Welding Tips and Tricks

Thanks to Jody and some of you guys outstanding looking work I've developed a complex. I can't seem to do a job any more without wondering if Jody or some of the great welders I know would approve. I'm not welding skyscrapers or anything like that but sometimes I feel like I have to say "ok, that's good enough". I give it my best but I ALWAYS feel like it could be better. So do any of you guys feel like this? That is those of you that don't weld as good as Jody.

That's the thing about being a welder...you always feel ad though you could do a better job. Every one gets it. One little bit of undercut out of 400 ft of weld will make the best welder in the world mad( even if it is the tiniest undercut you have ever seen.) It's in human nature to strive to perfection. Unless you have an infinite amount of hood time and an infinite amount of experience, nothing will be 100% perfect. 99.9% perfect is possible but there is always something. All that matters is that your welds are strong and don't look like bird shit when you build something. If your welds hold for years and years and years, you did your job in my book!

Just my outlook on life and my philosophy.

Plus, most people don't take a photo of the crappy welds and post them on the internet

Those get ground out and re-done, then they are perfect too.

That's how I started in the beginning - grind out anything that is incorrect, re-weld.

I still do that of course, but now very few need to be re-done.

MinnesotaDave wrote:Plus, most people don't take a photo of the crappy welds and post them on the internet

Those get ground out and re-done, then they are perfect too.

That's how I started in the beginning - grind out anything that is incorrect, re-weld.

I still do that of course, but now very few need to be re-done.

Yeah you can say that again-that is about 95% of what you see on the inter web. The best someone has to offer. Me I'm kind if the this is cool maybe I'll throw it up there. I did a 2g bend test for SMAW. I passed but the welds weren't straight and weren't perfect in any regard. Strong but not pretty. It is considered a #regularweld. Everyday stuff done by normal everyday welders. Unless you are Kane kid then 99.99999999999999% of his welds are flawless.

Do you know the difference between a bad weld and a good weld? 20 minutes with a grinder. Nobody does it perfect every time.

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No perfect welder out there, sometimes shit happens and you mess it up but the glorius thing and the reason I love metalworking so much is that almost any screwup can be fixed with a grinder and some welding. Unlike wood here your just kind of screwed when you mess up.

Just give it all you got, study and know what is required and why we do what we do and then do your best to achieve that. I weld everything I do like its a tank or a submarine, my co workers think I am nuts sometimes but my stuff never breaks.

My boss told me a story of a worker in a shop he worked in, as soon as a bolt or nut hit the floor, it wasn't to be used anymore as you never know what happened to it on the floor. I have the same policy with my filler metal, it leaves the box its in, it ain't going back to that clean stuff.

Another co worker is the exact opposite, its got sawdust and all kinds of shit on it.

Just make your standards high and try your best to achieve them.

I keep my filler clean and like Olivero, once out of the tube/box, never back in. That said, some days you feel and weld like an expert, and other days, things do not want to cooperate. Usually the days that don't go as well have some good reason for that. Like fogged up hood or cheater, or can't get comfortable or in the groove, or it's too hot out there, or some distraction. When that happens I usually stop and do something else.

P.S. Where has exnailpounder been? Maybe he needs to change his name to exthreadjacker. I'm starting to miss him.

With all the information out there and my desire to learn I feel like I know more than I'm capable of. I have the know how but not all the experience it took to learn it. Thanks Jody!! I've been welding full time for about twelve years and I mostly have mig welded but I started welding sheet metal with a stick welder at Thomas Buses.
Most of my day job work has been production, hurry up and get that out the door kinda stuff. That's my problem usually is that I'm in a hurry up frame of mind when I should try to take a little bit more time. I always feel like my travel speed is too slow and I rush it. That's not to say I don't know a good weld I just have to switch gears some times and that's hard to do sometimes. I do appreciate this site though and all the info I get from here and from the videos. Thanks guys.

electrode wrote:I keep my filler clean and like Olivero, once out of the tube/box, never back in. That said, some days you feel and weld like an expert, and other days, things do not want to cooperate. Usually the days that don't go as well have some good reason for that. Like fogged up hood or cheater, or can't get comfortable or in the groove, or it's too hot out there, or some distraction. When that happens I usually stop and do something else.

