Wire Feed and Warpage Trip Up Welders
12 posts across 2 communities in the last 30 days; 83% from r/Welding.
“Hi! This is probably my 4th time practicing FCAW welding, and im getting frustrated. What am I doing wrong? Is it "too cold" or "too hot"? Am I too fast or too slow? Does the angle i am holding the gun at matter? It sometimes feel like the wire bumps into something, when there…”
“I know I'm going to get hammered on for how poor these welds are, but I've never welded before in my life. I did test welds on some 11 gauge steel, which is the same thickness as the gauge of metal which I'm welding. This steel that I'm welding is rounded at the ends and running…”
“I'm learning how to do SMAW welding and i'm having trouble starting and maintaining the weld, because every time I try to start it, it sticks really hard to the metal and I can't pull away. I accidentally welded my stick to the plate today before getting the arcflash of…”
This cluster focuses on welding-specific issues, including electrode wear, wire feed problems, warpage control, and choosing appropriate equipment. Welders are seeking advice on sharpening techniques, troubleshooting adhesion problems, and selecting the right tools for their needs.
SOURCES (60)
“Hi all, hobbyist here! I posted a pic of some welds I did a few days ago and one piece of advice was to pre-heat my workpiece better. It's a metal grid of tube steel, ~20 lbs or so, I would guess. Mostly doing flat…”
“Hey guys I’ve been learning some tig stainless for a couple weeks now and just looking for some pointers / tips My foreman was suggesting I lay the wire and weave it and that’s been super fun to learn and obviously still working on my heat control lol I’ve only done mig before this and I’m a first year apprentice so any advice is appreciated! submitted by /u/KondyCa [link] [comments]”
“Keep moving all around when you’re welding. Don’t let heat build up in one area and don’t weld in a”line” from one side to the other. This will cause your small repair pieces to warp; making body work much more difficult ALSO, you could remove all rusted metal and GLUE the repair panel on, then do body work. This is only acceptable if it’s cosmetic sheet still which it looks to be. Welding Is stupid and messy. Avoid when possible. Also avoid people who weld when possible they are mostly insuffer”
“So this is two welds. But my guess is the only reason that they're this good is because I touched a hot electrode. This was my second attempt at this by the way, first time I did it I screwed up real bad. So any tips on how to keep my welds this nice? submitted by /u/Clean_Scallion6650 [link] [comments]”
“doing surface buildup on maybe 1/4" mild steel, .035 wire this is for a welding class, it took me a long time to get even here but i can tell theres still lots of room for improvement. i keep losing where im going because of how dark it is, but my lens is already on the lower side, shade 10 does it look like im whipping out too far? other than that the plate is pretty much flat, i know i probably need to overlap beads more though, couple slightly low spots submitted by /u/TmanGB”
“TLDR: material 50x50x5mm angle iron, with e71t-11 wire. How do my welds look, how do my tacs look, and what setting should i change? Thank you! (Last pic has welder) Hi all, (skip this paragraph if you don’t want to know) about a year ago i made a post here asking what welder i should get. I finally got an old ryobi decastar 135 miggy and my mate gave me an old flip down glass lid helmet. I’ve fiddled around a bit, and i fixed my fence for my mum, (after several holes blown through 1mm thick she”
“Still pretty new to welding, most of the stuff we do in my shop is aluminum but we also have some steel projects. I’ll take any tips/criticism you all have, thank you! Also I can’t show most of the aluminum work as they are pictures of molds I’m not allowed to share. submitted by /u/ContestHonest2773 [link] [comments]”
“Using a burn table to cut 2" A36 and I feel like I'm just throwing shit at the wall. The slag comes off easy enough so it's not a huge deal but it'd be nice to have minimal cleanup. I'm running a clean 2" tip at 15ipm. I was running a lighter flame at 10ipm earlier and it was a perfect cut with almost no slag to speak of but we have a lot of these and I'm trying to shave off a bit of time if I can. Any advice is appreciated submitted by /u/CybranNation [”
“Now i know what you mean. But i think the holes are small enough to get closed with thick primer. They are really small. Weld them is maybe a bigger rustproblem on the backside in the long run. Depending on its accessibility from the backside to put primer on.”
