Welder World Blog

Archive for January, 2010

The real trick to welding thin metal is to use a wire feed. Just kidding, this tip is to explain how to do it with a stick welder. A wire feed or tig welder is ideal for sheet metal, but we will assume that you don’t have one. We need to establish what is considered thin metal. There is no absolute “according to Hoyle” answer, but I always considered anything less than 3/16″ to be thin. So from this point on we are talking about less than 3/16″ material.

The first thing to figure out is what kind of welding rods and what size of welding rods to use. If you have nice new 1/8″ material, I would go with 3/32″ 7018 rods. If you have old rusty painted up 14 gauge, I might be inclined to use 1/8″ or 3/32″ 6011 rods. You might ask me, why don’t you just grind the rust off? Well if it’s just surface rust go ahead, but if it’s pitted out you will grind all the material away before you get it clean. Not only that, but if you are just doing a quick repair job on something, just weld it. Chances are, if the material is that bad the weld will far out last the rest of the material anyway. Back to my point, 6011 is the rod I will pick anytime. It allows you to move a lot faster than 7018’s will.

As far as the actual welding goes, I like to use a whipping motion with the welding rod following the same direction as I am welding. Basically just a back and forth motion. The reason for this is to keep from building up too much heat all in one spot. If you were to drag the rod slowly you will have a pretty good chance of burning through. If you are welding vertically, don’t be afraid to run the 6011’s downhill. If the material is really thin, I will use the whipping motion downhill as well. I know it goes against some principles of burying slag but, when the material is thin it really doesn’t matter as much.

Most anything that is made from thin material is over welded. Say for instance you are patching an air compressor tank that has a hole rusted in it. You will weld the patch 100% because it needs to be air tight, not for strength. If you are making a section of air duct, you will weld it solid for air and not for strength, you get the point.

I guess the moral of the story is you can do just about anything with a stick welder in a pinch. It only takes a little bit of practice to make it happen. Just grab a piece of sheet metal to get the heat set correctly and go to town. A good heat setting for 1/8″ 6011 rods on thin material is about 80-90 amps. For 3/32″ 7018’s it’s about the same. Everyone is different but, those settings will get you in the ballpark.

Old cordless powertools are everywhere. I often see them at yard sales selling for just a few dollars. It is incredibly easy to revive the old Ni-Cd batteries just using a DC welder. I refresh my old Nikita driver batteries in just a few minutes. Do not try this with other battery chemistries.

Choosing the right TIG welding machine can be very challenging and confusing. The common predicament most consumers encounter when purchasing a TIG welder is finding a setup that precisely meets both their needs and budget.

TIG welding, which stands for Tungsten Inert Gas welding, is is the slowest yet the most handy and precise type of welding. It is also called Gas Tungsten Arc Welding. Unlike other welding methods, TIG welding makes use of an electrode shielded in an inert gas to create a weld puddle. In this process, a welding rod is stuck in the arc to craft the weld bead. What’s great about a TIG welding machine is its capacity to weld thick pieces of metal together without using a filler.

Here are some helpful tips to guide you in purchasing a TIG welder:

* Take into consideration your welding task. You should buy a TIG welder that is appropriate for your quality needs. If you work in motorcycle shops and auto garages, TIG welders are very handy in welding the frames of bicycles and cars together. For those who only do welding as a hobby, look into the machine efficiency specifications. Welding hobbyists don’t need high-end and powerful TIG to do basic welding tasks.

* To ensure product quality and reliability, better buy from reputable manufacturers such as Lincoln, Miller and Hobart. Contact the companies directly and inquire if they offer warehouse clearance sale.

* Be wise and shop around. If you want to save money on TIG welding machine, go to the nearest welding supply stores in your area. Also check out the classified ads of local newspapers or publications like Uncle Henry’s. Explore the pages of Ebay and Craiglist too. If you’re lucky enough, you might find a TIG welder being sold there at a dirt cheap price.

