Making mistakes is a part of life, but at some point and time you learn there are mistakes that should never be made. For welders, some mistakes can lead to disaster. Welding mistakes are on display nearly every week in the “Welding Gone Wrong” section of our Weekly Roundups. To help you avoid experiencing welding gone wrong, here are 10 welding mistakes you never want to make.
10 Welding Mistakes You Never Want to Make
10. Wearing the wrong type of safety equipment. . .
. . . or, even worse, not wearing any safety equipment at all. There are many resources to help you figure out what type of helmet, gloves, etc. that you should wear while working with certain types of welders. You can check out previous blog posts for some information on understanding and finding the best safety equipment, like this one.
9. Not cleaning your materials
Every book, article, blog post – whatever the source – will tell you that you must clean weld surfaces before you begin working on them. This is mistake that is more common among new welders. Working with dirty weld surfaces leads to bad welds and other problems that can easily be avoided by cleaning your material.
8. Buying the wrong welder
We all want to save money, but skimping on the type of welder you purchase doesn’t help you out in the long run. Cheaper welders are not meant to handle tough weld jobs. Know beforehand what sort of weld projects you’re going to work on most often and pick a welder that is up to the task. Once you have a firm idea of what type of welder you need, let Bakers Gas help you with your purchase. We have welders of many brands, type, and for every budget.
7. Not maintaining your welding equipment
Welding equipment can last for years if it’s properly maintained before and after use. Wire feeder parts (contact tips, liners, etc) will need to be changed once their time is up, but you can refurbish those parts until then. Find out how to use and maintain welding equipment to stretch your money further.
6. Having incorrect settings on your welder
Having too high voltage settings or too low voltage settings can lead to disastrous results with your welds. Most often, your materials won’t weld together properly or your welds will look sloppy.
5. Not keeping control of travel speed
Travel speed is how slow or fast your hand moves as you weld. Moving too fast or not fast enough results in ugly and improper welds.
4. Lacking knowledge of the base metal you’re working on
Knowing the specifics of the base metal you’re dealing with makes it easier for you to:
- understand the machining capability of the metal
- understand how the weld will affect the base metal
- determine if your base metal needs preheating or post-heating
3. Selecting the wrong gas
As tempting as it is to purchase the cheapest gas available, you get better results with mixed gas. Plus, wrong gas selection poorly effects your welding results.
2. Striking the arc incorrectly
Whether this is just for your own projects or for a welding certification test, you must understand how to properly strike the arc. The arc should be stroked on the exact spot that you will begin the weld or exactly in the crater of a bead that has already been created.
1. NOT RELAXING!
Approaching welding with a tense hand will get you nowhere. You should be focused on your task but keep your hand relaxed. You have better control over the weld pool with a relaxed hand than with a tense one. A good weld depends on many factors, and a relaxed (yet focused) hand is one of them.
How many of these mistakes have you made? What other mistakes are there that welders should look out for?