Welding Video Archives

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part 2 of fabricating 10 carts with a stronghand welding table
stainless steel exhaust repair
welding tools and table - fabrication
miller diversion demo using helium mix
plans for building a portable band saw stand tig welder demo

July 6, 2011...Miller Diversion vs Everlast 185 micro

tig welder demo..

how to tig weld overhead video

May 9, 2011...tig welding overhead is mostly a matter of figuring out how to be comfortable and how to hold the torch.

walking the cup or using a tig finger both work...

Miller welding helmet

May 6, 2011...A review on my Miller Digital Elite

a pretty good helmet but not perfect...

mig welding overhead

May 3, 2011...Mig welding overhead

Mig machine settings and techniques for overhead welding..

how to mig weld video

April 22, 2011...mig welding is probably the easiest way to get started welding

bare wire mig with .023" wire is best for auto body work...

Welding Ground Tip

March 29, 2011...Sometimes a normal ground clamp does not cut it. Parts do not always have a good place to attach a ground clamp and sometimes you need to protect the part from arc strikes

this quick welding video shows a 2 minute tip for getting a good ground on anything....

Aluminum Properties and how to weld

March 22, 2011...There are a few things you need to know about all aluminum welding ... aluminum is hot short..that means it cracks easily at certain temperature ranges. That is why tack welds done with no filler dont work.

Click the picture or link about to see this welding video and tips for tig welding aluminum.

metals and how to weld nickel

March 9 2011....nickel alloys like inonel, hastelloy, nichrome V, and waspalloy do not need as much heat and have a sluggish puddle.

click the pic or link to see the welding video on nickel alloys.

properties of stainless and how to purge

March 2 2011....one of the properties of stainless is that it will sugar if not purged on the back side and that looks like Fido's ass.

This short video on the oxidation properties of stainless shows how to purge and weld.

Arc Welding Project

Feb 23 2011....Old school stick welding for when you have to weld over crap

Sometimes good enough is good enough...and sometimes you cant clean the metal or it just aint worth it

brazing copper to steel silver brazing steel or stainless steel to copper with stay silv white flux

properties of stainless and how to weld it properties of stainless steels...best practices for welding stainless to keep it from rusting

metals and how to weld them properties of metals

welding certification test practice practicing for a welding certification test...part 2

tig welding test tips for tig welding practice

tig welding techniques tips for tig welding lap joints and butt joints

tig welding razor blades tips for welding razor blades and why you should sharpen your tungsten like a freaking needle

tig welding techniques for pipe welding root pass and fill passes without walking the cup.

mig welding techniques 2 mig welding techniques for mig welding uphill. Sliced and diced into cross sections for metallographic testing for penetration.

tig welding aluminum coke cans

Miller Dynasty 200dx and Everlast powertig 250ex go head to head welding coke cans.

how to mig using spray transfer check out the difference between short arc and spray....pushing vs pulling using mig also and welding test cross section results

cutting metal using a tig torch like a plasma cutterA tig torch will cut sheet metal, but only good in a pinch, a plasma cutter is much better.

mig welding downhill root pass and uphill weave beadA little known practice weld that prepares a welder for open butt V groove welds without breaking the bank

welding stainless steel outside cornersA tip for making a chill block fixture that really helps on outside corner joints....like when you are building a tank or box.

Innovative Tig Torches from WeldTec as seen at Fabtech 2010 a 320 amp small water cooled torch and also a small air cooled torch with a nimble whip...what?

Innovative Pipe vise and pipe clamps this is one "cool as balls" tripod vise

Homemade Tig welder - Rectifier turns buzz box into tig welder

Tips for welding stainless steel tubing for boat rails

Millers new wireless foot pedal for tig welders

how to tig welding with the laywire techniqueLaywire means leaving the wire in the puddle. Pipe welders and boilermakers do it all the time.