* Choose a TIG welder that matches the metal thickness you’re working on. The types of metals and thicknesses that can be welded always depend upon the welding process and particular machine. Bear in mind that MIG process cannot be utilized for metal components that are thousand of inch in thickness. Know the capabilities and limitations of the TIG welder before purchasing it. Ask the shop owner or better yet the manufacturer about it.

* Don’t purchase a TIG welding machine just because it’s cheap! Price shouldn’t the sole consideration. Read the customer ratings and reviews about the product. Participate and ask questions in relevant forums before you purchase anything. Post the specifications if you can to get feedback from experienced welding experts.

Learn what tig welding is from an expert in arc, tig and mig welding in this free DIY video. Expert: Malcolm macdonald Bio: Malcolm macdonald graduated from Connestoga College in 1968 from the Fitter Welding Program. He currently teaches a welding apprenticeship program. Filmmaker: Melissa Schenk

Mig welding machines can be broken up into four basics main parts or areas that are very critical to the successful operation of the machine.

The first area I will talk about is the power supply. The power supply on any mig welding machine is a key area in which controls many variables. Some of the “made to a price” mig welding machines are very basic in their functions and abilities. Take for example a small 110Volt or 220volt hobby or DIY type welding machine.

A lot of these machines will be made to run at very low maximum amperage outputs. They will have lower duty cycles and often used aluminium windings in the power sources.

Now lets take a comparative look at a tough industrial high workload mig welding machine like an OTC Daihen XD400 or XD500.

First thing you will notice is the sheer size of this machines power supply compared to that of a smaller hobby welder. The maximum power output will be much higher and this machine will run day and night in a production environment hassle and trouble free. The duty cycle will be much longer and there will also be a better current output from the machine which means you will have far superior weld beads.

The second area is the welding torch, or the mig welding gun. Once again on the lower end of the scale, the welding guns that are supplied with the cheapie mig welders are usually proprietary to that particular brand of welding machine. The mig torch welding consumables will not be as “mainstream” and the quality of the actual welding torch can be of much lesser quality and durability, which will lead to failures and lots of swearing and cursing.

Mainstream mig welding guns will offer higher duty cycles, many more consumable options, longer service life and a wider availability of spare parts and consumables. Also these industrial trade quality mig welding guns will be more comfortable to use which means less user fatigue, they will have smoother feeding resulting in far superior welds and if you are in business the reliability of these torches will save you money.

The third most important aspect of any mig welding machine is the mig welding wire. The mig welding wire is absolutely critical in the mig welding process. Selecting a quality mig welding wire is often very hard to do. Unfortunately people buy mig wire on price and usually price only.

Sadly though cheap things aren’t good, and good things aren’t cheap. This is very true with mig welding wire. The cheap wires will have bad copper coatings, sometimes even being sold with rust on the wire itself. The wire diameter tolerances will not be consistent which will result in irregular wire feeding, which will then result in burn backs, which will then result in having to replace contact tips which cost money and then you loose the production time as workers are walking around fixing welding machine feed problems all day.

The fourth and last critical area on a mig welding machine is the earth clamp or ground clamp.

You have to remember that when you are welding, you are simply creating an electrical circuit. And for that circuit to complete you must have a good earth connection. This can be solved by having an earth clamp that has clean contact faces. Over time little arcs will form on the welding ground clamp which will hinder its operation.

Then if you put the earth clamp onto rust steel or painted steel it will be even harder for the mig welding machine to complete the welding circuit. Resulting in the person welding getting angry because his mig welder isn’t working properly.

For further reading please visit

http://www.learn-how-to-weld.com/mig-welding-basics-1.html

Cheers,

Peter Apalais

With new researches in technology and the welding industry, newer and more advanced models of welding helmets have reached the industry and made its way to the hands of professional and non-professional welders. Welding helmets of various weights, designs and features are now available, and one brand that has had considerable attention for years because of its high quality, flexibility and resilience is Miller welding helmets.

Currently the most famous series of the brand include the new Performance Series and Elite helmets. The Performance series center on various welding applications, whereas the Elite series focus on heavy duty welding needs.

