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MIG Welding Tips for Sheet Metal

Flux Cored Welding is not a “new” process, being dated back to the 1920′s. Instead of having the protective/stabilizing flux on the outside of the wire, as in “stick” rods, it is at the core of the wire. This flux does the same job as do the gases used Gas MIG Welding.

At Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, we periodically built rail-car “car sills”. These are the heavy metal frames upon which the railroad boxcar sits. We would use a “pantograph” machine for semi-automatically cutting out parts for the sill. Then we’d weld many of the parts with “jet rod” (7024 type), which is super easy to run on flat welds. The welds looked VERY nice.

For most other welding, we used heavy duty MIG welders. We’d fiddle with “gas” settings & wire speeds till it was just right. Then we’d just go & go till we got to the end of the pieces. We never had to worry about “duty cycle”, we just kept going. We could get a LOT done with those MIGS. If you are going to do a LOT of welding, you may want to start with a wire feed welder.

I prefer a flux cored welder because there’s no “gas” bottles nor pressure adjusting, nor are there issues with welding outside in the wind. It’s a personal decision; gas or flux cored. I would use the recommended setting ranges, running on the “hotter” side just to get the feel and coordination of running beads. An in-expensive, occasional use flux cored machine for the little jobs is fine. For my bigger jobs I go to my stick welder.

More tips and ideas for flux cored welding:
* If you go through eBay to but one, you may want to first go to welding supply shops & see them in person.
* Flux cored welders are mainly for the thinner materials. If you’re going to work on cars & the like, you would probably prefer wire feed over stick.
* I’ve done a lot of sheet-metal work with stick rods, but I needed to use really small rods, plus do a lot of “touch & go” welding, rather then continuous welds.
* One of your first accessories should be a pair of “MIG pliers”. They are great for helping you keep your equipment clean & to be able to easily convert to other wire sizes.
* When you install your 1st wire spool, don’t mess with bending it around much, or it may break. Re-threading & pulling out any that’s already in the guide tube can be a pain.
* Again, use recommended settings, then make adjustments as needed. Some machines are really limited for adjustments, so you may have to experiment with your gun positioning & arc length.
* I’d bet that there are as many variations for adjustments as there are different manufacturers & models. Be patient & keep trying.

Machine Selection:
* This is primarily dependent on your budget, then on exactly what type of welding you’ll be doing. If you feel that you might go beyond just doing your own thing, then get the best you can afford.
* The cheaper units are all pretty much the same: for light duty at home projects. The mid-priced ones can get you started in your business, but you’ll likely be up-grading as soon as you can afford to.

Flux Cored Troubleshooting:
* Don’t let go of the wire end when you’re loading a new spool! It may not feed right even if you can get it all un-raveled & fed through.
* If you feel the wire pushing against the bottom of the puddle, turn the speed down or the heat up (or both).
* Try not to keep the nozzle end too close to the puddle. That can make more splatter get into the tip piece.
* When you first start the weld, stay put momentarily to allow the puddle to form & fill the initial crater.
* Uneven feeding? Make sure the wire guide isn’t twisted or kinked.
* Can’t see an actual puddle? Clean you helmet lens & get closer. If all you’re seeing is a bunch of sparks, you’re not really seeing what’s going on. And again, you need to go at a speed that gives enough time for a puddle to form.

Wear long sleeves & pants, plus full shoes, & at least a helmet.

If I’m doing overhead welding, I’ll put on my leather jacket too. I ALWAYS wear long sleeves. I ALWAYS wear the helmet for welding or the goggles for torch work.

Wearing short sleeves will get you sunburned. Not wearing gloves can get your hands burned or sunburned. Yes I’ve tried it during real hot weather, & the sunburn is for REAL.

If you wear boots, don’t tuck your pants inside! One of my welder helpers did & he soon went DANCING around due to the hot sparks. We both laughed about it later, but it wasn’t funny at the time.

Got long hair? You better keep it back or cut it shorter. The guy mentioned above had fairly long hair at one time. Then he caught it on fire while doing torch work. Hair can burn REALLY fast. He came to work the next day with a lot shorter hair!

Doing some necessary work in wet conditions? Try to build a temporary shelter, or make sure you have on DRY gloves, etc. If conditions are wet enough, get some rubber WELDING gloves.

