Welding Tips and Tricks

Things are looking it up. It appears that the best way to get good at welding steel is to spend two weeks failing at aluminum.

I can't resist putting two pictures up.

I have a lot more control now. I can pretty much see where I'm welding, too. Now that I've discovered vinegar for scale removal, preparation takes a lot less time, so I can spend time welding instead of grinding.

I had an issue where the weld suddenly farted, as if I had stuck the tungsten in it. I'm pretty sure I did not do that (not every time). Is it possible for an impurity to make the weld fart at the tungsten? I had to regrind a couple of times because of that.

Today my bad welds looked better than my good welds looked a month ago. I managed to feed the rod and not panic too much. Flipping out while feeding the rod was a major obstacle.

Jody's videos are a big help. He used 1/16" rod for a weld like this, so I switched to it.

I may actually conquer this.

You've come a long way in a short time Chips. Looking good!

Thanks, man. I don't have to be great at this. If I can just be competent, I'll be thrilled.

Should I find thinner material to weld? It seems like trying to weld little stuff is better for my skills.

I'd just keep working on being consistent, remember feeding wire is good but not always required. Chin up Chips!!

Chips O'Toole wrote:Thanks, man. I don't have to be great at this. If I can just be competent, I'll be thrilled.

You can't make them all beautiful...even Jody says that. IMO you're a competent tig welder already. You'll get weld porn in time. Don't hurry...enjoy the ride. I'm proud of you.

Wow. Better news than I expected. Thanks again.

I'll be a dissenting vote, that's still pretty terrible but you are headed the right direction

Keep at it - after the first 100 hours it gets much easier

I can tell if it is just the picture or if there is some graininess in the weld. How much are you cleaning the steel?

MinnesotaDave wrote:I'll be a dissenting vote, that's still pretty terrible

Are you sure they're pretty terrible? Maybe they're just somewhat terrible. Take a close look.

As for graininess, they are not shiny. I don't know what they should look like. I've never seen a good mild steel TIG weld in person. The metal was soaked in washing vinegar for a day, and then I used a wire brush on a drill press and followed up with acetone. I can't get cold-rolled around here unless I want to make two 20-minute trips (each way) to the metal dealer. One trip to order it, and one to pick it up.

Hard rock or flap wheel at least 1/2"-1" from the weld area and the edge and for lap joints-both sides of the plate especially on that thin

Chips O'Toole wrote:

MinnesotaDave wrote:I'll be a dissenting vote, that's still pretty terrible

Are you sure they're pretty terrible? Maybe they're just somewhat terrible. Take a close look.

As for graininess, they are not shiny. I don't know what they should look like. I've never seen a good mild steel TIG weld in person. The metal was soaked in washing vinegar for a day, and then I used a wire brush on a drill press and followed up with acetone. I can't get cold-rolled around here unless I want to make two 20-minute trips (each way) to the metal dealer. One trip to order it, and one to pick it up.

Chips...why don't you get an angle grinder and some flap discs? You're doing it the hard way.

Galvanizing or other coatings usually cause my welds to spontaneously pop and blow metal on my tungsten. If you dipped it your tungsten in aluminum previously and didn't get it all ground out it will cause issues as well.

Vinegar? Hmmm I wonder if Evaporust would remove the scale?

exnailpounder wrote:Chips...why don't you get an angle grinder and some flap discs? You're doing it the hard way.

I started using vinegar because the flap wheel just polished the scale. It was useless. A knot wheel didn't do much, either, which makes sense, because scale is harder than the steel in the wheel. I got some kind of wheel similar to Scotchbrite, but much harder, because someone on the web recommended them. It worked better than the flap wheel, but not very well.

The vinegar definitely took the scale off, but it left a dull finish I had to fix with the wire wheel. Whether I got all the pits out, I do not know.

I also tried CLR on some of the steel, and it was horrible. Big knots of something or other formed on the metal.

It's tough, living in a town full of hacks and doofuses who don't know how to do anything. There is no reason for anyone to stock cold-rolled here because no one here has enough brains to TIG weld.

You must be using the flap disk wrong then. Wire wheels will polish mill scale but flapper wheels take it off-unless you just barely touched it or you have a shatty wheel

Chips O'Toole wrote:

MinnesotaDave wrote:I'll be a dissenting vote, that's still pretty terrible

Are you sure they're pretty terrible? Maybe they're just somewhat terrible. Take a close look.

