Welding is a very useful skill that you can use constantly throughout your life. In order to weld you must obviously first have a mig miller welder, if you do not have one then go out and buy one. If you have never welded before make sure you practice a few beads on some scrap metal as you do not want to destroy something that is near or dear to you.
Also make sure you have proper gear for welding, you will need a helmet and gloves, these are specialty items and can be picked up at most hardware stores. You should get an auto darkening welding helmet as it will free up your hands so you arent flipping your helmet up back and forth constantly. Make sure you cover yourself up well when welding.
While welding can be very fun, it can also be very dangerous. Make sure you are not wearing shorts or a tanktop, be as covered up as possible. Location is a very important aspect of the welding process, weld on a solid surface such as a concrete slabs. Avoid anything that may be flammable such as gas can or dry timber. Welding uses electricity and causes sparks, this means your material will be very hot when you are finished with it, most people keep a bucket of water around for added safety.
When you begin to first use your mig miller welder keep in mind there are certain things that are critical to insure a proper bead. 1. make sure you have the correct voltage, improper voltage is a very common mistake among beginner welders because too low of a voltage will cause the wire to melt on top of the metal and too high of a voltage causes a burn through, the perfect voltage is needed to bond the two pieces of metal together.
Next is wire feed speed, if you have too slow of a speed you may have an excessive weld, but if you go too slow you will have too thin of a bead which will be weak. Lastly is the tip speed, if you have too quick of a speed your wire tends to break out of the weld and you have to try and start up the bead again, if it is too slow you will become bonded to your work which is inconvenient and may cause you frustration.
Practice is the only cure for these three mistakes made. Once you have perfected the settings on your welder you can begin welding, a weave pattern is a great method and bonds way better than if you try to just drag a straight line, the weave mixes the metals together for a better bond.
Once you get the tip moving you will want to keep a constant speed to provide yourself the most equalized bead, small holes created by the welding process are easy to correct by circling above them after the original bead, make sure you don't go to slow or you will burn a hole into your materials! Welding is a very simple task once you get the basic technique mastered, then you can be free to make all sorts of stuff.