Protective clothing is a MAJOR part of Welding Safety!

Fire Safety:

I don’t start welding until I have at LEAST a bucket of water nearby. It’s good to also have a water hose & any pressurized fire fighting equipment if you have them.

Learn to know the SMELL of burning clothing & other items around the job. Have a “helper” around to watch for fires when possible. Learn to pay attention to unusual LIGHT flickering in your side vision. You may even HEAR a burning sound besides the arc sounds.

Sooner or later, something will catch fire. Catch it before it gets out of hand. People everywhere, everyday, weld by themselves. Don’t, unless you don’t have a choice.

When it comes to Welding Safety, PREVENTION SAVES PAIN!
Arc welding safety with your equipment:

1) Skin burns: Simple. Wear clothing wherever you don’t want to get burned. The ARC is hot, & the metal you’re working on is too. If you feel your leather glove getting hot, let go of the metal & remove the glove! It WILL get hotter.

Welding sparks can set your clothing on fire. It can be burning BEFORE you smell it. Keep checking yourself & your surroundings.

Metal you’ve just welded will STAY hot for awhile. Use your gloves to move it.

2) Ventilation: Open the garage door, turn on a fan, & keep “up-wind” of the fumes. Don’t weld forever without taking breaks & getting to fresh air.

3) Shocks: Start your weld on the same side of the material where the ground clamp is. It will start easier & you won’t become part of the electrical path. Use DRY GLOVES, & try to not work in wet areas.

If you MUST work in wet areas, you can use rubber WELDING gloves. They are very heavy duty. If you’re stick welding (versus wire welding), you may get a jolt when you insert the rod into the holder with wet leather gloves.

4) “Flash burns”: Even looking at the sun for a second or so can HURT. If you see the arc directly without protection for long, you will have the equivalent of sun-burned EYES! If you don’t get it too bad, it will go away shortly.

If you get “flashed” very much it will hurt for a long time. I got it bad once & had to go to a doctor to get medicine to put in my eyes. It was called “pontocaine”. It worked INSTANTLY, & what a relief!

Also, be kind to those around you & tell them to “watch their eyes”. When I was still new to welding, they called me “Lightning” because I wasn’t warning them before striking an arc.

You need to read these WELDING SAFETY DETAILS more than once!

Torch safety

1) The cutting torch & related equipment can be dangerous. First, SECURE the tanks to a wall or build a cart for them & keep the chain across them. A fellow worker told me about the time he saw an oxygen tank fall & break the top valve assembly off. Then it went flying literally through the roof!

Remember, there’s up to 2000 PSI in the O2 tanks. Again, keep the tanks secure. PLUS if you’re replacing them, make sure the cap is on the full one.

2) Once you have a flame going, you will get an INSTANT BURN if you run that flame across your hand! After you make a cut, the metal will stay HOT for quite awhile. Use gloves to handle work in-progress.

3) Welders are really “Special Mechanics”, & we all get greasy. You don’t want grease catching fire. It’s extra hard to get “out”. Clean up wherever you can. A trick a mechanic friend of mine showed me, was to use margarine for my dirty hands. Use it just like you would waterless cleaners. It works really good.

Just take a teaspoon (or tablespoon) full, and work it till it’s liquid, then rub it around the grime, then wipe it off with paper towels. (THEN go in the house & use regular soap to get the margarine off). Your wife will love you for not coming in totally greasy!

4) Keep all fittings tight. If the “gas” fittings are loose enough, it could catch fire AT that fitting.

5) Don’t lay the acetylene tank flat for transport, because it could become explosive the next time you turn it on & light it up.

6) When opening the acetylene tank valve, just turn it 1/2 turn. It makes everything safer.

7) Use goggles to cut or weld. Yes there are those that don’t, but I hope it won’t be YOU!

Keep your goggle lenses clean. I use my leather gloves to do that, & leather works just fine.

9) If you’re “setting the flame”, & the “gas” separates from the tip, just back off the “gas” valve a bit.

10) If your hear a buzzing, sucking noise, immediately turn the “gas” valve off, then the O2. It may be backing up into the hoses & could be a bad thing.

11) Check the whole area before you cut. Clear out gas cans, etc. And look for items that might catch fire. Also, bring out the water buckets, water hoses, & other pressurized fire fighting equipment. And have someone nearby, if possible to be the “fire-watch”.

