For all you welders out and about, have any tips to getting a nice clean looking weld, considering I only weld about 4 times a year.


Kinda looking for something like this.

 

That appears to be TIG welding.... and I'm not sure that the time of year has to do with how well this can be done. Most welding such as MIG and TIG are usually shielded by gases.
IMHO, Tig and MIG are truly an artform to get them to look that good. Being a nuclear welding inspector in the 80's, I've seen very few welders who can lay a bead that well with a MIG but TIG is a little easier although still takes a concentrated effort.

 

"Fast Cloud" is an excellent welder.
Too bad you live too far away, or he would show you.
Maybe I can get him to post some tips for you later today.

 

The above pictured weld appears to me to be aluminum, and by detecting the cold lap along the outer edges, I would say it was done with mig, not tig. Exactly what is it that you want to weld?

 

Check to see if your county college offers welding classes.

Or just start welding things together to get practice.

 

What ever you do don't take Mama's coat hangers to put in your buddys exhaust...That ****'s her off

 

Practice...Practice...Practice

hey DonnyD, I worked the Nuke curcuit in the 80's
UA Steamfitter, where you on any of these?

Plant Vogal II, Augusta Ga (Cooling water)
St Lucie II, Hutchinson Island Fla (Cooling water)
Millstone III, New London Ct (Aux Boiler room)

 

Fast Gator: Wasn't involved at any of those.... Actually was an outside auditor for Allis-Chalmers, an N-Stamp holder. HUGE amount of paperwork..... Not a lot of people kenw they made more than tractors !!! Also doubled as an inhouse weldment inspector. We manufactured LARGE air handling units and cooling coils. About the size of a house!

About the welding pic.... I really think that is a hand fed rod type welding and not mig.... it probably is aluminum. I don't believe mig can be laid down with that particular pattern.....

 

Thats a 10-4 on the paperwork. I was a foreman for a crew of 10 at Milestone III. Everything had to be documented, including the Sharpie pens that the guys where using to mark centerlines on Stainless tubing
But I miss the stainless welding in the containment building. Those where the days, waiting two days for QC to check the end prep on the pipes so I could tack the joint and then wait another 2/3 days for inspection on the tacks

I also agree that it looks like aluminum, but I can "push" the metal like that with a MIG

 

Gator, where are you originally from? What local are you with right now?

 

Originally Local 624, Tampa Fla

My old Local was merged with LU 111 to form Local 123.
Been on the road since 1984. Working on my Travel Card.
Been in NJ since 1998. Currently working out of LU 475, Newark NJ

 

Work is definately slow all over the country right now. LU 440 - Indy has about 10% on the bench which isn't REAL bad compared to a lot of the country.

www.ualocal440.org
I made that website for our local.

 

Cool

heres ours, don't know much about it
www.lu123.com

 

I'm gonna take some welding classes when I get a chance. Nice skill to have if I ever wanna fab something up.

To those who can produce awesome welds:

I can barely solder