This is the most informative welding video I think I've ever seen on any channel so far. I'm retired now but still like to learn what I can from experienced guys like you Carl. Good job (wrote this halfway through, don't let me down on the overhead cause it's coming up right now!) Btw your buddy Brent coulda used your help making some tooling for his power hammer the other day lol. I made a point to tell him too....thx for the video bud.
Yes I've watched millions of vids as well I've been welding for about 30 years and he did it spot on I really enjoyed it and am going to watch it again
@@MakeItKustom HEY CARL WHATS UP ON THIS VIDEO THERES A PERSON CLAIMING TO BE YOU (YOUR CHANNEL ) SAYING YOU WON A PRIZE TO MOST OF THE COMMENTERS ?!?! SEEMS TO BE A SCAMMER PLEASE REPLY PLEASE DO A P.S.A. TO ALL YOUR LOYAL SUBSCRIBERS THAT THIS PERSON IS NOT YOU AND DONT REPLY AND DONT GIVE ANY BANK INFORMATION ETC. ETC. THANK YOU IF IT IS YOU LET ME KNOW ✌🏼
After 50+ years of mig welding I thought I'd watch your instructional video on how to do it cause I just might learn something useful. I was right. I learned a lot!! So much depends on the rhythm plus the sound of the welding in creating a proper weld! Thank You, JD
I’m a beginner in my mid-60’s. I’m also an aerospace engineer that has designed and structurally analyzed welds in mechanical design. This is by far, the best teaching video for migrating welding that I’ve seen. Congratulations on a fine presentation and teaching job!
It has been said many times before I watch many welding videos but nothing comes close to yours for fully explaining how and why. Thank you so much for these incredible videos you present. Not only welding but watching a true and rare craftsman demonstrate his talents is a joy to watch.
I've been welding since I was a 13yo farm boy . I took 4yrs of welding classes in high school, all stick welding. I wasn't good enough to be a certified welder, but I have done a LOT of welding over the years. I didn't use MIG until I was in my mid-thirties and have yet to use a TIG machine. I'm now in my 50's (and probably as old as Karl's Dad), but I found myself smiling and nodding my head throughout this entire video. This young man seemed genuinely excited to share his knowledge and did a bang up good job! Thanks Karl! Subscribed.
I watch and follow quite a few welding channels, and I must say that I have never learned so much in such a short amount of time. Karl, you have considerable talent and are a natural teacher. Thank you for taking the time to put this video together just for the benefit of your followers. Also, excellent camera work 👏.
Best instructional video for beginners ive ever seen. I am 54 and have been doing non structural hobby welding for almost 30 years using proper mig, flux core and stick welding and your way of teaching allowed even a " my welding isnt finer so i wear out alot of grinders " kind of welder to my beads looking far better than ever before. I learn alot from your content. Been a way back subscriber and your metal techniques and making your own body tool videos were a game changer for me as well. I am very grateful to you for sharing your talent and amazing skills with us.
I completely agree on the vertical welding. If you are angled up, it's going to be a bulky mess. If you angle downward, your weld is going to be more uniform and beautiful. excellent tips, Karl, thanks! Man, I haven't thought of this stuff in so long, I'm really enjoying the walk through on mig welding!
As a bodyman of 31yrs, I’ve had very little formal training even with ICAR classes regarding welding…it’s sad. But your video Karl really filled in some gaps for me as to the finer points of welding. I always got advice from other bodymen, and that there way was the best way to weld, but it never looked perfect. I appreciate the you using the gifts God gave you to help others. You have free will my friend, and I’m happy with your decisions to help others. My thoughts and prayers are with you ❤️🙏🙂
I'm a 73 year old beginner welder here. Your video showed me more good information about MIG welding than anything else on UA-cam. Thanks for a great video! Much appreciated!
Great video Karl! I've been a diesel mechanic for over 45 years doing maintenance welding of all kinds and learned more about proper mig technique in your 1 hour video than anywhere else. Really enjoy your channel and have recommended it to all my gear head friends. Keep the vids coming!
My opinion , Miller is a much better machine because it has more fine tuning than the Lincoln welder. One good thing is I see you push will mig welding. I have been welding well over 30 years. Nothing wrong with your techniques.
I agree completely. Taught welding in high school because my metal shop teacher was only versed with wood-? Just out of school went to work for a guy who had 5 semis and 3 bobtails that had homemade chaindrag systems to unload- then they weren’t commercially available, so we built and repaired everything in his dads farm shop. Stick was what was available, so everything was stick welding then. Later built mobile home frames, then got into helicopter and aircraft repair. Frames got me introduced to MIG, and the aircraft got me a tiny bit of TIG experience. But this is a youngster who has all this knowledge and gives it away for the world, suggesting that a click is sufficient in payment. What a wonderful time to be here!
This was the best welding tutorial I have watched so far. My skill level is hobbyist at best. About a year ago I bought an EMAX 165E MIG/STICK miniwelder. Stick max is 2.5mm I use satincraft reasonably successfully. However learning to mig weld was pigeon poo. Watching your video, I GET were I'm going wrong. You have explained so thoroughly, and will give me the confidence to improve. I wear multifocal glasses and seeing my puddle has always been my weakest aspect, Along with a TBI from being severely rear-ended 11 yrs ago. Getting in to a comfortable position, and stamina to continue is where i have to go slower and pace myself. Even though i live in Australia, you will be my goto teacher. I now find that i learn better by watching, rather than just being told how to... Thankyou
FINALLY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've watched more than 100 instructional MIG videos ... ... and not getting the results I wanted ... BUT NOW ... ... YOU Sir ... are a MASTER TEACHER ... a TRUE PEDAGOGUE ... THANK YOU SO MUCH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've never welded but am looking at getting a welder for car and small farm projects. Thank you so much for this... you are an outstanding instructor and your content is outstanding.
As somebody who's looking to try out welding for the first time, even the first 20 minutes of this video do more than a lot of other guides you can find. Most tell you to find the best settings for your machine but don't actually guide you on doing it which led me to put my project ideas involving welding to the side, ready to tackle them head on now 😎 thanks again Karl
Would be interesting to see a cross section cut of the first piece that you welded after getting the settings dialed in to compare the penetration of push/pull/whip and pause/straight. Thanks for the tips
I fell in love with welding at a young age about 7 years old I helped my stepdad weld a deer stand in it’s so sentimental to me and I love it when I go back and think I helped build this
I know your stepdad enjoyed welding that stand with you. I hope you get the opportunity to teach your son how to weld. You will be a good dad. God bless…
First time I've ever left a comment on a UA-cam video. Great job Karl, if only I payed attention in school like I do to your video's. You've got the best voice for teaching, smooth and precise. I've just retired and now trying to learn to weld, once I saw one of your video's I turned off the welder and started to pay attention to someone who could actually teach me how to weld. Thanks, I don't think I have time to learn to weld like you but if I do, I'll send you a photo of it. Cheers, Appreciate your lessons
Im a tattoo artist from the south of boston, a city called New Bedford Ma aka the whaling city just want to say after 100s of hours of welding tutorials i want to thank you ive lesrned more in this video than all of the time ive waisted, watching a vast majority of the hacks ive had the privilege of losing many many hours.... keep it up Im a aspiring blacksmith and you have helped me greatly
I'll be turning 30 Friday the 29th as a gift to myself I bought a Millermatic 211 glad I found this video even decided to save it to a playlist it was extremely helpful and covered all the basics at least for me. Hoping to start welding fluently soon!