12) “Crack open” the main tank valves before you hook them to hoses to make sure there’s no contamination.

13) Don’t tuck in your pant legs, or you’ll be dancing & jumping around if enough sparks get inside the boots! I’ve seen a fellow welder doing exactly that.

14) Break out your steel-toed shoes if you’re going to do any heavy cutting. One day I just happened to look down & noticed a DENT in my shoe toe. I didn’t even know it happened until I SAW it.

The next time you start a welding project, think to yourself, ” What have I told my buddy helping me about Welding Safety?”

Equipment Gone Bad:

Note that some equipment failures can be just “a pain”, but others might be a safety problem. Try to keep your equipment clean & working right:

1) If your arc welder overheats too much it could either be a “goner”, or even cause it to start smoking internally. Pay attention to “duty cycle”, especially if your machine has no cooling fan or a warning mechanism: a warning light or an automatic breaker.

I was welding along at home & noticed that the rod was sticking a lot to the work-piece. And I noticed that it SOUNDED different suddenly. I soon realized that my cooling fan had died. I replaced it, & it’s been working fine for years now.

2) Can’t see what you’re doing very well? Check your lenses & clean them on both sides (use your leather glove).

3) The circuit breaker kicking off? Maybe you need to go to a bigger breaker. Plus you might have to use a smaller rod & make more “passes”.

4) Is your helmet lens getting messed up from hot sparks? Add a protective cover lens (they are cheaper than your main lens).

5) Is the torch doing excessive splattering? You may be getting the tip too close to the puddle, or the cut. Or you might just need to use tip cleaners (or have both problems).

6) Is your torch not cutting very well? If you have the smaller (& cheaper) single stage gauges, you might try cranking up the cutting pressure again. This was going on for my single stage outfit, & I just assumed I was real low on acetylene.

But when I shut off the tanks later, I saw that the O2 cutting pressure reading was still at 20 PSI. So I was only using 20 PSI to cut instead of 40! I pulled the gauge’s needle off & re-set it. It was good to go again.

Welding Safety includes safe equipment and safe usage!

Welding Safety MEANS safety for you AND your customer AND those helping you!!

Related Welding Lenses Articles

Wear long sleeves & pants, plus full shoes, & at least a helmet.

If I’m doing overhead welding, I’ll put on my leather jacket too. I ALWAYS wear long sleeves. I ALWAYS wear the helmet for welding or the goggles for torch work.

Wearing short sleeves will get you sunburned. Not wearing gloves can get your hands burned or sunburned. Yes I’ve tried it during real hot weather, & the sunburn is for REAL.

If you wear boots, don’t tuck your pants inside! One of my welder helpers did & he soon went DANCING around due to the hot sparks. We both laughed about it later, but it wasn’t funny at the time.

Got long hair? You better keep it back or cut it shorter. The guy mentioned above had fairly long hair at one time. Then he caught it on fire while doing torch work. Hair can burn REALLY fast. He came to work the next day with a lot shorter hair!

Doing some necessary work in wet conditions? Try to build a temporary shelter, or make sure you have on DRY gloves, etc. If conditions are wet enough, get some rubber WELDING gloves.

Protective clothing is a MAJOR part of Welding Safety!

Fire Safety:

I don’t start welding until I have at LEAST a bucket of water nearby. It’s good to also have a water hose & any pressurized fire fighting equipment if you have them.

Learn to know the SMELL of burning clothing & other items around the job. Have a “helper” around to watch for fires when possible. Learn to pay attention to unusual LIGHT flickering in your side vision. You may even HEAR a burning sound besides the arc sounds.

Sooner or later, something will catch fire. Catch it before it gets out of hand. People everywhere, everyday, weld by themselves. Don’t, unless you don’t have a choice.

When it comes to Welding Safety, PREVENTION SAVES PAIN!
Arc welding safety with your equipment:

1) Skin burns: Simple. Wear clothing wherever you don’t want to get burned. The ARC is hot, & the metal you’re working on is too. If you feel your leather glove getting hot, let go of the metal & remove the glove! It WILL get hotter.

Welding sparks can set your clothing on fire. It can be burning BEFORE you smell it. Keep checking yourself & your surroundings.

