by the book or not?
Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 2:32 pm
I learnt to stick weld on my own with no instruction from anyone. I used a really old lincoln 220 buzzbox and dreamed of building my own chassis out of 1" by 1" mild steel tubing (1.5 mm to 1.6mm thick). I would go down to the supply store and when asked for exactly what kind of rod I wanted I just said to give me a bunch of all sizes (didn't even know they came in sizes). I managed to weld my chassis after days of frustration. I tested my welds by putting the tubes in a vise and trying to break the welded joint by hitting the tubes with a hammer. Pretty? no, but strong. Now 7 years later, I am working in a shop as a supervisor and have bought welding equipment. MIG, stick etc. I haven't stick welded for years and I am supposed to teach my workers how to stick weld. Here is my question- I have only stick welded one thing (the chassis) 7 years ago and I used 1/8 rod or thicker to weld it. I just cannot seem to weld this thin material with thinner rods. The books I ordered on welding for the workers all say to use thinner rods like 3/32 E6013 on the thin stuff. What do I do? should I just keep trying to weld by the book until I can do it by the book and then teach them or just tell them to ignore the book and do it my way? BS disclaimer- I am in this position because I am a competent mig welder so my boss assumed I know everything there is to know about any type of welding.