Need mig welding tips

[BusDriver]

make sure nothing else is drawing current from the same circuit. I just did some welding in a shop the other day, and I couldn't get consistent preformance from the welder for crap... till i noticed it jerked whenever the saw cut on and off, or someone ran a grinder...

seems there was some voltage drop. Swapped to a 220 welder on a diff panel and all is well.

 

[daustin]

If you do get welders eye from the arc, an old trick my dad did many years ago works wonders, he said it was from the 1940's during WWII when they got women to do a lot of ship welding as the guys were all gone. It sounds like BS, but it actually works. He was a welder on Nuclear power plants for 40 years, lots of experience. It as he put it "takes the poison" out of the eye is to take a wet not dripping wash cloth. Take 2 or 3 potatoes, crush them into kinda a sauce similar to applesauce keep all the juice in the sauce, push that into the wash cloth well and leave about 1/2" thick on it. It will slightly ooze into/out of the other side, fold and lay across the eyes in contact with the eyelid (with them shut of course). Within 10-15 minutes it will start to feel better but do it for like an hour (depending upon how bad the eyes are burned). I burned my eyes several times, it really works.
Don

 

[John Wright]

If you do get welders eye from the arc, an old trick my dad did many years ago works wonders, he said it was from the 1940's during WWII when they got women to do a lot of ship welding as the guys were all gone. It sounds like BS, but it actually works. He was a welder on Nuclear power plants for 40 years, lots of experience. It as he put it "takes the poison" out of the eye is to take a wet not dripping wash cloth. Take 2 or 3 potatoes, crush them into kinda a sauce similar to applesauce keep all the juice in the sauce, push that into the wash cloth well and leave about 1/2" thick on it. It will slightly ooze into/out of the other side, fold and lay across the eyes in contact with the eyelid (with them shut of course). Within 10-15 minutes it will start to feel better but do it for like an hour (depending upon how bad the eyes are burned). I burned my eyes several times, it really works.
Don

best trick, is to avoid it in the first place. Wearing safety glasses usually keeps you from getting any arc flash burns by filtering the UVs out in case of an accidental arc flash. My prescription safety eye glasses have "transitions" photogrey sprayed on them and that really does a good job. I'm in close proximity and sublect to being flashed all day, every day at work.

 

[John Wright]

To the OP, I think that your intermittant wire feeding problem is "mostlikey" as stated earlier by Stpman(the trigger wire is loose or broken somewhere between the actual trigger and the machine's contactor). The trigger takes a pretty good beating on most mig guns, especialy when triggering in welds on thin materials to keep from melting through.

 

[CB-Man]

How to weld

I know this DVD is out on the forum somewhere but I just watched it and didn't see it in here.
http://howtoasap.com/mig _weld _automotive_sheet_medal.html
I am a beginner and there is a lot of good info on machine selection, the settings use of shield gas and then goes over basic techniques and the different welds you will use repairing sheet metal. And it shows him welding with a welding lens over the camera. He practices on scraps as you should then applies the method on a car panel.

 

[John Wright]

https://www.youtube.com/user/weldingtipsandtricks

CB-Man...check out this YT channel...Jody does a great job filming while welding. Lots of videos on GMAW(solid wire), FCAW(fluxcored wire), SMAW(stick), and GTAW(Tig) welding processes.

You can also subscribe to his video of the week...which is great information, check out his comments for all of his setup parameters that he used during that video

 

[CB-Man]

Thanks Jim! Very nice videos!
I think my welder came with flux core. I know it's better to use solid wire and shield gas but I think I'm going to set the welder up and just practice with the flux core on scrap. Then I will switch to solid wire so I know first hand the difference first hand. I figure it couldn't hurt just to practice with the flux core in the garage no wind

 

[vernonwright]

welder

Ihave same welder .there good welders does good job

 

[CB-Man]

I have the Hobart 140.

 

[fester]

I'm sure you have been told this but, You can't get it too clean, your grinder is your best friend. Slag, rust and oil ruin more welds than poor technique. When I welded for General Dynamics on The F-111 project (gonna tell my age shortly) they had a box of cotton gloves at every weld station, you were expected to use them. Every time you changed metal type you were expected to change tungsten, collets and cups. We had separate containers for each. Denatured alcohol was part of your tools.