Metal you’ve just welded will STAY hot for awhile. Use your gloves to move it.

2) Ventilation: Open the garage door, turn on a fan, & keep “up-wind” of the fumes. Don’t weld forever without taking breaks & getting to fresh air.

3) Shocks: Start your weld on the same side of the material where the ground clamp is. It will start easier & you won’t become part of the electrical path. Use DRY GLOVES, & try to not work in wet areas.

If you MUST work in wet areas, you can use rubber WELDING gloves. They are very heavy duty. If you’re stick welding (versus wire welding), you may get a jolt when you insert the rod into the holder with wet leather gloves.

4) “Flash burns”: Even looking at the sun for a second or so can HURT. If you see the arc directly without protection for long, you will have the equivalent of sun-burned EYES! If you don’t get it too bad, it will go away shortly.

If you get “flashed” very much it will hurt for a long time. I got it bad once & had to go to a doctor to get medicine to put in my eyes. It was called “pontocaine”. It worked INSTANTLY, & what a relief!

Also, be kind to those around you & tell them to “watch their eyes”. When I was still new to welding, they called me “Lightning” because I wasn’t warning them before striking an arc.

You need to read these WELDING SAFETY DETAILS more than once!

Torch safety

1) The cutting torch & related equipment can be dangerous. First, SECURE the tanks to a wall or build a cart for them & keep the chain across them. A fellow worker told me about the time he saw an oxygen tank fall & break the top valve assembly off. Then it went flying literally through the roof!

Remember, there’s up to 2000 PSI in the O2 tanks. Again, keep the tanks secure. PLUS if you’re replacing them, make sure the cap is on the full one.

2) Once you have a flame going, you will get an INSTANT BURN if you run that flame across your hand! After you make a cut, the metal will stay HOT for quite awhile. Use gloves to handle work in-progress.

3) Welders are really “Special Mechanics”, & we all get greasy. You don’t want grease catching fire. It’s extra hard to get “out”. Clean up wherever you can. A trick a mechanic friend of mine showed me, was to use margarine for my dirty hands. Use it just like you would waterless cleaners. It works really good.

Just take a teaspoon (or tablespoon) full, and work it till it’s liquid, then rub it around the grime, then wipe it off with paper towels. (THEN go in the house & use regular soap to get the margarine off). Your wife will love you for not coming in totally greasy!

4) Keep all fittings tight. If the “gas” fittings are loose enough, it could catch fire AT that fitting.

5) Don’t lay the acetylene tank flat for transport, because it could become explosive the next time you turn it on & light it up.

6) When opening the acetylene tank valve, just turn it 1/2 turn. It makes everything safer.

7) Use goggles to cut or weld. Yes there are those that don’t, but I hope it won’t be YOU!

Keep your goggle lenses clean. I use my leather gloves to do that, & leather works just fine.

9) If you’re “setting the flame”, & the “gas” separates from the tip, just back off the “gas” valve a bit.

10) If your hear a buzzing, sucking noise, immediately turn the “gas” valve off, then the O2. It may be backing up into the hoses & could be a bad thing.

11) Check the whole area before you cut. Clear out gas cans, etc. And look for items that might catch fire. Also, bring out the water buckets, water hoses, & other pressurized fire fighting equipment. And have someone nearby, if possible to be the “fire-watch”.

12) “Crack open” the main tank valves before you hook them to hoses to make sure there’s no contamination.

13) Don’t tuck in your pant legs, or you’ll be dancing & jumping around if enough sparks get inside the boots! I’ve seen a fellow welder doing exactly that.

14) Break out your steel-toed shoes if you’re going to do any heavy cutting. One day I just happened to look down & noticed a DENT in my shoe toe. I didn’t even know it happened until I SAW it.

The next time you start a welding project, think to yourself, ” What have I told my buddy helping me about Welding Safety?”

Equipment Gone Bad:

Note that some equipment failures can be just “a pain”, but others might be a safety problem. Try to keep your equipment clean & working right:

1) If your arc welder overheats too much it could either be a “goner”, or even cause it to start smoking internally. Pay attention to “duty cycle”, especially if your machine has no cooling fan or a warning mechanism: a warning light or an automatic breaker.

