Finally got to try out my welder today, it's an Eastwood mig 135 running some. 035 Flux core onto 1/8" angle iron, this is my first time welding so any pointers or tips or anything to help my welding would be appreciated.

 

... And pictures for some reason it didn't upload with the first post

 

Practice, practice, practice.

For first time you're doing fine, keep at it. Get some flat bar or plate, and use soapstone to draw some straight lines. Run beads on those lines. The longer the better, within the duty cycle of your machine. Practice keeping those lines straight and consistent. Work the tip of the torch in small cursive e's, or whip and pause. Once you start laying consistent beads on plate, move on to overlapping welds in the horizontal position. Then start doing lap joints. Then Butt joints. Then open groove. Then take all that, and start doing horizontal, then vertical, then overhead, using all the techniques above. There is no better teacher than time under the hood.

 

Thanks for the advice, I'm looking forward to getting in some more practice. Any advice as to where I could get metal for practicing on? I had bought that piece from my local Ace Hardware a while back for another project and it was kind of expensive I thought.

 

So we got a new plasma cutter at work, and I barely got to use it, cut some 5/8" round stainless stock on a truck and that was about it, then our shop compressor blew.

So we got this...took some time, and had to use the service truck and portable compressor for a bit, which sucked...but this bad boy is the business...



Screw drive compressor, with liquid cooling, and a built in drier, and the noise difference is AMAZING...totally quiet


So after we got it installed I finally had a chance to put the Hypertherm to the test...cut some 3/8" plate.








Pencil thin lines, no slag. Clean up after was quick and easy with the grinder. Basically just "dressing" the cut. Night and day difference from our old machine.

DADDY LIKE

 

Sweet! I so need to save up and get one.

 

my hypotherm is probably my favourite tool in the shop. and i've got a lot of cool tools. i use it all the time. sometimes for cuts that i can do with a grinder, but break out the plasma for fun. lol

next i want to get a cnc table for some cool plasma artwork.

 

I personally just use random scrap crap. Old lawn mower parts, pressure washer parts, fence posts, rebar or stuff I get from a welder friend.

 

Start checking your local steel supply, they usually have a remnants section of stuff they've cut for customers that they can't resell or use, unless someone like you rolls up. Also hit up some welding shops, same thing...and keep your eyes peeled for people throwing things away on trash day, LOL

 

Screw drive compressor, no kiddin'! Never knew they made 'em in screw drive, but that makes perfect sense... look at how many superchargers that are twin screw. Wish I had the kind of dough for all the nice commercial-grade toys lol.

Back when I first started practicing, I went to the local welding shop that is right at the main entrance to the Sheriff's compound that I work at and asked 'em if they had any unusable scrap they wanted to sell or just get rid of for someone starting out to practice with. They just kinda blew me off and said, "No, that goes in the scrap metal bin and sold to a recycler."

Well... okay... I couldn't get mad really, 'cause they hooked me up on my driver's door hinge before I even HAD a welder, but I was a little put off 'cause pound for pound, I'm sure whatever they get from the scrap guy was minuscule compared to what I'd have been willing to pay 'em for some. But hey... no is no.

Couple of months later, they relocated. After they moved everything out and I hadn't seen anyone return in a while, I went and walked the yard and parking lot with a 5 gallon bucket.... filled it full with bits and pieces of scrap perfect for just running beads on. Even wound up with a little bit of aluminum.

Cracked me up 'cause that's all I was after was the crap that fell on the ground, but they were so quick to dismiss me... guess I got the last laugh on that one

 

If you can't find a local metal supplier willing to let you have some scrap or sell it to you cheaply, Lincoln actually has a non-profit, The James F. Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation (JFLF), that sells a kit you can use for practice. The kit is pretty small, but they're already cut up into coupons to practice beads and joints. Cost is $7.50 each + shipping, which drops to $4.50 each + shipping if you buy more than 10 at a time.

Learn to Weld With Project Kits From JFLF



Personally, I think I would burn through one of those kits pretty fast if I were using it to try to learn from scratch, but I'm considering ordering some kits to keep around for use when setting up my machine and running test beads to make sure I'm in the ballpark before welding something important.

 

Yeah, that is pretty neat but I think I'll look around for some scrap local before I go ordering it online, it is nice how it's precut

 

So I've been building a DIY bumper. Learning a little as I go along. Previously I've never had to fill corner joints to reduce grind work. Given a little time I ended up with these.

3/16" corner joint w/ about a .01" gap using .035" wire.

 

That's awesome! I might have to pick up a few kits. Couple for me and my kids!

 

I'm pretty lucky, we have a metal supplier that also does recycling C&M Metal, they have a separate yard about 2 acers full of reusable metal they sell by the pound. That is were I go first before I buy new stock.