As for graininess, they are not shiny. I don't know what they should look like. I've never seen a good mild steel TIG weld in person. The metal was soaked in washing vinegar for a day, and then I used a wire brush on a drill press and followed up with acetone. I can't get cold-rolled around here unless I want to make two 20-minute trips (each way) to the metal dealer. One trip to order it, and one to pick it up.

Hang on I put my glasses on, nope, that didn't help

Standard $2-$3 grinding wheel on your angle grinder is what you need if you can't clean it with a flap wheel - sometimes it's pretty thick. Don't worry about vinegar, drill press wire brush and such - only 20 seconds to grind it.

Also, cold rolled isn't needed either - this is a simple process - grind and weld,

Using a flap wheel wrong? Well, I turned the grinder on and pushed the wheel into the steel. I figured that was how it worked, but I have not had lessons.

As for the wheel's crappiness, I don't know the answer. The only hardware store near me is Home Depot, so I bought what they had. It's a Diablo Steel Demon. Seemed to work briefly, and then the scale seemed to do a nice job of polishing it and taking all the nasty abrasiveness off of it.

The Scotchbritey thing is a Norton Rapid Strip. It did better than any other wheel I have, and it still sucked.

I can take scale off with a grinding wheel, but it's like using a Sharpie to paint a car, and it leaves me with chewed-up metal with big gouges cut out of it.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the welds. I don't see any porosity. The surface is dull, but it's not what I would call rough. Are they supposed to be shiny? I would think the scale that forms on them would kill the shine.

I'm planning to use muriatic acid next time, but for some reason, I had a jug of washing vinegar. I decided to try it.

If you didn't get the right grit, then using a flap wheel is indeed useless. get a 24-36 grit. Or just a hard abrasive disc. Fiber discs work awesome especially 3M cubritron II.

I am reading up, and I saw some things that looked relevant. One guy said you have to keep the tip of the filler inside the gas area. That was news to me. I was trying to move it away from the torch between dips, to keep the arc from melting it early. Someone else said too much heat causes grey welds.

I am running 163 amps by the display. The rule of thumb says 125, but that didn't seem to be enough. I'm wondering if something is obstructing the current.

The first half-inch of the tungsten always seems to be darkened, no matter what I do. Is that normal? I am posting a photo. The tungsten is balled up, but that didn't happen until I was nearly done. I was tired, and I said, "To hell with it. I am finishing this last inch, balled tungsten or not."

Chips O'Toole wrote: I don't think there's anything wrong with the welds. I don't see any porosity. The surface is dull, but it's not what I would call rough. Are they supposed to be shiny? I would think the scale that forms on them would kill the shine.

There is actually a lot wrong with the welds.

-The weld did not wet out at the toes.
-The weld contacts the metal at the toe at too steep of an angle creating a notch effect for a crack to propagate.
-Visually it was mostly put in too cold with too much fill creating an overly convex weld that created the problem above.
-Since the weld is cold, there is likely a lack of fusion at the root as well.

The flap disk is 60 grit. Best I could do around here.

Chips O'Toole wrote:The flap disk is 60 grit. Best I could do around here.

Hard wheel it. Much faster.

If you like it smoother, hard wheel, then flap disk, then get to welding

MinnesotaDave wrote:There is actually a lot wrong with the welds.

-The weld did not wet out at the toes.
-The weld contacts the metal at the toe at too steep of an angle creating a notch effect for a crack to propagate.
-Visually it was mostly put in too cold with too much fill creating an overly convex weld that created the problem above.
-Since the weld is cold, there is likely a lack of fusion at the root as well.

I had to look a few things up after reading that.

Too cold...I'm trying to figure out how that happened. I was getting a big puddle, and I kept dipping the filler to keep the puddle from getting too big and melting way into the upper bar. I would have expected "too cold" to mean a small shallow puddle.

I thought I was too hot, because the metal was heating up a lot, and not just close to the weld.

Coolidge wrote:Vinegar? Hmmm I wonder if Evaporust would remove the scale?

Nope. It helps, but it requires more than EvapoRust can deliver.