Yeah, I almost blacked out one time after welding that junk when I was new to the game. If you have to weld galvanized, try to grind as much of the coating off as possible and make sure you have good ventilation. Rock on man, I'll be in the Artist's Alley again all weekend!
Incredible Moron. respect your tools. A nice gift from an old school and extremely torquey disc sander: That's better... by Brown Dog Welding, on Flickr Nothing serious, it just hurts like hell! If you're going to be at AutoRama in Detroit this weekend, stop down and say hi! I'll have my art on display, I'm also bringing a few weld samples if you wanna check them out. I made this to hold some key chains: Bulletproof Key Chain Holder by Brown Dog Welding, on Flickr some more welds. weldorama by Brown Dog Welding, on Flickr weldorama by Brown Dog Welding, on Flickr weldorama by Brown Dog Welding, on Flickr weldorama by Brown Dog Welding, on Flickr The rest of the set I uploaded this morning: http://www.flickr.com/photos/browndogwelding/sets/72157626119810028/with/5470758899/
I try and try and can not get my welds to look even close. I would love to see it done in person (how they are moving their wand to get the nice evenly sized/ spaced welds (mine look like I drag it across and I am doing small arcs or circles during my mig welding) whats the secret to making them look like they are a row of dimes laid over each other, those look almost like they are an engine turned metal.. not welds.. so perfect
i know the feeling i thought the drill press had stopped, went to grab the belt to adjust it and it hadn't. ran my finger through the pulley
Sorry about the finger! I know the feeling! About the welds. Is that MIG? i'd say TIG, but lateley ive seen Skoty's MIG welds and look as good. If mig, could you explain how in hell? Ive tried many diff. settings, but cant seem to make the this happen. It always look like a continuos bead, really tidy, good borders, penetration, and it kinda looks nice, but cant seem to pull this "tack after tack" look.
It's all tig. I'm doped up on pain meds and getting ready for autorama, I'll try to post a little about the techniques I use next week. There are a few ways to do it. Had a lot of people ask for vids, may do that soon. Welder Series has some nice vids showing how he does his magic. Same with mig, every line/ripple you see is a freeze line. Once you can read the puddle, you can really start to manipulate the bead.
^^^ thanx, i'd appreciate that^^^ I'll look into welder series too. BTW, if i wave making a larger bead i can sorta pull the look, but if i go in a straight line that is a diffrent story. I guess its an estetic thing most. Or does this kind of weldin makes it stronger too? talkin mig.
Some guys say you don't want to weave, and in some cases they are right. But typically it's all about puddle control...if you don't know what you are doing you'll get the puddle too wet and lose control, or not hot enough and get cold spots. When I did certs for the spray pulse mig, it says on the procedure not to weave past a certain width for that reason. The instructor told me to try weaving if I'd like, so I did multiple plates both ways. They all passed X-ray. Doing typically short arc mig I like to have the heat "normal", wire speed a little "slow" and then I move relatively slow. I'm not rushing, and I'm making sure the puddle is hot and penetrating.
^^Seen the vids^^ wild stuff. I wish i had enuff money to experiment w/ my machine for days! But cost of gas and cost of wire keep me on a limited amount of material to scrap! So basically i experiment on the stuff i work on. Mind you im talkin exterior aspect, as of today my welds are strong. I would just like them to be more eye appealing.
Where there is a will, there's a way. No art the last month, but I'm able to weld at least. Still hurts like hell, can't really use it at all. But it's healing. Getting my groove back...aka not bad for a gimp by Brown Dog Welding, on Flickr
Yeah, I usually like to run a root before the wider weaves to make sure I'm burning into the corner. Let me know how it goes!
The one on the right is the piece above, and the one on the left is a "root" pass walked in. These were both done just laying the wire in the puddle. Side by side, a tight "root" versus a wider weave, walking the cup. #welding by Brown Dog Welding, on Flickr
What I was taught was to look at the cup and electrode from the side and the tip of the electrode and the inside edges of the cup should form an equilateral triangle or shorter in normal situations. One trick to use if you aren't using a lense is to use a #8 cup with a small piece of fine steel wool rolled into a ball and pushed over the electrode into the cup and the gas set to about 18 cfh. It might take a little experimentation but it's always worked for me.
Heres my stuff, not that great im only a learner. Had some trouble with the gas welding when I tried tacking the 2 pieces ended up making holes and made an ugly mess trying to fill them but my actual pass was good. Both of these without filler rod, I am only a learner. My tig My gas
I started a blog last weekend, got a few posts up so far: http://watchtheprettylight.tumblr.com/ It'll be mostly welding stuff, with other junk mixed in. If you've got any questions, suggestions, or tips, be sure to let me know! You can leave comments, and there's also "Submit" and "Ask a Question" tabs in the header. I know a lot of people ask about the walking the cup and the other weaves, I'll try to do some vids and/or pictorials at some point this summer. Maybe I can get a couple of other guys like DW, Bass,and Paco to do a couple "Guest" posts at some point to share some of their magic Either way, let me know what you think. I'm not claiming to know everything, and there a lot of guys out there with a ton more experience than I have.....but I do get asked a lot of questions and figured people might dig this. Shooooot.....
If anybody around the Huntsville AL area needs a welding intern or part-time welding help, shoot me a PM. The welding class I've been taking for the last 2 1/2 years got shut down. I'm looking at my options, including enrolling in a "real" welding technology degree program at one of the local community colleges, but in the short term I'd like to keep welding so I don't lose what I have learned. Thanks.
yah this is how i do it normally. Ive attached a couple of pics of beads ive done last week, sorry for the crappy quality but its the only camera i have, as you can see is "clean", but i cant manage to make the single drops show drastically like on yours or Skoty's. Any idea what im doin wrong? I cant see pics from host sites cause i have a web filter that blocks most sites, im at work, and i'd like to know what runnin a root is. Thanx soooo much.
The "drop" look comes from the freeze line of the puddle. You can do it a few ways. You can run half moons or circular motions, or you can move-pause-move. I like to move-pause, but I'm also moving the torch a bit to get the bead profile I want. You've got to be careful doing it this way, it's easier to get cold spots than if you're just going straight and steady. But if you can see the puddle and read what it's doing, it shouldnt be an issue. When I say root in that instance, it's more of a first pass. It was gonna be a larger weld, so to insure penetration and fusion where the two plates come together I ran a tighter, smaller bead first. I think technically the "root" is where the bottom of the weld meets the base metal, I usually use it when referring to the weld in a multi-pass weld that digs into the base metals. It is hard to see in those pics, but I'd say your movements are too tight to get that "look". Nothing wrong with that, they look fine. If you want the dime look, exaggerate the movements a little more, and make sure each move is even.
Those welds are as gorgeous as a well put together rod. I wish I was a welder, that stuff you guys do is art, plain and simple.
The Jalopy Journal