“I weld primarily stainless but we have a job in at the moment that is aluminium that I've been asked to do. Another welder set up the machine and apparently had it running flawlessly. Now I've come to use it and the arc really struggles to get going. Sometimes it tries 10+ times before actually striking, once it does it welds perfectly. Other times it arcs up first time. I've tried changing earth, swapped tungstens, checked gas, played a little with settings, wire bushed/acetoned wor”
“Believe it or not (you believe), but these are the 1st and 2nd welds of my life. Show of hands who’s impressed that I can drag a mig like 30mm with such results? Wait nah actually lemme make it easier, show of hands who’s not. All seriousness though… I told metal it’s glued to the other metal and it agreed, albeit with stipulations of hot penetration. Also couldn’t help but notice it’s something reminiscent of a bead rather than several holes like I’d expected Does anyone have any thoughts or ti”
“running 1/8 7080 rod at 115 A. Vertical weld submitted by /u/queerharveybabe [link] [comments]”
“(This is vertical up on FCAW, 265 wire speed with 24.5 V, .45" wire, 1/4" mild steel) To preface this, this is in a welding class and im aware weaves arent used much, but no matter what I do, the right side of the weld seems to just build up much faster than the left, im right handed if it matters. Are there visual cues I could be looking for to tell me when to move? Also any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I'm aware I have a long way to go submitted by  ”
“These are 2 plates I did today. I took some tips from some people yesterday and cleaned my material really well before I started welding. Did these fusion welds on 3/32 tungston. I think I did alright on the bottom one, but only part of thr top one looks decent to me. submitted by /u/Huge-Guarantee-1665 [link] [comments]”
“It’s all about finesse. You can use the welded studs gently, like a pick hammer, or you can over pull them and create a mess.”
“Hi! This is probably my 4th time practicing FCAW welding, and im getting frustrated. What am I doing wrong? Is it "too cold" or "too hot"? Am I too fast or too slow? Does the angle i am holding the gun at matter? It sometimes feel like the wire bumps into something, when there are nothing it could bump into, why is that? In this whole practice piece, I only see one or two line that I am satisfied with for now, and I dont understand what I did there, and didn't with the ot”
“Hi guys. I’m a new welder. Here I’m running dual shielded flux core .045 wire. My settings were like 26.5 and 357. I’m dragging from left to right. I’ve noticed on my stitch welds that where I start it either looks like this, with a void, or a big bulb. On the right side, where I ended my weld, it looks much better imo. Everyone here says that’s fine, just keep going. I don’t mind if it’s acceptable or not, I’d like to know how to make both ends look like the end on the right. We’re a small Menn”
“Edit - SOLVED Been welding for many years. Can’t for the life of me figure out why I’m getting this much porosity in these welds. Had a dedicated flux core welder for 6 yrs before it kicked the can. I like my Vulcan tig machine so figured I’d pick up a migmax 215. I’ve been doing everything I can to try to get these welds better but I can’t figure it out. Polarity is correct, stick out is around 5/8” away, I’m dragging not pushing, wire tension seems correct. Every time I get it a little better”
“I know I'm going to get hammered on for how poor these welds are, but I've never welded before in my life. I did test welds on some 11 gauge steel, which is the same thickness as the gauge of metal which I'm welding. This steel that I'm welding is rounded at the ends and running parallel to the ground. I can't seem to get a consistent bead anywhere. Maybe I'm not holding the welder in place long enough ? Some folks have advised in person not to weld in a spot too long, as”
“It took me a hour and a half to weld this 3” 90 It’s my first time welding for X-ray and I spent so much time cleaning and making sure there’s no slag inclusions or any imperfections. I really respect you guys welding for x-ray on the daily cause this stuff takes TIME For reference I’m a plumber and weld for mostly non inspected heating submitted by /u/KeemtheDream11 [link] [comments]”
“I'm learning how to do SMAW welding and i'm having trouble starting and maintaining the weld, because every time I try to start it, it sticks really hard to the metal and I can't pull away. I accidentally welded my stick to the plate today before getting the arcflash of lifetime. I'm using AC stick welding with an amperage of 100 amps. Also I am using E6013S submitted by /u/Sad_Intention6658 [link] [comments]”
