New welder

H

HydroMan

Joined
Dec 21, 2017
Messages
13
So my sweet wifey bought me a Hobart 140 mig welder for xmas. I’ve never welded a day in my life but have always wanted one. Spent hours in my shop last night and again tonight practicing with this thing. One thing for sure, I’ve got a looooot to learn!
I’ve been watching lots of videos and trying various techniques as well as playing with the heat and wire settings. I’ve went through a small fortune buying metal at tractor supply just to have something to weld. But I’m hooked now and have definitely found a new hobby to enjoy.
 
I don’t have tanks for it yet so I’m welding with the flux core wire that it came with at the moment. It came ready for gas so I’ll prolly buy tanks soon and do true mig welding.
 
Good little welders. Used one many hours at work for certain things. Have one in the home shop too. Flux is dirtier but can be cleaned up and with practice can look very good. Buy your steel at the scrap yards for practice. Much cheaper
 
Glad you are having fun & learning something new. Flux wire is ok for nasty structural work, but gasshielding much better & versatile.
I suggest dont rent. Buy a bottle & related accessories. Exchange bottle when its empty. Its cheaper in the long run.
 
Thanks for all the feedback guys. I do intend to buy a bottle of gas soon. I’m getting better, making good solid welds but they aren’t pretty. Still a lot to learn. I’ve thought about taking a class but my best friend is a welder by trade and he’s gonna come over and help show me some stuff. It’s definitely an art to be a good welder. Hopefully the wifey will understand the cost associated with my new hobby lol. But hell, she spent thousands on new boobs so I should be able to spend $ on a hobby that helps out our business ha!
 
HydroMan said:
Thanks for all the feedback guys. I do intend to buy a bottle of gas soon. I’m getting better, making good solid welds but they aren’t pretty. Still a lot to learn. I’ve thought about taking a class but my best friend is a welder by trade and he’s gonna come over and help show me some stuff. It’s definitely an art to be a good welder. Hopefully the wifey will understand the cost associated with my new hobby lol. But hell, she spent thousands on new boobs so I should be able to spend $ on a hobby that helps out our business ha!
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It's hard to make anything look pretty with flux core welding haha. Try to make tight little cursive "e" get some angle iron and stack beads. It's what they had us do in welding school. Just hours under the hood man . Good luck and have fun
 
I was in the same boat you were, always wanted to learn and bought a welder after I started knifemaking.
It’s a blast!
Those little harbor freight carts are worth the money too.
 
Try some of these. I like J.
You wanna keep that puddle moving. It would be easier to see the puddle when its not shielded like in your case op.
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That self shielded flux core is not ideal for welding anything that you need reliable strength. You will hear that self shielded flux core is used to weld structural steel but it isn't the same. The polarity for that is electrod negative. That gives much higher penetration. Those little welders can give good welds if you use them right. Since the don't have much power they don't penetrate much. To counteract that you will need to make sure that you always hit the leading edge of the puddle. It is very easy to watch the buildup and in any type of welding that isn't a problem. Imagine that you have a max of 1/32" penetration, if you get back up on your puddle you will no longer be penetrating the base material. I usually do a back and forth movement sweeping the puddle forward then coming back on top of the puddle and laying down material. Keep the moments small. Think around 3 electrode diameters. Many people are used to stick and 1/8" rod gives you 3/8" movement but with .025 wire your only .075. Moving to much will allow your puddle to cool and small non-fusions to form.

Good luck
 
Same boat as you, I've a new tig waiting for a little warmer weather and I need to finish up a few other projects. Have fun.
 
Thanks for the tips guys. I have the polarity set for the flux wire. The wifey also bought me a nice auto dsrkening helmet. I’ve been practicing with various movements and speed of the wire but I think i may try to shrink the movements down as suggested above. I habe been practicing on 3/16” material and have made many welds and then cut the material in half to check the welds. They have been great penetration and solid welds. Just getting a lot of splatter and crappy looking beads but the welds habe been strong. When i cut through to check the welds, you couldn’t even see the seam, just looked like a solid piece of steel. So i guess I’m not doing too bad. Definitely gonna get a tank and gas soon though.
 
Here ya go Jesse. She told me I wouldn’t be in trub if I posted her pic lol
She’s my little hottie and after giving me three kids (our oldest is 19) she’s still smoooking hot. This pic was taken in September. She only gets better with age.

 
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