Jim:
When it comes to welding, the best teacher is practice. If you can get
some sheet metal the same thickness as what you plan to weld, play with it
until you get comfortable befor attacking the real thing.
Welding is a balancing act. You need to generate enough heat to melt the
metal parts together but not too much heat so that you burn a hole.
As for generic pointers, I would recomend the following:
1. Watch the weld pool, not the arc. Keep that little area of melted
metal about the same size. If it starts getting too narrow, you probably
are not getting sufficient penetration to join the parts. It it starts to
get wider, you risk burning a hole.
2. Move the gun in small circles along the bead, not in a straight line.
This will spread the heat out a little bit and result in a much smoother
weld.
3. Move the gun at the same speed. This will help control the weld pool
size. Slowing down can result in holes. Speeding up results in a poor
weld.
4. Avoid butt weld or trying to fill gaps wider than the thickness of the
metal. If you must do this, move the gun in faster circles while
maintaining the same speed forward progress where the gap is wider. It you
do this right, you can actually fill holes or gaps.
5. Weld short sections then move somewher else. This will reduce
distortion and also reduce heat sink problems where the area / gun heat up
and become more prone to burn through.
6. Use plenty of cover gas.
I hope this helps. As always, this is my experience YMMV.
Regards
Bill Eastman
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