Welding Question

[green96taco]

Originally Posted by NorcalPR

Wow, that much flow?

Usually at work, with no draft, I run it down to 15-18 with zero issues. If the door is open, and there's a small breeze, I'll bump it up to 25. But then again, it's all preference and how your welds are comming out.

Are you having the nozzle pointed back towards the weld, or is the nozzle pointed towards the metal? Usually with a clean tip, I'll lay the nozzle back towards the weld, and lay the nozzle right on the metal. I guess the tip would be at the most 3/8" away from the metal.

For the love of god, please tell me your arent dragging your weld with a MIG????Thats for stick welding.

Im a steel fabricator by profession, we run our gas at 35psi constantly(unless I have a fan on then its more). I keep the nozzle close to the weld and make sure to push the weld. Using a welding curtain to block wind is usually a good idea as well.

[NorcalPR]

Originally Posted by green96taco

For the love of god, please tell me your arent dragging your weld with a MIG????Thats for stick welding.

Im a steel fabricator by profession, we run our gas at 35psi constantly(unless I have a fan on then its more). I keep the nozzle close to the weld and make sure to push the weld. Using a welding curtain to block wind is usually a good idea as well.

Me too. I've done plenty of welding at my work, and my brother who works for a steel building fabricator has also worked on my rig with me.

Running the tip of the nozzle back towards the weld has the shield gas shield the weld. I've never had to run above 30cfm for welding, even outdoors.

[FASTTRUCK RYAN]

Fabricator smabricator. I weld outdoors, 25psi, torch pointing the direction of travel. use as much heat and wire as possible without undercutting.

[devinsixtyseven]

Push or drag depending on how you need to control the puddle and the depth of penetration. I usually drag, unless it's just not possible to get a stable angle with the gun to finish the weld by dragging. But theory & practice are so different ...know what I need to do, screw it up anyway.

If I'm dragging the gun, I can easily put the arc right down in the root, not so easy to do that with a push.

Use the two techniques similar to how you use uphill vs downhill MIG.

[FASTTRUCK RYAN]

Originally Posted by MandAtaco

Question for some of you more experienced welders than I. I've got a Miller 180 mig first off. Sometimes when I'm welding, I'll have a nice pool, seems like good penetration, but when I let off the trigger, my weld will grow. The best way I can describe it is I'll end up with a nipple sticking up where my pool stopped. Do I have a setting off or something? I've been trying to search the internet to find something describing my issue, but haven't found anything. Could I be welding to hot or cold? Thanks.

I just read the question again. I am 99% positive that your problem is contamination. are you using those rock hard grinding wheels? they love to leave deposits of abrasives in the metal. are you using the flap disks? they work the best , but if you don't wipe or knock off the little bits of metal that stick like magnets, you will end up with that nipple you were talking about. the tiny little pieces of metal flake will cause a nipple to grow about an 1/8" outward when you stop the weld and little bubbles during the weld. Not a gas issue. wait, you are using a 75/25 mix right?

[FASTTRUCK RYAN]

Originally Posted by redrunnertc

you guys are saying psi but mean scfm. The regulator adjusts the flow not the pressure.

some regulators do read in psi on both the tank side and on the out flow side. It is simply giving an outflow pressure read. Cfm is volume from a certain pressure, psi is a pressure at a certain volume. Two different way to meter flow.

[Josh]

Originally Posted by FASTTRUCK RYAN

some regulators do read in psi on both the tank side and on the out flow side. It is simply giving an outflow pressure read. Cfm is volume from a certain pressure, psi is a pressure at a certain volume. Two different way to meter flow.

all welders except for oxy/acetlyene use flow rate as thats what matters. The pressure gauge tells you how much gas you have left in the tank.

What is on a welding tank is a combination pressure regulator and flow meter and only the meter is adjustable.

Flow rate through the meter is a measure through a orifice and the pressure differential caused by the change in area is correlated to flow rate. The regulator or tank side is set at a fixed pressure as that is what the flow meter is calibrated for. The gauge you see on the tank side tells you whats remaining in the tank.