Very informative. You really are a great welder. I am 69 and took a year of welding at a Community College when I was 21 after serving 2 years in the Marines. Our instructor was an old gentleman who welded ships in WWII . We learned stick, mig, and a little tig. You have a natural talent for instructing as well. I have a 1964 C10 that I am still replacing floor pans and other body repairs. 327 5 speed Tremec QA1 4 wheel disc step side. Great work .
Good afternoon Carl, I'm Adrian Ace from Queensland Australia, I'd like firstly to thank you for all your amazing content, giving myself and thousands of people inspiration, to start beautiful work like yours and also to get back into this work, secondly, I have found your channel at a time in life where I'm going through a massively hard road, your channel has saved me from ending my journey on earth and totally inspired me to get back to building all my classic Australia muscle cars, in the near future, I'm setting up a community center where I'll be running courses in all trades to help inspire youth and help reduce youth crime, giving our community more choices and direction, also then helping our youth to enter the workforce with job placement and some direction, again I can't thank you enough. Now sorry for the ramble, I started to write you to mention, I just watched your video on beginners Tig welding and just wanted to add I often find with quite a bit of welding of all kinds when welding towards the direction I'm travelling it helps everything run more smoothly because im pre heating what your welding as i go, by pushing towards where I'm about to weld, thank you very kindly again, I am totally grateful and blessed for all the knowledge and inspiration you have given me, your a legend, cheers Ace
This has got to be the best video on UA-cam for a MIG welding tutorial / perfecting your MIG welding. I’m blown away how much I learned in this video. Thank you and God bless!!! 💪
I like your videos because you explain in great detail with every step what you hope to achieve. You also show mistakes you make along the way, unlike others, who edit their videos without fault as if they were perfect. Here in the UK there are not so many restoring or building cars where I can learn from. I've watched many videos containing welding, and I think your welds are the cleanest I've seen. I'm new to this style of welding, so I took your advice from one of your previous videos and purchased the Lincoln 200. I got it as a deal package, which came with a mask, a pair of gloves, verious tips, and two reels of different gage wires. I took early retirement because of health reasons and to occupy my time, I decided to restore vintage cars, which are my passion. This is how I came across your channel almost a year ago. You are a good teacher and great entertainer. Thanks from a pupil across the pond. Keep up the good work, oh and by the way. What's happening about your partners car? She's been waiting for you to finish it a long time now. Sorry, I forgot her name.
Have you found Trev's Blog" on UA-cam? Trevor Hatton is in the UK too. His video output seems to have slowed a lot since Covid, but there's a lot of good restoration and metal working content in his older vids. Who knows, you guys might be neighbors!
I really appreciate you taking us back to basics and elaborating on the reasons for doing certain things. I have learned so much from you about welding! I could get the job done before, but now the strength and appearance of my welds are so much improved. Thank you,
as a never welded NOTHING in my life novice this has been the most instructional and well presented video that i have seen yet i give you 10 thumbs up I am trying to build a VW trike can't afford a professional to weld for me so beings that i have a small lincoln 135 I am going to try this myself THANKS again for the really great video
Thank you for taking the time to not only show your techniques but to give a full explanation of why certain approaches will give the desired weld and some do not . There was a lot to take in during your demonstrations but every thing was clear and concise . I saved the program for repeat viewing . Stuart in Ontario................
I watched this video halfway through a big welding project and immediately went out and improved my quality of weld. You packed so much great knowledge in this. Thank you.
Karl your presentations are excellent with professional filming. Your lessons are organized, delivered with a smile, perfect pace, modeling, and control of the English language. Your knowledge and welding experience shines throughout each lesson. Your welding teacher should also be thanked for passing on his skills and motivating you to become a professional welder and teacher. I would encourage you, when the time is right, to look into teaching a class at a trade school, community college, or university. I am sure there are students who would love to have you as their instructor.
Best video I’ve seen on mig. The “sparks” comment on minimal sparks is something I’ve never heard before but probably one of the most important details to know ! Thank you! Subscribed on that comment alone.
By Far: The most absolutist and bestest welding tutorial ever published. I'll re-watch this video every Rainy Sunday Morning. Like all your other videos, this one is so informative and educational that I will save it to my 'Very Special Save' Folder.........
I've watched 2 of your videos so far and will watch everything that you put out from this point on! Your videos are the absolute BEST videos on how to weld that I've come across thus far!!! Easy to comprehend and explained with perfect very on-point and focused! I have ADHD and I usually have a problem watching instructional videos from beginning to end but not once while watching 2 of your videos did I get distracted. I've been trying to find a video that thoroughly detailed how to get started MIG welding with no real luck until I found your videos. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!!! Please continue to put out such wonderful helpful videos! If I had any $ I would surely send some to you because what I've been able to learn in just 2 of your videos truely worth a fortune! Again thank you. Dan Schatz
You're such a talented craftsman. Thank you for sharing what you've learned. I've been welding/ metal working for 20 years and learning every day. I'd love to learn more from someone like yourself.
I know this is an old video. But you have a real gift of teaching…. If you don’t already, you should be getting to or have the neighborhood High School shop kids to teach them your skills. Invite them to your shop or go to the high school and help educate them in your skills…. I wish I had someone like you when I was in High School shop class!
Great tutorial Karl. I agree that the sound is one of the best tools a welder can use to get their weld correct. Back in the day, these used to be called "Buzz Boxes", because when the heat and wire speed were correct, you would hear a nice buzz coming from your weld. Of course there are other indicators that the welder must also observe and consider, but the sound was always the best for me. Keep up the great work Karl.
My training at Oklahoma State Tech began with gas welding sheet metal. They said if you can do that, you can adapt to welding anything. I've found that to be true. Your teaching here is excellent. You've made me a better welder. Now, go cut that die apart and weld it back together with the opposite sides always adding up to seven. 6-1, 5-2, 4-3. Or, you'll get in trouble in Vegas. ;-)
Stick welder for 30 years. MiG welder for 2. My welds were too large. Then I played with the welder settings. I never heard, if it slags, drag. Thank you! My welds are sweet now.
great tips on posture. I think that is probably one of the biggest struggles getting a good weld is having your hand and arm comfortably rested while your welding and testing your reach. Awesome!