Miller welding helmets also come in interesting designs. You’ll hardly find plain helmet designs – most of them come in various colors and prints. Various magnifiers, fits and lenses are also available.

In terms of auto-darkening helmets which are recently gaining popularity due to their ability of automatically adjusting to dark and bright welding situations, the Inferno Digital Elite as well as the Joker Digital are also considered good choices. Both cost about $300. They both feature four modes and have a larger viewing area. They do not need to be recharged and weigh only 510 g.

For less serious welding activities, Miller offers its Pro-Hobby Series which is sold at a lower price in comparison to the auto-darkening Elite and Performance Series. For instance the Miller Black Pro-Hobby Auto-darkening helmet has a more conservative solid black look. It is a light-duty helmet that has a protective lens cover and two independent arc sensors. It costs less than $150 and with the same features as the Millermatic helmet that has a more modern and perky look.

Laser processing encompassing laser welding, laser cutting, laser drilling and laser system integration is the most advanced manufacturing technology that is rapidly gaining popularity. Be it in any industry, military, medical, aerospace engineering, automotive, space propulsion or hi-tech manufacturing, processing by laser beams have immense benefit and is the best solution to organizational needs and manufacturing equipments as precision laser cutting leads to accuracy and perfection.

Laser welding is used in delicate surgeries as well as in processing industrial materials. Such is the diverse nature of benefit of laser welding. It is the intense beam of concentrated heat source that is directed to melt, as well as heat or even vaporize selected area of any type of material. Laser welding is the most modern technique of welding and it leads to no distortion of material. Laser welding is an excellent tool for welding any kind of materials.

Laser welding is always preferred to conventional welding as it has a small HAZ (heat affected zone), deep penetration with excellent precision, consistent joints with minimal distortion due to heating, no secondary processing, faster weld rates and high repeatability. The choice of laser for welding depends primarily on the thickness of the material, its type and also penetration requirement. There exist two main types of beam delivery options used in case of laser welding such as through fiber optic cable and conventional beam delivery.

Again, precision laser cutting is the more popular and effective than the traditional cutting process. The reason is obvious. It is accuracy that holds the key to success of precision laser cutting. In the manufacturing industry quality and accuracy are very important aspect; precision laser cutting is an excellent tool. The benefit of laser cutting is far too many. It is not only flexible and fast but it is a cost-effective mechanism as well. Again in precision laser cutting the material does not come into contact with the cutting tool while in the traditional method of cutting the material has a physical contact with the cutting tool. This physical contact may lead to contamination or distortion of the material and the cutting tool may even get distorted or break down while cutting. Precision laser cutting does not lead to such issues. Additionally traditional cutting cannot be used in all types of materials, but precision laser cutting is used for any material with any kind of thickness.

Besides these other laser services include alternative to conventional drilling system that is laser drilling that provides with accurate holes with maximum precision and is very fast too. If you do not compromise on quality, then laser processing suitably tailored to industry requirement is the solution of the manufacturing industries in the long run.

Working with sheet metal, especially the thin ones, is such a daunting task for amateur and inexperienced builders or welders. Nowadays, there are many different ways for assembling sheet metal, but the principle behind it remains the same. Sheet metal assembly, regardless of its method, refers to the process of fastening or combining two or more metal components to come up with a single output.

Any sheet metal assembly is always dependent on the components that are being used and assembled. For instance, the approach in melting or joining pieces of metal such as steel and copper is different from thin aluminum and other plated components.

Welding is the most popular way of fabricating or assembling sheet metal. Over the years, the advancement in the metals industry has paved the way to a number of welding methods and equipment. Depending on what you want to achieve on your project, welders can now carry out various sheet metal assembly techniques such as arc welding, gas welding and many others. Each of these welding techniques has its own features and uses in particular industrial applications.

Arc welding, for example, makes use of an electric arc. It utilizes heat of an electric arc to combine metal. Direct or alternating current can either be used depending on the components to be welded. In gas welding technique, meanwhile, burning gas is used to create heat. Gas welders may use propane, oxyacetylene and oxy-propane torches.