[marco99trd]

30-35 CFM is the correct setting, you can also try using different mixes of gas sometimes you need different gas for varying material.

[marco99trd]

Originally Posted by FASTTRUCK RYAN

some regulators do read in psi on both the tank side and on the out flow side. It is simply giving an outflow pressure read. Cfm is volume from a certain pressure, psi is a pressure at a certain volume. Two different way to meter flow.

i've never seen a regulator that reads PSI that doesn't exsist, they only read CFM for your gas flow.

[toyota_tacoma]

Is welding easy to learn? Most people say it's pretty easy! At one time I was going to take 2 classes, gas welding and wire feeding, but decided to bail because of school... I regret dropping those classes... Wish I had gone to those classes!

[caddypercent]

Originally Posted by toyota_tacoma

Is welding easy to learn? Most people say it's pretty easy! At one time I was going to take 2 classes, gas welding and wire feeding, but decided to bail because of school... I regret dropping those classes... Wish I had gone to those classes!

haha! despite what all the big shot fabricators on here may have you believing, welding is relatively easy skill to learn . it is just making those welds look nice is what takes practice, practice, practice.

the hardest part is keeping all the different wires, and gases and other shit straight.

if you are really interested head down to your local community college, they should have a beginners welding class you can take. probably be a mix of stick electrode and MIG (wire).


(i weld/fabricate 10hrs a day, sometimes 6 days a week. and i still learn new shit everyday)

[FASTTRUCK RYAN]

Originally Posted by marco99trd

i've never seen a regulator that reads PSI that doesn't exsist, they only read CFM for your gas flow.

i will send a picture of mine.

[devinsixtyseven]

I mostly agree w/Caddy...welding is easy to learn for some people.

If you have a good work ethic, prefer results to cosmetics, are detail- and process-oriented, then you have the potential to be a very good welder.

If you're laying a bead thinking about how it looks, or think it's easy before you've spent a year practicing, don't want to deal with little details, and don't care to learn the steps to take to lay a good bead without piddling along through it like they do on the chopper shows, then you will never be a good welder.

Unfortunately I firmly believe that most people these days fall in the latter group, hence the rise of idiotic cosmetics-first MIG welding techniques, pride taken in booger welds, and all the leg-humping from a lot of people on 4WD forums whenever they see anyone posting anything with melted metal on it, regardless how dubious or awful the welds may be.

Welding takes patience, thought, and common sense, all of which seem to be in short supply. If you possess those traits and wish to apply them to welding, then you have the potential to be a good welder. If not, and you honestly need to establish that for yourself, then you are setting yourself up for several thousand dollars' worth of mistakes.

-Sean

[hytenor]

Originally Posted by devinsixtyseven

I mostly agree w/Caddy...welding is easy to learn for some people.

If you have a good work ethic, prefer results to cosmetics, are detail- and process-oriented, then you have the potential to be a very good welder.

If you're laying a bead thinking about how it looks, or think it's easy before you've spent a year practicing, don't want to deal with little details, and don't care to learn the steps to take to lay a good bead without piddling along through it like they do on the chopper shows, then you will never be a good welder.

Unfortunately I firmly believe that most people these days fall in the latter group, hence the rise of idiotic cosmetics-first MIG welding techniques, pride taken in booger welds, and all the leg-humping from a lot of people on 4WD forums whenever they see anyone posting anything with melted metal on it, regardless how dubious or awful the welds may be.

Welding takes patience, thought, and common sense, all of which seem to be in short supply. If you possess those traits and wish to apply them to welding, then you have the potential to be a good welder. If not, and you honestly need to establish that for yourself, then you are setting yourself up for several thousand dollars' worth of mistakes.

-Sean

well said

[Josh]

Originally Posted by FASTTRUCK RYAN

i will send a picture of mine.

