Free Welding Tips and Tricks!

Below are some simple welding tips that will help you make better welds every time, guaranteed. I call them the 14 Steps...

But first, what is a good weld? Many would say that if you get good fusion and penetration it should be good enough. Others say that it has to look good as well.

It is the desire of most welders to do an efficient welding procedure in a timely manner and do it with as few problems as possible. Problematic welds need to be fixed.

Some of the common problems you'll run across are poor penetration of your weld, weak or brittle welds, undercutting, poor weld fusion, and more.

These welding difficulties cross over from gas welding to metal arc welding. In other words, the same problems occur in oxy gas welding as in metal arc welding.

The good news is that you can achieve a good quality weld, maybe even the perfect weld, more often than not if you follow some simple rules of thumb.

14 Steps To A Quality Weld!

1. Don't buy the cheap welders, welding rods, and welding tools. You can get away with some of the cheap stuff like at Harbor Freight, but only select few items.
2. Understand the type of metal you are welding. If you don't you will not weld it properly. Are you welding a low alloy steel, a high alloy? What type of Aluminum are you welding? Know this.
3. Now that you understand the material you are welding you must choose the right welding process to achieve the best quality weld on the metal.
4. Choose the right electrode for the welding project.
5. Do you need to pre-heat? If so be sure that you have the correct temperature to pre-heat the material. If your metal is below 32 degrees Fahrenheit you should not weld it unless you pre-heat it.
6. If there is any cleaning needing to be done do it well. Make sure the material is free of any material that will cause your welding to be contaminated. That means removing moisture, paint, oil, slag, etc.
7. After each weld bead eliminate that slag prior to another weld.
8. Check to be sure there are no cracks or welds that have defects like porosity of the weld, and poor tack welds. If there are any tack welds that are weak then get rid of them.
9. Get good fusion at the root of your weld for groove and fillet welds.
10. If you notice that a gap is to large for a groove weld root then a good welding technique is to do a build up on a single side of your joint prior to welding it.
11. If you find that a root gap of a fillet weld is large then make the fillet weld size the same as the root weld gap in order to achieve the proper strength for the joint. Sometime you can do a groove weld so that you don't have to worry about making an excessive fillet weld.
12. Take a close look at your welds when you are done and if you see any bad welds you should have them take off and re-done.
13. If the size of your welds meets the requirements set forth on a set of plans then you have nearly accomplished your work. However, some welders like to make their welds just a bit larger than what is required in order to be doubly sure their work is of the utmost quality.
14. And finally, if your weld is a nice and smooth in appearance and any undercutting or overlapping has been fixed, you have completed your job properly.