I was welding along at home & noticed that the rod was sticking a lot to the work-piece. And I noticed that it SOUNDED different suddenly. I soon realized that my cooling fan had died. I replaced it, & it’s been working fine for years now.

2) Can’t see what you’re doing very well? Check your lenses & clean them on both sides (use your leather glove).

3) The circuit breaker kicking off? Maybe you need to go to a bigger breaker. Plus you might have to use a smaller rod & make more “passes”.

4) Is your helmet lens getting messed up from hot sparks? Add a protective cover lens (they are cheaper than your main lens).

5) Is the torch doing excessive splattering? You may be getting the tip too close to the puddle, or the cut. Or you might just need to use tip cleaners (or have both problems).

6) Is your torch not cutting very well? If you have the smaller (& cheaper) single stage gauges, you might try cranking up the cutting pressure again. This was going on for my single stage outfit, & I just assumed I was real low on acetylene.

But when I shut off the tanks later, I saw that the O2 cutting pressure reading was still at 20 PSI. So I was only using 20 PSI to cut instead of 40! I pulled the gauge’s needle off & re-set it. It was good to go again.

Welding Safety includes safe equipment and safe usage!

Welding Safety MEANS safety for you AND your customer AND those helping you!!

Related Welding Lenses Articles

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Find More Scaffolding Jobs Articles

Don’t worry too much about how your welds look at first:
* While you’re improving electrode control, you’ll be learning more about different welding job situations.
* Plus I’ll tell you WHY it’s important to have good rod control.
* After you read these tips, THEN you can practice your welding rod control techniques.
* Whether you swing a golf club or a bat, if you don’t practice in correct ways, the results can be at least EMBARRASSING!

Let’s talk about arc pressure and gravity:
1) Arc pressure is produced by the voltage from the machine as it’s pushing the molten metal outwardly.
2) The pressure will vary depending on machine settings, rod size, & the amount of arc gap.
3) Gravity not only effects the direction of the molten metal, but also it’s going to try to make your puddle drip.
4) If you’re arc welding in a flat position, you mainly just worry about keeping the rod at right angles to the work-pieces, & tilted away from the puddle, to help control the puddle & the slag. (And that will help you to SEE THE PUDDLE!).
5) If you’re going to weld in a vertical position, you need to aim the arc up-ward to preheat the metal & to help keep the puddle from dripping.
6) At the same time, in vertical welding, you no longer need to worry about slag, because gravity is keeping it out of the way.
7) For horizontal positions it’s a lot the same. Gravity will try to drip the weld, so you aim the arc upwardly.
For overhead jobs you keep the rod nearly straight up for the same reasons. You don’t want to do any weaving in overhead welding, instead just use straight “stringer” beads.

Pipe welding:
* Pipe welding is rather unique, in that it involves all positions as you go around it. You will gain real electrode control experience in pipe welding!
* Horizontal welding on pipe can be tricky too, because you need to keep changing the rod angle as you go around.
* Save overhead welding practice for last. Get used to ELECTRODE CONTROL & amp settings in the easier welding positions first.

General tips:
* Learn to keep the arc length as steady as possible, plus keep the rod angle steady.
* Weld in a straight a line. This helps to give your welds to look better, and to give them more strength.
* Use both hands to steady the rod. Either place both hands on the rod holder, or one hand on the rod itself, until it gets too short (or until the rod gets too hot).
* Work on a steady speed to keep a uniform puddle shape. An oval shape is good, but don’t let it get too pointed. A round shape may be too wide, unless you need a wider or heavier bead for the job you’re doing. You’ll soon be able to judge that your welding speed is right for the job size & situation.
* Finding a good amperage setting for the job at hand, will help you to concentrate on getting a good weld, & not be fighting sticking rods, or having the rod burn through the work-piece.
* Learn to hesitate slightly at the start of your welds to ensure that the “puddle” forms sufficiently.
* Also pause a bit, at each side of the bead, when you’re doing a weave weld, to make sure there is good penetration.

REMEMBER, Don’t worry too much about how your welds look at first! Now start practicing!

Joel Ort of Miller Electric Mfg. Co. shares his tips for MIG welding success. Placing the focus on MIG technique, Ort’s useful comments are applicable for many garage applications involving farm and automotive repairs. Topics include: simple setup, butt joints, T-joints, lap joints and horizontal, vertical and overhead welding positions.

