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My 2005 Yukon XL

I don't have but very little experience welding but does that welder you have, have the ability to tig anything? I was just watching a YouTube channel yesterday (binge watching Vice Grip Garage for the last week or so) they were LS swapping an old square body crew cab, some 4 part series that was over 3 hours combined. plan to watch the 4th part tonight LOL. showed a short portion on learning how to tig on a little 110v scratch start tig machine. you can weld the tiniest detailed things with those and is almost as simple as soldering seemed like.
 
dbrannon79 said:
I don't have but very little experience welding but does that welder you have, have the ability to tig anything? I was just watching a YouTube channel yesterday (binge watching Vice Grip Garage for the last week or so) they were LS swapping an old square body crew cab, some 4 part series that was over 3 hours combined. plan to watch the 4th part tonight LOL. showed a short portion on learning how to tig on a little 110v scratch start tig machine. you can weld the tiniest detailed things with those and is almost as simple as soldering seemed like.
Click to expand...
It's does have tig scratch start capability. Would need the gun, and associated tanks to do it. Guessing that would be more than my initial cost of the welder haha!
 
Maybe I missed something on the video but I don't think they used any gas. the machine basically heated the metal up to toe point it puddled and he used a coated rod for filler. it almost looked like he was braising but with electricity instead of gas!
 
Today I chamfered the edges on my coupons as recommended by Doug.

Started back off where I was on the beads at 110A. Ran a few more beads on 16ga coupons that had good penetration, somewhat flat (except for at my arc start). Moved over the the chamfered coupons, and tacked. Blew through the first tack, dropped to 105A and tacked a few more with good penetration through for once! After that I bent up the coupon to check strength and the weld held, and bent just above it. Apparently 16ga material is just thicker than I think (especially using only a 110v machine), the Yukon is 18GA but I couldn't get that at the box store.
 
I was able to weld together the two halves of my '73 Dodge ½Ton frame when I made my pickup bed utility trailer, using just .035" flux core wire in my 90 amp 120V welder. Had great penetration and gorgeous beading on both sides of the top and bottom flange and the web on each of the frame rails. Definitely thicker than 16ga. sheet steel!
 
Ok sorry, i missed that somehow.

So you are controlling voltage for the heat.
Wire speed is just how fast it add the wire- doesn’t have anything to do with electrical power on most machines- yours says it does, but honestly just ignore that. Amps is honestly how big the load is- the metal corrosion and chemical make up is really what controls the AMPERAGE DRAW. Look at any electric motor and it will say it uses “X” amount of amps. Amps is like how much something weighs when you lift it- the item getting the work done is what determines the amperage.

So with mig (wire feed) welding- just think:
Voltage is the amount of pressure(heat) you are cooking the metal with.
The other control is wire speed: you need to add metal back in as you melt away metal, and if you add too much it will push through the molten puddle and stick to the metal.

Your 110 is too much. The 100 seems in the proper range by what I see. You just need to practice steady controlled movement. I wish you could have someone record your welding zoomed in on the puddle- I (and several other here) could watch it and see what you could do to improve.

Are you pushing or pulling, and what pattern are you doing?

Don’t be afraid to put some work lights around what you’re welding. A common practice is guys adding headlamp work light to their helmet. You have to see the puddle clear, and running dual shield wire, it does not put out as much visible light as regular welding.
 
Will L. said:
Ok sorry, i missed that somehow.

So you are controlling voltage for the heat.
Wire speed is just how fast it add the wire- doesn’t have anything to do with electrical power on most machines- yours says it does, but honestly just ignore that. Amps is honestly how big the load is- the metal corrosion and chemical make up is really what controls the AMPERAGE DRAW. Look at any electric motor and it will say it uses “X” amount of amps. Amps is like how much something weighs when you lift it- the item getting the work done is what determines the amperage.

So with mig (wire feed) welding- just think:
Voltage is the amount of pressure(heat) you are cooking the metal with.
The other control is wire speed: you need to add metal back in as you melt away metal, and if you add too much it will push through the molten puddle and stick to the metal.

Your 110 is too much. The 100 seems in the proper range by what I see. You just need to practice steady controlled movement. I wish you could have someone record your welding zoomed in on the puddle- I (and several other here) could watch it and see what you could do to improve.

Are you pushing or pulling, and what pattern are you doing?

Don’t be afraid to put some work lights around what you’re welding. A common practice is guys adding headlamp work light to their helmet. You have to see the puddle clear, and running dual shield wire, it does not put out as much visible light as regular welding.
Click to expand...
All good!

I am pulling the puddle. The patterns in the previous were a crude attempt at half moons. I need to get more metal to practice on.

Ultimately my work area is garbage, most of what I am doing is mounted in a vice. The beads I ran were down on a thick steel table. I bet that soaked a ton of the heat up too. I definitely need more practice!
 
Ok. Then my next suspicion is that you are not keeping the wire in the puddle. When you move, never take the wire out of the puddle, just lead the puddle by being at the edge of it. As it starts to engulf the wire, you move back to the edge. Many do this by constantly moving the gun in a circular pattern. Some prefer making the letter C repeatedly so they touch. Others do repeating letter N.
Play with it to find your method , just never be a good little fish and never leave the puddle.
 
I've always counted when welding. Shooting to.
It's just how I stay in rhythm.

I always held to the outside edges of the puddle and stepped across from side to side.

Pulling or pushing is a personal choice. Both work.
A lot of times it depends on position. And what feels comfortable.

Sound and feel have a lot to do with it. There's been a lot of inspection welds out in, that couldn't be seen.
 
Ok, I started watching that video. At the 15-16 minute point where he is showing to just tack a bunch of times, then when he tried welding, he blew through it. Then turned his heat down some and didn’t turn down his wire speed at first. Then he turned down the wire when he couldn’t weld at all with it. And was still blowing through it. He was running too hot still, and still had way too much wire speed.

There is thousands of guys out there who turn the heat down and weld beads all day long on metal that thick with no problems.
True, you wouldn’t run an non stop bead that is 12” long without using a heat sink and not warp it. But absolutely should weld 2” stitches and have no warp.

See how his heat was so high it blued the metal way bigger than his weld area?
Way too much heat.
See how after he adjusted his speed he still ended up with wire jammed clear through the other side when he turned it over? Crazy too much wire speed.

When I owned the truck equipment shop- we built truck bodies all the time. Wether stretching a body making a limo, or making 2 door trucks into 4 door extra bodies, we had to do this stuff daily. Fighting your way through it with flux core/ inner shield is doable - but harder. But still, I am telling you, set up scrap metal of proper thickness on a table and get to where you weld a bead. Then go tack it together. A 0.1 second zap he is doing is not a tack. That guy would be fired on day one working in a production shop.

I can’t even bare to watch the rest of the “how to welding” video. Its like someone saying they are a Christian, then bragging how much fun they just had at the strip club. In my world- the law of non contradiction still is true.
 
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