So, I bought a welder...tips, warnings, lessons learned.

There are two things in life where penetration is really important.....and one of them is welding

 

Real good advice above on clothing material and coverage. And auto darkening hood.

Don't forget the fire extinguisher! It (they, have more than one) should be at hand before you make an arc.

 

If you are welding dental work, fillings, braces etc, put the ground clamp close to your work. Chin, earlobe, nostril works fine. I tried it by putting the ground clamp on my metal flatbed trailer and then standing on it barefoot and it gave me blisters on my soles and made my legs wobbly for the rest of the day. Its also easier if you put the mirror on the bench rather than trying to hold it in your free hand. Just my $.02.

 

What ever you do make sure the ground cable is secured good an tight on you Chair ( stool ) or your belt.

 

You can weld stool? Eeewwww....

 

Ok Dave I fixed it !

 

I have the HH187 and it's one of the finest, easiest machine to weld with I've ever seen. You'll have a lot of fun learning to weld with it.

I agree with almost all of the above posts and won't repeat the advice. One additional thing to watch out for, is inhaling fumes from welding. In particular, do NOT inhale fumes from Zinc coated material. It;s almost impossible not to inhale some fumes, but make every effort to reduce it as much as possible.

Also, join the Hobart welding group (link below). It's sponsored by Hobart and there's a couple of Hobart factory Technicians ("Experts") on the forum. No ball-bustin', just good information to answer each & every question.

http://www.hobartwelders.com/weldtalk/forumdisplay.php?f=14

 

Hyukyuk! Seriously though, go to your local recycler and grab a bunch of clean scrap, cut ends, bar stock, a little body guage sheet, usually it cost about $.40/lb, and practice. I got my wire feed less than a year ago and I'm getting pretty good. 10 bucks worth of scrap pieces will give you enough to fool around for hours. Try out the settings, wire speed, etc. Its a lot of fun and I'm always looking for something broken to weld. You welder probably has a dvd with it, and as said earlier youtube has some useful stuff.

 

ABSOLUTELY the best advice you can follow to start out!

 

I went down to my community collage and took a basic welding course and then PRACTICE-PRACTICE-PRACTICE ,and remember ALWAYS START WITH CLEAN SURFICE!!

 

Biggest thing I can add is to watch the puddle as you weld, as most peoples eyes are naturaly drawn to the light from the arc...

 

I agree with most everyone else . . an autodarkening hemet is a must. You defintely do not want to burn your eyes (been there done that, it sucks). The hardest thing in the beginning is setting the welder for whatever material thickness you are going to weld. Modern welders (miller and hobart) have the autoset feature to help or a chart on or in the welder to get you in the ballpark. Also buy a good quality wire as the harbor Freight stuff is sometimes inconsistent and will plug up your tips or will be undersize enough to allow the wire to come out funny. Always turn off the shielding gas tank when not using the welder (it will only bleed off just before you need to use the welder or you haven't got enough cash to refill it).

Welding classes are definitely worth it as well.

That's my $.02.

 

Select your heat and rough tune the wire speed. Start your arc and tune the wire speed till you get a nice even buzz. To fast will get you stubbing in the puddle, poor penetration and excess spatter. To slow, uneven weld, burn through. porosity and excess spatter. Don't use any higher heat than necessary to get penetration. More heat more distortion. If your heat is to high reset and retune the wire speed and the same if to cold. To practice beads, use tabs that are leaned against each other at a 45dg angle till you get a smooth even weld that has penetrated completely.

 

I have been learning to weld over the winter. I did lots of reading, asked lots of questions. It's all good, but there is no substitute for actually doing. There is an art to welding that you can only learn by doing.

 

I am not much of a welder, but I have the HH 187 and love it.

Slonaker

 

I learned to arc weld in high school, also in college along with gas welding. We'd have to make up "coupons" to hand in to be graded. I'd trade coupons for the price of a pitcher of beer, $3 was a lot of $$ in 1974.

Tips, get comfy and practice, practice, practice are the 4 most essential things.

Spend your $$ once on a good helmet. I finally got a self-darkening one a few years back.

Make sure your weld area is free of flammables, wear boots, get gloves and at least a welding apron, better yet, a jacket and pants.

I always kept a "quench" bucket around which was also good for small unintentional fires. Fireplace tongs are good too, found mine cruising around on trash night.

Bob

 

Any idea how should I feel about welding (mig) in the same building as a diesel fuel tank? We farm as well and in a 42 by 60 builing I keep a 150 gallon diesel tank. There isn't a fume or vapor issue and I always figured 20 or 25 feet was a safe distance? Think that's OK?
No gas --even a can--in the building.

 

If you are farsighted or use bi-focals, get a magnifying lense. I couldn't see the puddle. Bought some of those cheap reading glasses. That worked but it was a pain changing back and forth with my regular glasses. Got a 2.5X in the hood now and can see.