Related Welding Positions Articles

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Lighting the torch & setting the flame: (FIRST, put on gloves, goggles, long pants, etc!)

1) Turn on the “gas” tank valve about 1/2 turn (believe me that’s plenty)(set the gas at 10-12 PSI).
2) Open the O2 (oxygen) tank valve nearly all the way. (set the O2 cutting pressure to about 40 PSI, via the twist knob at the O2 gauges).
3) With your striker (lighter) in one hand, crack open the acetylene valve on the torch handle & light it. (red hose).
4) Open the acetylene more till the flame separates from the tip, then back it off till it “re-attaches”. (that’s the max you can get from the tip you’re using).
5) Now open the O2 on the torch handle till the blue flames are short & bright. (green hose)
6) Then push on the long high pressure valve on the handle &  re-adjust the O2 valve on the handle till the blue flames are clear & bright.
7) You’re THERE!

Check to see that all the holes in the tip end are allowing full flow. If not, shut it off & clean the tips.

To shut the torch off: close the “gas” valve on the torch handle, then the O2 valve. Then I usually crack the high pressure valve (on the handle) to blow out any gas left.

Using the cutting torch:
1) Look around to see where your sparks will be going & protect stuff or move it, if needed.
2) See that the piece you cut off has a safe place to drop. (If you catch it you will want to put it down right away).
3) Now, put the tip of the blue flames on an edge of the material & let it get red hot (or start sparking).
4) Then push the cutting valve & slowly start moving in the direction you want to cut.
5) The thickness of the piece will determine how fast you move. But keep moving fast enough so that the sparks are flying at least straight down, or actually angled slightly ahead of the tip.
6) If you go too slow, the molten metal won’t clear out & will tend to still hold the pieces together at the end of the cut.
7) Going too fast will cause the sparks to lag behind the cutting tip, & not cut through good enough.
Note that I tend to very slightly angle the flame & tip in the direction of the cut. For me this helps to pre-heat the metal & keep the sparks angled slightly forward.

Once you’ve practiced a few times, the cuts will look pretty decent.
* You will then be able to think more about using various ways to help you steady your hands & use guides.
* Using 2 hands is a common practice of the pros.
* Using a heavy bar as a guide is a quick way to help you make a straight cut.
* Also using clamps on various other straight edges, like angle iron or channel, can help too.

Other torch and cutting tips:

1) For long cuts on plate steel you may need to use a clamp across the beginning of your cut to  hold things in place more firmly.
2) I use a torch many times to cut heavy material instead of a band saw, then do some grinding to dress it up.
3) Use a chalk line to mark really long cuts.
4) A regular cutting tip can also be used for heating smaller jobs, just keep away from the cutting valve.
5) When you get better at the “trigger control” of the cutting valve, you can use it to gouge out cracks for better penetration.
6) You will need to get a O2 bottle that is at least 1/2 again as tall as the acetylene bottle because you will be using MUCH more O2 versus gas.
7) On thicker materials you can use your torch to bevel the edges for better penetration (versus grinding).
Lots of popping sounds & splatter likely means that your tip is too close to or touching the molten metal (or your tip orifices are plugged, or BOTH).
9) Make sure when you have your tanks off, that the gauges read ZERO! (example: if the O2 reads 20 when it’s off, then when you set the 40 PSI cutting pressure, you really only have 20 PSI that you’re cutting with! This happened to me).
10) When you need to cut off just the weld of a job, it takes a CAREFUL touch of the cutting valve & you need to watch for where the pieces join each other & try to not cut into the pieces you’re trying to save.

Related Acetylene Torch Articles

Gas Welding is alive and well!
* If you want to create artistic projects, many people will choose gas welding exclusively.
* At some point, most arc welders will want to, or NEED to use gas welding. I’ll help you get started. Then YOU need lots of practice!

Seriously, practice is CRITICAL for running great beads.
* If you’re doing artistic stuff, you’ll want it to LOOK great.
* Eye-hand coordination gets tougher because you’re doing more multi-tasking then arc welding.
Being able to DIRECTLY be shown details about how to do special jobs like gas welding is the BEST way to get started. (By WATCHING some else gas weld).

