First time welding...and I suck!

[team39763]

I have some brake brackets that need to be welded on my rear axle. A buddy let me borrow his Campbell Hausfeld 110v mig welder with .035 flux wire. I watched several videos and read a few online articles so I felt comfortable giving it a first try. All I wanted to do was a couple tack welds so I could mount everything and get the truck off the jackstands. My friend who normally does my welding is gonna finish them off correctly in a few weeks. I just figured even a beginner could throw down a couple tack welds.
But nothing worked. It just made a big mess of spatter. I tried hi and low power, I tried fast and slow wire speed. The brackets and axle tubes were cleaned really good too. What should I be doing? The brackets are 1/4" steel and being tacked onto the axle tubes. I'd appreciate any advice y'all could give me.

[paul66c10]

flux is messy to begin with normally it tends to spatter. Might cut down on the spatter if your wire is short and your real close to the metal with the nozzle.

[NONHOG]

Great, quick tips on this site. http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/index.html

[cableguy0]

The metal is too thick for the welder. Those cheesy little 110v baragain basement welders are next to useless. Now you can try different wire speeds. Are you holding the nozzle too far from the work? Wire stickout should be about 1/4 inch. The more stickout the less heat transferred into the material and it will spit and pop etc.

[team39763]

I cleaned up a bunch of scrap to practice on but no success there. I can make small things stick to my brake drum but they are easily knocked off. The welds look like crap and dont hold for crap. I trimmed the wire to 1/4" and held the nozzle closer to the target...that technique worked better but like i said i cant produce a simple tack weld with it. I'd practice more but my eyes hurt. I need to get a welding helmet.
Posted via Mobile Device

[tinydb84]

Get some really clean 1/8 inch steel and practice running beads for a longgggggggggg time. Then try a butt weld....

That should give you enough to work on for the next month

[cableguy0]

Originally Posted by team39763

I'd practice more but my eyes hurt. I need to get a welding helmet.
Posted via Mobile Device

Are you f'n serious? You do realize that welders flash can and will blind you permanently. Do not weld without a helmet. Your in for about the most severe pain you have ever encountered in a few hours.Your seriously going to regret not wearing a helmet. If your lucky your eyes will heal and you wont suffer permanent eye damage.

[team39763]

A neighbor told me I could get away with not using a helmet as long as i kept it to a few seconds of exposure. A friend gave me a helmet and gave me a quick lesson. And told me to check out that site mentioned by nonhog. Its too windy to try again tonight so i'll go at it in the morning and report back. That helmet makes a huge difference.
Posted via Mobile Device

[cableguy0]

Next time you see your neighbor punch him in the mouth. Read this http://www.ehow.com/list_6823287_eff...face-eyes.html ,this http://www.blazinlow.com/forum/showt...thout-a-helmet .Would you stare directly at the sun? A lit weld is worse because its right in front of your face. Not trying to give you a hard time but Blindness doesnt seem like very much fun. Be more careful and especially be careful who you take advice from.

[justahoby]

I use my lincoln 120 amp welder, and I buy pound rolls of 0.035 innershield in Lincoln Brand as well as i get 9$ a roll from Walmart ....May be a tad of spatter but my welds look like Awesome. Now it is not recommended for 1/4 " and over but i have done wonders and work my machine to death... A frames , custom stuff, exhaust systems, body work, driveshafts, you name it.. be great tool for the framework too if under 1/4 in. I should have bought the 180 Amp one

[team39763]

Thanks for those links cableguy...i will never do that again. I couldnt figure out why my eyes burned and i couldnt sleep lastnight, now i know why. Got the helmet and gloves for tomorrow.
Posted via Mobile Device

[vin63]

Originally Posted by team39763

Thanks for those links cableguy...i will never do that again. I couldnt figure out why my eyes burned and i couldnt sleep lastnight, now i know why. Got the helmet and gloves for tomorrow.
Posted via Mobile Device

This really pains me, so I can't imagine the discomfort you're going through. Please visit and speak with the experts at a welding supply outlet, and never, never do any welding or anything with a torch without an appropriate welding helmet/shield. I know of people with permanent eye damage from less exposure than you just experienced. Also, the machine you're using is not appropriate for what you're trying to do.

[BR3W CITY]

fwiw, the 110 flux core wouldn't deliver enough current to penetrate an axle tube, and the flux core wire is garbage to start with.

Plug the welder directly into a 25+amp service, no extension cords. Your going to have to run high power settings to try to penetrate with that setup.
Get a good ground, go slow and move around if your "globbing" the weld on, so you can try to keep the bracket square.


As everyone else said, get a helmet. Your friend is someone I would no longer EVER take advice from, he clearly is the dull crayon in the box.
Gloves are a good idea, mechanics gloves are better than nothing for a couple seconds at a time.
And if you have any tattoos you really like, put sunscreen on them. No better way to ruin ink than the power of the sun 2ft away.

[Indian113]

I wear a long sleeved denim shirt when I weld,you can pick them up at the tractor supply store pretty cheap.

