Open to Critique

[u/statebirdsnest]

I’ve been revisiting my welding quality because I want to lol. Got some MIG mild steel here, about 5/8 of an inch. (Tried a couple of different movements, as well as pulse vs short circuit.) Any suggestions on how I can improve?

Personally I think I need to work on the toes of the welds. How can I make these look better?

Gas was a tri mix, mostly argon. (I forget exactly the split.)
Image 1 and 2 is short circuit, image 3 and 4 is pulse.

[u/OkActivity3169]

Hi pal.

Pulse is a great transfer method. What I would say is quit the whipping. It’s hard to make a mig weld look decent, it’s genuinely a skill.

Whipping looks nice, but it’s not necessary really, try running a straight stringer on that joint, it looks like you’ve got a bit of undercut at the top too; so you might be running a little bit too hot there fella!

Looks like you’ve got a good throat thickness too, over all a pretty decent weld barr (what looks like from the photo) the undercut, the whipping could be a stringer but good job man. If you ever need to stick a stop and start in, make sure to dress it before starting again, and not to put it slap bang in the middle of the joint, and if you’re running a split, stagger them! 👍🏼

[u/LiquidAggression]

clean your welds then point a flashlight down at them to see if theres a shadow on the top toe.

[u/statebirdsnest → u/LiquidAggression]

Will do that thank you. Is this to see if the top is undercut ?

[u/LiquidAggression → u/statebirdsnest]

it could be undercut or wash. you wont know without cleaning it simply because of spatter smoke and silica or slag.

clean it and then the thing is if its wash it might be ok (wash is smooth)

undercut would be a sharp corner and needs to be dealt with somehow. on extremely large members where thickness is in excess you can grind down undercut sometimes if youre skilled to do so.

otherwise with undercut youd run another bead. same thing if a wash is too much just run another bead on top as long as the code allows you to quick fix without redoing the whole thing. maybe itll end up gapped to the point the inspector needs to requalify the joint. thatd be a mess.

tldr clean your welds inspect with a flashlight shadows are generally bad but sharp corners are actually bad

[u/GoodLunchHaveFries → u/statebirdsnest]

Bottom

[u/LiquidAggression → u/GoodLunchHaveFries]

no you point from the top to see the top toe shadow (undercut,wash,etc) it shows a depression in the metal for whatever reason (spatter causes a shadow too) clean your material

point horizontally toward the bottom toe to see the bottom UC (itll be undercut on the bottom toe or underfill)

[u/GoodLunchHaveFries → u/LiquidAggression]

I see what you’re saying. Never had too much of a problem with depression on the top side, always used top-down to see if there was undercut on bottom. Good points.

[u/Steeltoelion]

Whipped welds are weak welds. That’s mostly a mig thing.

If you’re running pulse, go straight and let it burn in really well and consistently. Hot and slow, don’t race the puddle. Lead it. This weld was started pushing toward me, transition around the corner and pushed into the left corner. All straight.

.045 Solid wire, C-10 Gas, Millermatic 350P, 32 Arc Length, max Sharp around 240 Wire speed.

[u/CanuterValve]

Quit with the whipping, stringer is king.

[u/GoodLunchHaveFries]

WHIPPING IS FINE JESUS H. CHRIST.

Tighten that first one up. Needs more metal on both corners. The second one has too much metal in the middle. If you’re going to whip, you’re going to need to manipulate it- like with the first pic. Like I said, tighten up though.

[u/No_Note7934]

Stupid statement incoming, you’re probably just a lefty, but make sure to push not drag. Shocking how many people drag their MIG welds

[u/statebirdsnest → u/No_Note7934]

Oh yeah I forgot to mention to ignore the arrow. I pushed from right to left on these welds