Free Welding Tips and Tricks!

good weld fusion

Below are some simple welding tips that will help you make better welds every time, guaranteed. I call them the 14 Steps...

But first, what is a good weld? Many would say that if you get good fusion and penetration it should be good enough. Others say that it has to look good as well.

It is the desire of most welders to do an efficient welding procedure in a timely manner and do it with as few problems as possible. Problematic welds need to be fixed.

Some of the common problems you'll run across are poor penetration of your weld, weak or brittle welds, undercutting, poor weld fusion, and more.

These welding difficulties cross over from gas welding to metal arc welding. In other words, the same problems occur in oxy gas welding as in metal arc welding.

The good news is that you can achieve a good quality weld, maybe even the perfect weld, more often than not if you follow some simple rules of thumb.

Do You Want Our Free Welding Tips and Tricks Sent To Your Email Every Few Days? You'll Get Tips On:

  • Tig Welding
  • Mig Welding
  • Arc Welding
  • Aluminum Welding
  • Pipe Welding
  • And more!

Even if you are a veteran welder our welding tips and tricks mini guide will help you improve your welds. One tip might be basic, but then again another tip or metalworking trick might help you. It's free, and there is no obligation to buy anything, and you can unsubscribe at anytime.

We'll even send a review, and other welding and metalworking articles your way as well. Sign up now...

Please note that all fields followed by an asterisk must be filled in.

Please enter the word that you see below.

  

Don't worry, your information is kept confidential and we don't share or sell any information with third parties. You'll just get information from us!

14 Steps To A Quality Weld!

  1. Don't buy the cheap welders, welding rods, and welding tools. You can get away with some of the cheap stuff like at Harbor Freight, but only select few items.
  2. Understand the type of metal you are welding. If you don't you will not weld it properly. Are you welding a low alloy steel, a high alloy? What type of Aluminum are you welding? Know this.
  3. Now that you understand the material you are welding you must choose the right welding process to achieve the best quality weld on the metal.
  4. Choose the right electrode for the welding project.
  5. Do you need to pre-heat? If so be sure that you have the correct temperature to pre-heat the material. If your metal is below 32 degrees Fahrenheit you should not weld it unless you pre-heat it.
  6. If there is any cleaning needing to be done do it well. Make sure the material is free of any material that will cause your welding to be contaminated. That means removing moisture, paint, oil, slag, etc.
  7. After each weld bead eliminate that slag prior to another weld.
  8. Check to be sure there are no cracks or welds that have defects like porosity of the weld, and poor tack welds. If there are any tack welds that are weak then get rid of them.
  9. Get good fusion at the root of your weld for groove and fillet welds.
  10. If you notice that a gap is to large for a groove weld root then a good welding technique is to do a build up on a single side of your joint prior to welding it.
  11. If you find that a root gap of a fillet weld is large then make the fillet weld size the same as the root weld gap in order to achieve the proper strength for the joint. Sometime you can do a groove weld so that you don't have to worry about making an excessive fillet weld.
  12. Take a close look at your welds when you are done and if you see any bad welds you should have them take off and re-done.
  13. If the size of your welds meets the requirements set forth on a set of plans then you have nearly accomplished your work. However, some welders like to make their welds just a bit larger than what is required in order to be doubly sure their work is of the utmost quality.
  14. And finally, if your weld is a nice and smooth in appearance and any undercutting or overlapping has been fixed, you have completed your job properly.

Have A Welding Tip You Want To Share?

Do you have a welding tip to help a fellow welder out with?

[ ? ]

Upload 1-4 Pictures or Graphics (optional)[ ? ]

 

Click here to upload more images (optional)

Author Information (optional)

To receive credit as the author, enter your information below.

(first or full name)

(e.g., City, State, Country)

Submit Your Contribution

  •  submission guidelines.


(You can preview and edit on the next page)

What Other Welders Have Said

Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...

Remember To Breathe When You Tig Weld 
Tig welding is an art! It's been 5 years now and I have been away from this site. It’s nice to be back reading how everyone is doing and so much has …

Click here to write your own.

Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.
data-ad-format="horizontal">