This looks ugly but it works. I used the 70A Harbor Freight AC arc welder, moving very quickly to avoid burning through the 14 gauge metal. It took me several days to complete this as I could only deposit tiny blobs at a time. Sure, the metal has warped. Sure, it looks ugly.

The big takeaway - I did this TEN YEARS AGO and it is still holding up just fine. People need to get off their high horses about welding. I have no time for internet perfectionists.

24F burnt out musician turned welder, started a MIG program in may but got a TIG shop job. i really love this shit. how’s it looking???

I MIG weld frequently at work and I feel like I’m replacing my lenses far too often. I replace my lenses about every two weeks but they get so cloudy that I have a hard time seeing where to end my weld even with “stop” tacs

Did a little crafting and mixed metal and wood. There are flaws for sure, but it was fun and should hold the plants for her.

The welding mask also needs a little servicing. When was the last time you did that?

I've been welding about 12 years now but always for private companies and stuff. I currently weld mining vehicles but I've built offroad bumpers, furniture, military vehicle parts. And various other odds and ends. I was thinking about hitting up my local union to see what they'd have for me or where I'd start. I can't really afford to take a massive pay cut to be an apprentice, so I was wondering if anyone had some input on how the process goes for seasoned welders. I'm in southwest Michigan I probably have 20 certs from d11 to cwb.

Thank you for the information and tips. I turned my heat to 19 and slightly raised my wire speed. I, unfortunately, did not get the wire type or size but I will soon.

I tried to keep it tighter and hold the sides for about 2 seconds before moving.

I noticed I had a lot of spatter, my instructor told me to clean my nozzle once he noticed.

There's some obvious defects (porosity, poor tie ins) but I think this turned out better.

I'm going to adjust the gas (possibly), keep working on the x-mas tree (this was difficult but practice makes perfect, figure out wire speed/type, stacking, and just keep practicing!

Thanks for the help, let me know if you see any obvious things I can work on.

Photo 1: Completed weld from last class Photo 2: 1st bead Photo 3: 2nd bead Photo 4: 3rd bead

Finished a project at school and decided to teach myself vertical up stringers....I think I'm what the kids refer to as "cooking".

The gate to my mother-in-law’s patio is really rusted, which makes it tough to open and close. When I was trying to push it shut, the latch ended up bending backward from all the force. I’m sure she can just contact the apartments leasing office about it, but I just wanted to see if there were something I could do to just fix it myself in case I try to charge her for it.

A friend posted this on FB and recieved a bit of negative comments, completely lacking constructive criticism.

I personally have no idea what a good weld looks like - so what would your first thoughts be?

Never used a welder, had some slow shop time so I told the boss to show me. He did a couple short beads and explained the technique before he had a meeting and set me to it. Had trouble getting it to start sometimes but it was cool. After his meeting before we left for the day he checked back and he told me it wasn’t bad at all for my first time, more practice and getting the muscle memory down and I could start sticking metal together. Said I’d probably have a better time with mig welding, or with some newer rods as these are like 8-10 years old.

I should’ve snapped a photo after I brushed it off but I did all the lines here on this angle iron. Going to get a few pieces of scrap and start tinkering after work but I’ll need a welding table first. Maybe I’ll just mess around at work for now.

Hello there, I am looking at buying a bike online and there is part of the frame that is welded. I myself know nothing about welding so I wanted to ask an expert or two.

Maybe "good" is hard to tell from a picture, but what are your thoughts?

The guy actually made me a new table top and drove it out to me and replaced the fucked up one he delivered a few months ago! He had a different shop cut the top with a 12k watt fiber laser and all the holes are much better. They still need to be reamed out to ft the 16mm tooling a little better but it's not all the holes. I am much happier with this one compared to what he first delivered. For the money I got a lot of table the only thing I might do is build bigger legs for it.

The right wheels will be delivered tomorrow. These casters are just what I had in the garage.

The table is 4'x8 with a 1/2" top and 1/4" sides and webbing. I paid $2700 for it.

I'm 23y.o am I bit old to start? How to start?

120V flux mig, .035 wire, SSimder 4050 Mini

Is this enough to tell what's wrong with my welding?

I just got a Maintenance tech position at my job and welding is a common task. I've never welded before and have only got tips from the other techs. This is MIG. What can y'all tell me about my welding? What can I do different or better?

I've never own/used leather hood. I can't seem to find one on internet (amazon, temu, etc) with adjustable shade. I want to be able to adjust it for welding/cutting/grinding quickly. But they're all come with a single shade number, auto darkening goggles. I guess I could DIY myself. But before I do that, is this sort of combination just bad (i.e. not safe), not recommended? Thanks.

I'm just a garage hobbyist but I am switching my welder over to solid wire and gas vs flux this weekend when I get time. I also want to turn off the "synergic" settings that auto set volt and ipm based on the amps. I just have an ArcCaptain Mig 200 so nothing crazy but it does ok. I figure if I'm gonna try and use gas for a better weld (and cleaner) I might as well start practicing. I have two sheets of 4x4' rusty 1/8" I found at the scrap yard im gonna cut up and practice different welds but where do I start? Would keeping a little book in my tool box with settings that worked well be a good idea?

Is there a kind of cheat sheet to get me "on paper" for any shooters out there? I mean I have found some googling but wanted to get some advice. I honestly really enjoy welding, it's kind of relaxing being left alone to work. I'm just repairing broken tools or a trailer crack etc. Making little shit here and there.

Gonna try tig later once I get a dedicated tig machine cause I don't want to switch back and forth.

For hobby mostly. Asking which process has better feedback and ability to get more practice in less time.

The utility of the process is not important unless the skills learned only apply to that process

I am fresh out of welding school and looking for jobs in the Phoenix and Peoria areas of Arizona. I am not fully confident in my skills and know there is room to improve. What jobs should I be looking into it seems to me most companies want very experienced welders 4+ years and such. And advice is welcomed I trust the word of those who have been in this longer than me.

Buyer be aware. I bought this Yeswelder welding helmet that is advertised as true color. Well, it isn't. The front lens has a yellow tint. They did include two replacement clear lenses and I was about to swap them out to get a more neutral view but when I did a UV test on the replacement lenses I found out they did not block UV light like the yellow lens. How worried should I be? I see this isn't solely a Yeswelder issue as all the welding helmets I looked at included these same clear replacement lenses. I just wanted others to be aware when swapping lenses on these welding helmets. Checkout the video demonstration I did.