When to weld with what type?

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Ok im not that experienced at welding even though i have been taking welding class in my highschool for 3 years and LOVE doing it.So here is the "noob " questionWhat factors decide whether to use stick mig tig or other types of welding.is it like thickness, type of metal, angle of metal, Idkthanks-LandinAge:17Machine: Lincoln AC 225v Arc WelderMotive: TO learn everything i can about weldin
Reply:MIG - fastest process, more productionTIG - slowest process, more tedious, but far better looking if done rightStick - for a stronger (structural) weldThere are more factors for each, but those seem to be the main reasons from what I've learnedI would also use Stick on any metal that is dirty, a bit rusty or painted (for cracks, repairs)Last edited by DukeBurger; 06-02-2010 at 03:34 PM.
Reply:TIG is also best on thin materials
Reply:You asked a question thats impossible to answer easily. A simple answer might be, use the method that produces the best results, with the most sensible economy. Many times the best result, is not the easiest, nor is the most expensive, any better. Not every process is the most effecient at everything, and not one process is capable of all tasks. Sometimes processes are added that dont add capability, but perhaps ease and economy. Economy can mean different things to different people, the home hobbyist has different expectations than a production line. With all of that being said, its interesting to think that 99% of the work that is done, can be done very well with 2 of the oldest methods, SMAW, and O/A. Picking between them is mainly based on the physical size of the part as far as economy goes. Other processes might make more sense for production, or some certain alloys. Much like woodworking, its amazing how little you actually need, to do a job well. Do you use a wood plane, or a jointer? A brace and Bit, or a 1/2" cordless drill? A palm sander or a scraper? In all cases both do an excellent job, but one will produce work faster ( usually ) at the expense of cost, complexity, and reliability ( how many 150 year old drills do you see that still perform 100%? ). With a small cabinet of tools the hobbyist ( or craftsman ) can produce work that rivals or betters work from a large power tooled shop, just at a slower pace. So are you paying more for capability, or speed? In some cases you are paying more, and not getting more. Take a fellow with every blue or red machine made in one building, and he still cant do some of the jobs a blacksmith can. Start with the basics, and add on from there if you truly find you have the need.
Reply:I agree with what DukeBurge said:MIG - fastest process, more productionTIG - slowest process, more tedious, but far better looking if done rightStick - for a stronger (structural) weldExcept that MIG can still be used for a structural weld.  Well so can TIG, so can any welding process if it is done right.Everyone I see the do structural welding all use MIG machines with either solid mig wire, flux cored mig wire or metal cored mig wire.  Why? It's a **** load quicker.  Time is money and the biggest cost in welding is the labour not the cost of the welding wire or rods etc.  So if you can get an employee to weld faster for the same hour of time you become more efficient and also make more money etc etc.
Reply:What factors decide whether to use stick mig tig or other types of welding. - LandinBenk
Reply:For outdoor jobs (most of my on-site jobs are outdoors) on steel, I use stick or self shield fluxcore wire.  The wind likes to blow shielding gas away and in coastal California, it's usually breezy, so a flux process without gas is great for on-site work for me.For jobs in the shop, I don't like dealing with the smoke, slag cleaning (which gets all over the shop too), and spatter cleaning of a flux process, so I use primarily use mig or tig inside the shop, but I do use fluxcore wire on most jobs involving galvanized steel.  Fence, gates and outdoor railings I usually do in galvanized with fluxcore, but I prefer to take the projects out on the driveway rather than weld inside the garage and fill the place up with galvi and flux smoke.For anything with stainless, I use tig.  I have used stainless sticks for outdoor work, but it's very rare.  It's not cost effective for me to keep different sizes and alloys of stainless mig wire and tri-mix gas or different stainless fluxcore wires or sticks on-hand for the small amount of stainless welding I do.  With tig, I just grab the right filler rod and use the same argon I use for all tig welding and it's just more cost/time/space/hassle effective to use tig for stainless.  If I was doing alot of stainless, especially production of the same type, I would be doing less tig and more mig cause I could set the machine up for that particular job or type of job and get alot more done in less time.  If I had alot of outdoor on-site stainless to do that was conducive to using fluxcore wire, I would be looking at using that process.For aluminum, I use primarily tig, whether in the shop or on the road but I use mig too sometimes.  On one-shot repairs, I use mostly tig.  On fabrication, it depends on how much welding needs to be done, appearance considerations, thickness and what I happen to feel like using at the time.  It can go either way depending on the situation.  I used to work in an aluminum production shop and we used mig there, as it was far more cost/labor/time effective to mig what we were making than use tig.There are times when picking the welding process to use is more of a coin toss than anything else.  Sometimes, whatever I happen to feel like, is what I use, for no other good reason.  Same goes with cutting metal.  There are so many different ways to cut metal available to me, sometimes it's more of a difficulty just deciding what tool I want to use than to actually do the cutting!MM350P/Python/Q300MM175/Q300DialarcHFHTP MIG200PowCon300SMHypertherm380ThermalArc185Purox oaF350CrewCab4x4LoadNGo utilitybedBobcat250XMT304/Optima/SpoolmaticSuitcase12RC/Q300Suitcase8RC/Q400Passport/Q300Smith op
