Mig welding practice over the weekend

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The band saw blades are approximately 1/16" thick. The shiny welded angle piece (100_2755.jpg) is 1/8" thick. Chain link was cut on both sides. The pack of welded band saw blades is composed of 4 1/16" thick blades. The two bolts (one welded parallel and the other perpendicular to the steel base pic 100_2760.jpg) are 1/2" diameter. The tin can was obliviously too thin for 30amps and .035 wire. The part of a bolt (pic 100_2774.jpg) is 3/8" diameter.

Half decent welds for a young guy that has done less than 20 small projects in his lifetime... :D

I am using this project as "project 1."

Next time, try cleaning up the metal before welding if you can. I think that it makes a big difference and makes it easier to see how well the weld was I think. Other than that, good job..

What machine are you using ?
Does your wire always feed smoothly ? If not you can go up a size on the tip. Some brands of flux core wire aren't very clean and uniform, causing inconsistent feed and sometimes gets stuck in the tip. I use an .045 tip with .035 flux core and it works perfectly.
You need to keep a tight arc and move at a constant speed... and at the very least, brush the loose rust off but it's best to clean it with a grinder.

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Originally Posted by Jason

Next time, try cleaning up the metal before welding if you can. I think that it makes a big difference and makes it easier to see how well the weld was I think. Other than that, good job..

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Thanks for the suggestion! I was just kinda practicing so I didn't clean it up much...Just enough to get an arc :D

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Originally Posted by zoama585

What machine are you using ?
Does your wire always feed smoothly ? If not you can go up a size on the tip. Some brands of flux core wire aren't very clean and uniform, causing inconsistent feed and sometimes gets stuck in the tip. I use an .045 tip with .035 flux core and it works perfectly.
You need to keep a tight arc and move at a constant speed... and at the very least, brush the loose rust off but it's best to clean it with a grinder.

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Thanks! I was just practicing so I didn't do much to it... What brand wire do you use? Got Praxair and it is so dirty that it plugged up the sleeve back by the welder...It's a thick bread dough like stuff. Ended up putting a wire cut off in a drill and boring through the junk. It took several passes, but it got most of it out. Afterwards I was able to turn the feed rate down to 4.5 from 6 lol. Hobart Handler 120 and It's just about ready to blow up lol. Yes, it normally does feed smoothly, but I just don't have much practice... The only time it gets stuck is when I manage to accidentally burn the wire up to the tip :D. On 100_2755.jpg it just looks rusty from the burning flux and the wire brush which I used on other rusty metal :) The rest are rusty...

Need to do some more practicing this weekend...

I am not sure on the brand of wire as I own a TIG and my friend owns the MIG. I think he did get it at praxair though and I know he gets other stuff from there.

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Originally Posted by Jason

I am not sure on the brand of wire as I own a TIG and my friend owns the MIG. I think he did get it at praxair though and I know he gets other stuff from there.

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Hasn't said anything about it though? When did he get it?

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Originally Posted by MigPlazArc

Thanks! I was just practicing so I didn't do much to it... What brand wire do you use? Got Praxair and it is so dirty that it plugged up the sleeve back by the welder...It's a thick bread dough like stuff. Ended up putting a wire cut off in a drill and boring through the junk. It took several passes, but it got most of it out. Afterwards I was able to turn the feed rate down to 4.5 from 6 lol. Hobart Handler 120 and It's just about ready to blow up lol. Yes, it normally does feed smoothly, but I just don't have much practice... The only time it gets stuck is when I manage to accidentally burn the wire up to the tip :D. On 100_2755.jpg it just looks rusty from the burning flux and the wire brush which I used on other rusty metal :) The rest are rusty...

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I just went out to my shop to check the wire brand but when I opened the welder, there was no sticker on the spool (10lb). It's been a couple of years since I bought that one but I'm pretty sure I got it at Lowes. The .045 tip makes it all work right.

Edit: It's lincoln brand and must have been on sale because I only paid $25 for it. The 10lb spool I had before that was hobart brand and it was so bad to plug the tip that I threw most of it out.

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Originally Posted by zoama585

I just went out to my shop to check the wire brand but when I opened the welder, there was no sticker on the spool (10lb). It's been a couple of years since I bought that one but I'm pretty sure I got it at Lowes. The .045 tip makes it all work right.

Edit: It's lincoln brand and must have been on sale because I only paid $25 for it. The 10lb spool I had before that was hobart brand and it was so bad to plug the tip that I threw most of it out.

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Okay. Is the Lincoln stuff dirty too then? If so maybe it's just the way everybody makes their wire now...Or it's all made by the same people...In China.:D China probably sorts out the wire and sells it according to who pays more lol

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Originally Posted by MigPlazArc

Okay. Is the Lincoln stuff dirty too then? If so maybe it's just the way everybody makes their wire now...Or it's all made by the same people...In China.:D China probably sorts out the wire and sells it according to who pays more lol

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Nah, the Lincoln stuff has been pretty good and consistent.

Okay. Might have to try it... Got a bunch of the other junk still though.

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Originally Posted by MigPlazArc

Hasn't said anything about it though? When did he get it?

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Nope.. We have run over a full roll fine. I asked if he ever had trouble with getting wire and where I should get it. He said praxair has some that is fine.

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Originally Posted by Jason

Nope.. We have run over a full roll fine. I asked if he ever had trouble with getting wire and where I should get it. He said praxair has some that is fine.

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Okay thanks

I have to admit I run cheaper wire (Radnor and Hobart). The lowes/home depot stuff is Lincoln's "hardware grade." It's not the same stuff at the LWS. I had a customer that will only use Lincoln wire, because he ran into problems with inconsistent wire thickness. This can cause sputtering in the middle of a weld. Sometimes it pays to get good wire.

Yeah...But you got to try to see if it's good.

the small lincoln spools from lowes and home depot are fairly consistent (been through 6 or 8 before I bought the I-MIG). surprisingly, though, the small spools of HF flux core (.035) are pretty decent. I didn't have any crud or feeding issues, but they don't burn in as deep as the lincoln and spatter more. I never bought a 10/11lb spool of flux core.

I will say that washington alloy's ER70s6 is the best I've used thus far, though. washington alloy is my LWS 'house' brand (I know they're a national, but certainly not as well known as lincoln or hobart, ect). their 6011 rods are a significant improvement over lincolns fleetweld 180.

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Originally Posted by ogorir

the small lincoln spools from lowes and home depot are fairly consistent (been through 6 or 8 before I bought the I-MIG). surprisingly, though, the small spools of HF flux core (.035) are pretty decent. I didn't have any crud or feeding issues, but they don't burn in as deep as the lincoln and spatter more. I never bought a 10/11lb spool of flux core.

I will say that washington alloy's ER70s6 is the best I've used thus far, though. washington alloy is my LWS 'house' brand (I know they're a national, but certainly not as well known as lincoln or hobart, ect). their 6011 rods are a significant improvement over lincolns fleetweld 180.

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Thanks! Normally get 10lb, but maybe a small one to try. :)