First attempt on MIG

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The I am not sure if the material I am welding on is a good, clean surface, so I can't completely rule that out, but think it's just mostly my lack of experience. I am using Lincoln's innershield wire and plan on using that for a little until I learn a little more. This week I am going to try to get a nice piece of sheet metal to practice on, but for now, this is all I have to work with. One of my issues is that, I understand that I should be learning to push as a beginner so when I am using gas, it helps shield the weld better. I am noticing that I can't see my puddle when i do this. It's easy to see when I drag. Lastly, I am able to see the heat lines and when I flip the piece over, I can tell which ones are getting the right amount of penetration. However, I wish I could look at the weld itself and know what I am doing wrong so I can improve on it, rather than having a high likelihood of making it worse. I am tell when it's feeding wire too fast because the wire poke in to the metal and doesn't melt consistently. Lincoln Dual 180 Power MIG
Reply:Nothing wrong with drag, it actually gives more penetration.
Reply:Originally Posted by iongarNothing wrong with drag, it actually gives more penetration.
Reply:Going with gasless, you really need to drag it. What was your wire stick out? Watch your puddle and keep it a consistent size. If it gets bigger, move a little quicker. If it gets smaller, move a little slower. I'm assuming its .035 wire, so the puddle should be about 1/4" across.Teach Ag Mech - Mike At Home:Lincoln Electric AC225Miller Challenger 172Gas AxeWork:eclectic bunch of 90's vintage blue boxes
Reply:Originally Posted by teachagmechGoing with gasless, you really need to drag it. What was your wire stick out? Watch your puddle and keep it a consistent size. If it gets bigger, move a little quicker. If it gets smaller, move a little slower. I'm assuming its .035 wire, so the puddle should be about 1/4" across.
Reply:The old adage is "If there is slag, you drag", That applies to mig as well as stick. You would want to push with solid wire and gas, though in some circumstances you can also drag solid wire. The reason you drag with flux type products like FC wire or stick is so you don't force the puddle over the slag that is developing in front of the puddle and end up with slag inclusions. By dragging, the arc force pushes the slag back away from the puddle.Heat lines really don't tell you much of anything about penetration. I can make big heat lines on the back of a piece of metal with a torch, and weld nothing. All it tells you is the back got hot, and this changes even if you are set up to weld exactly the same way, as the piece heats up. As far as welding on a good clean surface, no you aren't. Looks like primer to me from that picture. While there are some weld thru primers, they are intended to be used where you are welding with a machine big enough to burn off the paint. Your Lincoln 179 isn't big enough to do this well. For prep, you really need to grind the surface down with either a grinding disk or sanding pad to bright shiny silver steel. A wire brush won't cut it. All it does most times is polish scale and rust and often smears paint rather than remove it. Wire wheels are fine for preliminary removal of heavy contaminants like rust and paint, but you still need to sand or grind afterwards. A wire wheel is ideal however for removing slag from welds quickly,It's hard to see much detail in that picture.  Good close up picts can help as well as overall picts when critiquing welds. It looks like you are going too fast as well as pushing when you should be dragging. Also you will want to work on longer beads. It's not hard to do little 3" beads, it gets a lot harder to do 6" ones. I see a lot of guys at the night school who want to "cheat" and weld the 3" direction on our 3x6" coupons. That's so they don't have to change their hand position and can just roll their hand vs learning to move and shift their body.Also it helps if we know all the information up front when you ask for help. Machine used ( may or may not be the one in your sig for all we know), machine settings, wire size and type, material thickness ( and type if it's something other than steel), position welded ( if it's other than flat), gas used and flow setting, just to name a few. The more we know, the less we have to guess, and the better your replies will be..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Originally Posted by TroponinWire stick out was really short. Not more than a 1/4 inch, I believe. I am trying to hold it as close as possible without actually letting it touch the surface or the puddle.
Reply:Great info, thanks folks. I watched the vid as well and was very helpful. Most of the guys I have talked to about welding rarely use FC so I must have been getting a lot of my info for gas.Lincoln Dual 180 Power MIG