Reply:Originally Posted by LandinBenk....................What factors decide whether to use stick mig tig or other types of welding.is it like thickness, type of metal, angle of metal, Idkthanks-Landin
Reply:Originally Posted by DukeBurgerTIG is also best on thin materials
Reply:pretty sure every one above covered it.bassicly you use what you have available.you will generaly only find stick in the feild.  in a shop its just to slow.in our shop we use FCAW.  we have an old hobart stick machine in corner for anything you cant reach with the wire.  but generaly the stuff we build is nice and square.we dont do any light finiky stuff, so no tig machine.the aluminum shop i worked in though was all railings.  we welded moststuff with wire but the corner sleaves were to thin and done with tig.for a home user id imagine you just use what you have available.trick is get good at them all and then it doesnt matter
Reply:Originally Posted by LooseNutsyou will generaly only find stick in the feild.  in a shop its just to slow.in our shop we use FCAW.
Reply:sorry, i ment the bulk of the welding would be done with wire in a shop.  or at least the few i have worked at.there has been a stick machine in all the shops
Reply:sorry, i ment the bulk of the welding would be done with wire in a shop. or at least the few i have worked at.there has been a stick machine in all the shops Yup, that's about the story over here in Australia too.
Reply:Thank you guys for the help " Originally Posted by DukeBurgerMIG - fastest process, more productionTIG - slowest process, more tedious, but far better looking if done rightStick - for a stronger (structural) weldThere are more factors for each, but those seem to be the main reasons from what I've learnedI would also use Stick on any metal that is dirty, a bit rusty or painted (for cracks, repairs)
Reply:Originally Posted by LandinBenkThank you guys for the help "Sorry for another noob question just learning,But stick is more stuctural compared to mig? how though? Iunderstand the difference in machine and type of welding but why is stick stronger? if it is stronger.
Reply:So, If you cant afford a big mig machine, but you have an arc welder and stick welder, cheap 240v stick and 220v mig, and I want to get a stronger weld, would i choose stick???? idk if that makes sense to you just trying to grasp as much info as i can.Age:17Machine: Lincoln AC 225v Arc WelderMotive: TO learn everything i can about weldin
Reply:Originally Posted by LandinBenkSo, If you cant afford a big mig machine, but you have an arc welder and stick welder, cheap 240v stick and 220v mig, and I want to get a stronger weld, would i choose stick???? idk if that makes sense to you just trying to grasp as much info as i can.
Reply:Originally Posted by LandinBenk... I want to get a stronger weld, would i choose stick???? .
Reply:lets remember guys e70s-6 has the same tensile strength as 7018  70,000 psi.  The "stick is stronger" is untrue  Laying down a bead of exactly the same size, MIG, TIG, Or Stick with 70Ksi filler rod will get you a weld that from design purposes has exactly the same strength.  When we start talking about people too lazy to clean metal stick generally has more fluxing agents and will clean better than using tig rod, BUT 70,000 ksi filler is 70,000 pounds.Personally it's a mix up between convenience, what I have on hand and what will give me the highest chances of success. For example i can weld stainles steel with mig or stick but it will look much better (higher success) with TIG. Likewise for thin metal.  If I'm trying to do 1 inch plate it will be much more convenient and successful with stick.now as a welding engineer, when I go to pick a process. I'm looking for what is the most economical both in terms of pounds of metal deposited per hour, AND what is likely to give a lower defect rate. Sometimes a harder technique or process is faster, but if you keep on busting out on xrays it's not worth it. Also we consider the cost of consumables cost of welding prep and clean up.Finally there's plenty of technical and metallurgical considerations  where one process is better than the other, but those are too numerous to list. For example you won't see any wire fed processes on titanium usually because of the difficulty of maintaining the correct atmosphere. We weld all high tensile strength alloy steels with an EB welder because we can better control heat input characteristics.If it's dirty junk metal most people would goto stick firstif it's clean stainless or aluminum most people would jump to Tig firstif it's just normal mild steel most would jump to mig first.no one process is best.Welding EngineerCertified Scrap Producer
Reply:Thanks guys Age:17Machine: Lincoln AC 225v Arc WelderMotive: TO learn everything i can about weldin