Hopes many have learned as much as I have today. Although I never get the opportunity to use heavy gauge steel I sure do appreciate the effort both yourself and Elio have gone too. I only do light car body and chassis fabrication and repair. But thank you both so much. I really enjoyed today.
Thanks Karl, I've been a hobby welder for years, taken a few welding classes and learned more from your vid than any class. The camera work is very informative. thanks again keep up the awsome work.
My welding instructor, Jack Stone, Sooner Trade School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on Maine and Walker back in the early 80's, taught me stick welding and gas welding, taught me the same technique with stick welding that you are showing with the Mig welding with the burn and pause to penetrate the steel and push the puddle like stacking dimes. Gas welding was more of a pushing the puddle and dabbing the braze stick into the puddle as you whip back and like stacking a dime on the last bead. Finding a rhythm with the heat and the puddle on the steal of back and forth, but much the same as you're describing for the mig. if it's too hot and you're moving too slow, then you'll get these grooves on the side of the bead. If you're too fast and the weld is too cold, then you'll get a pile up and the edges will have these humps because the weld didn't penetrate well enough. I hadn't thought of it in years. I'm a licensed electrician now. I was framing houses with my dad when I took these welding classes. I've been tinkering around a bit lately but I never really had the chance to go full into the welding trade. I got a hot lag in my eye chipping slag off a weld when I was vertical welding right toward the end of my training, and I just never went back after that. Some of the guys I saw welding were doing some half inch steel with a bevel on one side, and they would fill that, and then Xray their weld to see if there were any cracks in it. There was the initial pass at the bottom of the V and then there was a weld on ether side of that, and then like a weave weld over those two welds to finish it off. There were a lot of Union welders going there for their training back in the 70's and 80's. It was pretty hardcore welding course. Jack Stone was a top notch instructor. There was class stuff but most of it was in the shop hands on! Pretty intense! Anyway, bore you with one of my "glory day" stories lol remember the old Bruce Spring Sting song, Glory Days? haha what was one of the lines: sitting around telling boring stories of glory days. lol Great video, Karl. It took me back for sure. Makes me want a small shop to set up a welding area. I think I would try to do some of the old gas welding with Oxygen- acetylene used both for cutting and brazing or welding. You would heat the metal till you see a puddle form on the surface of the steel. I think then, it took me a week to master it to move on to stick welding. first on a flat 1/4" steel like you're using here, then with two of them forming a T. The first bead in the corner, then one on the bottom side of that and then the top and then one weaved over them both, looking like a rope crossing itself. It had to be perfect without any grooves on the edges showing signs of being too hot or build up showing signs of being too cold. I struggled with it at first, and Jack told me I needed to find a rhythm. When I done that, It was beautiful! I remember I had to fight to get into the school because I was only 16 at the time. I'm 56 now. They felt like I wasn't old enough and would lose interest, then I injured my eye, and I ended up living up to their expectations. I was almost to the end with the vertical welding, which really is difficult. I think there is the tendency to move to fast and get a cold weld or move too slow and get an ugly weld build up. anyway, just thought I'd share my story with welding. It really is a great industry to be in with great pay and benefits for those who put themselves into, like anything else really. Thanks again, brother!
Right on you two for showing us the right way to weld to get people started you never get old enough to learn new method and tech nicks. When I took a class welding that was are first project to weld a qube/box with Oxyline welding the hardest part was setting up just to tack the box together.
Awesome video. I welded natural gas pipe for 40 years. It was all pull down hill with more than one pass. Had to take a test every 6 months, they bent and broke the welds. Plus in certain cases the weld had to pass x-ray. So again awesome video.
I've spent a lot of time in metal fab shops and have had welding explained to me a few times but none of them gave me that "AH HAH!" moment like a couple of your videos have. Now I just need a shop of my own to play around in! Thank you so much Karl I always look forward to your videos you have such a great presentation style, editing is on point and a great camera operator too! Cheers buddy from WA state
Wow, this is so helpful for a guy like me who has been out of this game for many years. So this information will help out so much for the wife and I because we have a few projects that will need this knowledge. Ty brother 🙏 much respect.
Thanks Karl! I see requests on almost every channel asking about welder settings. You could have shown the inside of the welder door and explain that its a reference point. Gets a guy close. I weld a lot. Zero training. This is a very good tutorial in my opinion. Oh and my overhead welding is real crap. Guess what i have to do tomorrow? Yup, overhead.
Carl- to me you are the Tig Master. I am getting pretty good at flux core Mig, I have a Miller 141, 110V, and I really appreciate your level of experience and sharing it.
My oldest welder is my SP-175, I have 13 Lincoln products and it’s still my go to machine ! I as well listen more then anything when I weld, nearly 45 years of doing so
Thanks a million for this video Karl. I've watched it probably 3 times now, and has helped my technique and in turn made my welds better! Thanks again and keep it up.
Really thorough explanation. Nicely done and everyone likes a project at the end to test their skills. Nozzle dip might have made it perfect… I know not everyone likes it, but the ceramic spray coating works well too. Thank you for providing a shareable teaching video.
You can seriously weld! I learned a ton! I’m just a self taught hobbyist, I’ve recently bought a new to me welder that is much higher quality and my welding is looking much better. Thanks for the video! Great work!
As all time Your tips and learn are so good, This are the best welding lesson what I have ever get. I'm all most 68 y.o. and welded as I have learn myself , usually old cars. It is very interesting to see how difference weld are if you put or draw welding. Thanks again.
great video thanks for sharing! I love some of your sheet metal welding videos too. I have learned a lot from them and love how you finish sheet metal to the point you don’t even need much if any filler in a lot of cases. i go back to those videos regularly like a text book.
Minor point, ref 'Flux Core ("gass less") MIG' when opting for 'no gas' flux wire the polarity needs to be swapped, viewers can see a black and a red cable a little above the wire feed unit (side cover open) it's a simple case of un-doing both connections and swapping the cable positions. Great video as always Karl. BTY I'm with you on only 'Gas' welding, in Scotland we are all 240v, but (for safety) 110v is often still used on construction sites. (PS when I worked in electronics back in the 70's we built for both 110v and 240v markets so am used to both)
Thanks...great addition to your first 'beginner MIG welder' video. I'm a novice and used the tips in your first video prior to starting my first project...fabricate a rear bumper and swing arm to hold a 33" spare tire and jerry can on my 4WD Suburban. So far, it hasn't fallen off the truck so I guess I did okay. 🙂 Thank you so much for these videos.
i m taking welding for auto body course in college and i did this same project today my teacher liked it but im still beginner but i like welding a lot thanks for your videos it helps us a lot
Mate ,i really like your tutoring, I took a lot away from this wonderfully well done tutorial, governments should pay you have a certified module in all schools. Thanks.
