Show me your Welds!

[bmorefj40]

Hey Guys,
Been spending the last few weeks learning with my HH187 and reading online about welding. I've seen some other sites with "Show me your welds" threads but didn't immediately find one here, so I thought I would start one for my benefit and the others just getting into it.

I finally spent enough time burning holes in metal and laying metal slugs on s**** to show the welding masters how I'm doing.

Take a look and feel free to criticize. thanks for looking.
Nick

 

[bmorefj40]

more welds

 

[bmorefj40]

last two

 

[e9999]

I could show you my welds, but then I'd have to kill you so you don't either a) mention them to anybody or b) die from laughter...




































sadly, they're not as pretty as yours...

 

[bmorefj40]

Thanks e9999. but obviously i have whole of set of welding blooper pics that didn't make this post.

Guess I should have also mentioned my settings on the HH187 if I'm looking for feedback.
Tap 6
wire speed 60ish
solid wire .30
Gas 25/75 at 15cfh
pushing the gun in either c-pattern or tiny circles. don't know which one I am more comfortable with yet.

Metal is 3/16" A36 Steel

 

[zebrabeefj40]

Have you tried hammering the welded pieces to see if the welds hold yet? Or maybe cut through a weld to make sure the parts are fully fused together? A little destructive testing will tell you a great deal about the quality of your welds.



Nick

 

[Pin_Head]

A little destructive testing will tell you a great deal about the quality of your welds.



Nick

X2 Bend them over to check for incomplete fusion and other flaws. You can't see these problems by looking at the face of the bead. From what you can see, it looks like the travel speed is a little high and inconsistent, like jumping from puddle to puddle. Try keeping the travel speed even and steady.

 

[lowtops]

Your welds look good. Tighten up your "c" pattern and your welds will look great. The second pic down look at the top weld "toe" (where your weld metal meets the base metal) you want that to be as straight a line as possible. Watch the weld puddle, slow down a little and tighten up your "c". What position were these welded in? Last two look like vertical.

Run your gas between 25 and 35 cfm.

What bothers me about some welding equipment is they don't give actual wire feed speed, but rather an arbitrary number setting. If you want to know the actual IPM (Inch Per Minute), hold the mig trigger for 10 seconds and then measure the length of wire you have mutiply by 6 and you have your IPM.

Here is the website where I found the above info: Welding Tips and Tricks - TIG, MIG, Stick and a pantload of other info Be prepared to hang out there for awhile there is a lot of info there.

I'll try to add pics of my welds later.

 

[Wile E Coyote]

I agree that tightening up your C's and slowing down could both help, but not consistently so. Meaning, you show the results of both errors, but in different welds.
From post #1:
Pic 1 looks a bit like a series of zap-zap-zap (spot welds) doesn't it? Tighten up the weave here.
Pic #3 has distinct V's...this could be excessive travel speed.
This is nitpicky, as I'm talking about a mm or two, and a fraction of a second.
Look at post #2, pic #3, the weld on left leg of the angle looks like the most technically correct GMAW weld bead, ie 'best'.

Have you checked out ZTFab's welds over on WeldingWeb™ - Welding forum for pros and enthusiasts - Powered by vBulletin Many can be found in the 'MIG like TIG' thread, in the MIG, TIG, Stick, and Oxy-fuel sub-forum.
Edit: Oh and BTW, you are 75% there friend. Those welds do look respectable.

 

[Pin_Head]

Here is a picture:

1/4 inch plate, outside corner weld. 1/8 inch 7018 at 125 amps DCRP, I don't have a MIG welder; just stick/TIG. I took a comunity college course many years ago in OA/stick welding.

 

[Junk]

Hey Guys,
Been spending the last few weeks learning with my HH187 and reading online about welding. I've seen some other sites with "Show me your welds" threads but didn't immediately find one here, so I thought I would start one for my benefit and the others just getting into it.

I finally spent enough time burning holes in metal and laying metal slugs on s**** to show the welding masters how I'm doing.

Take a look and feel free to criticize. thanks for looking.
Nick

Don't know what anyone else thinks, but to me it looks like you could use more heat. On scrap, I'd take it up a notch and scale back on the feed. Looks just too piled on top, but that's me unejitamucated epinions.

