At work we have a Miller 210 mig welder. My question is what is the best way to weld side to side or in a straight dragging motion? Thanks I'm a newbie at this mig welding?

 

the rt to left, push, as I'm rt handed. IE: nozzle is behind the puddle, not in ft of.

 

Thanks thats what I have been doing just wanted to make sure.

 

Another problem I have is my welds look wormy is this due to moving to slow?

 

I am thinking about picking up a welder at work and learning(Assistant Manager at Harbor Freight). I could get a 110v Mig welder with a roll of wire, mask, pliers, etc, for less than a hundred bucks. The haynes welding manual is freakin awesome. They seem to think that a 110v mig welder is okay for a seldom/beginner welder. What do yall think?

 

If it looks "wormy" it could be from moving too slow, not having enough heat, having the wire speed too fast, ect. MIG welding is all about learning how to set the machine to how you move, or in some cases moving to how you set the machine. There are a TON of factors involved in making a nice looking and strong MIG weld. If you can find someone that knows what they are doing and is willing to give you some pointers, that's usually the best place to start. Gun angle, travel speed, wire size, material thickness, joint type, heat, and wire speed all work together to make the bead you lay down.

-Josh

 

There has been a lot of discussion about pushing vs. pulling the weld pool.

There are several schools of thought:
1st: If you're using flux core, the shielded field comes right off the wire, so direction is only important in depth of penetration.

2nd: You should always pull the pool. It's the only right way to do it, if you're ever in a weld shop everyone there only pulls, unless you are going vertically.

3rd: You should always push the pool. This way the gas field goes ahead of the wire and you are welding in the shielded area.

I'm not calling anybody out. Most people know more about welding than I do. I'm just looking for a little more discussion.

 

The thing about welding is there is usually more than one way to skin a cat

Personally, I normally push when mig welding. You are "pushing" the heat and the gas into the base metal. I actually do a little circle motion with the gun to get a nice looking bead.

When migging aluminum, you pretty much always push to optimize the shielding gases effect.

Here is a decent right-up on miller's site:
http://www.millerwelds.com/education...articles8.html

 

i have the same welder and i love it! i usually use a half moon technique and try to puch the puddle when ever possiable. its all about practice and after a while u wont even think about

 

Wow after playing with the heat and wire speed my welds look like a pro thanks guys.

 

I think if you get a 110V MIG, you'll waste your money and you'll end up buying a 220V MIG eventually.

 

From what I've gathered from my customers, you're right. Now, anyone have experience with a HF welder?

 

I have a HF welder. Its a gasless MIG 90. Welds like crap. Arc wont stay lit on it.

I now have a Lincoln Pro MIG 140. I have not bought the gas for it yet but it welds nice as heck with the flux wire. Its rated to weld up tp 5/16" material. Thats thicker than anything I will ever weld.

 

We sell a 220v flux/gas mig welder too thats onsale for 199. Decent? Or

 

I have:
Lincoln 110 mig [135]
Lincoln 250 mig
Lincoln tig 250
Of all the machines, I use the 110 for 90+% of my projects.
The tig is used for "trik welds", such as fuel tanks, rollbars, small brkts, etc.
It's been a llllooong time since I've needed the added capacity of the 220V mig...

 

Had a Century 90 amp for years. It worked for most everything I did. I mostly used it for small fabbing and repair projects. Found out real quick that it was not enough for a mild steel roll bar so I bought a Hobart 140 (110 V) Weld tenique for me is the same though. Always looking good penatration on a structural piece, so I'll push the weld in this case. I'm a bit lazy when it comes to reaching over and changing settings, so when I come to a thinner material I will pull the weld at a bit faster pace so I wont blow through the material. It works for me.

Mec

 

well theres a lot of discussion on this, but "most" on the welding forums agree that pulling will yield more penetration. if you lay the gun back too much with the "push and circle", on your backstroke youre just heating the filler that you just put there. but, when you pull, your essentially heating the metal under the filler you just laid and pushing it under.

some will argue that you preheat with a push, but i would rather continue to push the metal into an already cherry area like with the pull.

Tim