Welding Tips and Tricks

They figured between 10-15 mins per. I had them down to 4 mins by the 2nd one. Hint: I put all of the 3/8" plates in the toaster oven. 250 amps, 1/8" pure, WFO. 4 fat ass'd tacks on the corners to get everything warm and just blaze. The first inch of weld tries to be a little cold but I start behind where the gussets go with less rod, and by the time I get around to that side, it's perfectly hot enough to burn that weld in while filling the initial deficit the rest of the way. This way, start/stop are hidden behind the gusset.

It's not just forward travel. It's forward, and then back a half puddle keeping the weld large enough and pushed up without any sag in the puddle, or unequal legs or concavity. It's like forward and an up roll back, without being a weave. It also helps control the heat when running full bore with only a momentary switch. Torch is nearly straight up. This way you can fly, without leaving runny looking welds or divots. Ripples roughly 3/32" apart. The nearly straight up torch will give the ripples some definition without rough edges, with the heat, keeping them from being too "dime-ish."

They cut the parts. Flat stock was cut in a shear by eye it seemed. Welds wrap around to a bead or three behind the crotches of the gussets. Typically, they would just have likely a MIG, piss stitch of sorts on the edges only. There was no written instructions so, full weld they get.


Even after stopping to turn the camera on for this photo with post flow at 15-20.
That's money.


Not that big a deal as far as level of difficulty, but I was pumped. It feels great to weld like this and then look behind you at the end of the day and see a bunch of finished work allover the place. During the piecework days, you just knew you made way more than you thought. Then do it again the next day. Would take until Sunday afternoon to de-amp your own self if you weren't by chance, working it. It's an adrenaline thing, driven almost entirely by the kids, mrtg payment and the electric bill.

Crusty little critter. Amazing that something in that shape can make all those welds as nicely as it does. Not one "poof" on the entire set. I should probably treat myself to a new cup and collet body. Had this one on there about 4 months. If I had at least dusted the plates and such off or knocked the burr off the square stock, this would probably only be half as dirty.


May get upwards of 200 of these to do in a year.

Nice work man! I'm fairly new to tig welding been doing it for a year off and on. Wish I could tig at that pace. But work is a 99% mig place. Get to tig on occasion, but mainly at home. Used your masking tape trick for the torch switch worked like a charm. My boss kept saying electrical tape. I just did it your way, being I'm the only guy at work that can tig using filler without it looking like a dog turd.

MIG would have been the likely choice for these, I think. The plates are 3/8", which is at the maximum for a 250 amp machine in any kind of production sense. Usually, when someone brings us B/C grade parts like this, it will hinge on the cheapest price possible so, no sense getting too cute with the welds so that if they cry about the price, I can switch it to MIG later, without too much difference in the appearance of the welds. But without any written parameters, people usually bring us stuff they want TIG'd instead, but the quality with the preparation of the parts suggested they did not really care about actual appearance so, I tried to give a little of both with these welds basically being of a quality between MIG/TIG without losing our shorts.

Yes, masking tape will outlast just about anything you can put on it. It will outlast the wires that go to the switch, that do break eventually. Electrical tape would be a gooey mess by the end of the first day.

The tungsten above had started out at about 1/4" past the cup. My boss acted surprised when I told them they were done by the time he got back from his errands. When he asked what it should cost, I can quote based on double the time it actually took and still be ok, with some wiggle room if they get 'creative' with the bid sheet without it coming out of my ass. I can do them in 4 minutes, but would like it better if the pressure on me is based on more like 7-8 minutes each, if that makes any sense. If I tell them 4 minutes, they will figure it down to the minute of what could be fit into an 8 hr day and bulk rate that, which would have me burning my welding ass off full tilt for 8 hrs. When I was 35, ok. . .at 52, I don't really want to go there as a way of life. lol