 

[lowtops]

Before I post anymore comments I guess I should qualify my statements. I am not a professional welder. I have 3 certifications from some classes I have taken but no real world, professional experience. Take from my comments what you will.

1st pic- You want weld pics, I got weld pics. All of the lap joints are from my first semester in class and are rough looking. The plate welds are more recent and look much better. All of the bends are projects for grades. If you will notice the top two in the right hand corner split. They are both root bends. I have never had a complete break but a split as bad as those is still a major failure. Also, the two bends on the far right, second row down are my 2G certification bends. The root did not pass. I know what I did wrong and if I could do it again I know I would pass. The pipe in the lower right corner is stick and TIG. The weld on the left was welded in the 3G (vertical) position, 6010 root, 7018 cover pass. The second weld from the left was welded in the 6G (45 degree) position with a TIG root pass(screw a 6010 rod), 7018 cover.

2nd pic- Tig weld, SS, Butt joint, using a back up gas, no amperage control just pull torch away to break the arc. It's almost impossible to not have a pinhole if you don't have amperage control, but that's how the machines are set up at school. All in all, I love TIG welding.

3rd pic- 3/8 plate, 1/8" root, 1/8" landing, vertical, wire speed- 280, Amps- 20. This one is not bad. I could use more weld reinforcement and on the left I stopped and then started again and did not cover my stop very well.

I have more pics but not enough room. I should re-up my star I guess.

 

[bmorefj40]

cool, thanks for the tips, advice, and extra pics. Hopefully this is as helpful to all the other newb welders as it is for me.

I did try some destructive testing- but very limited to the tools I have on hand. Need to get a vice still. I would weld a biscuit on a square tube, lay it on the ground, stand on the tube and go back and forth with BFH. metal bent, but the weld did not break. But I hardly doubt I was 'stressing' the weld joint enough to really test it.

lowtops- looks great. wish mine looked like that. all in due time. just need to get back in the garage. I'm trying to get as much time in as possible since our baby is due at the end of this month. My wife has been very supportive of the hobby. "Get it in now, you won't have this kind of time later'. So, every free moment is down in the garage. Need to go get some more scrap metal...

 

[lowtops]

bmorefj40
If you look closely at my lap joints you will notice that your welds already look better than that. I was more or less nit picking your welds because you asked. If you had showed me these as a finished part I would not have said anything. I think you have good penetration and that matters much more than looks.

Get some metal long enough so that you can weld a 6" continuous bead. This gives you time to correct any mistakes and develop the muscle memory to do it right in the future. In class we start with two 3/8" thick by 6" wide by 6"-8" long plate and weld them together. Then cut that weld out and weld them together again, and again, and again. The third pic is an example of that. I probably burned 10 welds on that one piece and it was getting to small to cut.

If I were you instead of picking scrap metal to practice on I would get some material to build a welding table (to practice on). You have enough welding skill to produce a quality table. You will be amazed at how much better it is to work on a metal table. You can clamp to the table instead of the work and you can position and tack in the position you want to weld in. It's kind of like doing your first birf job, it's a right of passage. I built mine for less than $50.

HTH, sorry about the rambling.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

bmorefj40, What brand and model wire are you using?
Welds are looking very nice. Your gun moves smooth and straight. You are on your way to perfect with a little fine tunning.
Nice stick by Pin_Head, you dont need a mig
I wont embarrass myself by posting pictures

 

[73fj]

Welding Tips and Tricks - TIG, MIG, Stick and a pantload of other info

That is a pretty cool site.

As far as your welding I agree with Junk, lord help me , you need a little more heat.

 

[liljlandon]

Here's a weld from a header I modified for my mini.

110V Hobart MIG welder.

