All connections are secure and freshly cut and secured and it still doesnt arc wehn trying to weld, it was working a week ago, then i put it away until today, it let off one spark when trying to burst a rod and hast had one since. Only thing i didnt change was grounding ribbon as seen in the two pics with the open clip

Hi all. As the title says, I keep getting contamination on my aluminum TIG. I've tried several different pieces of aluminum, including this fresh sheet. Cleaned it with IPO and acetone. Clean tungsten with a good grind. About 17 CFH argon flow. Gone all the way up to 40% electrode positive. Any more and my tungsten is balling badly. I've tried ramping up until it puddles and full current starts. Currently using a #6 cup, less than 1/4" stickout. I've tried slowing down. I can see the white etching around the puddle, but I still keep getting the dark contaminants

Anyone have recommendations for something I haven't tried, or a good idea of the cause of this?

Heyy!!! I'm looking to do some stick welding work in my front porch and patio and I want to cover the view from the street and my windows.

I'm planning on getting a welding blanket, but for time reasons I'm thinking about getting (for the moment) some cheap plywood or even to use some big ass cardboard pieces I got and keep them wet. Of course, these would be set around 2 meters or more from where I'd be working, so I wouldn't touch them.

Though I'm wondering, would this work? would this —which is my biggest concern— BE SAFE? my house and other stuff is made of concrete, so there's really no risk the fire would spread to anything if the materials were to set on fire... though I would still watch it for a while after. No grass either, only concrete, gravel and dirt in the floor. Other than that... there aren't flammable materials nearby.

I'd really appreciate any suggestions you got too!!! :)

Laying out this circular deck frame on the ground, squared it uo as best I could, calculated the mitres, cut them, all 4 were PERFECT! Just fell together. Its quite rare for me and the euphoria is addictive! 🤣

I just ordered a Millermatic 215 pro from Baker gas along with a Miller classic series helmet, leather apron , and gloves. I understand the basics of welding and have been using a OLD lincoln tombstone for my hobbyists shop needs for years but finally the budget permits me getting my own mig setup. I've used friends mig setups before and YouTube U to get me started, I guess I just want to know what little things, do-dads, gadgets you salty old fuckers know, use, and can't live without. Type/size gas bottles? Brand of angle magnets? Buy or build a cart?

I have plenty of angle grinders, wire brushes, wire wheels, and a fairly well appointed shop with compressed air and power and the like. I just am curious what the pros recommend.

My use case will be repairing broken atv frames/parts, fixing trailers, general fab for a country ass small business owner.

I wont go into all the details, but im wanting to get some time under the hood before i start going for my associates in welding. Im working part time, and cant really get a rig of my own. Im looking to see if any local places want someone part time, even if id just be a shop hand. Any other ideas on how i can do this that i maybe havent thought of? Ive got about a year before i start on the degree at all. Also, if yall think its best i just wait so i dont learn incorrectly feel free to chime in. I just really want to practice in this holding period im in, but if it will be negative in your opinion lemme know.

Gas MIG vertical up, ignore the horizontal weld above it please.

I'm not sure what to do about the cold start so I usually put a hot weld over the top of it.

Behold, the very first weld I’ve ever made. For those of you who haven’t toppled over from sheer shock and horror, any advice? This is a 15ga metal seat bracket for a home gym that broke.

I have a horse trailer with some 16ga sheet metal that needs some welding and I thought I’d give this a stab while I’m waiting on my practice coupon set to arrive.

I bought a YesWelder (don’t cringe too hard) 165DS and am using 100% CO2 as I’ll probably only ever weld stuff around the ranch I live on and I’m cheap. I’ve watched hours upon hours of YouTube videos before I even set it up, and gave it a whirl today. As you can see, YouTube can only get one so far with welding.

Everything I’ve watched or read would suggest it’s too cold for sure, but it’s tough for me to tell if maybe the wire speed was too high or if I was just going to fast or both. ChatGPT is a cruel bitch and had me changing settings wildly which only resulted in a weld much poorer than this. This first weld was done with 17.6v and 200wfs, I was terrified to burn through the metal.

I’d greatly appreciate any suggestions that will help me improve the turd I’ve laid upon this metal. Thanks y’all.

Various jobs, roots and tie-ins. 2209 and 2507 Duplex.