[team39763]

Got some practice today. Used the helmet and managed to weld an old brake pad to my brake drum.. I'm gonna stop at the local welding shop and pick up some supplies and hopefully a 220v machine. I was only going for tack welds, but like you guys said...it may be too weak to really penetrate + i'm too new to MAKE it work. I'm gonna spend the rest of the afternoon practicing on scrap.
Posted via Mobile Device

[shok]

Can you pre-heat the part? I have a similar welder and since it was all I had to weld up a weld-el turbo manifold I used it, but I used a propane/oxy torch to preheat first. Maybe this will help.

[cableguy0]

If you have the cash but a GOOD auto darkening helmet. Not the 50 dollar harbor freight special. I weld everyday and while this time of the year im wearing shorts and a tshirt my helmet is on. The miller elite or 3m speedglass are great helmets. My helmet is a Snap-on and I would say its comparable to the Miller elite but its a 350 dollar helmet. Buy as nice of a welder as your cash flow allows. Its cheaper to spend more money in the first place. Going out and buying a crappy welder and then having to buy something a little better and eventually wanting a bigger machine costs a lot more than just buying a good welder in the first. I like Miller stuff even though its pricey I feel you get what you pay for.

[team39763]

One of the workers at the welding shop advised me to wait until i could afford a good setup. He said he will stop by my house with his welding trailer and show me some things and help me weld my brackets on. Turns out that he and a couple other guys rent out their welding trailers for around $40.
Posted via Mobile Device

[cableguy0]

Thats really nice of him. Definately worth making your purchase there even if its a few more bucks than online or other sources. A welder is extremely versatile and opens a ton of doors on what can be done. You dont realize how much stuff you can use a welder for until you have one.

[jhaymon]

using a 110 flux welder is just going to make you wanna throw things. you need gas for a mig(metal inert gas) welder to work like it was designed. you could probably take it back and get a cracker box. that'll defiantly do what you need. i think you can pick up the linclon arcs for around 150 now. i dont really use arc welders that much anymore, but you're not welding on a new tempered zinc steel frame so an arc would be perfect for that. you cant use em on sheet metal though.

yes you can preheat for better penetration. it takes a few years to get the hang of so i really don't recommend it.

[team39763]

This 110 box is just a borrowed unit. I'd told a buddy that I wanted to learn to weld, so he dropped it off and said go for it. I'm moving into a new(er) house in 2 weeks so I plan to set it up to run 220v in the garage for a good welder. My other friend offered to lend his stick welder when we get moved in.
X2 On the wanting throw things. I'm gonna let the guy from the welding shop show me the right way to do this. Thanks for all the great tips and advice guys.
Posted via Mobile Device

[jhaymon]

if you going to get one machine for everything a 190 is the way to go for a home shop.

the bottles are the pain. i weld constantly in my shop. 100% for aluminum, 75% for mild steel and sheet metal, and tri-mix for stainless. im at the point where owning my bottles is costing more than a monthly rental.

[justahoby]

Originally Posted by cableguy0

If you have the cash but a GOOD auto darkening helmet. Not the 50 dollar harbor freight special. I weld everyday and while this time of the year im wearing shorts and a tshirt my helmet is on. The miller elite or 3m speedglass are great helmets. My helmet is a Snap-on and I would say its comparable to the Miller elite but its a 350 dollar helmet. Buy as nice of a welder as your cash flow allows. Its cheaper to spend more money in the first place. Going out and buying a crappy welder and then having to buy something a little better and eventually wanting a bigger machine costs a lot more than just buying a good welder in the first. I like Miller stuff even though its pricey I feel you get what you pay for.

x2 and also said any extention cords on a welder suck balls, if you have to get one expensive as a welder lol... Heavy

[jhaymon]

i make up my own cords i. a great extension cord costs a fortune and its still a braided wire that wont handle 50amps. i use a plug box and 50' of 6/3 with 55amp amp plugs( the same thing you use a stove, just not in the wall).

[cableguy0]

There are decent 110 units but once you get into a miller 140 or similar your in the 7-800 dollar range. For a couple hundred more you can get a used Miller 210 or equivelant which will allow you to weld everything from sheet metal on up to steel I beams. Whatever you end up buying make sure you get as many heat settings as possible as well as wire speed settings. It makes huge difference on being able to weld different thickness materials. Learning on a sh!tty machine is not a good idea. The only thing it does is discourages a guy because you never know if its you or the machine causing the problems. A person can be taught to mig weld in about 10 minutes. Its not difficult BUT theres a lot of technique involved especially when switching material thickness. The thing that comes with experience is understanding what the welder is telling you. It will talk to you and explain exactly whats going on. You have to be able to hear a good weld just as much as see a good weld. I weld everyday and can tell you when your nozzle is too far from the material or you ran out of gas or the heat is too low etc etc etc. It takes time and the easiest way to learn is to figure it out on your own. Its just one of those things that really cant be explained and you kinda have to learn it for yourself. Scrap steel and welding wire isnt that expensive. Get a bunch of both and go to town. Post pictures of your welds and we can help you out with what your doing wrong.