“(Sorry if this is not the sub for this, and if the flair is worng!!) Hello! i am thinking about learning to weld. The problem is: i know nothing about it (even after trying to research) and i do not have any equipment. Id like to do this as a hobby, yk to fix or create stupid or actually usefull stuff, then maybe later get more serious about this. First of all: when i tried to learn more about this, i saw that sometimes its necessary to use some kind of gas. I would like to avoid using any. I be”
“I just got a new welder (CTM416 puls pro from stahlwerk) to get some experience on various welding types. I have been trying out MMA welding on some 3mm hot rolled steel plate. Went through about 3.5 rods so far moving the bead around, I'm welding standing and free handing so I struggle at keeping the weld straight. I was wondering if you had advice (especially for photo 3 and 5) to get less jumping of the electrode making the weld straighter? Apart from that how is it? What should I try to”
“Hi. I received my parts from SendCutSend and I don't want to eff them up too bad. What methods and sequence would you use here to minimize warping? The 90° angle is important to the design. It's 1/4" mild steel. I had the plate cut to assemble with full open corner joints as I hand drew in the sketch. (The original CAD drawing isn't accurate) I'm thinking I'll tack the two main plates together then tack and weld the gussets in place. Then fill in the corner at the two pl”
“Hi there, I am pretty new to aluminium and tig welding (hobby of mine, nothing professional), mostly did MIG before, and i try to build a little frame out of 15x12x1.5mm L-profiles. At the moment I already struggle at tack the profiles together and I am unsure what the reason is. So i am using the following setup: - Stahlwerk ac/dc wig 200 st digital - 100% argon, 10L/min - 2T mode with pedal - 0.5s pre flow, 6s post flow - 0s ramp time up and down - 30A hot start current (minimum) - peak curren”
“We’re putting these gussets onto 16” pipe, which are getting welded onto a plate of 5/8” It’s all going onto the outside of a ship to act as a spud to hold the ship in place. The ship will have some bent channel welded onto the hull to act as a stand off, and the spud is getting bolted onto the stand offs. Because everything is bolted up and tolerances are within 1/16” we need to make sure the plate stays nice and flat during weld out of the gussets. What would be the best procedure for that? Th”
“Anybody have any tips for pulse hard wire on 330? Shit is hot cracking before I finish my weld. 1/4 inch weld on 3/8 fillet. submitted by /u/ChildrensCrusade [link] [comments]”
“I have been attending a night course. Been doing mild and stainless up to this point. This is my first time on Aluminum. I like it, though am having trouble tacking. submitted by /u/Redux_1989 [link] [comments]”
“I feel like my first weld was pretty decent (for a first weld at least) although a bit wonky. After that it looks like i had a lobotomy and i even missed the line at some point. The hardest parts were keeping the electrode at the right angle, not leaving too big of a gap as the electrode melted, actually starting the weld/arc or whatever and not going too fast (which i did. A lot). This is all homemade stuff with very rough guidance from my older brother. I basically just got a few tips and was”
“Second day of mig welding using a lincoln electric weldpak 140 , .030 solid wire, is my feed speed too fast ? it didnt sound like a machine gun though it looks overly round but im new to this so idontknow submitted by /u/OnymousAkio [link] [comments]”
“Been teaching myself to weld using online resources and a bunch of under-the-hood practice for the last two weeks or so. Have only been using flux core 0.035 wire so far on 3/16 steel. I've finally gotten comfortable with my fillet t-joint welds (not the prettiest, but leaps and bounds better than when I started). Decided to try a couple of lap joints today, and holy hell. Im not sure what's happening, using the same settings as my t-joint welds (20v/240ipm) and trying to keep a 45 degre”
Welding is hard y'all. submitted by /u/Zzzariskka [link] [comments]
“Hi there, I'm trying to tig braze this piece of bronze to a 4130 tube, 1,5mm wall thickness As you can see it's not going well, I cannot get my filler (1,2 mm CuSi3) to wet in the groove, it looks like it doesn't stick to the bronze. I'm at 40amp approximately, higher it starts to melt the tube (2nd pic) I cleaned everything with ipa and chamfered the tube/bronze cap Appreciate your advice ! submitted by /u/Jeanne-Kastex [link] [comments]”
