantly at 20 CFH ( cubic feet per hour)

This part here is the correct setting ....

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

I tried to weld 2 pipes together

Tack welded. I was getting some porosity and I could not explain why. The welder settings were correct and I cleaned the metals. Then I remembered that these tubes were oil filled auto shock absorbers. The metal was clean on the outside but inside there was still some oil residue.

for now I don't weld over tack welds. In the future I will grind tack welds prior to full welding so I can do a continuous pass.

Pass at the bench grinder. Looks like I missed the joint line a bit over here but still the metals were joined. For job critical welds I would need to do a second pass.

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

Normally I would stick weld this with a thin rod. Two reasons. First I could not clean the metals well using a brush only. Second I could not get the proper mig wire stick out because the obstruction will block the Mig gun's gas nozzle.

Too lazy to set up the stick welder so I used the mig.

There's got to be some welding chemicals for cleaning metals before welding. Metal dirt is an arch enemy of mig welding.

Decided to dress up the welds a bit. Not necessary for this but just for practice. The flap wheel ( in this case 60 grit ) is another alternative to grind welds instead of the grinding disc. I find it safer and better.

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

welded nuts for the movement restrainer bolts

By the way, when done this will be a removable welding positioner that can be hooked up to the table. I will need it later for welding smaller auto parts and what not. Hopefully when I get to build a welding table I will make another positioner using new and longer pipes plus the proper hardware.

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

Moji this is specially for you ( more on taps )

I welded this nutt to the tube. Somehow the threads were damaged either by heat or maybe by a bit of spatter.

Normally if a thread is damaged or stripped out during installation I would just use a Thread Chaser to bring back the threads to life. This tool does not cut new threads but can clean up existing threads.

However in this particular case I decided to use a tap ( M8 x 1.25mm) since I suspect more damage to the nut.

Here is a not so expensive Japan made Tungsten tap and die set. Good enough for occasional use.

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

The welding positioner is taking some shape now.

This particular type of pliers was designed specially for Mig welding. From cutting mig wire up to gun cleanup.

for the welding gun tip

for cleaning the gas nozzle of spatter deposits and .......... as a small hammer too

In fact I use it so much that I decided to order a holster for it and hang it in my belt for easier access when Mig welding.

http://store.cyberweld.com/migplho.html

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

I'm not sure if metal prices are up now a days. I purchased this 5/16 plate 11" x 12" for 270 pesos.

Will use it as table top for my welding positioner.

Carbide tips are great for marking metals.

Here I drilled some holes to lighten up the plate a bit and so I could occasionally mount this VG clamp. I could make slots so the clamp can slide but it would be very tedious. Drilling adjacent holes then using a carbide burr to make the slot. A milling machine would have done such task easily.

For now I leave it as it is as I have other removal clamps that would be more handy to use.

Re: MIG Welding Newbie

Thinking to add this 5/8" bolt fixture to the jig. It would allow me to build other custom made removable accessories for it later aside from the basic table top it will have now.

Likewise it will also allow me to rotate the table top and probably raise or lower it a bit more ( my bolt threads are not that long, seems like full thread long bolts are hard to come by if available )

Now if only I can make strong welds to hold it all together .....

Do you think a jigsaw loaded with a metal cutting blade will cut a slot in 5/16 inch plate without much difficulty? It would be nice to be able to slide the VG clamp.

Do you think it would weaken if I cut the slot from hole end to hole end ( all 5 holes instead of 3 only Plate is 5/16" thick )? . Would love to hear some opinions. Thanks