P.S. Where has exnailpounder been? Maybe he needs to change his name to exthreadjacker. I'm starting to miss him.

Not sure where he is, Its odd to have all these thread OP's actually get an answer without 7 pages of Nail commentary.

Maybe his internet went down again

jroark wrote:With all the information out there and my desire to learn I feel like I know more than I'm capable of. I have the know how but not all the experience it took to learn it. Thanks Jody!! I've been welding full time for about twelve years and I mostly have mig welded but I started welding sheet metal with a stick welder at Thomas Buses.
Most of my day job work has been production, hurry up and get that out the door kinda stuff. That's my problem usually is that I'm in a hurry up frame of mind when I should try to take a little bit more time. I always feel like my travel speed is too slow and I rush it. That's not to say I don't know a good weld I just have to switch gears some times and that's hard to do sometimes. I do appreciate this site though and all the info I get from here and from the videos. Thanks guys.

No such thing as knowing more than your capable of. The more knowledge you have is better, take the time you need, it takes what it takes to get a good product, once you do it more and more, you get faster and faster. There's a difference between skill level not being where you want and rushing things, leaving some joints unwelded or whatever to speed up, that's unacceptable and is just dangerous.

Doing the job properlyy to your satisfaction is what counts, don't give a shaite about what anyone else wants.

I didn't mean I'd skip a weld because of being in a hurry. It's mostly when I'm stick welding I rush the weld. At my day job we build bobcat and tractor implements. We get paid production so you guessed it, we try to weld hot and fast. It carries over sometimes.

jroark wrote:I didn't mean I'd skip a weld because of being in a hurry. It's mostly when I'm stick welding I rush the weld. At my day job we build bobcat and tractor implements. We get paid production so you guessed it, we try to weld hot and fast. It carries over sometimes.

What kind of implements do you build?
And here is the question I've wondered for awhile-what process do you use for that-short circuit, spray, dual shield? And what do you use stick for on them?

We build buckets, brush cutters, augers and anything else. We just run our wire up to about 800ipm and around 30.5 voltage. I stick weld when I do repairs for other people. Not at my day job. We also don't use dual shield. I guess it's too smoky for an indoor application. Especially with gen or twelve welders.

jroark wrote:I didn't mean I'd skip a weld because of being in a hurry. It's mostly when I'm stick welding I rush the weld. At my day job we build bobcat and tractor implements. We get paid production so you guessed it, we try to weld hot and fast. It carries over sometimes.

Skipping welds was just an example, not accusing you of it.

There are many ways to cut corners when welding or fabricating because there is lots to do. So why are you concerned your not doing your best or its not perfect?

It's cool. I didn't take you that way. Right now I'm building some tables and it seems like no matter how hard I try I can't get it the way I want it.
I guess I just want everything to be dead nuts square and machine shop quality and sometimes I might have something a bit out of square or a little bit of spatter on something after it's already powder coated . I don't have my own machine shop so I guess I'll have to settle but I've been buying better stuff as I go and I can tell I'm getting better results .
When I look back on all my work there's just something that I wish I'd have done different or better. It's all good though. So far everyone's been happy and nothing has broken so I'm happy too. I just want to have some WT&T skills. I'll get there. Maybe when I originally posted this I was just having one of those blues moments.

jroark wrote:It's cool. I didn't take you that way. Right now I'm building some tables and it seems like no matter how hard I try I can't get it the way I want it.
I guess I just want everything to be dead nuts square and machine shop quality and sometimes I might have something a bit out of square or a little bit of spatter on something after it's already powder coated . I don't have my own machine shop so I guess I'll have to settle but I've been buying better stuff as I go and I can tell I'm getting better results .
When I look back on all my work there's just something that I wish I'd have done different or better. It's all good though. So far everyone's been happy and nothing has broken so I'm happy too. I just want to have some WT&T skills. I'll get there. Maybe when I originally posted this I was just having one of those blues moments.

I feel you man, I am in the same shoes as you.

We look back at some of the first stuff we built and at that time it was god like but now its crap, I even went and rebuilt something because it looked so bad to me now

It happens, I think of everything being handmade and uniquie, its not a robot, its not 5 different people, from cut to shape to weld to finish, its all me. That's special and it will have its flaws to show it

Its a good viewpoint to have, it keeps you on your toes and keeps you wanting to improve, that's important.

