New mig student, first fillet weld :)

[Richard.]

Volts, amps wire feed. Sorry mate I forget your learning. By conditions I mean welding parameters.

 

[Joel jacobsen]

Oh sorry haha i thought you was on about the weather! Not to sure to be honest as i said hes running me through the induction on tuesday so he set the machine up for me an i got on with it, he basically said u want that about there that there an that there trouble is i dont know what that, that and that is haha! I think he may of mentioned something between 4-5 or 40-50? :s

 

[Kent]

Toe corner toe. Are you suggesting he weaves. I personally would not weave on the joint in question at all I rarely ever do it. I would say straight runs without stopping and starting (assess complete run when finished) if you want a bigger leg length multi run. Hot wide weaves = low notch toughness.

No I do not mean weave, I mean toe, corner, toe. A definite three sequence pause.

 

[Joel jacobsen]

Hi

So by toe corner toe do you mean go on the edge of the vertical peice then to where they meet an then onto horizontal peice back to the middle..... So basically up middle down middle up middle down middle ect?

Thanks,

Joel

 

[Kent]

Hi

So by toe corner toe do you mean go on the edge of the vertical peice then to where they meet an then onto horizontal peice back to the middle..... So basically up middle down middle up middle down middle ect?

Thanks,

Joel

its a lot easier to show you but yes I think you have got it (a lot depends on what the joint is being asked to do though) , this is however what the instructor should be doing in little groups on a monkey see monkey do principle, before letting you loose on joints but after running beads, likewise set up of the plant ( if you missed that why didn't he set the others the next task and take you off to one side and do a quick one to one I am thinking). I am not under the illusion that FE places actually teach that great though, the money they pay is poor and some instructors will coast the course and as long as a high enough percentage pass the exams etc nobody is saying anything

 

[Joel jacobsen]

Hi an thanks for the reply, at the moment youtube has learnt me more about welding than college! Im just starting to get confused now hes tried to make me run before i can walk. Its got to the point now that if he doesnt give me an induction tomorrow explaining everything i need to know im just going to say to him i want to sacrafice my 3 hours practical time to learn everything i need to know because my heads just bashed with voltage, wire feed speed, amps, what the weld is for ect so many questions to be asked which WILL be asked tomorrow! Im going to take a notepad and jot everything down thanks again lads so glad i joined this forum or i would be going along thinking im learning everything and actaully learning nothing!

Thanks again,

Joel.

 

[Kent]

don't get too down about it, you will learn ten times the amount on the job- college just keeps the government figures, facts and promises credible, always been the same and always will be.

 

[Joel jacobsen]

don't get too down about it, you will learn ten times the amount on the job- college just keeps the government figures, facts and promises credible, always been the same and always will be.

so true! I once read that gcses in shcool are to test how good the teachers and school is rather than the actual students, makes sence really

Joel.

 

[Jan]

Don't take guides about voltage, amperage, wire feed, etc as gospel. No two welders will need precisely the same settings even on identical materials. 2 welders of the same make & model will be similar enough, but if you try these settings on a machine from a different manufacturer - even if the paper specs are the same - the settings will have to be tweaked.

Assuming that you only intend to weld as hobby and/or to repair broken items then you'll be needing your own welding machine. Once you've got one set up at home that's when the real learning curve starts to kick in! Any guides that come with the machine are just that - guides to give you a starting position around which you will vary the parameters to give good penetration on all metals under all conditions.

 

[Richard.]

Hi an thanks for the reply, at the moment youtube has learnt me more about welding than college! Im just starting to get confused now hes tried to make me run before i can walk. Its got to the point now that if he doesnt give me an induction tomorrow explaining everything i need to know im just going to say to him i want to sacrafice my 3 hours practical time to learn everything i need to know because my heads just bashed with voltage, wire feed speed, amps, what the weld is for ect so many questions to be asked which WILL be asked tomorrow! Im going to take a notepad and jot everything down thanks again lads so glad i joined this forum or i would be going along thinking im learning everything and actaully learning nothing!

Thanks again,

Joel.

I would ask the relevant questions only and not go to into to much depth to try and absorb too much. Your learning to weld so you need to ask him how volts, amps(current) and travel speed effect your welding. Then do it practically adjusting these conditions to understand what was said by seeing it. This is how I would learn best. I would find that if I asked tons of questions writing down lots of complicated information I would struggle to know what to do with it, how to take it in or even understand it. As jan so rightly pointed out the very best thing for anyone who is learning is to get a machine and start to play then take your findings into college and ask questions on your personal experiences with it.

 

[Joel jacobsen]

thanks for the advice, i see were your coming from about just asking a few questions im actaully planning on welding as a career not just as a hobby, but i do plan on buying a mig welder to practice on car bodywork ect. Tonight ill ask aboul volts, wirefeed speed and amps

Joel

 

[Kent]

IMO, set up too much wire, too great a power and work backwards on both in stages (wire first) on a decently thick scrap test piece and see what occurs (how the sound and the weld process changes in character). This way you will recognise when things are wrong and right, how to get into spray transfer etc.. In most workshops the actual numbers wear off the dials and most of the guys wont be able to say what the numbers are other than" 'bout there and there with that un" is about all you will get. Its about 20 years from when I last did a lot of MIG but all I could generally tell you about mostly any set in the place was 'bout there an there for that !
Today we have SD cards that record individual job settings and LCD questionnaires on the front panel, so I suppose many will in time loose much of the tweek ability skills

 

[Joel jacobsen]

Cheers for the reply,
In college on tuesday he gave me my induction for about an hour an then spent 2 hours welding. I took a break from all the fillet welds and lap joints for about 15 minutes and just ran a few beads with wire feed speed to high/ low and volts to high/low stickout too close/ far away ect. Actaully taught me quite a lot in the end i ended up tweeking the settings he reccomended and turned the wire feed speed down and got better results no pics unfortunatley but im getting better!