I was lucky enough to join a group of students on a TIG welding course decades back in the last year that the instructor taught before his retirement after spending a lifetime as a welder and instructor. We were able to pick his brains on all things welding covering MIG/TIG/ Oxy Acetylene welding, cutting, brazing. My specific question was what should the finished weld look like concerning shape and peaks and troughs within the weld. He said that if you looked at waves on water, the troughs are the shallowest, so the troughs in welds are the thinnest and weakest part of the weld. The distance between troughs and peaks in welds should be as close as possible to create a stronger weld. A Fillet weld between vertical and horizontal pieces of metal should be slightly concave with a less abrupt angle between the edges of the weld and the parent metal. If the weld is convex, bulging outwards, creating a sharp angle to the parent metal, if you draw a line between the outer vertex of the two pieces of metal and the edge of the weld on either side, these are stress lines and where the weld is most likely to crack when the weld is over stressed.
great description of the weld edges. It think wetting is a good way to describe it. Because it describes a good hot weld that penetrated the steel, at least in my mind, so makes sense to me.
You sir are an excellent teacher!!! Been welding for years but now I know how to do it properly!!! If only you knew how to build a dice properly you be perfect!!! Opposite sides must add up to seven!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Keep up the good work!!! Love the channel!!! Phil from England 👍👍👍
I hope people that are getting something out of your videos become members to give back a little bit for all the knowledge and experience you share, Karl. Look forward to the next video my man!
Karl, This has been the best training video that you have ever done. Could not have done it myself. It is the one I will reference again when I need a refresher.. TX Mr fixit
Karl, this was an outstanding video on the subject. Some technical points for those that may be new to welding, which are in no way meant as criticisms. First, when Karl talks about "Structural", he is referring to AWS D1.1 Structural Code and whatever variations are in place in Canada. AWS D1.1 PROHIBITS any downhill welding except in the case of tubular members (Think latticework on a crane), and you must be certified in that variation. Otherwise, not allowed. Also, D1.1 concerns itself with 1/8" thick carbon steel materials and thicker. Anything thinner than 1/8" is considered sheet metal, which is normally welded downhill when vertical. The gun angle is another contentious subject. Miller's own website says it does not matter. But they are talking about a forward or backward angle of about 10*. When most people drag, it is much more than that, and the bead just lays on top of the material, looks nice, but no penetration. By using a push technique, you can see the puddle better, and allows you to stay on the leading edge of the puddle for best penetration. We do a LOT of certification work, and insist on using a the push technique. The "Stickout" is another very important factor. It is the distance between the part and the tip. You can see he is very close to the part he is welding. For this application, something around a 1/2" stickout would be appropriate. The technical reason for that is for a given wire diameter and settings, the further you are from the weld puddle, the more energy goes into the wire as opposed to the piece, and can result in a cold weld, poor visual characteristics, etc. Grounding is also critical. You can see Karl's bench and equipment are clean and well kept. The ground should be preferably on the piece if possible, or as close to it as possible. Clamping the part to the table is also a good practice. The last item I'll address is MIll Scale. Karl alluded to it when he talked about the corner joints and edges. You should always grind the mill scale away at least 1/2" or more away from the area to be welded. People think that the mill scale burns off as you are moving along the weld, but in reality, it just melts and gets incorporated into your weld. This can result in porosity or worse. A little tip for the machines that don't have gauges: If you set the wire feed speed to each of the markings on the dial, pull the trigger for five seconds. Cut the wire and measure it. Multiply that by 12 and it will give you inches per minute. Go to your wire manufacturers website and get the data sheet for the wire you are using and it will have all of the parameters the wire is meant for. The voltage will still be trial and error, but at least you can set your wire feed for the wfs (amperage) recommended for what you are doing.
You are such a gifted instructor. I took a 6 hour Hans on class with hope of doing some simple fabrication o a protect car. I still don’t know if I’ll make the leap to purchasing a unit but this video certainly helps my understanding.
Excellent excellent excellent video! As a newbie this really helps. I now can look back and see my errors! Thank you very much for taking the time to help us all out!
You are well straightforward on this video, I have way fewer questions about learning. Everyone else just throws out a bunch of numbers like we know what those numbers are. Thank you!
I been thinking of buying a welder and been watching welding vids this is the only vid I watched that has explained the sounds You get from how your doing and the penetrative qualities of those situations. what an amazing video I actually kinda get it now and bear in mind I’ve never even held a welder so thanks dude your a fabulous teacher I will of course be using this for reference when I get set up 🙏👍
Dude, I tried everything on this video, and I must say it is the most informative and comprehensive video I've seen on mig welding. I learned the haft circle push method. After trying your method inotice, not only was I quicker on my welding, but I had clean legs. Beautiful welds now, I only use half circles when I have to do a lot of filling. Whip and pause is the way to go.Thanks!
slick gloves too. I'm a TIG welder who is tired of the hype and cost and what constitutes a good weld. I have more invested in cups and tungsten and whips than a whole MIG welder. I may go back to MIG. Just less BS but a good MIG welder also knows the small stuff as you have shown. Familiar with the Overkill guys in Utah per your link. Good video.
This is the most informative welding video I think I've ever seen on any channel so far. I'm retired now but still like to learn what I can from experienced guys like you Carl. Good job (wrote this halfway through, don't let me down on the overhead cause it's coming up right now!) Btw your buddy Brent coulda used your help making some tooling for his power hammer the other day lol. I made a point to tell him too....thx for the video bud.
Yeah, when I go visit him I’m going to see if I can’t make his days a little bit smoother
I told him also!
Yes I've watched millions of vids as well I've been welding for about 30 years and he did it spot on I really enjoyed it and am going to watch it again
@@MakeItKustom HEY CARL WHATS UP ON THIS VIDEO THERES A PERSON CLAIMING TO BE YOU (YOUR CHANNEL ) SAYING YOU WON A PRIZE TO MOST OF THE COMMENTERS ?!?! SEEMS TO BE A SCAMMER PLEASE REPLY PLEASE DO A P.S.A. TO ALL YOUR LOYAL SUBSCRIBERS THAT THIS PERSON IS NOT YOU AND DONT REPLY AND DONT GIVE ANY BANK INFORMATION ETC. ETC. THANK YOU
IF IT IS YOU LET ME KNOW ✌🏼
Glad I found your channel. You're such an incredible and humble artisan and an awesome teacher as well! I couldn't ask for anything better.
After 50+ years of mig welding I thought I'd watch your instructional video on how to do it cause I just might learn something useful. I was right. I learned a lot!! So much depends on the rhythm plus the sound of the welding in creating a proper weld! Thank You, JD
I’m a beginner in my mid-60’s. I’m also an aerospace engineer that has designed and structurally analyzed welds in mechanical design. This is by far, the best teaching video for migrating welding that I’ve seen. Congratulations on a fine presentation and teaching job!
