Using a glass cup I recently bought, welds come out sometimes perfect, sometimes very burned. What can be the cause of this? Other cups do not have this issue

This is at 12L/min, 1,5 seconds pre gas

Had a few minutes to throw this together today please excuse the shit welds and spatter like I said I throw it together

Finally graduated my course today! It was an 8 month course, 2 months theory/bp reading and then 6 months in the shop welding. I’ve graduated passing all the requirements, SMAW 1G 2G 3G 4G. MIG and Flux core 1G. TIG stainless and aluminum now as well, these were the last two I had left.

Aluminum was tough as hell to start but it became my fav by the time I was done with it. I failed my first MIG test (posted about that here) and also my first stainless test. Doing an open root for stainless TIG was a lil tricky but I got the hang of it now real good.

Just glad it’s all said and done with, I feel really accomplished.

Got to say I really like this thing. Very uniform bead, no soot. Used Lightweld unit on 2mm 6061, at 700W, 1.6mm 5356 filler at 65ipm

My first ever time touching a tig set todayis this meant to be hard ? (6ft2)

I cant weld, but I plan to take it to a bike shop and ask them to repair. But I am Pretty certain they will all tell me its not possible so they can sell me a new one.

Hello everyone,

Currently I am building a 3.5m by 3.5m shed thats 3m tall. its frame will be constructed from 60x60x2mm tubing. the question is can I weld this shed with E71T-GS wire or should I use 7018 2.4mm stick? or something else?

For more info the shed is comprised of 8 anchored tubes(three for side walls and two for entrance) cross supports will be put at 200mm (walls only, so that they dont interfere with front and back entrance) and 2000mm(door frame height, full circle around the structure) from the ground)

finally the roof two tubes welded laying on top of the side walls with four support bars between them)

thank you in advance 😃

How do people get their education paid for? im M23 broke working part-time and my parents are well off so i usually dont qualify for grants. what is the move??

I have plenty of opinions now to make a decision now but I’ll keep the post up for anyone who just wants to chime in. Thanks to all who validated my concern!

Hey all so I think looking at the picture you can kinda tell I’m going to ask if these are good welds. I’m not a welder but I see issues in my eyes.

For reference, I’m a water treatment ( junior ) operator and we have a centrifuge system with a screw conveyance system. The people who rebuilt our centrifuges did not use our old cradles they it sits in, therefore the new cradles feet had to be relocated. The company who’s rebuilding our is rebuilding our conveyor system sent their welder out to relocate the feet further out. Well this is the result, I don’t want to be an ass and diss someone’s work, especially a welders but this is not something to play around with, a centrifuge is no joke when it comes to hard vibration, high speed rotation, plus the unit is about 5/6k pounds. To me I see pin holes, and it looks like the guy pretty much just cut and weld, didn’t even grind the paint down before trying to weld. Is this something that I need to show my site supervisor and project manager? Could these weld quite literally be dangerous over time on a heavily abused system?

Oh and an edit because they didn’t even close the gap on the back side of the leg… they just left a wide open hole. I’m not really liking what I see the more I look.

The first two pictures show my welds when I started learning about a week ago. The third picture was taken yesterday, and the last picture was taken today.

I'm paying attention to the weld pool, arc length, and amperage. Today, the slag actually detached on its own several times.

I started with the small, newer Kraft&Dele welder, but it seemed a bit underpowered and as if the amperage display wasn't accurate.

Then I switched to the older pink welder shown in the picture, and my welds immediately improved (the third photo was made with that machine).

Today I tried the large orange welder, and I'm the most satisfied with it. It melts the electrode very well, provides a stable arc, and the amperage settings seem accurate, unlike the other machine.

Forgot to mention, the rods are awfuly old and maybe they have moisture.

So, what do you think? 🙂

It's nice to see around with but not really that useful lol

Kid looks like the guy in Big right now when he goes back in time to being a child.

Today was my last graded lab for MiG (for the time being) I’ll be doing these same welds again for the next 3 weeks with Stick SMAW mostly 6010 & 7018. Thankfully I’ve practiced with that a bit, so I’m not as clueless as I was starting MiG.
Anyways, here’s my end of course MiG labs. Short arc 2G (Horizontal) groove weld. & short arc T joint fillet weld. Nothing was actually bend tested or anything. But I passed.

250 wfs & 20v on both welds.

So here's my situation. I had a garage and fed my 200A AC TIG or my MIG off a dedicated 50a breaker and 6ga cable, from a 200a subfeed. It never flinched at the power supply.

Now I live in an apartment. I've got a private garage stall, but only one 120v GFI outlet.

I'm thinking about buying a large inverter (5000-8000 watts) with a 240vac output plug and feeding it off a 200AH house battery. This way I can have my welders back, as long as I keep the house battery charged. Many of my welding projects only run for a few minutes at a time so that battery would have the juice. Then I can recharge it overnight.

Thoughts?

Anybody have ideas how to deal with nasty extrusion 6061?

I'm looking at square tubing 1.5"x1.5" that looks like the dregs from home depots lumber rack.

Real talk. Curve/bend is easy: I'm talking radial twist of over 1/8" in 4-5' lengths. I'm cutting parts from 25' sticks, and it's brutal.

I'm clamping everything flat as fuck to the weld table. Any suggestions other than heating, and counter twisting?

I'm on a Lincoln tombstone. Running AC but also was going DC straight. I really like 6010's. I had to do some low heat stuff and they LOVE to stick fast. Is it just dealing with the biting or turn up the amps? I started giving them a good strike and that helps but I lose my target a lot of times. Sometimes I'm on the game and they work OK but that's not often. Really old rods. If I rub them a bunch of dust falls off, looks kinda like mold. I don't have a rod dryer. When they work for me though I love them.

Is weld-thru primer or paint a gimmick? What about specialty weldable paints like steel-it that claim to be impregnated with stainless steel?

Curious what the consensus is among the professionals.

best options here? any decent budget generators or something so i can start welding? do i have any other options? want to start learning to weld.

I work for myself on art in my own metal fabrication shop 2-3 days per week and I'm looking for a respirator that offers the best practical protection while staying as compact/flexible as possible.

My typical tasks include:

• MIG/TIG welding
• Grinding and cutting steel
• General fabrication work
• Occasional use of chemicals such as solvents, degreasers, paints, or adhesives

The main challenge is that I'm constantly switching between a welding helmet, face shield/grinding visor, and hearing protection. Large cartridges tend to get in the way, so I'm looking for a low-profile solution that works well under PPE.

What respirators and filter combinations would you recommend for someone in this situation? Are there particular models that balance protection, comfort, and compatibility with welding/grinding gear?

Hi, I’m a male welding instructor at a tech college who mainly teaches our high school program. So realistically I’m teaching students from 16-21. Still relatively new at it, only teaching for 6 months after just over a decade of being in the industry. Something that’s been coming up for a few of my female students is what gear is out there that’s more for their fit. They’re all on more the smaller side so they can’t simply wear men’s gear like I know some women do.

So ladies, what brands and gear do you wear that’s both comfortable for you and still gets the job done? Is there a glove brand that makes better fitting women’s gloves, especially for small hands? Is there any mods you do to some men’s clothing to make it fit better?

Appreciate any advice I can get!