Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey all, love the forum! I've been watching Jody's YouTube channel for a couple years now and finally decided to join here.
Well I'm a beginner at metal fabrication and would like some input on my welds. I have a Lincoln 210MP and this weld was on 3/16 running .035 wire, C25 gas. Let me know what you guys think and what I can do to improve.



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Looks cold juding by the high crown and at the top it has ripples at the fusion line. Also don't worry about manipulation too much with mig. Last thing is you need to weld more than a few inches. Weld the whole joint.

Welcome, sprkn_ranger,

I'm not ready to agree or disagree with Diesel's assessment, as it's so hard to tell in a photograph. I do notice consistency in the weld. The width is even, and you started and stopped right on the marked lines. One tip I will give is to "button off" then end of the weld. That simply means when you stop, hold the gun right there for 1/2 to 2/3 of a second, and squeeze the trigger again to fill in that li'l crater at the end. This eliminates one place a crack or cold-crack can begin.

Looks good from my house...

Steve S

Thanks for the info guys...ALL input is appreciated. Just for a little more info, the welder was set at 18.0V and 280in/min on a Lincoln 210MP. The reason I didn't weld the whole join is first of all it's a steel table top that is 52" long and I didn't really feel like I'm ready to run a bead that long, secondly I was afraid of it distorting the table top, and third, I didn't feel a continuous weld all around the whole table top was nessasary for any reason.

Now as far as the joint being cold, it may be, but am unsure of how to know for sure. Any tips on what to look for other than what diesel already pointed out about a crowned bead? Also, is manipulation really a bad thing? It helps me be consistent with the gun.

Thanks again for the input guys!

Edit- Forgot to ask...any videos you could link to the technique you mentions for not having the crater at the end? Thanks!

Could be hotter.

But not bad.

Good job om having little spatter

AKweldshop wrote:Could be hotter.

But not bad.

Good job om having little spatter

I agree with John, looks pretty good for just starting out!

Don't get caught up in manipulation but it looks consistent as far as bead width and spacing. Some do u's, some do e's some just pull straight...all will work. I prefer to push as it gives me better penetration then pulling.

Rick_H wrote:

AKweldshop wrote:Could be hotter.

But not bad.

Good job om having little spatter

I agree with John, looks pretty good for just starting out!

Don't get caught up in manipulation but it looks consistent as far as bead width and spacing. Some do u's, some do e's some just pull straight...all will work. I prefer to push as it gives me better penetration then pulling.

Thanks for the input guys! I will start running a little hotter than what I thought was good as it seem the consensus is the weld is on the cold side. I did the cursive "e" on this while pushing and it yielded me the best results (aesthetically at least) so I stuck with it lol. Keep the comments coming guys! I appreciate the input!!

Manipulation with mig can be bad when you get away from the leading edge of the puddle. That's where it burns into the root and makes penetration. I was simply suggesting you wait off on worrying about that since your mentioned you were a beginner.

One thjing. When you re-load that machine set it up with .030 wire.035 is better when you screw with 1/4" or better a lot.
You'll see a difference in penetration immediately on stuff like you're messing with.

Looks good to me. Keep in mind im not a welder and dont even own a machine... Haha...

Its great having a place like this though to bounce ideas off and get feedback from.

Question : When people say it looks "Cold" and it could be a little "Hotter", does this mean more AMPS should have been used?

Either more amps or less wire feed speed. It varies from machine to machine what will give you better results or what adjustments you have to play with. and also in relation to wire diamiter.

MickStephens wrote:Looks good to me. Keep in mind im not a welder and dont even own a machine... Haha...

Its great having a place like this though to bounce ideas off and get feedback from.

Question : When people say it looks "Cold" and it could be a little "Hotter", does this mean more AMPS should have been used?

Correct. With MIG, amps are the ratio of wire speed to voltage, so more wire speed equals more amps. There's a point of diminishing returns from simply increasing wire speed (the resistance of the arc, based on the temperature at the puddle, which establishes power transmission in Watts), where the voltage must be increased before the wire speed can be increased again.

It's as much "arcane magic" as art, as much art as science. Practice is how we find the "sweet spot" for different welds. Ask anyone who's written a PQR and WPS.

Steve S

Antorcha wrote:One thjing. When you re-load that machine set it up with .030 wire.035 is better when you screw with 1/4" or better a lot.
You'll see a difference in penetration immediately on stuff like you're messing with.

certainly agree with this. I originally set my mig up for flux core welding, typically running .035 wire. when I got around to hooking gas up to it, I went with .035 solid wire. dealing with the same thickness of material, .035 solid wire really adds the metal to a weld. I found that .030 solid wire was comparable to .035 flux core for metal deposition at very similar settings.
BFT