Project 1 from I_Love_Plasma ~ Getting familiar with stick welding.

[I_Love_Plasma]

Remember, I am nowhere close to professional, I am still a green-horne.

I need practice, encouragement, and tips. Thanks!

Hmmm, nice AC buzz box..


Oh joy ... bare wires


Trip to Ace Hardware>>> K-T Industries Rods


6011 running at 117Amps (recommended 80-125A) needs to be less than 117.
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Right 7018 at 117Amps (90-140) Could be hotter than 117.
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[I_Love_Plasma]

More: It only allows 10 pictures per post, and I believe smiles count as pictures to.

7018 @ 117Amps
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Focus on top weld>>


Decent swirls, not really uniform yet. Better than I was.
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Focus on the weld closest to the camera on the surface; Not side weld.


The weld that starts at the end is 6011. Focus on the cap welds in the center of pic.

[I_Love_Plasma]

More:...

The root pass was 6011. Everything else was 7018 capping re-weld.
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Focus on right portion of the top weld.. good swirls and good finishing bead puddle.


Last weld of day; 11 rods total 9 went to good use, 2 fried. Looking much better than before. ,
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HAHA look what I found! An old air-horn off a crane! 136dB of pleasure



Alright, let the commenting begin! Thank you very much in advance.

[I_Love_Plasma]

More pictures! Go ahead and critique my welds.

Kinda blowing out still at the end...not leaving an end bead. 6011 at 97 amps Don't know where that seed came from lol


Running to many amps for 6011 rods. Stringer beads. 117 amps


haha got a little welding frost on my shield.


All the rest are 7018 at 117 amps, might be a touch cold. But the slag chipped off in large chunks.

[I_Love_Plasma]

Here's a video of me welding.

Go to the first post after watching and read your way up.

[I_Love_Plasma]

Here's a new video of me welding with AC.
I am asking for tips and how-to's. The first part of the video you are viewing the welding, puddles, travel speed, etc... Second part of the video is the finished welds with most of the slag scraped/chipped lightly off and me talking about the welds.

During the video I accidentally said the welds breaking sounded like a shotgun. It was more like a .22LR. Still scared the crap out of me being a foot away when this big noise pops at me.

Oh yeah, I finally got smart and used a work table instead of the "monkey squat" as Mike R. calls it. lol

[bobwills]

Well your starting to improve, I can see that you have really been slowing down. Still have a few that your moving too fast and not steady. Need to work on the consistity of the welds but you have greatly improved. Keep on a practicing. Your getting there. Have some nice welds in there. Do you do a whip and pause or circles or what?

[bobwills]

first thing is that ya need a darker lense on the camera cause ya cant see the puddle through the camera lol. Just your getting there. Find your amps and juat keep working on it. Try to slow it down some still. Can see your maving around a lot. Also try to run full beeds. Not those little 1 or 2 second ones. That only will help you work on your starts. Try doing full rod beeds with no stops. It will help you the most. And what was some of that wide sweeps in there sometimes all about???

[I_Love_Plasma]

Well I was doing my overlapping circular whip motion and I decided to goof off and try a zig-zag...I was told to try it lol. He might have well just told me I need to replace my muffler bearings Zig-zagging makes welds look like the rod had rabies and a bee in it's eye.

Pretty nice run with the 7018 huh?

[bobwills]

Ok im I just started the video and noticed that the first weld still needs to be slowed down. Also You need to pause for a second when you come back each time

[bobwills]

O wait you aint doing step and pause. Circles. But looking good. Much better!

[bobwills]

lol i think ya got a little out of controle with the zig-zags. ya were going way wide. And yeah not bad. Need to ge able to get a whole rods worth to look like that. Not just a part, but work on running full rods at a time. And need to get where you can make welds like that 75% of the time then your good to go.

[I_Love_Plasma]

HAHA that was a perfection run for dad, he gets bored watching me weld I guess, so I stopped it short. He was impressed, which is rare. I will try running full rods. 7018's are my favorite rod. 6011's are okay for farmer welds. I was thinking Ill take the plasma and cut a straight line all the way down one piece. Do you steady your rod with your thumb when the rods long? I guess I'm going to have to practice the ole free hand method, because that's why I go a ways then stop. My gloves get pretty hot steadying.. What's your preferred method of holding?

I hold the electrode like this in the gun (dots represent electrode, lines are the gun horizontal)

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[SeanMurphy265]

try stacking your bids one after the other and run longer beads. longer beads will help with your consistancy.

[bobwills]

Them last welds were looking good. You had a good travel speed and it shows by how they looked. Keep on working on them. Keep getting welds that look like that and your ready to start on the quick detach project

[Jason]

Looks like you are on the right track of improvement. I read or heard some place that you should not hammer on the weld to get the slag off as it can cause the weld to crack. I learned to stick weld in high school and they taught us to lightly tap it and brush off the slag.

[I_Love_Plasma]

Them last welds were looking good. You had a good travel speed and it shows by how they looked. Keep on working on them. Keep getting welds that look like that and your ready to start on the quick detach project

Thanks Gabe I need to get more uniform. And I still don't leave my ending puddle like I'm supposed to do. Pretty good video footage huh?

Looks like you are on the right track of improvement. I read or heard some place that you should not hammer on the weld to get the slag off as it can cause the weld to crack. I learned to stick weld in high school and they taught us to lightly tap it and brush off the slag.

Hmm, very good to have that in the knowledge arsenal. These were just practice welds and a lot of my welds had slag impregnated in them so I beat the flux out then brushed them (fast, I went so fast it was like buffing it LOL ). As my welds got better less slag was impregnated in them. I also have heard the same: "you're supposed to chip it off gently and brush or sandblast the rest."

[bobwills]

Welcome. And yeah. Just the more practice you do the more uniform you will get. Another thing to work on is your starts still. You will get it all after a while. And yeah. Get ya like a #10 shade or something on the front and you can videotape the puddle.

[I_Love_Plasma]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the starting. I was having a lot of problems with sticking because of the amperage. I did boost it up a bit. I could tap start 7018's then, and at 117amps I could tap a 6011 easily.

[bobwills]

Ok the way i hold the rod is on flat welds i put the holder in a 90 degree spot then i hold the holder in my right hand. Then put my left hand pinkey on the metal spread my thumb up far as it goes then rest my other hand on top of my thumb. It works the best for me. Its the way jody was showing in the arc welding vid that he was working on the pipe bender stand. It allows your hands to colapse together making the whole rod length comfortable for welding. Remember comfort is a key to getting good welds and consistancy. Then i do the 45 degree angle making a wider than 90 angle for verticle and prop my elbo for that with left hand around right hand which is grabbing the electrode holder. Just experement and find out what works best for you