“So I've got some small holes to patch up on my fiesta. I'm opting to weld them myself, but I'm possibly overthinking the process. I was planning on wire wheel removing as much as possible before assessing what needs to be cut. I'll be stitch mig welding the new panel in. Should I apply hydrate 80 and then spray over with some upol zinc spray or forget the hydrate 80 as a whole? Where would the tiger seal come into play? I haven't collected yet so does it go over bare metal or”
“Bought a cheap welder and welded in a new rear arch that was rusted, i think i did ok, its not perfect at all but for a first time using a welder and filler, i could have done a bit more sanding and smoothing the filler but car needed to be done for a show lol submitted by /u/UnderstandingOpen33 [link] [comments]”
“I'm welding in a 2x2 square tube to bridge both sides as the old one is toast. But I'm burning through and I'm very much an amateur. The black 2x2 is galvanized steel from a good boat trailer and I know the dangers of the fumes , I have all the protection (gloves, apron, helmet, respirator etc). I have a tombstone Lincoln AC/DC arc welder, I started on D+ at 95 amps with 1/8" 6011. I properly cleaned it prior, I think it's just my settings and technique that sucks 😂. Please”
“Decided I would learn to tig and started practicing. I think I have Ali down pretty good for just starting out, could probably use with being a bit hotter for the 3mm I was welding to get full penetration? But stainless I just can't get right. Maybe I'm expecting too much like a nice fancy exhaust weld, but it just doesn't look very good. Any tips? I'm welding the stainless at 45a, it's 1.2mm thick, I'd say my wire is about 0.7mm and I also tried 1mm wire. Going to try a”
“I checked my regulator, all hose fittings, torch head o ring, no leaks at all. Im on mild steel. But my dry runs, as I get warmed up, look like this AS I weld slow and fast. And when amps are higher it turns dark blue the moment I cut the arc even when I STAY there holding my torch for the past flow. When i add filler, soot appears around the edges or on the weld. My filler and metal is cleaned with acetone and millscale grinded away and tungsten had been replaced with a new one. Im practicing o”
“Just want some input to my approach, the metal around the hole now is atleast solid but rusty, but I’m thinking that I will cut out a good piece around the hole and lap weld a new piece from the outside. Zinc coating, seam sealer then undercoating? submitted by /u/PajalaSunrise [link] [comments]”
“When I weld long pieces together they always bend. The advice is to do small sections at a time. But also I see people here going for long continuous welds, even wrapping the corner for max strength. Which is it? How much effort do you put into making your pieces not bend? submitted by /u/likewut [link] [comments]”
“I’ve been revisiting my welding quality because I want to lol. Got some MIG mild steel here, about 5/8 of an inch. (Tried a couple of different movements, as well as pulse vs short circuit.) Any suggestions on how I can improve? Personally I think I need to work on the toes of the welds. How can I make these look better? Gas was a tri mix, mostly argon. (I forget exactly the split.) Image 1 and 2 is short circuit, image 3 and 4 is pulse. submitted by /u/statebirdsnest [link] [c”
“Welding for long time, in all positions but always thought i got "wooden hands" for smaller details, this thing at first was very tricky for me to do without stopping at least one time. It got so much easier with one hand and using the second only when needed submitted by /u/Ywaldinho [link] [comments]”
“Picture mostly for interest, my main problem is having 20 foot tabletop that i have to turn over especially stainless when welding them together. How would the brilliant r/welding deal with this? submitted by /u/psychedelicdonky [link] [comments]”
“i'm at tulsa welding school. i've gone back and forth with the wire speed, voltage, gas output, gas nozzle, wire spool, completely ground the metal to shiny before starting, and more or less messed around with and tested every other setting/circumstance available. still nothing fixes it. my instructor and a few others haven't been able to fix anything either. going to another booth isn't an option because they also have the same problem. i'm starting to have a failing grade b”
“I’ve welded pipe a few times before but it’s been a bit. looking at doing a project involving some 3” sch 40 carbon steel butt weld joints. it’s not inspected or code welding, just water. a couple questions though… 6010 vs 6011 root? right now have an inverter machine that wont really burn 6010. Does 6011 have major disadvantages compared to 6010? Could also just use it as an excuse to buy a 6010 capable machine… Root, hot pass, then for the cap, weave or a couple stingers? submitted by &#”