Welding Rods for Dissimilar Metals Sometimes you dont know the exact metal you are welding but it damn sure needs welding right now...

pulse tig parameters

High speed pulse vs slow speed pulse tig explained

welding 303 stainless

how to weld 303 stainless steel with an everlast powertig 250ex and make strong welds that will hold grandma over the grand canyon

arc welding machine combo welder

Stick ARc welding with the EVerlast Powerpro 256 arc welding machine slash tig welder, slash plasma cutter

plasma cutter review

The Everlast PowerPro 256 is an ac/dc tig welder, stick welder, and plasma cutter...and its far from average.

tig welder review

an arc start issue is fixed after talking with tech support at Everlast

lincoln mig welding school

Awesome article about the one week Mig welding school Lincoln offers in Cleveland OH

modular fixturing

Modular fixturing comes in so handy for short production runs of welded fabricated parts.

multiprocess welder

welding steel with the everlast powerpro 256 multiprocess tig stick plasma cutter.

welding table video

stronghand tools mac daddy precision welding table

precision welding table

precision welding table from stronghand tools

tig welding brass

how to tig weld brass using aluminum bronze filler metal and pulse tig.

aluminum weld repair

an aluminum weld repair on a motorcycle bracket.

metal fabrication table

putting together the stronghand tools buildpro precision welding table

portable welding table and a bigger precision fixturing table

starting the build on a bunch of sewer crawlers using the portable welding table

2% lanthanated electrodes comparision test

Why is 2% lanthanated the best all around tungsten electrode?

tig welding accessories organizer on the cheap

Cheap way to organize your tig welding accessorizes like cups, collets, collet bodies, electrodes, etc.

different types of welding rods for stick welding

differences in 6010, 6011, 7018, and 7024

types of welding - tig, mig, stick

tig mig and stick welding overview ...what each one is good for

aluminum tig fingertip control for amperage

tig fingertip controls for overhead tig welding aluminum

tig welding aluminum using helium and argon mix

using an argon helium mix for thick aluminum increases penetration and helps a lot...makes it weld better and faster

welding positioners

recommendations for a welding positioner...what to look for in an affordable welding turntable

tig wire feeder

a tig wire feeder saves time and wire on some jobs

miller passport welder

miller passport mig welder uses small paintball co2 cylinders for portability and has a great arc with co2

sheet metal fabrication a trick for tack welding

this trick for tack welding saves lots of time

aluminum tig welding project

aluminum tote tray project using the tack welding tip

everlast tig welder settings part 1

part 1 of a series on what all those freakin knobs are for

everlast tig welder settings part 2

part 2 of a series on what all those freakin knobs are for

everlast tig welder settings part 3

part 3 of a series on what all those freakin knobs are for

everlast tig welder settings part 4

part 4 of a series on what all those freakin knobs are for

everlast tig welder settings part 5

part 5 of a series on what all those freakin knobs are for

everlast tig welder settings part 6

part 6 of a series on what all those freakin knobs are for leave welding video archives and learn more about the 2010 youtube welding DVD set

Bronze Welding

by Noel
(New Zealand)

I am repair welding a brass spindle from a separator used for tallow in a rendering department of a freezing works. I have tried Tig, Gas and bronze electrodes. Heated the job in a gas fired oven -none of the welds will stick and are full of holes. I have 35 years experience and am a tradesman - but this has me stumped?? My boss is driving me crazy (not a welder). Any ideas would be appreciated.

---------------------------------------------------

the zinc in the brass will outgas and leave pits.

silver brazing with flox or gas welding with flux might be the ticket.

i have had some limited success using tig with pulse but always some porosity due to the zinc.

Welding Techniques

" Stick vs Mig ...smokey smokey? "

( ... having trouble viewing this video? click here to view it at Welding-TV.com. )

A TIG finger works for Migging Too

I lucked up and got a gravy job the other day so I took the chance to shoot video on welding techniques using both mig and stick.

The job was as simple as pie. Welding 2" round stock into 1" thick A36 hot rolled steel.

About 8 plates , 2 pins each, welded both sides for a total of 32 welds.

These parts were going to be dipped in a black oxide coating tank when done so the hot rolled mill scale needed to be removed so the black oxide coating could do its magic.

That is why the parts are clean and shiny in the video.

Its not often, you get to weld parts that are already cleaned, and tack welded.

Hey that brings me to a good tip....

I discovered a wheel for a grinder that removes hot rolled mill scale without loading up.

