ezalycasaid

Ive been welding MIG for about... 30 mins of actual trigger time. Just wanting to get some info/opinions on how Im doing so far. First pic is of 1/4" steel plate with .030 wire and co2/25 mix. Second is of 1/8" steel with .030 wire, co2 25 mix, and vertical. Went from top to bottom, this was my 4th ever attemp at vert welding. So what do u guys think, am I headed in the right direction? Lol would u trust my welds?

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

only one way to know for sure.

weld tee joints on one side and break them and look at things.

then show us those pictures.

Mig welding is so easy to have welds that look ok to the eye but are nothing but cold lap from the root out to the toes.

:jessica: what power source are you using ??

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

Learn to stick. Horizontal. Vertical. Overhead. Once you can do that the rest is easy.

:wabbit2:

rattlewagon

The first one looks pretty good.

The second one doesnt look like it penetrated the metal enough, dont think I would trust that one.

iselloil

looks are not as importand as peniatration.

nothingbetter

can we see the back side so we can judge the penetration?

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

You should listen to Wabbit once you master and understand stick welding so you can read the puddle and make corrections as needed .

The other processes are just a matter of practice.:jessica:

nothingbetter

I won't get into technique as there are lots of threads on that. But in your second picture, the one with the tape measure, on the far left side of the pic, the lower weld has melted in and is less round than the upper weld. Comparing the two I can see that the upper weld doesn't have proper penetration where as the lower weld is better, but could still use a bit more penetration. It also looks like you don't have much of a heat effect zone. That is also a good indication that you need more heat. If you acheive that through wire speed, voltage, or stinger speed is up to you.

What are you hoping to weld mostly? .03 is pretty hefty wire for body panels.

ezalycasaid

Ive got 4 hrs of stick time on an old 230V AC Forney C5 plug and play. Haha and your right mig seems to be almost cheating compared to ac stick.

SCToy

Hard to tell on my phone, but my advice for you is to physically test your welds. Butt weld some plate with a backer bar, grind the backer off and put that sucker in a vice and bend it 180 degrees. You'll learn a whole lot by the time you get that down. Then move on to the other positions.

Looks can and will deceive you!

ezalycasaid

Im still at it. Got some pics from work the other day building a rack system. First pic is 1/4" to 3/16" its about 6"s long. Second is a short and sweet one about 2"s long, 3/16" to 1/16".

SoCal4Running

Funnest part of welding school for me was the destructive testing.

Kept a few of my slices that were acid etched and clear coated for paper weights around the shop. It's a great way to see the penetration.... Or the lack there of.

vexzer

From what I have seen it is easier to control proper penetration by welding up a seam rather than down. Welding down is easy to drag a good looking puddle with little penetration.