“I'm just getting into welding and my parents asked me to reassemble a metal sculpture that's been living outside since the 60s. It was made by an art student, so the welds are not great to begin with, so I figured I probably couldn't make it much worse. While it might not look clean, this is several months worth of stripping and sanding. Anyway, despite being able to make decent beads on 1/4" steel, when I try to tack this back together (obviously much thinner) I just blow holes”
“Im having issues with my 7018 welds not fusing to the base metal. Root is 6010 at 75, running stringers with 7018 1/8 at 125 for fill and cap. The plates look clean and the root bends fine, but the face weld separates from the base metal when bent. How can i make sure i stop getting cold lap? I think im running too fast and just sitting the weld on top so im gonna try and do a little weave when i do the fill passes to try and put more heat into it. Does that sound right? Has anyone had this issu”
“I was doing dome stick welding putting a cut chain link to hold some string lights and it was such a pain in the ass trying to do anything "precise" with the fat fingers of the glove. Can I wear normal leather gloves? If not, are there any welding gloves that are thinner or less bulky? My main concern isn't getting burnt, moreso the protection from future skin cancer (though I'm pretty sure those are synonymous). Any suggestions or do I just need to suck it up? submitted”
“noob here, can anyone explain why every time I press the trigger wire keeps coming through the tip? Couldn't post a vid. submitted by /u/Ok-Ad6623 [link] [comments]”
“Welding cargo trailer 5x10. Rotten at the back. I have never welded or fabricated anything like this. In my head I will cut 2x3x1/8 metal tubing to replace the rotten piece I cut off. I was just going to weld the new piece to the remaining tubing and then run a bead to weld the left over angle iron to the new piece I put in. I will have to do this to both side of the trailer. The. I want to run a new metal tubing across the back of the trailer about 5 feet long and I will have to attach it to th”
“Always wanted to learn how to weld and bought myself a welder for my 50th. These are my first 3 attempts ever in order from bottom to top. 1/8" mild steel with Harbor Freight Titanium 125 with settings suggested on the welder. Obviously, this is going to require a ton of practice, but which was the closest to correct? The middle one seemed most consistent, but I think it went too deep. On the top and bottom welds I ended up with way too much wire out when I stopped. It was hard to focus on”
“Fresh out of welding school, wasn’t a bad experience but there was definitely a lot about in the field work that I probably didn’t get the most knowledge on such as recognizing puddles, managing welding larger gaps, heat working metal to fill gaps etc. I can upload pics of my welds for anyone interested advice would be cool thanks So leave down below tips and tricks you’ve learned in your area of work that has helped you doesn’t matter what you’re working on submitted by /u/Maleficen”
“Day 1 of teaching myself stick welding, I can run a decent enough bead on flat metal but my joints are disgusting, how can I clean them up? submitted by /u/Pocket-Cryptid [link] [comments]”
“I'm brand new to welding and have a cheap 165a 110v welder that I have managed to do flux-core MIG welding with steel parts just fine, but aluminum is giving me issues. It looks like its welding, and it sticks just slightly, but any force and the weld breaks apart. I tried increasing power but then I melt the aluminum and still nothing sticks strong. I cleaned the aluminum prior with a wire brush grinder wheel. What am I doing wrong? Any advice for a novice hobby welder would be appreciated!”
“The more we looked, the worse it got. It wasn't square One side was 1/4" shorter in length than the other Hole centers didn't match up The welds were spotty in other places, but not this bad Stitch welds weren't even Those are just what we saw after about 5 minutes of looking. I don't know what else we're going to find. submitted by /u/Wargaming_Super_Noob [link] [comments]”
“Currently planning on building this f150 I just picked up into a mobile motorsports fabrication rig as renting a shop is unfeasible near me. I’m planning on doing mobile service rollcages and exhaust where I can drive to peoples shops or garages and build it there. I’ve developed a list of everything I need and am wondering how should I organize everything into the bed? I plan on bolting down my tube bender and notcher to the tailgate but outside of that I want general easy access to stuff like”