Welding General Thread - A general guide on turning hot steel into trucks, trains, and airplanes as well as posting your own welds.

[Hello Fellow Teens]

I know I'm very late but to help with not sticking your electrode to your work in SMAW, take a look at the tip of your electrode before you try and strike an arc. There is a pretty decent variation to how much tip is exposed on a fresh electrode, sometimes part of the tip is completely coated in Flux. Choose a side with a a very small amount of the wire protruding from the flux or even even with the flux, avoid starting on a side with too much extra flux or a a large stick out of wire past the flux. When I put a new electrode in my stringer I spin it and pick the best spot on the tip to strike an arc with. some electrodes may have no ideal spot to strike from, if you want to use these on a project I recommend burning an inch or two on scrap before getting into what you want to weld (trimming the tip back is a real crap shoot as the flux is very brittle and cutting it can break off long chunks of it and really ruin the electrode).

Don't use the HF wire. Go to home depot or lowes and get some lincoln wire.

The hobo fuck wire is no good? The stick electrodes are great, I stock up when they have the sale 30% off on items under $10, 22.26 with tax for 6lbs best price I can get locally.

How do I make an environment conducive to welding? Do I put a ventilated output on my garage so I don’t turn it into cancer city?

Wear a respirator with the garage door partially open, standard garage doors have an opening at the top and bottom which will help create and air current to pull air out. It's worth it to always wear your respirator regardless of how good your ventilation is, also while you cutting and grinding metal it's just as important. They have the added benefit of reducing condensation on the inside of your lense from your breath. With a p100 filter and a well fitting respirator you should smell nothing while cutting or welding. Most respirators paired with the pancake style filters will fit under most welding helmets.

 

[Barry McKockner]

The hobo fuck wire is no good? The stick electrodes are great, I stock up when they have the sale 30% off on items under $10, 22.26 with tax for 6lbs best price I can get locally.

Back when I typed that, the Vulcan branded wire was essentially just crap. Idk what it is now, but the general consensus at the time for beginners was to go get Lincoln wire instead as it ran much better, even if it was in a Vulcan welder.

Stick rods are harder to fuck up tho.

 

[Among Us Gaming]

Back when I typed that, the Vulcan branded wire was essentially just crap. Idk what it is now, but the general consensus at the time for beginners was to go get Lincoln wire instead as it ran much better, even if it was in a Vulcan welder.

Stick rods are harder to fuck up tho.

It seems to run fine for me, though I'm using the flux core stuff. Never really had any issue with the hazard fart welding supplies

 

[God's drunkest driver]

The hobo fuck wire is no good? The stick electrodes are great, I stock up when they have the sale 30% off on items under $10, 22.26 with tax for 6lbs best price I can get locally.

The HF flux core definitely doesn't run as smoothly as some of the nicer options, it splatters more, but I've never welded with HF MIG wire. The filler rod for TIG is just fine in my experience.