My First Weld

[ksurfer2]

A couple months ago, my Father-in-law gave me his old welder. I hadn't had a need for it until this weekend when I was installing a crankcase evac system in my car. This required some welding to the header collectors. Since this would not be visible, structural, or in any way need to be pretty, I figured I would give it a shot. When screwing the check valve on, I applied a fair bit of torque and the welds held....so I guess I was successful.

When I was a kid and my dad was teaching me about sailing, he told me if I could not tie one good knot, I should tie lots of bad ones. I applied the same logic here.

 

[Jeff Peterson]

 

[Richard Cranium]

So that's what it looks like when a welder ejaculates.

 

[gkent]

Well you didn't blow any holes in collector so that's a plus. Otherwise, that's just a shitty weld. I'm trying to figure which blob is actually holding the thing together.

Take five minutes to watch a youtube video before you weld again.

 

[gkent]

Post a picture of the welder.

 

[fesser]

No gas/no flux wire?

 

[khryslerkid]

Get some scrap pieces of mild steel and just flat weld on it. Experiment with the wire speed and the heat settings. You need to create a puddle and learn how to move it along as you go.

More details on what welder you're using and the wire, gas.

 

[eldubb440]

crank up the heat and melt that stuff in....you now have some metal to work with

 

[gkent]

crank up the heat and melt that stuff in....you now have some metal to work with

That's like gathering up bondo dust and mixing it back in the bucket !!

 

[eldubb440]

That's like gathering up bondo dust and mixing it back in the bucket !!

lol..... whatever it takes

 

[MoparLeo]

We need to know what equipment you are using.
Do not try to weld galvanized materials. Very toxic and metals won't mix.

 

[65Bel]

All of the above except for #2 . . .

 

[Triplegreen500]

We all start somewhere...and you're one weld ahead of me. One thing I've never learned.

Not the prettiest, but hey...it's a start. Now, practice practice practice!

 

[AR67GTX]

My wire welding skills consist of basically being able to stick (hate to use the word weld) two pieces of metal ( fairly thick metal) together - most of the time. That’s it.

 

[OzzyOzB]

 

[Scott Engelhardt]

Nothing better than a gift from your Father in law. YouTube has tons of great welding tutorials

 

[cornpicker]

That is not acceptable, do not offer to weld ANYTHING FOR ANYONE else ! PLease study ytube video's at least and practice ,practice,practice ! I remember when I was 18 and asked the welder at the place I was working to show me how to weld. His response was , kid , I can tell you everything I know in 5 min. but the rest is up to you to practice. Nice gift from you father in law now carry on.