How to use an electric welder

How to use an electric welder

The electric welder is one of the best choices for your first welder, it is the most versatile welder. It is also the simplest one to setup and use.

Okay, it is true, that MIG welding is faster, cleaner and easier to use. Yet, a MIG welding machine are lot more complicated to setup,  and the cost is typically higher.

Requirements:

• Welding gloves, regular gloves will not work, they need to be thick and fire resistant. Oh and make sure you do not take them off simply because it is easier to move your metal piece without them. Trust me, the burns from holding the metals bare handed when hot are not pretty.
• Welding Mask or Welding goggles, make sure you adjust your light sensitivity
• Electric welder
• Sand Paper/Grinder, this is highly recommended for a cleaner weld, but still optional
• Cutting pliers, to cut the wire when needed. Ideally, the dual function pliers that also work to hold onto things. When you get too close with your gun it may get clogged. The wire will build up inside, so when you remove the ball at the tip, the extra wire will poke out, cut it before continuing. Likewise, when you are too far away with your gun, you will not have a good connection and you will get sparks rather than the wire melting, this will leave you with a longer wire sticking out. Make sure you cut it to approximately 2 inches before continuing.

What is an electric welder?

The way it heats up the metal is by using an electric arc.

The wire being fed is an electrode lead, which is covered in flux

An electric arc is basically done by passing a current to your object as a negative, and your wire is the positive. When these two get close they create a strong electric field, which then ionizes the gas(air) in between. On top of that since your feeding wire is covered with flux, it actually melts away when it gets close enough.

An electric welder is the level up version of stick welding, which requires you to use a torch pointing at the working area with one hand and the other a wire which you manually need to move around simultaneously with your torch.

How to set up your machine

Connecting everything properly, your electric welder will have three wire which will need to be connected. These are: Power Cord, Wire Feed, Contact Wire.

       STEP 1:

       Connect our contact wire, pass the wire with the circle loop end in the adequate hole. Unscrew the nut,         and insert your circle loop, and tighten the nut back. Put down the other end on the floor or on anything         that is not metal for now.

       STEP 2:

       Connect your power cord until the end. It can be powered using a standard 12v outlet connect or a 24v         connection. The 24v connection, will result in cleaner welds, but due to availability, you will be mainly             using the 12v connection.

      STEP3:

      Let us get our wire fed through the welder. To do this, we will need to first determine the thickness of our        wire. The number would be displayed in the back of your wire roll

      Now you select the appropriate metal feeding wheel in accordance to your wire size

      Feeding your wire, pass the wire through the metal wheel and insert it into the feeding chamber. Make            sure to put inside at least 2 inches in so that the welder has enough friction to pass it through. Now turn          on the welder, set to a low speed approximately 3, and press the trigger to let it run through. It is                    recommended to take off the outer tip shield to allow the wire to pass freely.

Configure your welder for each project

It is necessary to change the settings when working with different thickness of metals, under your side panel there will be a diagram explaining what letter your electric welder should be set to, based on the thickness of your wire and the thickness of the metal you are working on

Measure thickness of metal using a tape measure or preferably with a caliper if it is physically capable of measuring it

Practice before applying

It is recommended to use Metal slabs to practice your lines, this will ensure you make cleaner welds.

There are various techniques, but the most common is arc welding

The motion you need is look like that of U’s on top of one another, this is done by doing a side to side motion while going towards the direction of the necessary weld

Your wire tip should be about 2 inches away from the metal, this is dependent on the power setting of your machine. Technically, higher power will allow you to have your tip a bit further and vise versa, lower power = the closer. 

Keeping it at the 2 inches distance allows you to use the full range of power of your welder properly. You should only increase this distance if there are physical obstacles preventing you from getting close

Preparing the object your working on

     STEP 1:

     Make sure to sand/grind/clean the area your working on, we want to remove any rust or grease which          may prevent our contact wire from making a good connection. You also will want to clean the area                 where you will be welding to ensure a good connection. If you were to leave one of these out, it would be       the area being welded. It is more important for your contact wire to connect.

     STEP 2:

     Make sure you have a good connection with your alligator clamp for your contact connection. Note: you         can also replace your alligator clamp with a magnet connection. It would be easier and faster to connect.

     STEP 3:

     Mark down your measurement, read down below in the section “Distribution of heat”. Make sure you               have everything leveled properly, use a helping hand to secure everything in place.

     STEP 4:

     This step is optional, but it is what separates rookies from professionals. Once you have everything in            place, weld on some tic tacs. These are small little balls of welds, weld them where you will be welding,         this will allow you to work without worrying about it moving. Multiple tic tacs can withstand hammering,           but are very easy to remove individually.

Distribution of heat

While we may be tempted to just weld across, this is something you must never do. When heat is applied to metal, it expands, and compresses when colder temperature is applied.

This means that if you apply heat without stopping, you will warp your metal and your measurement will no longer be even. It may not be noticeable at first, but with the more welds necessary, the bigger the compound effect will have.

To combat this, we will weld by sections. Always work by 4 inch strips and move on to another area and weld another 4 inches. 

Ideally, you will start with the corners of the piece you are working on, then move to the middle point of the two. Then the half point between the middle and each of the two corners.

Objective, what is it you want to see?

You want to see nice arc lines, U’s evenly placed on top of one another. All of which have about the same width.

Your weld should be submerged a bit, and not be bulky

While welding, you want to see a nice red glow, and hear a constant sizzling sound, like that of eggs frying.

Consider getting an oxygen tank

When you add on the oxygen tank, it feels like your welder has more power.

This is due to you having a better connection to the metal.

This will give you cleaner welds, and will feel a lot easier. You will experience nearly no sparks deflecting