My welding skills are inferior

[FOMOGO]

I enjoy stick welding, but use it mainly on heavy structural steel, and heavy equipment repair. works a treat for hard surfacing excavator buckets, and the like. Mig is my go to on most things. I think you can probably teach a monkey to mig weld, which may be why I like banana's. Mike

 

[rabler]

I think you can probably teach a monkey to mig weld, which may be why I like banana's. Mike

 

[wayback machine]

For thin tubing, I like gas (O-A) welding - This is a little switch box I made for a machine restoration, from 1" square .065 tubing.
OK, OK, the only photo I have is after it was cleaned up a little, and it was all outside corners, but you can do a decent job this way :


For AC stick welding, where appearance is important, I like 7014 rod - Makes a much nicer looking bead.
BTW - You DO have a good auto darkening hood, right? It helps if you can see what you're doing :~)
Presently, I'm trying to teach myself TIG - Now THAT is an interesting learning curve ......

 

[deakin]

i did a lot of stick welding in my younger days (+ o/a). that's all we had. lots of body shops back then welded body panels with a buzz box.

 

[great white]

For thin tubing, I like gas (O-A) welding - This is a little switch box I made for a machine restoration, from 1" square .065 tubing.
OK, OK, the only photo I have is after it was cleaned up a little, and it was all outside corners, but you can do a decent job this way :
View attachment 421561

For AC stick welding, where appearance is important, I like 7014 rod - Makes a much nicer looking bead.
BTW - You DO have a good auto darkening hood, right? It helps if you can see what you're doing :~)
Presently, I'm trying to teach myself TIG - Now THAT is an interesting learning curve ......

The learning curve for tig is very steep. But once you’ve gotten to even a rudimentary skill level its just amazing what you can do with tig. It’s my “go to” now for pretty much everything except quick set up work. For that, I tack with mig and then (if its an option) move the piece to the table and finish with tig.

Tig has taken my welding to a completely new level. Tig is expensive and needs a lot of practice, but once you’re on speed, you won’t want to weld any other way.

That most modern tig boxes are also stick capable is just icing on the cake. One box can cover almost all your welding needs.

But mig is still King for quick, easy tacks when putting something together or when dealing with less than perfectly clean (ie: rusty, pitted, etc) steel. You can tack with tig, but nowhere as easy as mig.

 

[Harry Knutz]

If using an AC only welder, The best rod is 7014, It will make a beautiful weld and is fairly easy to run. It almost looks like you used a DC machine with 7018. Many moons ago when all I had was a Montgomery Wards Power Crapt AC welder I built many trailers using 7014 rod.

 

[CJ5Dave]

I’m just the opposite. Can weld most stuff with stick. Can’t parch a fender with mig. A lot of the trick is the right size and type of rod. And clean metal. Everybody wants to weld over paint, rust and old welds.
And 7014 rods are great. Even better on DC. Used to call it a drag rod. Just drag it along and it looks good.

 

[T Bredehoft]

I was taught welding, applying stellite to wear surfaces with TIG, never welded before. This was in the early '70s. If I had to weld today it would be with TIG. I've done some automobile welding with wire, it held, but wasn't pretty.

 

[Harry Knutz]

I was taught welding, applying stellite to wear surfaces with TIG, never welded before. This was in the early '70s. If I had to weld today it would be with TIG. I've done some automobile welding with wire, it held, but wasn't pretty.

I can weld most processes and Have many machines here in my home shop. I went to school for welding in the early 80's but I didn't know chit until I started working in shop's, That's when the Learning began. Here is a Mig weld on the leg of The Gantry Crane I built. I still use Stick from time to time though. And I Tig weld more than anything else.

 

[Charles scozzari]

I can weld most processes and Have many machines here in my home shop. I went to school for welding in the early 80's but I didn't know chit until I started working in shop's, That's when the Learning began. Here is a Mig weld on the leg of The Gantry Crane I built. I still use Stick from time to time though. And I Tig weld more than anything else.

very nice weld