Do my welds get an A?

[blakdot]

Tonight was our first day on the MIG welders at school. I've done some welding with our 220 Lincoln MIG at home but with really no idea what i was doing. Now i know what the heck i'm doing and i could use some more practice but these welds i did tonight i felt pretty good about.

what do you think? The bubble on the left of the weld looks wierd but thats actually something we were taught to do to finish the bead.


and some decent penetration too, my ends suck though.

[Zullock Holmes]

doesn't look bad for a first time at all. hahaha.

the first one pic though, see how the bead looks like arrows, it does that because you went alittle too fast, if you slow down a bit then you will get those perfect circles. but like I said, great for a first timer.

[blakdot]

doesn't look bad for a first time at all. hahaha.

the first one pic though, see how the bead looks like arrows, it does that because you went alittle too fast, if you slow down a bit then you will get those perfect circles. but like I said, great for a first timer.

I guess you could call me a first timer... i've used Our welder at home quite a bit but without direction, just picking it up and guessing. That one was a hair fast, the best ones i did tonight i used in something else and you cant see the beads at all.

[Zullock Holmes]

still thats really good. when i still had shop class in high school i used to go in on my study hall period and teach the freshman shop kids how to weld, and none of them could pull off something like that first shot.

good stuff....... great skill to have for sure

[blakdot]

In high school i wouldn't have had the patients to weld properly. I wish i had done more back then but i was to busy throwing my body off of things. Now i'm worried about finding a good career so i've been taking this stuff more seriously.

[grundlepunch]

looks good to me... but im a computer guy so what do i know! lol

[Buffalo Phil]

The question is Do they Hold?

OK, cosmetically they looks awesome, now take a hammer to it and smash the living fuck out of it. When I learned stick welding in school, they didn't give a fuck how it looked. Once you where done they put it in a vice and bent and smashed that thing all day until it broke. The longer it lasted, the better a grade you got.

I have no doubt those will hold, but I just want to see your welds really take the test, especially if you are going to apply those welds to jeeps, where they will most likely be structural.

[OWEN]

Looks good, practice flipping your mask or get an auto darkener for smoother starts.

[Ktmracer419]

looks good ta me

lots of my welds look like ass but all of them have held

[blakdot]

Looks good, practice flipping your mask or get an auto darkener for smoother starts.

That is part of my problem, I've always welded with an auto darkening helmet before but we dont have any in our shop and i dont have the money to go out and get one. 80% of my struggle yesterday was messing with my damn helmet.

Phil my welds were tested, not the one shown specifically but I also made a clamping device to hold tubing in a vise. The first thing my instructors did was take it and attempt to break it in the press, and It held up.

[snowblur17]

I'm putting my order in now:
Front & rear Bumpers
Sliders
Tire carrier


Keep it up

[Even]

question.

You're supposed to push the bead, not pull right?

[Magilla]

lowes has a decent auto dark made by kobalt for 100 dollars i think it has adjustable speed and darkness.

[Zullock Holmes]

question.

You're supposed to push the bead, not pull right?

it depends. With a MIG or a TIG i really don't think it matters whether you push it or pull it, i always just do what's easier for the position i am in.

pushing it though supposedly gives you more penetration especially with a stick welder, because it allows for more heat to develop in the pass and keeps the arc from wanting to crap out on you as you try to drag it over "colder" steel.

[Even]

it depends. With a MIG or a TIG i really don't think it matters whether you push it or pull it, i always just do what's easier for the position i am in.

pushing it though supposedly gives you more penetration especially with a stick welder, because it allows for more heat to develop in the pass and keeps the arc from wanting to crap out on you as you try to drag it over "colder" steel.

good to know seeing as most of my welding is with a stick welder

i need some more practice because i get garbage welds everytime i try and push the bead