Picked up a harbor freight welder and this is my first ever bead. It is holding strong but I know I should have practiced a lot more before I made this bracket

 

What it turned out to be

 

Hard to tell from the picture, is that for a vacuum solenoid?

 

Looks like an off-road light.

 

yup, it looks like a KC mounted on the A piller

 

The best advice I could give you is throw away the supplied wire and pick up some Lincoln flux core wire. Also prep, cleanliness, and practice is key.

 

Thanks. And yes the first thing I did is buy better wire. That is my a pillar kc light. I need to make one for the other side but someone stole my grinder so I can't make more brackets. I will make front and rear tube bumpers soon so I will have plenty of welding practice

 

 

I am by no means an expert on welding but unless you have the 170 or 180 amp HF welder you should not make bumpers or anything else that is structural because it will not hold and can very likely harm you or someone in the immediate area. I wouldn't want to be liable for that, plus I would say a bit more practice is in order before trying to tackle a project like that.

 

Its a 90amp welder. Just the cheap $110 one

 

Oh, yeah that's a definite no go. That 90 is good for sheet metal and body panels, certainly not for bumpers. I'm not trying to beat you up, because I almost bought one of those as well, but that will not weld anywhere hot enough or powerful enough for a bumper. It is fine for small stuff and playing around, but no big stuff. Trust me, if you go back a few pages you can see I had a very similar discussion I had before I bought my welder when wanting to buy a 140 to make a bumper. The guys here helped me change my mind

 

Alright thanks. I'm out over a hundred bucks then Cuz that is literally the only reason I bought it

 

Sorry man, I didn't want to squash your dreams, just don't want to see you get hurt, but I wouldn't scrap all your ideas though because now that you have it, while it is small you will probably find some projects for it. As long as it's nothing structural I would say you could do up to 1/8" with a couple passes and just playing around get some practice. Stuff like those light brackets and other small stuff could be done and not turn out too bad with some practice. I still need a lot of practice myself, and at least you didn't buy a $500 big name welder only to find out that it wouldn't cut it. It is cheap, but it does have a purpose

 

My xj is exactly how I want it. All I need is 2 bumpers and another bracket which I already have the tube steel for my bumpers and 1/2 inch plate steel for brackets.

 

First off, congrats on getting a really good welder! That 190 should do about anything that you need to weld on a Jeep.

As for the porosity, as pitted as that steel is, you very well may not be able to get it clean enough to get a good weld. Also, if you are welding outdoors (or with the door open if in a garage), wind can also cause porosity, even with gasless wire.

If at all possible, try to ditch the flux core wire and get a spool of dual shield type wire as it has several advantages- one being how easy it is to get really good, strong welds even with a small amount of rust/paint/etc.

Good luck!

Ron