The devil is in the details.

That is the bane of any craftsman's existence. When you're there making something and there's that little something that coulda shoulda woulda been better if...

I have a ton of those little things in places from the church down the street from me to St. Patrick's cathedral in New York. No one else ever notices.

If one of your welding buddies looks they might see it though. That's what I always ask myself. "What would Kent say? Or I wonder if Josh would notice that?"
They probably have the same thoughts though. They probably don't worry if I'd see their mistakes though. Haha.

Oh yeah, I get that. We used to be especially hard on new guys in- of all things- barge repair and restoration. Dirty rotten metal that would never see the light of day after the welds were done. But a new kid would ask "How does this look?" and we'd give it the old "Hmm... " stink eye. It pushes progress and skill though, and the do have to be good, no matter where they're at.

PeteM wrote:Oh yeah, I get that. We used to be especially hard on new guys in- of all things- barge repair and restoration. Dirty rotten metal that would never see the light of day after the welds were done. But a new kid would ask "How does this look?" and we'd give it the old "Hmm... " stink eye. It pushes progress and skill though, and the do have to be good, no matter where they're at.

Kind of reminds me of welding school when watching somebody else's bend test-making noises that make it questionable and then they get real worried. Then crap gets real serious when they actually fail but you still mess with them regardless

Farmwelding wrote:

PeteM wrote:Oh yeah, I get that. We used to be especially hard on new guys in- of all things- barge repair and restoration. Dirty rotten metal that would never see the light of day after the welds were done. But a new kid would ask "How does this look?" and we'd give it the old "Hmm... " stink eye. It pushes progress and skill though, and the do have to be good, no matter where they're at.

Kind of reminds me of welding school when watching somebody else's bend test-making noises that make it questionable and then they get real worried. Then crap gets real serious when they actually fail but you still mess with them regardless

We'd always watch the track cutter as it cut the coupon. When the torch hits a slag inclusion the molten steel shoots up like a little geyser. Everybody would cheer like old faithful just went off. "Yeah!!! We have a winner!" and such.

jroark wrote:Thanks to Jody and some of you guys outstanding looking work I've developed a complex. I can't seem to do a job any more without wondering if Jody or some of the great welders I know would approve. I'm not welding skyscrapers or anything like that but sometimes I feel like I have to say "ok, that's good enough". I give it my best but I ALWAYS feel like it could be better. So do any of you guys feel like this? That is those of you that don't weld as good as Jody.

And the rest of us are just bummed about having a small pee-pee

exnailpounder wrote:

jroark wrote:Thanks to Jody and some of you guys outstanding looking work I've developed a complex. I can't seem to do a job any more without wondering if Jody or some of the great welders I know would approve. I'm not welding skyscrapers or anything like that but sometimes I feel like I have to say "ok, that's good enough". I give it my best but I ALWAYS feel like it could be better. So do any of you guys feel like this? That is those of you that don't weld as good as Jody.

And the rest of us just fret about having a small pee-pee

There he is!

A few people were speculating about your where abouts. There were a few threads that were missing your special touch.

exnailpounder wrote:

jroark wrote:Thanks to Jody and some of you guys outstanding looking work I've developed a complex. I can't seem to do a job any more without wondering if Jody or some of the great welders I know would approve. I'm not welding skyscrapers or anything like that but sometimes I feel like I have to say "ok, that's good enough". I give it my best but I ALWAYS feel like it could be better. So do any of you guys feel like this? That is those of you that don't weld as good as Jody.

And the rest of us are just bummed about having a small pee-pee

NAIL! Finally, your back.

I was starting to get worried you were actually doing some work for once

Olivero wrote:

exnailpounder wrote:

jroark wrote:Thanks to Jody and some of you guys outstanding looking work I've developed a complex. I can't seem to do a job any more without wondering if Jody or some of the great welders I know would approve. I'm not welding skyscrapers or anything like that but sometimes I feel like I have to say "ok, that's good enough". I give it my best but I ALWAYS feel like it could be better. So do any of you guys feel like this? That is those of you that don't weld as good as Jody.

And the rest of us are just bummed about having a small pee-pee

NAIL! Finally, your back.

I was starting to get worried you were actually doing some work for once

Nahhh...just got into an extended battle wrestling with my conscience...and I killed him