Friends,

I'm a new welder. I have about 400-500 feet of stick welding experience and about 1' of MIG welding experience. What do you think? Do these look strong?

If they aren't strong welds, how would you improve them?

I'd direct link them but the images are too big to look nice in a thread.
http://www.just4fun.org/images/tmp/DCP_3578.JPG
http://www.just4fun.org/images/tmp/DCP_3580.JPG

Edit: I should mention I made these welds with a Miller 175.

Friends,

I'm a new welder. I have about 400-500 feet of stick welding experience and about 1' of MIG welding experience. What do you think? Do these look strong?

If they aren't strong welds, how would you improve them?

I'd direct link them but the images are too big to look nice in a thread.
http://www.just4fun.org/images/tmp/DCP_3578.JPG
http://www.just4fun.org/images/tmp/DCP_3580.JPG

Edit: I should mention I made these welds with a Miller 175.

Test it. Try to bend the metal at the weld and see if the weld cracks

second pic kinda looks like the heat needs to be turned up.

if you really wanna test if they are strong, only weld one side, clamp it in a vise, and grab a large hammer / sledge and break it. post some pics of the break.


also you should try and get a more steady hand and speed of travel. welds should be fairly smoothe.

As mentioned, second pic looks like the heat needs to go up a little bit. Other than that...only thing you need is consistency, which simply comes with time and lots of practice. Looking pretty good though!
Kyle

As mentioned, second pic looks like the heat needs to go up a little bit. Other than that...only thing you need is consistency, which simply comes with time and lots of practice. Looking pretty good though!
Kyle


x2

nothing better then actual experience, it comes in due time.

those flat beads below though :flipoff2:

second pic kinda looks like the heat needs to be turned up.

if you really wanna test if they are strong, only weld one side, clamp it in a vise, and grab a large hammer / sledge and break it. post some pics of the break.


also you should try and get a more steady hand and speed of travel. welds should be fairly smoothe.
Bend it away from the weld, so it pulls on it.

i would bend towards, that way it pulls the root out. the root looks to be the only place i would be concerned about. wouldn't hurt to do a couple away tho, to see how strong the face of the weld is. will let ya know if your getting penetration or just puttying the weld in there.

for about one foot of experience it looks good .... just like everyone has said time and practice = consistency and strength.....there are alot of different styles that people use when welding i would suggest overlaping O welds or circular welds just a bunch of OOOOOOOOOO overlaping about 60-70 percent...and on vertical down welds try doing C style welds Turned on its back going left to right.........to practice for full penetration use 3/8 squar bar turned <> <> with a 1/8 inch gap...weld one side and flip it over and you can see if your getting full pen. a skilled welder can tell you what to do by looking at underneath your welds (i.e. too fast too slow too much or not enough heat)....keep up the good work man

for about one foot of experience it looks good .... just like everyone has said time and practice = consistency and strength.....there are alot of different styles that people use when welding i would suggest overlaping O welds or circular welds just a bunch of OOOOOOOOOO overlaping about 60-70 percent...and on vertical down welds try doing C style welds Turned on its back going left to right.........to practice for full penetration use 3/8 squar bar turned <> <> with a 1/8 inch gap...weld one side and flip it over and you can see if your getting full pen. a skilled welder can tell you what to do by looking at underneath your welds (i.e. too fast too slow too much or not enough heat)....keep up the good work man


manipulation of the puddle should not be needed. if you need to manipulate it (other then verticle) you are doing something wrong. only really need manipulation if your trying to make up that little bit of extra weld, but 2 small stringers is better then one fat weaved pass.

verticle down is not reccomended as it is extreamly easy to fuck up. it takes alot of skill and practice to weld vert down and consistently have a good weld.