If yours only reads in PSI and youre mig or tig welding then you have the wrong setup.

[FASTTRUCK RYAN]

Originally Posted by Josh

If yours only reads in PSI and youre mig or tig welding then you have the wrong setup.

iT'S THE ONE THAT CAME WITH MY MILLER 220. i DOUBT THEY GAVE ME THE WRONG ONE.

[Josh]

Originally Posted by FASTTRUCK RYAN

iT'S THE ONE THAT CAME WITH MY MILLER 220. i DOUBT THEY GAVE ME THE WRONG ONE.

Does it happen to say calibrated for .XXX orifice for X gas on the dial face?

If you have an older lower end miller/lincoln package setup then they came with what was essentially a pressure regulator with a fixed calibrated orifice and you did the flow rate conversion in your head or with tables.

The problem with that is, just saying XX psi does no one any good as you need to know what gas youre running and the orifice size attached to the regulator.

[FASTTRUCK RYAN]

Originally Posted by Josh

Does it happen to say calibrated for .XXX orifice for X gas on the dial face?

If you have an older lower end miller/lincoln package setup then they came with what was essentially a pressure regulator with a fixed calibrated orifice and you did the flow rate conversion in your head or with tables.

The problem with that is, just saying XX psi does no one any good as you need to know what gas youre running and the orifice size attached to the regulator.

IT DEFINITELY IS NOT A LOW END MACHINE, BUT NOT THE MOST RECENT EITHER.IT IS THE MILLERMATIC 220. I DIDN'T DO ANY CONVERSION, ITS THE GAUGE THE MACHINE WAS SUPPLIED WITH FROM MILLER IN 2004. i SET IT @25 AND RUN IT WITHOUT INCIDENT .EVER.

[toyota_tacoma]

yeah I was going to take those classes at a local community college. Tuition is a lot of money, the college wants an arm and a leg for classes and then you have to buy all your gear. It sucks! Maybe I should go out and buy a wire feeder and teach myself to weld. Like you said it's prett easy to learn!

[FASTTRUCK RYAN]

Originally Posted by toyota_tacoma

yeah i was going to take those classes at a local community college. Tuition is a lot of money, the college wants an arm and a leg for classes and then you have to buy all your gear. It sucks! Maybe i should go out and buy a wire feeder and teach myself to weld. Like you said it's prett easy to learn!

when i was learning, wait, i still learn------ when i first started welding, i used to cut through practice welds to check out the inner weld quality and penetration.

[Krudge]

Yeah its called porosity...Its caused by conamiation improper shielding...

[Josh]

Originally Posted by FASTTRUCK RYAN

IT DEFINITELY IS NOT A LOW END MACHINE, BUT NOT THE MOST RECENT EITHER.IT IS THE MILLERMATIC 220. I DIDN'T DO ANY CONVERSION, ITS THE GAUGE THE MACHINE WAS SUPPLIED WITH FROM MILLER IN 2004. i SET IT @25 AND RUN IT WITHOUT INCIDENT .EVER.

the fact remains that psi is the wrong measurement to be reading when dealing with welders.

Ive never actually heard of a millermatic 220 to be honest, ive heard of the 200, 210, 250, 211, 215 etc. But if it comes standard with a complete package and is not available as a stand alone machine, that usually indicates its on the lower end of the miller line up and marketed toward the home garage, light duty fabricator and beginner with a lower duty cycle.

I am not saying its a bad unit at all, i only buy miller when i shop for a welder and all of their units are built well and built to last.

But if you bought yours in 2004 and it does not have a CFM reading or a fixed orifice pressure regulator you are using the wrong type of gauge. But if youre just using one type of gas mix and dont vary much in steel or environment it dosent really matter as you dont need to adjust much as far as the gas flow is concerned.

[devinsixtyseven]

Originally Posted by toyota_tacoma

yeah I was going to take those classes at a local community college. Tuition is a lot of money, the college wants an arm and a leg for classes and then you have to buy all your gear. It sucks! Maybe I should go out and buy a wire feeder and teach myself to weld. Like you said it's prett easy to learn!