 

[yotawheeler]

Machine is a MM251 running Ar/Co2 mix and .030 S6 wire...
there are some of mine...if i thought there was any doubt as to if it were strong enough i would have put another pass on that as its pretty flat...but if that axle gets bent with the truss....it will be the least of my worries (truss is 2x4x1/4) i dont really have much for current pics, maybe ill take some at school, im going to school for my "B" level welding...so a whole lotta pipe and at some point some tig...which i am looking forward to

 

[fj40charles]

I just picked up a really nice LONGEVITY machine called the Weldall 200PI! The machine can weld any kind of material being that it can be set into either AC or DC mode! The machine is a multipurpose machine, having 3 functions: TIG, Plasma or Stick. it has an AC function for all 3 settings! I just got the machine so I don't have any good pics of any cuts or welds yet, but I will post some up for criticism. Here are the specs on the machine:

Specifications:

General Specifications:
Genuine Infineon IGBT based electronics
Operating Voltage: 220/230/240 VAC 50/60Hz Input
Open Circuit Voltage: 60-80V
60% Duty Cycle @ Rated Amperages
Weight: 68 lbs
Thermal Overload Protection with Large Size Cooling Fan
Size: 21.5" L x 8 3/4"W x 15.25" H (with handles )inches

20-50AMP Plasma Cutting Specifications @ 65psi:
3" Per minute @ 3/4 " Steel (Severance Cut )
7" Per minute @ 3/4" Thick Steel
17" Per minute @ 1/2 Thick Steel Minimum requirement for air compressor: (4.0 CFM)
Aluminum Cut Up to 1/2" in AC plasma cutting!

5-200AMP AC/DC TIG Features:
Up Slope, Down Slop Control: 0-10 Seconds
Post Flow Control: 0-25 Seconds
Base Current Control: 5-250 Amps
Peak Pulse Current Control: 5- 250 Amps
Pulse Frequency Control: .5-25 Hz
Pulse Width Control: 10%-90%
AC Frequency Control: 20-100 Hz
AC Balance Control: 30-70% (for Aluminum)
Aluminum Weld Up to 1/2"

20-160AMP Stick Features:
Arc Force Controls the amperage from 20-160AMP

What is Included?

• WeldAll 200PI PLASMA CUTTER WELDER
• S45 Pilot Arc Cutting Torch - 14ft
• Air Cooled TIG Welder Torch - 14ft
• 300 AMP Stick Holder - 14ft
• Earth/Ground Clamp - 14ft
• Built In Air Regulator and Regulator Adjustment
• Air/Argon Hose
• Foot Pedal - 8ft Cord
• Argon Regulator
• Consumables: 1 piece tips, 1 piece electrodes, 1 piece gas diffuser, 1 piece shield cups

WeldAll 200PI | 200AMP AC/DC TIG/STICK ALUMINUM WELDER & 50AMP PLASMA CUTTER MULTIPROCESS WELDER WITH IGBT TECHNOLOGY

I am really excited about this buy! I have been anticipating the purchase for some time now and have finally pulled the trigger. I just got the machine like I said, so I will need a bit of practice before I can put down anything worth while, but here is some pics of this machine cutting and welding from the LONGEVITY forum:

cuts through 1/2 inch plate of aluminum in AC!

DC tig weld!

This thread is about your welds and not what the advertiser is doing. This looks like spam to me.

 

[bmorefj40]

Well here is the update- i know, a year later. But we introduced a baby into our family and a new business, so time for welding has been slim. Almost finished my first project so i thought i would share. I live in the city and two cars in our garage is pushing it, not counting my tools on top of it. So, I built a welding table / cart / cutting station / tool storage for all my metal working needs.

A little info. It's all built out of 1/8" 2x2 tube. and yes, it was completely overkill, but at least i know that for the future The top is 3'x4' x 1/4"- i would have liked thicker but it wasn't in the budget, but if decide to swap it out later, I know the base can handle it. I used 5" wheels, so it rolls easily with one hand. The final table height is around 40", which might be high for some, but perfect for me given my preferred welding position. I have HH187 on the bottom, Cutmaster 52 on the top, tank in the middle with a motorguard filter behind it, chop saw on the right and bench grinder below it. An old Craftsman (USA Made) vise sits on top but not bolted down yet since I still searching for something better. I waiting on paint until I finish torch / wire / grinder hangers, which I will figure out after I use it a couple of times and see where I want everything.

Overall, this was a great project, a lot of fun, and made me much more confident in my welding abilities given that I burned though about 3 small spools and one tank just on this table (it's fully welded all the way around. I can now start a front bumper and maybe a tire carrier down the road.

thanks for looking.