Step-by-step welding tutorials — set your machine up, run a clean bead on sheet or aluminium, build your own clamps, and finish the job properly.
8 articles
To MIG weld sheet metal: use the thinnest wire your machine will feed, an argon-rich gas, and the lowest settings that still give a stable arc. Then stop welding before the panel gets hot. Almost every hole blown through thin steel is caused by heat that accumulated over several seconds, not by one setting being too high.
Read guideFor experts and beginners alike, welding can be a great way of making money. A lot of people dream about turning their hobby into a thing that pays extra money; therefore, welding may be your way of making that dream to see the light. There are various difficulties when you want to make money from
Read guideTo use a TIG welder: set DC electrode negative for steel and stainless, AC for aluminium. Fit a tungsten sized to the current - 1/16 inch up to about 100 amps, 3/32 inch for general work. Set roughly one amp per thousandth of an inch of steel thickness, argon at 15 to 20 cubic feet per hour, and feed the filler with your other hand.
Read guideA welded C-clamp, a 90 degree corner clamp, a table dog and a long-reach bar clamp - what to make them from, how to build each one, and what clamping does to the weld you are holding.
Read guideChisel end along the bead, cone end for corners and undercut, spectacles under the helmet. What slag is, which processes make it, and why it has to come off before the next pass.
Read guideYou can weld aluminium with a stick welder. Covered aluminium electrodes are a real product with a real standard behind them - AWS A5.3 covers E1100, E3003 and E4043 - and they run on DC electrode positive with the work preheated. What you should know before buying any is that TWI's own guidance on welding aluminium does not list stick welding as a process for it at all.
Read guideTo use a stick welder: set the polarity the rod calls for, set the amperage to roughly one amp per thousandth of an inch of rod diameter, scratch the electrode like a match and lift it about a rod-thickness off the plate, then drag it along the joint at a slight angle, keeping that gap constant.
Read guideA complete beginner's guide to MIG welding: choosing wire and gas, setting polarity, voltage and wire feed speed, holding the right gun angle and stick-out, and reading a finished bead to work out what to change.
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