The classes are worth it. You can certainly buy a MIG and start on your own, but there's a good chance you'll teach yourself poor technique simply out of ignorance. This is one thing where there's no substitute for an instructor. Check out the resources online, take that welding class, buy the gear:

Gloves 20$
Cheap helmet 40$ (non auto)
Brush 10$
Hammer 5$
Sleeves 5$
Cap 3$

Plus jeans, boots and a couple old t-shirts, sweatshirts, or whatever. Make it work on a low budget and keep in mind you're probably in the same boat as everyone else in the class as far as experience and budget.

Don't buy a welder until you've taken some classes and have an idea whether you'll be any good at it or not. If it works out, save about a grand and a half for a welder and other gear, and get something good. Fabrication is a bit of a commitment.

...Though if you decide to put the torch down someday, the welder won't get pissy at you and leave with half your shit ...

-Sean

[FASTTRUCK RYAN]

Originally Posted by Josh

the fact remains that psi is the wrong measurement to be reading when dealing with welders.

Ive never actually heard of a millermatic 220 to be honest, ive heard of the 200, 210, 250, 211, 215 etc. But if it comes standard with a complete package and is not available as a stand alone machine, that usually indicates its on the lower end of the miller line up and marketed toward the home garage, light duty fabricator and beginner with a lower duty cycle.

I am not saying its a bad unit at all, i only buy miller when i shop for a welder and all of their units are built well and built to last.

But if you bought yours in 2004 and it does not have a CFM reading or a fixed orifice pressure regulator you are using the wrong type of gauge. But if youre just using one type of gas mix and dont vary much in steel or environment it dosent really matter as you dont need to adjust much as far as the gas flow is concerned.

I FEEL LIKE A TOTAL JACK-ASS.... IT'S A 210, AND THE MINUSCULE WRITING DOES IN FACT SAY "CFM" .

[toytechproject]

I would say its probably from wind? This happens to me all the time when I am welding outside, it will be fine but the end of the weld will do that from the slight breeze

[OR97taco]

I took a couple of classes, and found myself skipping class, so I could go work in my own garage. I got a lot more practice using my own equipment. The classes I took consisted of a brief demonstration and then being turned loose to work on your own. Usually, you had to wait in line to get on a welder. I think it's quite possible to teach yourself to mig weld using books and maybe a video.

One thing I learned is that you spend the vast majority of your time preparing to weld. Getting everything fit and jigged up is more than half the battle.

[caddypercent]

Originally Posted by devinsixtyseven

Cheap helmet 40$ (non auto)

this makes a big difference. it seems everybody always wants to go and buy the $300+ speedglass for there first hood. you do NOT need an auto hood.

i started out with a $30 huntsman. they're heavy and ugly, but hey, they work and when you are just learning that's all that matters. sure, now i have a speedglass, and i would never go back to a non-auto.

but guess what........ that old huntsman still has a place in my tool box, just in case my fancy hood goes tits up.(although i have bounced that thing off the concrete so many times i am beginning to think it is damn near indestructable )





....this thread has gone waaaaaayyyyy off topic

[RedRunnertc]

Originally Posted by OR97taco

One thing I learned is that you spend the vast majority of your time preparing to weld. Getting everything fit and jigged up is more than half the battle.

x2 - it's kind of like painting. It's all in the prep.

Be sure to check your local welding supply place for classes too. General Air here in Denver holds them - free if you buy a welder.

[devinsixtyseven]

Originally Posted by caddypercent

this makes a big difference. it seems everybody always wants to go and buy the $300+ speedglass for there first hood. you do NOT need an auto hood.

Yup...just gotta learn to adjust pivot tension and learn "the flip".

[gabe74gt]

when i needed to weld axle arm of my car, i called a professional. he had all the machine with him to do the best work for me. not much expensive too