If you have ever used a sanding disc to clean hot rolled down to shiny bright metal, you know how quickly the sanding disc quits sanding . That oxidized mill scale is really hard to remove.

A grinding wheel works but sometimes the finish is just too rough.

The wheel I discovered, or rather that my machinist buddy discovered. is made by Norton. Its one of the "Rapid Strip" line.

Its blue and coarse and looks a bit like scotch brite except that its much tougher.

The part number on the packaging is

OKI-NRT 07660704015 T27 4.5X5/8-11T Rapid Strip Coarse

Just google it and you will find what I am talking about.

(this just in on July 1, 2011...one viewer emailed to say his experience with the norton wheels were very disappointing on hot rolled steel. They worked great for me on my application but I guess not all hot rolled steel is the same. So keep that in mind. if you are going to try them out, you might want to only buy one first to see how it works )

I am including a photo of the package so you can make sure to get the same thing if you need to. The Rapid Strip wheel worked great for removing the hot rolled coating and lasted much longer than sanding discs....and left a really smooth finish too.

OK, back to this weeks video and differences in mig/arc welding techniques

Since I already had a stick welder hooked up with some 1/8" 7018 stick electrode on hand, I decided to weld a few welds with stick before swapping over to mig. It gives me more to write about and makes for a more interesting video. I think.

To me , this was definitely a mig job.

... but its good to keep in practice with the old stick ... besides any mig is likely to be out of commission mid job...then what? you just stick weld, that's what.

133 amps was the setting on the machine but it seemed more like about 120 amps. At times, I thought about 5-10 more amps would have made the weld a little smoother but I also think that was mostly because it was hard to maintain a really good rod angle.

In the video, I try to demonstrate a way of holding the rod in the electrode holder that works good for going around round parts like this. It works for me, it might work for you to so you might give it a go.

I only stick welded a few welds before moving on to mig.

The mig nozzle was sure packed with spatter but since I did this job at someone elses shop, I made sure to bring a leatherman tool with me. A leatherman tool is a welders best friend. Not only is it good for snipping wire but can be used like mig pliers for cleaning a nozzle.

Once the nozzle was cleaned and adjusted for stickout, I made several dry runs with the mig gun to find a way to reach all the way around the part without stopping.

Honestly, I think it was easier to make it all the way around with the stick because mig is faster and its hard to change hand positions fast enough to keep up the travel speed.

Almost the same welding techniques can be used for a job like this no matter whether stick or mig.

Very small cursive e's will work on both processes.

A 7018 also works fine with just a smooth drag, but for me, some slight motion like small cursive e's hides my shakiness.

The cursive e welding technique has always worked for me for mig welding in most situations. I use it all the time.

exit welding techniques and See the Tig Finger

Aluminum Welding

Having trouble Viewing this aluminum Welding Video? Click here to watch it at Welding-TV.com

When you click the image below, and then add a tig finger to the shopping cart, you will see a product in your cart called "Aluminum Welding with The Tig Finger" with a price of $0.00.Thats because This Video is a free download when you buy a tig finger.

What is The "Aluminum Welding Drill"?

Its a practice drill ...and its a way to get better at tig welding aluminum as well as steel...by welding a bunch of aluminum beads on a single piece of aluminum.

Will welding aluminum will improve your overall tig welding technique? ...even on stainless steel and carbon steel?

I Say it definitely will.

I am sure I will get a few emails disagreeing with me on that, but I dont care.

Aluminum pretty much exaggerates everything that happens when tig welding steel. Arc length and angle have more effect than on steel, touching the electrode to the puddle makes a lot more difference than on steel, varying amperage using the foot pedal is harder, the puddle characteristics change more quickly due to conductivity, even gas flow rates require more care.

In short, after mastering aluminum welding, steel becomes easier.

Tig welding aluminum is harder to learn than steel for most people so I dont advise doing this drill unless you have at least a few hours of arc time under your belt.But just as soon as you can lay down a good bead on steel, you are ready for this drill.

Here is the drill...

Using a piece of 1/8" thick aluminum about 3" by 8" give or take.

This is a way to get lots of arc time without being distracted by grinding, sanding, brushing , etc.

