dicast

o.k people i just bought me a gas mig welder.i dont know how to weld.and im about to practice on some scrap metal before i touch my car.any welding gurus out there to give any pointers.

ebxr8240

Yea I'v just added a tig to my collection..So be practicing alloy welding etc....

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TIKFD6

Pointer number one, go do a welding course.
they arnt exspensive, and you will learn heaps.

JADED6

Agree ^
Plus, TAFE courses are always fun. Loved it when my work paid for all my training and paid me for being there.

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RaceCraft

while you are learning, try and always weld onto clean surfaces, spend alittle more time on the preperation of your steele..
Play with one variable at a time, adjust the wire speed alone or the heat range before you start twisting them together.. So much of the quality and strength of the bead with a MIG comes down to setting up the machine correctly

Start off by always completely tac welding the job
Never start in the middle of your job, corner to corner is better... Also try and and weld diagonal or opposite sides to counter-act the heat distortion

Tac weld two 90 degree angles.. Weld one from the inside and one from the outside edge and once cooled look at the differnce in the angle.. Take notice of your angle in relation to how you weld the job...

dodge

dont wear nylon socks or clothing, dont weld near flamable liquids, dont tac without helmet, use gloves, then make sure u have clean metal, right amount of gas 15 lt/min
then start by setting ur amps and then adjust wire speed to suit, if ur burning thru back down a few amps , if the weld is not fusing to metal ,up the amps. also when doing verticle welds u can drag the torch down on thin metal and u must run up on thicker jobs , also its better to run a 3 run 2 layer on thick plate than to just weave a big weld. dont forget to put down lots of tacks and take ur time to set up.

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ST170ish

Couple hints
1. Dont weld near uncovered glass in yer car it puts pits in it...
2. Use a air compessor with a blower gun to cool your welds on car body metal(dont use water!)
3. An oxy set should be your next purchase.
4. Go to a wreckers and buy some beat up/rusted panels(doesnt matter what there off, and give them a few hits with a hammer... thats the fun bit)and practice on them. Once youve perfected the repairs $ell them back the wreckers, and buy more tools... you can never have too many tools.

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dicast

i would love to do a welding course but tafe only has one course 4 hours a week for a year.sounds to long for me

dicast

guys thanks heaps for the tips.ive got a old au ute tub out back thats ill practice on.all i need to weld is the new boot floor in my cortina i cut the floor out to have a flat raised floor.

XD 351 Ute

Hmm, can't really add too much from what the others said, except to stress that the metal MUST be clean.
No rust, no scale, no grease, no oil, no anything!

You will be amazed at how much this simple preparation step will affect your welding.

Something I am yet to master is welding thinner gauge steel such as car panels.

We normally work with nothing less than 6mm thick steel at work, so I find it hard to get the adjustments and settings just right.

But the key thing is to practice.....................

Have fun!

Ed :)

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