Grade my welds and check out my new toy!!
 

I'm taking a MIG welding class, and so far I have about 15-20 hours of actual welding. The class is geared towards industrial so we have to do horizontal, vertical down, vertical up, overhead, thin gauge up to 3/4 inch, pipe, EVERYTHING. Tonight, my arms were getting tired after 3+ hours of overhead T-joints so I asked my instructor if I could give TIG a try. He said sure and set the machine up for me gave me a quick explination and showed me one example then let me try it for 5 minutes. I know my TIG welds would have been better if I would have properly prepped the metal, but like I said, I was just trying it for a couple minutes. The quality of the pics are shitty, but let me know what you think. THUMBS!!

TIG
http://img31.imagevenue.com/loc24/th...6_1671_IMG.JPG

TIG
http://img12.imagevenue.com/loc24/th...6_1672_IMG.JPG

Single MIG bead
http://img20.imagevenue.com/loc24/th...6_1673_IMG.JPG

3 MIG beads
http://img138.imagevenue.com/loc24/t...6_1675_IMG.JPG

And my new toy, Lincoln Weld Pak 100 with gas kit, I picked it up from someone at the school for $250, it's only had 1 spool of wire run through it. :)
http://img138.imagevenue.com/loc24/t...6_1676_IMG.JPG

Re: Grade my welds and check out my new toy!!
 

puts out some nice mig beeds...
why's the tig look like ass?

Re: Grade my welds and check out my new toy!!
 

Took the words out of my mouth, but on a positive note, we all start out like that, just keep practicing man, youll get there.

Re: Grade my welds and check out my new toy!!
 

If you would have read then you would have seen that I have never tigged in my life, I have had about 2 minutes of explination on how to tig, and I didn't prep the metal. Also if you look close enough at the second TIG pic you will notice that the only thing that I tigged on that side is the left half, the right half just looks like ---- from the other side. :)

Re: Grade my welds and check out my new toy!!
 

never a better time to become ambidextrous

Re: Grade my welds and check out my new toy!!
 

not bad John, but keep practicing......i could use some practice myself......

Re: Grade my welds and check out my new toy!!
 

looking good

Re: Grade my welds and check out my new toy!!
 

thats some clean mig welds

Re: Grade my welds and check out my new toy!!
 

badass migs kid :y

Re: Grade my welds and check out my new toy!!
 

looks better than my first attempt at tig welding, i bought just about every book there is on how to tig weld and i study it like a bible but i still can't get top notch flawless welds.........i definetly blame my cheap tig and the ------- scratch start. i'd post up pics but digi cam is fubar

Re: Grade my welds and check out my new toy!!
 

You'll never learn to weld reading a book!!!

What type of MIG were you using? What amps?

Re: Grade my welds and check out my new toy!!
 

It's a lincoln (not sure what model), .035 wire, 17.9 amps, 185 wire feed speed. :)

Re: Grade my welds and check out my new toy!!
 

17.9 Amps? Thats the draw right? That must be the digital readout on you Voltage, not Amps.

What Output ar you welding out? 180amps?

Seams like you lapping a bit like you do with a 110v unit. Or what thickness of plate is it?

Re: Grade my welds and check out my new toy!!
 

yea, sorry retard moment. 17.9 volts, right around 200 amps. plate thickness is 5/8 mild

Re: Grade my welds and check out my new toy!!
 

mig looks great, not bad for first try in tig either. you should have seen my first few beads in tig.

matt

Re: Grade my welds and check out my new toy!!
 

migtastic!! :D, my first tig welds looked better :P, nice little mig.

Re: Grade my welds and check out my new toy!!
 

Contamination owns you. MIG looks hella good, but TIGs could use a bit more work.

Re: Grade my welds and check out my new toy!!
 

like i, said, TIG i didn't clean at all because I was just giving it a shot, the class isn't even a TIG class. As far as MIG contamination the only cleaning I do is wire brush that bitch for a couple seconds and call it good enough. Once I start welding ---- that is for something other than practice, then I will prep the metal MUCH more. :)

Thanks for the compliments so far though.

Re: Grade my welds and check out my new toy!!
 

Trying to learn to tig weld on dirty metal is like trying to learn to ride a bicycle with training wheels. It's just so much different that it's not really worth it.

When your metal is dirty, the ---- floats to the top of the puddle. Then, the arc (electricity) will be moving all over the place, seeking the path of least resistance...which means that it's trying to work around that ---- in the puddle. This is why the arc will wander so badly.

next time, clean the metal and you will probably be surprised at how much better you do.

Re: Grade my welds and check out my new toy!!
 

Would you happed to be the same "Engloid" from the miller motorsports message board?

Re: Grade my welds and check out my new toy!!
 

Yep those TIG skills can be honed in with some practice and prep-work(I'm sure your tired of hearing that)

If there is one thing I regret from welding class is I wish I would have got some more TIG practice in, maybe because i have a MIG welder and can MIG whenever I want. TIG seems more useful for the things I do though, aluminum ecspecially.

That is an awesome MIG machine to have around the house, portable and on like the lowest settings you couldn't burn though exhaust pipe if you tried. LOL