It has been said many times before I watch many welding videos but nothing comes close to yours for fully explaining how and why. Thank you so much for these incredible videos you present. Not only welding but watching a true and rare craftsman demonstrate his talents is a joy to watch.
I've been welding since I was a 13yo farm boy . I took 4yrs of welding classes in high school, all stick welding. I wasn't good enough to be a certified welder, but I have done a LOT of welding over the years. I didn't use MIG until I was in my mid-thirties and have yet to use a TIG machine. I'm now in my 50's (and probably as old as Karl's Dad), but I found myself smiling and nodding my head throughout this entire video. This young man seemed genuinely excited to share his knowledge and did a bang up good job! Thanks Karl! Subscribed.
Damn started at 13 and then 4 years of classes and still never good enough to get certified? You should’ve just kept all that to yourself. 😂
@@King-oj8hr You should try not being such a dick
I was thinking the same thing bit odd no?
@@King-oj8hr 🤣🤣
I watch and follow quite a few welding channels, and I must say that I have never learned so much in such a short amount of time. Karl, you have considerable talent and are a natural teacher. Thank you for taking the time to put this video together just for the benefit of your followers. Also, excellent camera work 👏.
Thanks so much Peter I’m so glad to hear it!
Best instructional video for beginners ive ever seen.
I am 54 and have been doing non structural hobby welding for almost 30 years using proper mig, flux core and stick welding and your way of teaching allowed even a " my welding isnt finer so i wear out alot of grinders " kind of welder to my beads looking far better than ever before.
I learn alot from your content.
Been a way back subscriber and your metal techniques and making your own body tool videos were a game changer for me as well.
I am very grateful to you for sharing your talent and amazing skills with us.
I completely agree on the vertical welding. If you are angled up, it's going to be a bulky mess. If you angle downward, your weld is going to be more uniform and beautiful. excellent tips, Karl, thanks! Man, I haven't thought of this stuff in so long, I'm really enjoying the walk through on mig welding!
As a bodyman of 31yrs, I’ve had very little formal training even with ICAR classes regarding welding…it’s sad. But your video Karl really filled in some gaps for me as to the finer points of welding. I always got advice from other bodymen, and that there way was the best way to weld, but it never looked perfect. I appreciate the you using the gifts God gave you to help others. You have free will my friend, and I’m happy with your decisions to help others. My thoughts and prayers are with you ❤️🙏🙂
I like what you did there David "filled in some gaps" agreed great help.
Gaps .. good one !! 😂
I'm a 73 year old beginner welder here. Your video showed me more good information about MIG welding than anything else on UA-cam. Thanks for a great video! Much appreciated!
Great video Karl! I've been a diesel mechanic for over 45 years doing maintenance welding of all kinds and learned more about proper mig technique in your 1 hour video than anywhere else. Really enjoy your channel and have recommended it to all my gear head friends. Keep the vids coming!
My opinion , Miller is a much better machine because it has more fine tuning than the Lincoln welder. One good thing is I see you push will mig welding.
I have been welding well over 30 years.
Nothing wrong with your techniques.
I agree completely. Taught welding in high school because my metal shop teacher was only versed with wood-? Just out of school went to work for a guy who had 5 semis and 3 bobtails that had homemade chaindrag systems to unload- then they weren’t commercially available, so we built and repaired everything in his dads farm shop. Stick was what was available, so everything was stick welding then. Later built mobile home frames, then got into helicopter and aircraft repair. Frames got me introduced to MIG, and the aircraft got me a tiny bit of TIG experience. But this is a youngster who has all this knowledge and gives it away for the world, suggesting that a click is sufficient in payment. What a wonderful time to be here!
This was the best welding tutorial I have watched so far. My skill level is hobbyist at best. About a year ago I bought an EMAX 165E MIG/STICK miniwelder. Stick max is 2.5mm I use satincraft reasonably successfully. However learning to mig weld was pigeon poo. Watching your video, I GET were I'm going wrong. You have explained so thoroughly, and will give me the confidence to improve. I wear multifocal glasses and seeing my puddle has always been my weakest aspect, Along with a TBI from being severely rear-ended 11 yrs ago. Getting in to a comfortable position, and stamina to continue is where i have to go slower and pace myself. Even though i live in Australia, you will be my goto teacher. I now find that i learn better by watching, rather than just being told how to... Thankyou
43 yrs old and just staring to weld and this video was very informative and easy to follow with great tips for me to learn. Thanks👍🏼
FINALLY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've watched more than 100 instructional MIG videos ... ... and not getting the results I wanted ... BUT NOW ... ... YOU Sir ... are a MASTER TEACHER ... a TRUE PEDAGOGUE ... THANK YOU SO MUCH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've never welded but am looking at getting a welder for car and small farm projects. Thank you so much for this... you are an outstanding instructor and your content is outstanding.
Best mig tutorial I've ever seen. You explain things in a way that even I could understand and that's saying something! Well done Sir!
As somebody who's looking to try out welding for the first time, even the first 20 minutes of this video do more than a lot of other guides you can find. Most tell you to find the best settings for your machine but don't actually guide you on doing it which led me to put my project ideas involving welding to the side, ready to tackle them head on now 😎 thanks again Karl
Would be interesting to see a cross section cut of the first piece that you welded after getting the settings dialed in to compare the penetration of push/pull/whip and pause/straight. Thanks for the tips
I fell in love with welding at a young age about 7 years old I helped my stepdad weld a deer stand in it’s so sentimental to me and I love it when I go back and think I helped build this
I know your stepdad enjoyed welding that stand with you. I hope you get the opportunity to teach your son how to weld. You will be a good dad. God bless…
Thank you
First time I've ever left a comment on a UA-cam video. Great job Karl, if only I payed attention in school like I do to your video's. You've got the best voice for teaching, smooth and precise. I've just retired and now trying to learn to weld, once I saw one of your video's I turned off the welder and started to pay attention to someone who could actually teach me how to weld. Thanks, I don't think I have time to learn to weld like you but if I do, I'll send you a photo of it. Cheers, Appreciate your lessons
Im a tattoo artist from the south of boston, a city called New Bedford Ma aka the whaling city just want to say after 100s of hours of welding tutorials i want to thank you ive lesrned more in this video than all of the time ive waisted, watching a vast majority of the hacks ive had the privilege of losing many many hours.... keep it up Im a aspiring blacksmith and you have helped me greatly
Excellent videos! I feel like I'm learning more in 30 minutes than I would in 3 months of taking classes. Thanks man!
I'll be turning 30 Friday the 29th as a gift to myself I bought a Millermatic 211 glad I found this video even decided to save it to a playlist it was extremely helpful and covered all the basics at least for me. Hoping to start welding fluently soon!