For the sake of this drill, only a wipe down with acetone or alcohol along with a quick wire brushing using a stainless steel brush is needed.

In fact, if the piece is fairly clean, you can just start welding without any prep at all.

So here is what you need for the drill...

1. a piece of .125" thick aluminum , 3003, 6061, 5052, 2024, or pretty much any grade....even grades not recommended for welding work ok for this practice drill.

2. some 1/16" and 3/32" aluminum filler rod.

3. a #5 or #6 tig cup and 12-15 cfh of argon flow, and a 3/32" 2% thoriated electrode

try all kinds of different techniques....

short arc, long arc, tapered electrode, rounded electrode, make tight ripples by adding filler rod frequently , make a loose rippled stack of dimes bead by spacing the ripples about 1/8", try different torch angles, try small rods and big rods, stack beads on top of beads, weld backwards, weld forwards, try some weave beads, try pulsing with the foot pedal, try using the pulse function and dial in some good settings for future use.

Another thing to do is pay close attention to how the bead looks when the piece of aluminum gets too hot.

When the bead starts to look grainy, it means the solidification rate is too slow ...if the ripples begin to disappear, thats also an indicator that it is time to let the thing cool before welding more.

A small piece of aluminum like this heats up quickly. After one bead, the whole thing is pretty warm.

There is no time spent cleaning beads and while welding bead after bead is good for getting practice, its not good practice if it welds like solder.

You have to stop and let cool. In fact, its good to have a bucket of water next to your welding table and just give the piece a quick dunk every few beads, leaving it warm to the touch so water evaporates quickly for welding.

here are some more tips for doing this aluminum welding drill...

? weld around the very edge first using the 1/16" rod.

? change hands and weld left handed often.

? try different electrode prep,...use a tapered electrode vs a rounded point

? experiment with tig settings. like ac balance and frequency

? experiment with pulse settings or even pulse manually with the foot pedal

? let cool or dunk in water every 3 or 4 beads.

? try welding backwards to build up beads on top of other beads

? Get a TIG Finger.

When you click the image below, and then add a tig finger to the shopping cart, you will see a product in your cart called "Aluminum Welding with The Tig Finger" with a price of $0.00.Thats because its a free download when you buy a tig finger.

Learn More about the TIG Finger here

Tig Welding Steel Parts

Tig Welding Steel and fabricating small parts

Whether you are fabricating something big that takes up the whole table, or just fixturing small parts together, modular fixturing helps.

I just tig welded 4 small steel parts on my StrongHand table...and I was reminded again, just how much I like it.

In fact, there are only 2 things I dont like about it...

1. Sometimes things fall thru the slots.
2. the rubber o rings on the fixture bolts are starting to split...I need to get some new ones

The steel parts I tig welded for this job are for the commercial aircraft industry and are built per the drawing so I needed to make sure everything is straight, plumb, and dead nuts. Otherwise the parts wont work, or they might get rejected and that would mean rework.

I am doing this welding job for a friends machine shop... and my job is just to put the parts together like a puzzle and weld them.

I like doing work for machine shops because usually the metal is clean and ready to weld.

I show up when its ready to weld or have the parts dropped off at my garage shop, weld them up, and deliver them...or have them picked up.

gravy.

But these parts are hot rolled steel and tig welding steel with mill scale on it sucks. It has to be ground off or it will be ugly...like the part in the video that I forgot to clean.

When hot rolled steel is ground clean, it welds great... just like cold rolled. But when it is not cleaned, it is like welding in a bowl of cornflakes.

I had some foot pedal issues on my tig welding machine( like it was broke) so I had no choice bit to use the torch switch. I prefer a foot pedal, but with upslope and downslope controls, and even a 4t function if I choose it, I still have a lot of control. about 130 amps was about right. ...here are the basic machine settings.

125-135 amps

3/32" 2% lanthanated electrode 2.4mm

er70s2 1/16" filler wire 1.6mm

#5 cup

10 cfh argon

When I pulse ...like when the weld is close to an edge, I increase the amperage while arcing on a piece of scrap until I get the same readout of around 130 amps of output.

Tig Welding Steel...Learn more about the Tig Finger Heat Shield in the video