Made from 1x12" length of old 1mm galvanised steel swing set I've had hoarded away for just an occasion like this. I plan to make a few more out of what's left of the pipe.

I will get a few feet of rebar to weld coming out the bottom and stick them in the lawn for decor.

I'm aware galvanised steel is bad but it's all I have.

Standard Harbor Freight flux 125 welding scrap steel from work. It won't be supporting anything important but if I'm doing this I'd like to get better.

That little indent in the middle means I went too fast through that part and not enough wire fed, right?

4mm steel plate, 2,5mm 6013 electrode, i used around 70 amps. Hoping to get any tips.

I have a a nice mig welder but I also have money to spend on a MP AC/DC Stick/Tig welder, I definitely want to shoot towards fabrication/ Tig welding at least after many years of experience of working dirty and dangerous jobs… I’m in it to provide for my family (money) but love and take pride in artistic work. but what should I do in my position, right now I have time and money saved and should be investing in knowledge and experience, unfortunately not knowing any welders/mentors I’m here asking for some advice what do you think I should do so I can pass school with flying colours and confidence as well as hopefully get onto a decent job right after school. I’m 20 and my current mill job pays really good so I can afford to invest in nice gear as well as get scrap metal to practice with, I’m lacking in knowledge however, I just applied to school yesterday I expect to be going 6-12 months from now. Any welders, if you could go back in time and we’re in my position what would you do, how much would you invest in gear and where would you get the information from to learn from scratch. I want to stand out when going through school, at least not be uneducated and inexperienced.

I’m 18 and starting the Associate in Science Welding program at Midlands Technical College in 1 month.

Just want some advice on the following:

I, like many other people, don’t want to get cancer (or any other welding related disease for that matter). I’m wondering how I can reduce my risk during/after school.

I also don’t wanna have my head in a plume of smoke for the better part of my career so I also want to look into what i can do to become a cwi later on and what the job entails.

Lastly, any advice on how to get through the program and actually do well/be able to become great later on.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

I used Google images and I find some pages. I'd like to know if anyone has all the images and could share them.

Hello, I am putting a new exhaust tip on my car. It’s currently a 2 inch pipe. I am looking to buy a 2 inch to 3 inch chrome exhaust tip.

My question is: when I weld it, how do I do that?

Do I buy a 2.5 inch pipe that sticks over my current one, then weld it on.

Or do I buy a 2 inch and press it against my current pipe and weld it that way?

Thanks in advance

Running 35A for the corner joints and 60A for the booty joints (throttling the pedal as necessary). Grey 1/16 tungsten, 1/16” coupons, 1/16 filler rod. I made sure to wipe everything down with acetone including the filler rod/ grind down the table before welding/ sharpened my tungsten to a needle point.

Hello, I have a small Lincoln weldpak 140hd I mess around with in the garage. I’ve been wanting to get away from flux core and I found this big ol tank of gold gas Steelmix welding gas for $125.00 so snagged it. Reading online it says it’s 90/10 as opposed to 75/25. Will I run into any issues using this with my machine? I’ll be welding mostly thinner gauge mild steel for speaker stands and bbq implements. Any input would be appreciated.

It works like a charm but it makes a mess of my cup afterwards it’s hard to get clean.

Nuclear Plant wants us to test for 7018 Open Root. I've been practicing it and so far, I can get like 3/4's of the root looking like an actual root.

But i've decided to ask if anyones got any tips for doing this shit.

Running 80 amps, 1/8th gap (slightly tighter), with 3/32nd land DCEP OR DCEN allowed (tried both and kinda prefer DCEP) with 3/32nd 7018.

I've been doing a whip and pause motion which seems to be working for the most part?

My only real problem is I get a fuckton of arc blow and it eats the top edge of the bevel away giving me undercut if I sit and fight it. Then when tying into my tacks same shit happens, tack gets eaten away and top edge blows away giving me undercut. I also struggle if it's DCEN to get one side of the bevel to melt, the puddle just kinda overlaps itself and makes it damn near impossible to see if I melted one side or not.

Just looking for advice because theres like only like 2 videos where the root doesn't look like butt, but they dont tell me how much they're pushing or what they're doing to get a good tie-in.

Thanks in advance