Welding For Beginners

Arc Welding

1. Safety – PPE

It’s important to protect yourself while you are making metal into a liquid. This process is very hot, and also produces a very bright UV light that is harmful if viewed without eye protection. The process also puts of hot sparks of molten metal. This is why it is very important to wear personal protection equipment (PPE). PPE for welding includes but is not limited to:

• Welding Hood/Helmet
• Welding Gloves
• Leather sleeves, jacket, or cape sleeves
• Long pants
• Closed-toe shoes

2. Gather Equipment

It’s faster and easier to have all your tools and gadgets close by and handy instead of having to take all your PPE off to find a hammer or grinder or something else you may need

Tools you may want close by include:

• Pliers
• Chipping Hammer
• Wire brush
• Grinder and Grinding wheels/cutting wheels/ wire wheels
• Clamps
• Magnets
• Tape Measure
• Level
• Tip dip
• Welpers

3. Prep your Materials

Cleaning – sometimes you can get away with dirty metal when arc welding, taking the extra time to prep guarantees a better result. You don’t have to clean the whole piece, only the part you will be welding on.

Prefab cutting – It is important to be precise when cutting. If your cut is not straight or square on a piece that requires precision, you may end up with a bigger problem down the line. Using a soap stone, scribe, or some other kind of precise marking instrument helps to ensure you know where to cut. A straight edge is also a very useful tool, especially when making long cuts.

4. Set up for tacking

Once all your pieces are cut and cleaned, you can begin setting up the piece to prepare for the weld. This is where tools like magnets, clamps, or custom jigs come in handy. Having tools to your piece at the correct location and angle will make tacking much easier.

5. Ready and Set your Welding Machine

Each welding machine set up and job is a little different, so you may have to do some testing to get the correct settings. Your user’s manual or a quick online search will help point to the settings that will work best for your situation.

6. Tack

Once your piece is cut, cleaned, and setup and you have tested your machine settings for the material you are working with, you are ready to tack the piece. Tacking is putting a small weld at spaced intervals to hold the pieces in place as you do the full weld. Once tacked, you can check your piece to make sure it is aligned properly and the measurements are correct. This is the time to fix any mistakes as it will be much harder to fix once the full weld is complete.

7. Fill the rest of the Weld space

Now you have it tack welded and ensured it is correct and aligned, you are ready to fill the seams. This is when you can really fine-tune your welding skills. Consistency is especially important. Ensure not to change your torch angle, travel speed, or pattern mid-weld.

8. Post-Weld Clean up 1: Material

After filling all the weld seams, the welding is complete and it’s time to clean up the spatter and slag from the finished piece. This is when the grinder and wire brushes come in handy. Don’t put your machine away yet though! As you clean the piece and grind down the welds, you may find imperfect sections of the weld you need to go back and fill. This is a-okay, just put a little bead where you had a gap and grind it back down to match.

9. Post-Weld Clean up 2: Workspace

I know, I know. After all that hard work cleaning up your space is the last thing you want to do. But it will definitely help you next time you are ready to weld. Your workspace will be ready for you, and you won’t have to do a bunch of work (cleaning) before you do a bunch of work (welding)