Very informative. You really are a great welder. I am 69 and took a year of welding at a Community College when I was 21 after serving 2 years in the Marines. Our instructor was an old gentleman who welded ships in WWII . We learned stick, mig, and a little tig. You have a natural talent for instructing as well. I have a 1964 C10 that I am still replacing floor pans and other body repairs. 327 5 speed Tremec QA1 4 wheel disc step side. Great work .
@user-dsr5ip7dsq2h
Thanks
Good afternoon Carl, I'm Adrian Ace from Queensland Australia, I'd like firstly to thank you for all your amazing content, giving myself and thousands of people inspiration, to start beautiful work like yours and also to get back into this work, secondly, I have found your channel at a time in life where I'm going through a massively hard road, your channel has saved me from ending my journey on earth and totally inspired me to get back to building all my classic Australia muscle cars, in the near future, I'm setting up a community center where I'll be running courses in all trades to help inspire youth and help reduce youth crime, giving our community more choices and direction, also then helping our youth to enter the workforce with job placement and some direction, again I can't thank you enough.
Now sorry for the ramble, I started to write you to mention, I just watched your video on beginners Tig welding and just wanted to add I often find with quite a bit of welding of all kinds when welding towards the direction I'm travelling it helps everything run more smoothly because im pre heating what your welding as i go, by pushing towards where I'm about to weld, thank you very kindly again, I am totally grateful and blessed for all the knowledge and inspiration you have given me, your a legend, cheers Ace
This has got to be the best video on UA-cam for a MIG welding tutorial / perfecting your MIG welding. I’m blown away how much I learned in this video. Thank you and God bless!!! 💪
I like your videos because you explain in great detail with every step what you hope to achieve. You also show mistakes you make along the way, unlike others, who edit their videos without fault as if they were perfect. Here in the UK there are not so many restoring or building cars where I can learn from. I've watched many videos containing welding, and I think your welds are the cleanest I've seen. I'm new to this style of welding, so I took your advice from one of your previous videos and purchased the Lincoln 200. I got it as a deal package, which came with a mask, a pair of gloves, verious tips, and two reels of different gage wires. I took early retirement because of health reasons and to occupy my time, I decided to restore vintage cars, which are my passion. This is how I came across your channel almost a year ago. You are a good teacher and great entertainer. Thanks from a pupil across the pond. Keep up the good work, oh and by the way. What's happening about your partners car? She's been waiting for you to finish it a long time now. Sorry, I forgot her name.
Have you found Trev's Blog" on UA-cam? Trevor Hatton is in the UK too. His video output seems to have slowed a lot since Covid, but there's a lot of good restoration and metal working content in his older vids. Who knows, you guys might be neighbors!
A complete course of mig welding. This is the video I wanted to see. Absolutly essential ! You are the man, many thanks, greetings from France.
I really appreciate you taking us back to basics and elaborating on the reasons for doing certain things. I have learned so much from you about welding! I could get the job done before, but now the strength and appearance of my welds are so much improved. Thank you,
as a never welded NOTHING in my life novice this has been the most instructional and well presented video that i have seen yet
i give you 10 thumbs up I am trying to build a VW trike can't afford a professional to weld for me so beings that i have a small lincoln 135 I am going to try this myself THANKS again for the really great video
Thank you for taking the time to not only show your techniques but to give a full explanation of why certain approaches will give the desired weld and some do not . There was a lot to take in during your demonstrations but every thing was clear and concise . I saved the program for repeat viewing . Stuart in Ontario................
I watched this video halfway through a big welding project and immediately went out and improved my quality of weld. You packed so much great knowledge in this. Thank you.
I really appreciate you covering the REAL basics other videos seem to skip!
Yep, we’ll done. One of the few channels where the longer video format is actually informative. Thanks Karl.
Karl your presentations are excellent with professional filming. Your lessons are organized, delivered with a smile, perfect pace, modeling, and control of the English language. Your knowledge and welding experience shines throughout each lesson. Your welding teacher should also be thanked for passing on his skills and motivating you to become a professional welder and teacher. I would encourage you, when the time is right, to look into teaching a class at a trade school, community college, or university. I am sure there are students who would love to have you as their instructor.
What impressed me the most was, your using the cheapest most basic welder out there and getting such awesome results! Very impressive!
Best video I’ve seen on mig. The “sparks” comment on minimal sparks is something I’ve never heard before but probably one of the most important details to know ! Thank you! Subscribed on that comment alone.
By Far: The most absolutist and bestest welding tutorial ever published.
I'll re-watch this video every Rainy Sunday Morning.
Like all your other videos, this one is so informative and educational that I will save it to my 'Very Special Save' Folder.........
1000% easier to follow your instruction than any others I’ve watched, awesome videography shows so much more. Thank you
I've watched 2 of your videos so far and will watch everything that you put out from this point on! Your videos are the absolute BEST videos on how to weld that I've come across thus far!!! Easy to comprehend and explained with perfect very on-point and focused! I have ADHD and I usually have a problem watching instructional videos from beginning to end but not once while watching 2 of your videos did I get distracted. I've been trying to find a video that thoroughly detailed how to get started MIG welding with no real luck until I found your videos. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!!! Please continue to put out such wonderful helpful videos! If I had any $ I would surely send some to you because what I've been able to learn in just 2 of your videos truely worth a fortune! Again thank you.
Dan Schatz
I LOVE to watch a professional tradesman that knows his crsft. Well done, Sir !!
You're such a talented craftsman. Thank you for sharing what you've learned. I've been welding/ metal working for 20 years and learning every day. I'd love to learn more from someone like yourself.
people need to stop for a second and realize this man is giving us this content for free. thank you for this its amazing
this is the most detailed and simple to understand explanation on how to Mig weld on UA-cam. Thank you kindly, keep them coming. love the Channel
I know this is an old video. But you have a real gift of teaching…. If you don’t already, you should be getting to or have the neighborhood High School shop kids to teach them your skills. Invite them to your shop or go to the high school and help educate them in your skills…. I wish I had someone like you when I was in High School shop class!
I've watched a LOT of welding videos. This is the best. By far. Really well done.
Best MIG welding instruction video that I have ever seen.
Great tutorial Karl. I agree that the sound is one of the best tools a welder can use to get their weld correct. Back in the day, these used to be called "Buzz Boxes", because when the heat and wire speed were correct, you would hear a nice buzz coming from your weld. Of course there are other indicators that the welder must also observe and consider, but the sound was always the best for me. Keep up the great work Karl.
My training at Oklahoma State Tech began with gas welding sheet metal. They said if you can do that, you can adapt to welding anything. I've found that to be true. Your teaching here is excellent. You've made me a better welder. Now, go cut that die apart and weld it back together with the opposite sides always adding up to seven. 6-1, 5-2, 4-3. Or, you'll get in trouble in Vegas. ;-)
Stick welder for 30 years. MiG welder for 2. My welds were too large. Then I played with the welder settings. I never heard, if it slags, drag. Thank you! My welds are sweet now.
great tips on posture. I think that is probably one of the biggest struggles getting a good weld is having your hand and arm comfortably rested while your welding and testing your reach. Awesome!
