Beginner mig questions

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I'm really going to show my ignorance .But here goes:   * 1 Where do you position your head and how close to the work (your head) do you get when you are welding. Are you to the side or directly behind?   *2 What am I actually looking at? The puddle,or the nozzle or at the line your trying to follow?   *3 Should you feel the wire or not if you are welding correctly?    *4 How far away do you hold the nozzle while  welding?    Thanks,steve
Reply:Originally Posted by scholl24I'm really going to show my ignorance .But here goes:   * 1 Where do you position your head and how close to the work (your head) do you get when you are welding. Are you to the side or directly behind?   *2 What am I actually looking at? The puddle,or the nozzle or at the line your trying to follow?   *3 Should you feel the wire or not if you are welding correctly?    *4 How far away do you hold the nozzle while  welding?    Thanks,steve
Reply:I'm really going to show my ignorance
Reply:That really helps alot guys, thanks.  I didn't want to  waste my time practicing wrong, developing bad habits.
Reply:scholl,As you get more comfortable with machine and technique you're going to be moving your eyes around a lot. About like driving I guess. You'll want to see that zone where the slag comes out of the puddle, the point where wire meets metal, and the puddle shape and size and where you want to go. Don't ever really focus on the arc itself, look at the results, mentally tune the arc out. 1/8th stick out seems a little close. I get to doing that too because I like the sound better but the next thing ya know I'm dipping the tip. Run about 1/4" plus stick out.
Reply:Just to put in my two cents.  First off, when I was a pup former ship fitter I worked with taught me a lot. He was honery as hell but taught me a lot.  He used to get on my case a lot because Hed say get in a position where you can see your puddle.  I think he used a slight differnt vonacular, and often I think even used the term arc, but his intention was to say puddle.  Anyway, the reality of it is that you always want to get into a posiition, dont matter how, but so you can see your puddle.  Sometimes you do run welds that you actually just can't see the puddle.  Thats mostly with wire, but it can happen even with a stinger.  Dont fuss, but its soemthing that you arent suppose to do.  I find myself moving my head around atimes quite a bit inorder to find the right view in my hood.  generally speaking its best to keep the gun in as close to your work piece as possible.  This can vary based on joint design as to how close you can be.  Also, you are limited by whether you can see your puddle.  Seeing your puddle  is critical to making a good puddle, among other things.  If your gun is vibrating from fast wire, or other problems, this is wrong.  Either your wire is too fast, or in some cases Ive have bent liners from people running the whip over with a forktruck.  Big pain in the tail.  But more crucial to your question, anytime the gun is doing something that would cause you an unsteady hand,  somthing aint right.  good luckchris
Reply:More good stuff ,thanks again! I'll try the slower wire speed and zone in on the puddle ....SteveHappy 4th,and a special thanks to all our vets.
Reply:(scholl24) For #4 try this....get what you think is good puddle going and start pulling the cup away from the base metal, see how far you can keep the arc going without losing uniform, you should be able to have a good 1-1/2" of wire showing and still have control.  And Thanks for Thinking about our Troops....God Bless our Men and Woman That keep us Free and Safe.
Reply:I second that my friends.  My brother is fulltime Air Force and my crazy cajun cousin is serving in Iraq right now with the Louisiana National Guard.  God Bless our troops!Good luckCHRIS
Reply:I never really thought about it till you asked, I guess I look at the puddle. But one thing I do for fun is Google "welding" on the web and save pics of welds to my hard drive. And i think all will agree that a good weld is a beautiful thing. So until mine look like those I practice, practice, practice and I admit if is fun work. I even look at them foir a bit of inspiration. Sorry but I don't really have a answer but I agree it's like driving, until you do it for a while you don't know how much you DIDN'T know.
Reply:sometimes I like looking at other's welds and see how proud they are for me to say,  ha i make better welds than that lol.  I guess ima  little competive or something.  My wife hates that.  oh well I guess CHRIS