Here’s the “scoop” for this article:
1) I’ll give you a brief introduction to the gas welding world…
2) Then I’ll hit on some safety tips…
3) Next the equipment itself…
4) Getting started:
* The flame.
* Adjustments.
* Angles.
5) Filler rod, tacking, the puddle, problem solving.
6) Brazing Tips.

INTRO:
* Gas welding in this page refers to oxygen-acetylene welding of metals.
* Your are actually WELDING two pieces of metal together, wheras brazing doesn’t melt the parent material, just the material used to join the pieces.
* The torch itself needs to be able to melt the metals being used: filler rod, & “parent metals”.
* Having an oxygen-acetylene torch around enables you to not only WELD, but also to cut the materials, heat & bend materials, & loosen tight-fitting materials via heating.
* Safety is paramount! You are working with extremely hot & potentially explosive materials!

SAFETY STUFF:
SERIOUSLY gas welding can really be fun, interesting, & profitable!
BUT:
* The tuned gas flame can exceed 6,000 F.
* Un-protected eyes can be fatigued & permanently harmed in a short time.
* The acetylene tank could explode under certain conditions: dropping, in a fire, from an arc or torch flame penetrating the casing, etc.
* The oxygen tank starts with 2000 PSI & can literally go like a rocket if the top valve assembly breaks off.
* Hitting something already burning with the high pressure torch valve can really accelerate the fire.

So, be careful!

GETTING STARTED:

The Flame:
* Set the gas and oxygen pressures MUCH lower than for cutting.
* Some gas setting charts call for the 02 & gas pressures to be the same as the tip size being used: tip size 1 = 1 PSI for gas & O2.
* Tip size 5 = 5 PSI for gas & O2, etc.
* I simplify things even farther! I just set both pressures at 10 PSI then crack the valves open at the torch handle to where I need them to be. Just start EASY & work them up to the capabilities of the tip. (or just do it as above).
* Also, tip sizes vary for the size metal being welded: Tip size 1 = 1/16″ metal and tip size 5 = 1/4″ as examples.
* It really isn’t hard to figure out if the tip your using is too small or too big for the job. (Too small won’t get everything hot enough, & too large will tend to blow everything away).
* Crack open the gas & light it right away.
* Crank up the gas till it separates from the tip then back it off.
* Hit the O2 until the blue flame first gets short & bright. This is a “neutral flame”, used for most jobs.

Note that the torch tip & the filler rod should be about at a 45 degree angle.
*Too steep can make the penetration too deep & not pre-heat / too shallow can cause too little penetration.

Let’s do it:
* Starting out, it can give you good practice to just put the flame on metal without a filler rod. This helps you get used to the process without worrying about the filler rod too.
* Heat the metal till there’s a puddle, then begin moving the flame to create a bead.
* Get the blue part of the flame nearly touching the metal.
* Move in a circular or semi-circular fashion to make it into a bead.
* Aim the flame in the direction you’re trying to make the bead. (forehand welding).
* Don’t get ahead of the bead or it can make it not hot enough at the puddle.
* Do this for a few times before using a filler rod.

Introduce a filler rod: (usually the same diameter as the pieces that are being welded).
* start the same way as above and keep the rod at a 45 degree angle also.
* Dip the rod in the puddle frequently, but try not to heat the rod with the flame. (heat the puddle, not the rod).
* Practice running straight beads then work up to following curved paths. (some schools have you write your name with a gas welding bead).

THEN PRACTICE till you can run decent looking beads.

Note that you should be tacking pieces together at least at both ends of where you’re welding, to prevent moving of the gap.

Problem solving:
* Your flame is fluctuating: gas pressure or supply may be low.
* Popping sound: Hot tip, plugged tip, pressure too high.
* Flame stops: 02 pressure high.
* Whistling noise & the flame backs up into the torch: (backfire), 02 or gas too low, the tip is clogged or dirty, or the tip touched the puddle.

BRAZING:
* Many things are similar about gas welding and brazing: but remember that with brazing you aren’t melting the parent metal, just the brazing material (such as brass).
* The brass and the parent metal MUST be clean and hot enough for there to be a good joint. (Use flux! In a can, or coated rods).
* Think of soldering, if you don’t get everything hot enough, it might come apart (or not be a good electrical connection).

Now GET BUSY PRACTICING!

This was a just a BRIEF description of the gas welding process.

Good luck to all you ladies & gents!