I think this must be the best introductional MIG tutorial I have ever seen
Hopes many have learned as much as I have today. Although I never get the opportunity to use heavy gauge steel I sure do appreciate the effort both yourself and Elio have gone too. I only do light car body and chassis fabrication and repair. But thank you both so much. I really enjoyed today.
Thanks Karl, I've been a hobby welder for years, taken a few welding classes and learned more from your vid than any class. The camera work is very informative. thanks again keep up the awsome work.
Best hour and 15 mins I’ve spent on UA-cam. Thank you for sharing your knowledge 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Really enjoy listening to this guy! He is really good!
My welding instructor, Jack Stone, Sooner Trade School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on Maine and Walker back in the early 80's, taught me stick welding and gas welding, taught me the same technique with stick welding that you are showing with the Mig welding with the burn and pause to penetrate the steel and push the puddle like stacking dimes. Gas welding was more of a pushing the puddle and dabbing the braze stick into the puddle as you whip back and like stacking a dime on the last bead. Finding a rhythm with the heat and the puddle on the steal of back and forth, but much the same as you're describing for the mig. if it's too hot and you're moving too slow, then you'll get these grooves on the side of the bead. If you're too fast and the weld is too cold, then you'll get a pile up and the edges will have these humps because the weld didn't penetrate well enough. I hadn't thought of it in years. I'm a licensed electrician now. I was framing houses with my dad when I took these welding classes. I've been tinkering around a bit lately but I never really had the chance to go full into the welding trade. I got a hot lag in my eye chipping slag off a weld when I was vertical welding right toward the end of my training, and I just never went back after that. Some of the guys I saw welding were doing some half inch steel with a bevel on one side, and they would fill that, and then Xray their weld to see if there were any cracks in it. There was the initial pass at the bottom of the V and then there was a weld on ether side of that, and then like a weave weld over those two welds to finish it off. There were a lot of Union welders going there for their training back in the 70's and 80's. It was pretty hardcore welding course. Jack Stone was a top notch instructor. There was class stuff but most of it was in the shop hands on! Pretty intense! Anyway, bore you with one of my "glory day" stories lol remember the old Bruce Spring Sting song, Glory Days? haha what was one of the lines: sitting around telling boring stories of glory days. lol
Great video, Karl. It took me back for sure. Makes me want a small shop to set up a welding area. I think I would try to do some of the old gas welding with Oxygen- acetylene used both for cutting and brazing or welding. You would heat the metal till you see a puddle form on the surface of the steel. I think then, it took me a week to master it to move on to stick welding. first on a flat 1/4" steel like you're using here, then with two of them forming a T. The first bead in the corner, then one on the bottom side of that and then the top and then one weaved over them both, looking like a rope crossing itself. It had to be perfect without any grooves on the edges showing signs of being too hot or build up showing signs of being too cold. I struggled with it at first, and Jack told me I needed to find a rhythm. When I done that, It was beautiful!
I remember I had to fight to get into the school because I was only 16 at the time. I'm 56 now. They felt like I wasn't old enough and would lose interest, then I injured my eye, and I ended up living up to their expectations. I was almost to the end with the vertical welding, which really is difficult. I think there is the tendency to move to fast and get a cold weld or move too slow and get an ugly weld build up. anyway, just thought I'd share my story with welding. It really is a great industry to be in with great pay and benefits for those who put themselves into, like anything else really.
Thanks again, brother!
One of the best, most comprehensive video I have ever seen, including any / all welders, tools, etc... CF is D Man...
Your video is one of the best for explaining everything in detail.
Right on you two for showing us the right way to weld to get people started you never get old enough to learn new method and tech nicks.
When I took a class welding that was are first project to weld a qube/box with Oxyline welding the hardest part was setting up just to tack the box together.
I've been around youtube watching over 25 videos on MIG welding finally I have seen this one which worthy 100 videos,good job congratulations.
Awesome video. I welded natural gas pipe for 40 years. It was all pull down hill with more than one pass. Had to take a test every 6 months, they bent and broke the welds. Plus in certain cases the weld had to pass x-ray. So again awesome video.
I've spent a lot of time in metal fab shops and have had welding explained to me a few times but none of them gave me that "AH HAH!" moment like a couple of your videos have. Now I just need a shop of my own to play around in! Thank you so much Karl I always look forward to your videos you have such a great presentation style, editing is on point and a great camera operator too! Cheers buddy from WA state
Wow, this is so helpful for a guy like me who has been out of this game for many years. So this information will help out so much for the wife and I because we have a few projects that will need this knowledge. Ty brother 🙏 much respect.
Really appreciate you taking the time to show us beginners how to MIG. Thank you!
Thanks Karl! I see requests on almost every channel asking about welder settings. You could have shown the inside of the welder door and explain that its a reference point. Gets a guy close.
I weld a lot. Zero training. This is a very good tutorial in my opinion. Oh and my overhead welding is real crap. Guess what i have to do tomorrow? Yup, overhead.
That’s cheating!!! Lol 😂
Best welding video I have watched in a long time. Not a boring moment, enjoyed every minute.
Carl- to me you are the Tig Master. I am getting pretty good at flux core Mig, I have a Miller 141, 110V, and I really appreciate your level of experience and sharing it.
My oldest welder is my SP-175, I have 13 Lincoln products and it’s still my go to machine ! I as well listen more then anything when I weld, nearly 45 years of doing so
Thanks a million for this video Karl. I've watched it probably 3 times now, and has helped my technique and in turn made my welds better! Thanks again and keep it up.
Really thorough explanation. Nicely done and everyone likes a project at the end to test their skills. Nozzle dip might have made it perfect… I know not everyone likes it, but the ceramic spray coating works well too. Thank you for providing a shareable teaching video.
You can seriously weld! I learned a ton! I’m just a self taught hobbyist, I’ve recently bought a new to me welder that is much higher quality and my welding is looking much better. Thanks for the video! Great work!
As all time Your tips and learn are so good, This are the best welding lesson what I have ever get. I'm all most 68 y.o. and welded as I have learn myself , usually old cars. It is very interesting to see how difference weld are if you put or draw welding. Thanks again.
great video thanks for sharing! I love some of your sheet metal welding videos too. I have learned a lot from them and love how you finish sheet metal to the point you don’t even need much if any filler in a lot of cases. i go back to those videos regularly like a text book.
Minor point, ref 'Flux Core ("gass less") MIG' when opting for 'no gas' flux wire the polarity needs to be swapped, viewers can see a black and a red cable a little above the wire feed unit (side cover open) it's a simple case of un-doing both connections and swapping the cable positions. Great video as always Karl.
