Thread: I got my welder today

Hey Gags_17,,, In time you will learn to drop your mask just before the arc starts.. or you could look at the auto helmet which darkens the instant the arc starts, these helments make life real easy, some models even have a dial to set the shade of the lens. Any way happy weilding and coverup as the light from the weilder will burn your skin faster than sun burn.

Gags, If the welding rod is sticking to the job it may be that the amps are too low, but part of it could be technique as well.

With the mask it takes getting used to. If you shine a decent spotlight on the job you may be able to see a little bit through the lens but this also depends on what shade your lens is as well.

G'day Gags,
Well, there starts the ruination of a young life
Welding is practical/fun/and necessary.
The real difference between woodwork and welding is that you can never cut too short with welding...you just weld another bit on!!!
Good to see you follow up your query with a practical purchase.
Have fun with it.....ramp up your amps a bit..and when you start blowing holes in things back it off.......then you'll learn technique, and a heap of other things.
Watch your eyes, hands, and body parts from splashes of hot metal,,,,,,,,
If I had a video, I'd send you a clip of me dancing with a bit of slag down my boots..Ugly.
Well done......and have fun!

Originally Posted by watson

The real difference between woodwork and welding is that you can never cut too short with welding...you just weld another bit on!!!

My Advanced Welding teacher used to day the all a welder needs is a welder, grinder and a bloody big hammer!

Onya Gags,


Some other little things to pay attention to that may cause you striking problems are:

Clean earth.
Where practicable put your earth clamp tight onto the item you want to weld.Often times there are little balls of spatter between the work and the table to where the earth clamp is attached.The makes for very poor electrical contact.A regular bench clean up with the AG fixes that.

Loss of flux cover.

What sometimes happens is sometimes new welders , tap the electrode end excessively hard because other dirty earth thingy, and break the flux cover from the very end at the electrode tip.
A suggestion is to have a bit of scrap at the side and strike the electrode like striking a match, until you get an arc.

Hold that arc for a second or two to burn off the unfluxed end of your rod. While it is in the red hot state skip across to where you need to weld and the arc will fire up much easier.

Helmet fit and visual

A lot of boilermakers wear a skull cap or baseball cap on their head to keep the helmet sliding around and help deter hot spatters that come over the top.Cotton only no nylon.

Remember eyes don't like UV rays so it will pay to keep your safety specs on under the welding helmet.

The helmet lens can be a problem if too dark. For small amperage under 120 , a shade 10 dark lens should do you fine. Make sure that you pull the plastic film (if any) from the clear lenses.

Helmet fit and comfort is important, the adjustment will be obvious except possibly for the clutches (if its a flip helmet) on the sides. Adjust the side clutches until you can flick it with a head movement.It should be positioned on your head, so when it drops, your vision of the work with the front flip door up, is not impeded.

It is then easy to manually position your rod where you need it and then flick the helmet ,so it drops neatly to where you can see the arc when you strike.
From time to time clean your lenses of the smoke build up

I hope you don't nod off reading all this and hope that it all helps
cheers
Grahame

New welders rods have super glue in the end of them

G'day Gags.

Welcome to the world of spatter down your shirt front. Spatter down your socks. Sunburn in your groin. Burn holes in your clothing.
Live is good...Eh?

God I love the smell of my own burning flesh..NOT!!!!

Have fun. I do.

Note to self...Must pay Cylinder hire fee before next week.

More info,'Like Wood Butcher said one of the requirements is a bloody big hammer.
Clamps, magnets & jigs won't hold metal square as it expands at welding temperature.
An eye, Square, and a BBH (a bloody big hammer) are often the requirement for a good welding job.
Anyway, enough advice.....weld something and show us!!

Thanks for the reply guy's
Yeh I think Ill have to buy a lighter shade lense mine is 12.I already experienced the spatter in the boot lol It's one of those pains that doesnt hurt but It's just really annoyingHopefully Im going to start my welding bench on the weekend I'll post some pictures once it's built.I was wondering about the amps? How do they work lower amps for thinner material? Oh and grahame the post's dont bore me I find them very interesting Thanks everyone
Cheers

Originally Posted by Gags_17

Thanks for the reply guy's
Yeh I think Ill have to buy a lighter shade lense mine is 12.I already experienced the spatter in the boot lol It's one of those pains that doesnt hurt but It's just really annoyingHopefully Im going to start my welding bench on the weekend I'll post some pictures once it's built.I was wondering about the amps? How do they work lower amps for thinner material? Oh and grahame the post's dont bore me I find them very interesting Thanks everyone
Cheers

My advice is get your self an auto darkening helmet ,preferably a battery powered one ,and remove the batteries when you are not using it .I bought one for $145.00 a few years ago ,from Independent Motor Mart and will not use anything else .I'm sure you would get them cheaper now though .You can see through them easily and ,have your other hand free to hold your work ,and also see where your rod is .
Avoid the head flick to drop your helmet ,its very bad for your neck , I've spent thousands of dollars at the chiropractor and suffered bady with headaches over the years because of heavy helmets and the head flick .

Thanks Ill definetly get one wen i get some more money I really need a new job! I was out again this morning having a bit of a muck around I love it its soooooo fun I cant wait until i can start making some stuff with it.
cheers

Originally Posted by watson

More info,'Like Wood Butcher said one of the requirements is a bloody big hammer.
Clamps, magnets & jigs won't hold metal square as it expands at welding temperature.
An eye, Square, and a BBH (a bloody big hammer) are often the requirement for a good welding job.
Anyway, enough advice.....weld something and show us!!

Hey guys me again over the weekend i built my first welding project i was on the way home after playing footy and saw an old metal teachers desk so i took it Any way when i got home i was wondering what to make with it and then the idea hit me i made a trolley for my air compressor with hooks for the hose and a space to put my air tools on nail guns drill etc.... Im wanting to post a photo to show you guys but im having trouble figuring out how to put the photo in with the writing any help would be apreciated.
thanks guys

G'day Gags,
This would have to be the first time ever that an old fart gives 'puter advice to a young dude.
Set up your photos where you can access them then go "advanced".
Scroll down and you'll see "Manage Your attachments"
Click on that and follow the "bouncing ball"
Make sure your pics are under a 100K and Robert is your Mum's Brother

The easiest way I found to resize my pics to under 100kb, is to use the appropriate Powertoy for XP. It's called, funnily enough, 'image resizer'. Once its installed, right click on image and select 'resize image' and zoom!......it makes a copy of the original pic, at a lower resolution. I use 800 x 600 myself.