Welding Tips and Tricks

hi my name is shane and im in a welding class but they keep firing the teachers and the only good teacher left is retired and comes in like once every other week.... So i have no help or advice and am trying to get certified to help me attain the goal of the boilermakers union or pipeline welding. So with that said. Please look at the picture and tell me what i need to do in order to do the perfect weld bead. Im using 7018 1/8" rod. Ive been doing a figure 8 weave as i was advised to do but have been practicing and practicing and still suckkkk.... Any help would be awesome thanks.

This is a picture of the weld

When I learned how to weld many years ago, I would purposely look for the best welder in the class.
I would approach this person and ask permission to watch as they welded.

I would put my helmet as close to the weld as possible as they were welding and carefully examine what they were doing.
Then, I would go back to my booth and try to mimick what they were doing.
I went thru a lot of frustration at first, but I persisted in doing this over and over.
Monkey see, monkey do.

I think that this is what brought me to this forum. Jody is doing almost the same thing for everyone who wants to see and learn.
He takes the time and videos each weld process at a close up view. It is the same 'Monkey see, monkey do' process that I used to learn.
I've bought all of Jody's videos and a couple of his Tig fingers as a way of supporting his efforts and showing my appreciation for what he is doing.
As new videos are released, I will certainly be ordering them as they come out. Try to learn from the best and don't be afraid to invest.

In the end, I got really good at welding.

First i'd like to apologise for my bad english, second i totally have to agree with WerkSpace about observing others, preferably the ones that seems to do better.
It worked great for me when I was at welding school. But keep in mind that many other things can go wrong. Make sure that u understand the bacis of welding and what i mean by that is for instance .... parameters, positioning of the welder and technics. Tips are always good, but only if they work for u... that making "8" trick is good but who knows what else can work. Some guys will simply do rectangles, the reason why it is working for him it is because he tried and understood that if he does do it like so with an X amps and positions himself like so... i think u understand where I'm goint with this.

So remember the basics, tips are always good, but practice makes perfect. I certainly didnt became a welder overnight. Good luck and dont give up.

ps.: what's your amps on that pass u did on the pic. looks a little cold, angle could also be a little wrong (keep it as perpendicular to the plate as possible), and a very small pause on each side might help filling the side cuts id u were waving that is.

First thing I see, is these are beads on plate. It isn't even close to the same thing as filling a groove in a joint.

You'll need more heat, for one. Each weave shows a bit of cold-lap over the last.

If you're going to "weave" a pass, you should not be weaving more than 1.5X the rod diameter from the centerline. For a 1/8" rod, that means no more than 3/32 on each side of center.

Some jobs will fail you on their test if you weave at all... Stringers only.

The "figure 8" is suggested because the time it takes to make each end of the loop is the "linger" time to fill the undercut from the previous weave. Personally, I draw a slight "smile", pausing at each corner of the mouth (dimple? ). I've never met two welders who do it exactly the same, and you'll develop your own style, once you get the basics.

This may be just me... I've been welding for 30 years... If I paid money for a class, and they can't keep an instructor and give me value for my dollar, I'd be in the Dean's office in a heartbeat, demanding a full refund, so I could go somewhere they know what the hell they're doing.

Steve S.

I agree, 7018 is a pain in the azz to learn uphill. It just takes time and a quality electrode. Uphill is tricky because one can't go too fast nor too slow. One can't long arc it either. Once you understand all that, and after burning about 20lbs of electrode, it will just click for you.

Hey Tombstone,
I noticed you are from Bonners Ferry. Would you happen to know the name of Steve Bleiles shop there?
Just curious!
Thanks