My first welds (can I get an "awwwwww"?)

[anthrax323]

Not sure this is the right place for it, but being a non-red member I can't toss it up in Advanced Fabrication & Engineering (not that this would even qualify).

In any case, I recently joined TechShop here in Raleigh and got my MIG and general metal shop SBU (safety and basic usage) classes out of the way and went to work...

You can probably make out a few of the more awful welds in the first and last pictures... I attempted to miter joint 1.25" x 0.125" angle steel after cutting it using a large horizontal bandsaw (which had no built-in protractor, nor any good planes against which to really set the angle correctly with a handheld one).

In any case, the middle two pictures are taken of the same union... One front, one back. I'd consider those to be the welds I'm laying down consistently after figuring out the ideal voltage and wirefeed speed settings for this particular material (had to go cooler, as the line between good penetration and burning through was far too fine). The last picture is the first weld I did on this piece (and first weld I ever did alone), which also shows my horrible, horrible gap filling attempt...

So, if you've got any welding experience... How does this look for a first time 'round the block? I think that even with this project included, I haven't laid more than 24" of weld to date (but will be doing more once I can chop up some angle steel on a proper miter saw) so I'm very, very much in the learning process. Any and all tips/criticisms are greatly appreciated!

 

[srimes]

I'm a welding noob too so I'm interested in what the experts have to say, but they look cold to me.

 

[2stix]

welding is a practice practice practice type thing for sure. you are doing ok and seem to have a little understanding of what you need to do. one thing i see is that you are thinking the wire will do the work for you. you need to use the wire and aim it were it needs to go. meaning you need to learn to "push" your welds into position. the two center pics show a decent bead, but a little cool. burn it hotter, but start at the bottom peice of material, then push it up onto/into the top piece. what you did was burn into the top piece a little, but by the time the weld got to the bottom piece it cooled and didnt penetrate enough. sort of just stuck to it. remeber you are "Burning metal". so crank up the amps and make the wire burn into the bottom piece, then drag it up into the edge of the overlap piece. you thought you were too hot at first because you are starting on the top piece which will melt away because of the draw it wants to do. bottom first, then push up. also use the wire like a needle and thread and stitch it sort of speak. aim the wire and what you want, dont just aim it over the gap and think the wire knows what to do. as for the gab fill, that doesnt really matter much. all you need is some material in there so you can come back over it with a much wider weld. take another run at the miters were you filled it and over exagurate a side to side sweep. youll notice a much nicer and complete weld. practice practice practice. youll do fine.

 

[xcm]

more heat on the bottom peice.

looks like a typical inside corner weld for a newbie, it happens.
You can probably make out a few of the more awful welds in the first and last pictures... I attempted to miter joint 1.25" x 0.125" angle steel after cutting it using a large horizontal bandsaw (which had no built-in protractor, nor any good planes against which to really set the angle correctly with a handheld one).

In any case, the middle two pictures are taken of the same union... One front, one back. I'd consider those to be the welds I'm laying down consistently after figuring out the ideal voltage and wirefeed speed settings for this particular material (had to go cooler, as the line between good penetration and burning through was far too fine). The last picture is the first weld I did on this piece (and first weld I ever did alone), which also shows my horrible, horrible gap filling attempt...

gap filling is something you shouldnt worry about yet, get your practice peices to fit tight, get everything kosher and then start practicing on differant gap techniques.

as far as this thread, it's not the way to go, you should be doing a ton of practice welds, find a metalshop and raid their metal scrapbin, and weld weld weld!

 

[anthrax323]

Thanks for all the input guys... The one consistent theme I'm picking up here is to stop taking pictures and start welding more, which I think is perfectly reasonable and logical, lol.

The scrap bin at TechShop is pretty weak, so I'm building a bit of a scrap collection of my own right now. It's all 1/8" thick material, but I figure most of my early projects are going to be no thicker than this (scrapping the wooden cargo area box idea in favor of a metal frame with wood surfaces and subcomponents).

Today I'm going to go play with the vertical band saw to see if I have any better luck with my cuts... From my understanding, when joining angle steel there are a few basic options: miter joints (like I failed at above), butt joints (I think - just one piece square with the other), and a notched joint in which one side of one piece is removed in order to make a flush, yet square union... I'm going to be attempting the latter with a vertical band saw here in a bit just for grins (I think the horizontal band saw was a poor choice for attempting these 45 degree cuts).

I just realized that another perk of the notched joint is that I'd be able to use an entire continuous piece of stock seeing as all the cuts would be perpendicular... Making the miter cuts really, really put a strain on my spatial skills seeing as each of the above pieces left a useless cut on the piece from which it came.

Anyway, thanks guys - time to stop talking about it and just start practicing.

 

[alaskan]

Those look significantly better than my first flux core booger welds. What kind of welder and wire?

 

[anthrax323]

I believe it's a Hobart 187, using solid .030" wire with 75/25 Argon/CO2 shielding gas. I can't even fathom how awful my welds would've been with flux core

 

[xcm]

same shit, more corn.