BTY I'm with you on only 'Gas' welding, in Scotland we are all 240v, but (for safety) 110v is often still used on construction sites.
(PS when I worked in electronics back in the 70's we built for both 110v and 240v markets so am used to both)
Dude you seriously have the best beginners welding information that i have found on the internet thank you
Thanks...great addition to your first 'beginner MIG welder' video. I'm a novice and used the tips in your first video prior to starting my first project...fabricate a rear bumper and swing arm to hold a 33" spare tire and jerry can on my 4WD Suburban. So far, it hasn't fallen off the truck so I guess I did okay. 🙂 Thank you so much for these videos.
@user-yl94hgf621 Wow, I won?! I'll contact you right away. Thanks! Oh, one more thing...go to hell.
Excellent tutorial. You're a great teacher.
i m taking welding for auto body course in college and i did this same project today my teacher liked it but im still beginner but i like welding a lot thanks for your videos it helps us a lot
Mate ,i really like your tutoring, I took a lot away from this wonderfully well done tutorial, governments should pay you have a certified module in all schools.
Thanks.
Best intro-to-mig-welding video I've ever seen...THANK YOU!!
I was lucky enough to join a group of students on a TIG welding course decades back in the last year that the instructor taught before his retirement after spending a lifetime as a welder and instructor. We were able to pick his brains on all things welding covering MIG/TIG/ Oxy Acetylene welding, cutting, brazing. My specific question was what should the finished weld look like concerning shape and peaks and troughs within the weld. He said that if you looked at waves on water, the troughs are the shallowest, so the troughs in welds are the thinnest and weakest part of the weld. The distance between troughs and peaks in welds should be as close as possible to create a stronger weld. A Fillet weld between vertical and horizontal pieces of metal should be slightly concave with a less abrupt angle between the edges of the weld and the parent metal. If the weld is convex, bulging outwards, creating a sharp angle to the parent metal, if you draw a line between the outer vertex of the two pieces of metal and the edge of the weld on either side, these are stress lines and where the weld is most likely to crack when the weld is over stressed.
great description of the weld edges. It think wetting is a good way to describe it. Because it describes a good hot weld that penetrated the steel, at least in my mind, so makes sense to me.
amazing video man learned so much i can apply on my 71 dodge charger nascar/stock car build on my channel thanks man!
You sir are an excellent teacher!!!
Been welding for years but now I know how to do it properly!!!
If only you knew how to build a dice properly you be perfect!!! Opposite sides must add up to seven!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Keep up the good work!!!
Love the channel!!!
Phil from England
👍👍👍
I'm with you vertical down. Been doing it for 39 years, never had one break yet.
This really helped me, I've been struggling with dialing in my mig welds. Thank you for all the tips and tricks!
This is the type of video I injoy with no fast forward. Excellent info. Thank,s
I hope people that are getting something out of your videos become members to give back a little bit for all the knowledge and experience you share, Karl. Look forward to the next video my man!
Karl,
This has been the best training video that you have ever done. Could not have done it myself. It is the one I will reference again when I need a refresher.. TX Mr fixit
Karl, this was an outstanding video on the subject. Some technical points for those that may be new to welding, which are in no way meant as criticisms. First, when Karl talks about "Structural", he is referring to AWS D1.1 Structural Code and whatever variations are in place in Canada. AWS D1.1 PROHIBITS any downhill welding except in the case of tubular members (Think latticework on a crane), and you must be certified in that variation. Otherwise, not allowed. Also, D1.1 concerns itself with 1/8" thick carbon steel materials and thicker. Anything thinner than 1/8" is considered sheet metal, which is normally welded downhill when vertical. The gun angle is another contentious subject. Miller's own website says it does not matter. But they are talking about a forward or backward angle of about 10*. When most people drag, it is much more than that, and the bead just lays on top of the material, looks nice, but no penetration. By using a push technique, you can see the puddle better, and allows you to stay on the leading edge of the puddle for best penetration. We do a LOT of certification work, and insist on using a the push technique. The "Stickout" is another very important factor. It is the distance between the part and the tip. You can see he is very close to the part he is welding. For this application, something around a 1/2" stickout would be appropriate. The technical reason for that is for a given wire diameter and settings, the further you are from the weld puddle, the more energy goes into the wire as opposed to the piece, and can result in a cold weld, poor visual characteristics, etc. Grounding is also critical. You can see Karl's bench and equipment are clean and well kept. The ground should be preferably on the piece if possible, or as close to it as possible. Clamping the part to the table is also a good practice. The last item I'll address is MIll Scale. Karl alluded to it when he talked about the corner joints and edges. You should always grind the mill scale away at least 1/2" or more away from the area to be welded. People think that the mill scale burns off as you are moving along the weld, but in reality, it just melts and gets incorporated into your weld. This can result in porosity or worse.
A little tip for the machines that don't have gauges: If you set the wire feed speed to each of the markings on the dial, pull the trigger for five seconds. Cut the wire and measure it. Multiply that by 12 and it will give you inches per minute. Go to your wire manufacturers website and get the data sheet for the wire you are using and it will have all of the parameters the wire is meant for. The voltage will still be trial and error, but at least you can set your wire feed for the wfs (amperage) recommended for what you are doing.
You are such a gifted instructor. I took a 6 hour Hans on class with hope of doing some simple fabrication o a protect car. I still don’t know if I’ll make the leap to purchasing a unit but this video certainly helps my understanding.
Coming from someone who thinks there a good teacher....
You are an excellent teacher.
Excellent excellent excellent video! As a newbie this really helps. I now can look back and see my errors! Thank you very much for taking the time to help us all out!
You are well straightforward on this video, I have way fewer questions about learning. Everyone else just throws out a bunch of numbers like we know what those numbers are. Thank you!
I been thinking of buying a welder and been watching welding vids this is the only vid I watched that has explained the sounds
You get from how your doing and the penetrative qualities of those situations. what an amazing video I actually kinda get it now and bear in mind I’ve never even held a welder so thanks dude your a fabulous teacher I will of course be using this for reference when I get set up 🙏👍
Absolutely fabulous job! As many have said….you have changed the way I weld forever!!! Thank you.
Not only are you a great welder you explain it great also! Thank you!!
Dude, I tried everything on this video, and I must say it is the most informative and comprehensive video I've seen on mig welding. I learned the haft circle push method. After trying your method inotice, not only was I quicker on my welding, but I had clean legs. Beautiful welds now, I only use half circles when I have to do a lot of filling. Whip and pause is the way to go.Thanks!
slick gloves too. I'm a TIG welder who is tired of the hype and cost and what constitutes a good weld. I have more invested in cups and tungsten and whips than a whole MIG welder. I may go back to MIG. Just less BS but a good MIG welder also knows the small stuff as you have shown. Familiar with the Overkill guys in Utah per your link. Good video.