My first weld

[StealthTJ]

Ok, I played around with the (new) welder for a little bit today.. This is the first time that I've welded, except for accidentally touching a wrench to the battery terminal (in a car), while the other end was touching the frame
I was just playing with some scrap. The biggest problem I had was seeing much of anything other than the arc..(4 x 5, gold, #9, inside my garage)

Anyway, here are a couple of photos:







Go easy, but tell me what I'm doing wrong.



Fred

[Timzjatl]

That doesn't look half bad, good work. The key to good welding is good prep and lots of practice. Keep it up
Tim

Also, with that hot rolled steel plate, and tube (the stuff with the black coating) it is very important to get that off and down to bare metal. I can't tell wether you did or not
Tim

[chadjans]

Fred: you are starting your welding experince with one of the hardest beads to lay. A corner weld is the hardest to see and to be consistant on. Go get some flat plate and just try to lay some beads in a row that run as close to parallel as you can get them. This will help you become more consistant. Pratice is your best friend though.

Chad

[Krash80]

Not sure if this is good advice or not, but whenever possible when laying a bead in a corner i clamp the two pieces together then turn the piece so the weld is almost flat and the pieces are sticking up at the same angle. So i would weld those two pieces in a V instead of an L so i'm not fighting with gravity at all. Seems to work well for me in corners.

-Ron-

[Allen]

Fred,

I see inconsistent travel speed, inconsistent stick out, and inconsistent arc placement. Other than that, it looks decent. I have seen much, much worse first welds.

Do not rush the puddle. Let it fill in and flow.

Forget the advice to weld in a "V". You will never, or it will take a lot longer, to learn how to properly weld and how to properly set your machine. A flat weld isn't difficult at all.....it's the most commen weld you'll make. And what do you do then when you MUST weld out of that position, or make a simple flat weld? You put in a subpar weld because you never learned how to do otherwise. Trust me here. As for the comment regarding gravity? That's easily overcome with machine settings and/or electrode selection. I explained to Ron how to overcome that when I maet him on the 4th, but apparently he was so enamored with my presence, everything I told him went in one ear and out the other.

First things first, what kind of and what size MIG are we welding with? Did you pick up a plasma?

It appears your welder is set pretty good; i.e., voltage and amps/wirespeed. I see good sections of weld, and bad, where the weld went cold.....lumpy, little penetration, the moltent wire just basically melted and laid on top of your base metal, never fusing with it. Looks like you got your nozzle a little far away in those sections.

Here is some advice. Hold the gun at approximately a 45* angle to the joint, and a 45* forward.....your gun will run ahead of the weld and pull the puddle.

Do not weld with any sort of pattern.....keep the wire in the root of the joint.

Drag your nozzle right on the piece part. You may have trouble with getting your nozzle stuck in the puddle, so be aware/careful of this newbie mistake.

Also, weld in short 3" increments. It's much easier to make a nice, even, short weld than a long continuous weld.....not only that, but if you make a mistake, it's much easier to remember in a 3" span than a 12" span exactly where it occurred so you can see how it affected your weld.

Sorry I didn't get back to you with machine advice.....I got busy and sidetracked.

If you don't like the 9, go with a 10. I weld with a 9 for everything except TIG and HD fab at work using 3/32 wire and 38+ volts. I started with a 10.

////--------\
||||-----0--|
\\\\--------/

That's roughly what the puddle should look like. Approximately where the "0" is should be your arc, and wire.

Anyway, shoot some new pics when you get some new welds.

Allen

[StealthTJ]

Allen, I think what you see is what I had happening..
I was playing around with different amounts of stick outs and travel speeds, and one some, where the bead is weavy and up the side, I simply could not see what I was doing

Is the better section of weld right where the angled pieces are sitting on the flat metal plate, and a little to the left of the edge..
Is that what I'm striving for ??

Regarding the plasma cutter and welder, I got the Miller Spectrum 375 Cutmate plasma cutter and the Millermatic 175 welder.
I had the welder set at the recommended starting settings for the wire (0.30), gas (Argon/CO2) and metal thickness.

I haven't fired up the plasma cutter yet.. I want to get an inline air drier/water separator.. I'll probably pick that up on the way home tonight.

In your little drawing, showing where the wire/arc shoud be placed, what is the direction of travel.. I'm assuming that I want to keep the arc more towards the front of the puddle, than the rear..

I bought a #10 last night, and will try it out, maybe tonight.. I'll see which of the two that I like the best (at least for now)..

Thanks,
Fred

[Allen]

Left to right.

Allen