Aside from welding, there are other ways to combine sheet metal components. If you don’t know how to solder, you can undertake simple assembly routes such as riveting, bolting and screwing to assemble sheet metal. In bolting and screwing, stainless steel screws, either oval head or pan head, are often used to join metal sheets.

For this assembly task, you will need tools such as drill, twist-drill bits, scratch awl, center punch, and measuring equipment. Snips for cutting the sheet metal, as well as a pop-rivet tool and pop rivets, are required to join the pieces of sheet metal together.

There are so many different grades that things are made of and it is not always clear which one you are about to weld.

So why is cast iron so troublesome to weld? Because it has a metric ton of carbon in it.

Come visit us right here for more Welder and Welding Info and get two Welding Ebooks What Is Tig Welding. http://www.welderworld.com/

solid iron contains over 2 p.c carbon and often up to four %. When that much carbon is present in iron, it toughens easily. But all that carbon serves a purpose… It turns into graphite and that actually serves a purpose as a lubricator on cylinder walls of a combustion engine. But for welding, all that carbon and graphite is horrible. Carbon in those pc.s cause toughening of the weld metal and surrounding heat affected area.

It does not bend, it breaks. It may be good for engine blocks, but it is unpredictable under load.

Have you ever lit up on a heavy aluminum casting using straight argon gas and had to wait a really long time to even get a puddle? Not so when you add helium. You get a pool instantly and it’s even a cleaner puddle… An extra bonus.

But I am telling you that when you use an argon helium mix, I will be able to bet you won’t want to use straight argon again excepting actually thin aluminum sheet.

Be careful not to use too much torch gas. Simply to be clear, that’s the gas leaving the tig cup.

Enough is enough and more is worse, not better. Use just enough flow to shield the puddle and not much more.

Come visit us right here for more Welder and Welding Info and get two Welding Ebooks What Is Tig Welding. http://www.welderworld.com/

The real trick to welding thin metal is to use a wire feed. Just kidding, this tip is to explain how to do it with a stick welder. A wire feed or tig welder is ideal for sheet metal, but we will assume that you don’t have one. We need to establish what is considered thin metal. There is no absolute “according to Hoyle” answer, but I always considered anything less than 3/16″ to be thin. So from this point on we are talking about less than 3/16″ material.

The first thing to figure out is what kind of welding rods and what size of welding rods to use. If you have nice new 1/8″ material, I would go with 3/32″ 7018 rods. If you have old rusty painted up 14 gauge, I might be inclined to use 1/8″ or 3/32″ 6011 rods. You might ask me, why don’t you just grind the rust off? Well if it’s just surface rust go ahead, but if it’s pitted out you will grind all the material away before you get it clean. Not only that, but if you are just doing a quick repair job on something, just weld it. Chances are, if the material is that bad the weld will far out last the rest of the material anyway. Back to my point, 6011 is the rod I will pick anytime. It allows you to move a lot faster than 7018’s will.

As far as the actual welding goes, I like to use a whipping motion with the welding rod following the same direction as I am welding. Basically just a back and forth motion. The reason for this is to keep from building up too much heat all in one spot. If you were to drag the rod slowly you will have a pretty good chance of burning through. If you are welding vertically, don’t be afraid to run the 6011’s downhill. If the material is really thin, I will use the whipping motion downhill as well. I know it goes against some principles of burying slag but, when the material is thin it really doesn’t matter as much.

Most anything that is made from thin material is over welded. Say for instance you are patching an air compressor tank that has a hole rusted in it. You will weld the patch 100% because it needs to be air tight, not for strength. If you are making a section of air duct, you will weld it solid for air and not for strength, you get the point.

I guess the moral of the story is you can do just about anything with a stick welder in a pinch. It only takes a little bit of practice to make it happen. Just grab a piece of sheet metal to get the heat set correctly and go to town. A good heat setting for 1/8″ 6011 rods on thin material is about 80-90 amps. For 3/32″ 7018’s it’s about the same. Everyone is different but, those settings will get you in the ballpark.