Re: OT sorta-Learning to weld

Posted by trucker40 on June 02, 2009 at 07:57:24 from (69.152.173.198):

In Reply to: OT sorta-Learning to weld posted by Lanse on June 01, 2009 at 19:13:50:

Thats a real good idea.Best thing to do is try and weld with whatever welder you think about buying.Lincolns are good welders for a farm,Forney,Marquette,Hobart,if they work are 220,and have a cooling fan they usually will weld all day without any trouble.Look for long cables as welding cable is high priced and its a lot easier to drag a 100 foot cable to weld on something than to try and maneuver something 10 ft from the welder.When you get into the cheaper ones like imported Harbor Freight ones,Northern Hydraulics sells import stuff and other places,those will cut off on you(thats called a 20% duty cycle which means you can only weld 2 minutes out of 10 minutes) and you have to wait for it to cool down because it doesnt have a cooling fan,just too aggravting.I guess better than nothing,but not much.7014,7018,7024,6011 are all rods you can use.6013 is worthless.Dont waste your money on 6013 unless you have to weld sheet metal and you run it downhill.You have to know what you are doing to weld with 6013 any other way.Its not a good rod for a beginner.It makes a real ugly weld thats full of slag and wont hold unless you know what you are doing and even if you get something welded with it its so poor of a weld that its not worth the time it takes to do it.
Dont wash your clothes with fabric softener or you will go up in flames.Probably wont have this happen but if a girl sprays you with hair spray that will catch fire on your skin or clothes 30 minutes later at least,dont know how long it stays on you for sure.Dont have anything that will catch on fire around when you weld like a gas can,solvent,paper towels(those darned paper towels will catch on fire 10,15 feet away from where you are welding)dont stand in water and weld,keep you rods dry.Dont weld standing over a battery or in less than a second it will explode showering you with battery acid.Always wear leather gloves,and a good cotton work shirt with long sleeves at least,or leather sleeves.For some reason a 100% cotton work shirt if you can find it doesnt burn real bad,The synthetic stuff can catch on fire and melt and stick to your skin.That causes a very painful burn plus you have to pull it off of your skin.If you dont notice you are on fire and are wearing that synthetic stuff it can blaze and really cause you trouble.The first time I welded after I got new uniforms made out of that stuff I caught my sleeve on fire up underneath of something and had to rip my shirt off right then.Had a big burn on my arm that wouldnt have happened if I had been wearing a cotton work shirt.New flannel work shirts will blaze until it burns the fuzz off of the flannel.Cloth gloves will catch on fire before you make one pass but they are better than nothing.Once you burn the fuzz off of them they dont catch fire as easy but still can.
You have to keep in mind that you are going to start a fire.Dont freak out if you do and put it out,especially if its you thats on fire.Thats a big reason for wearing leather gloves is that you could have to beat a fire out thats on your clothes.How will you do that without leather gloves?
Hood with a big lens is good.Proper shade is necessary.It doesnt have to be gold but they are alright.You need to look your helmet over each time you use it and dont use it if the shade glass is broke or any light can get through around the shade glass.That can cause you a miserable eye burn that is hard to describe.You dont want to experience that,terrible headache,eyes feel like they are on fire,and it takes surprisingly few flashes to get it.
Welding is a lot of fun once you get on to it.You can make about anything.

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