You said that with the mig, that I place the wire on the spot that I want to weld before pulling the trigger. I was always under the assumption that there is a small distance between the wire and the target when you pull the trigger. So you are saying it will fire up with the wire resting on the metal you want to weld????
Assuming the Hobart is a "cold" gun (no electricity to the wire until you pull the trigger), start off by touching the wire to the work, then backing off about 1/8" (this is where the autodarkening helmet is your friend). Stinger is at an angle to the work (in both axis), so you should be able to see the wire vs. the work clearly.
As far as buying a helmet - go to a legitimate welding shop. This isn't a purchase IMHO for Harbor Freight.
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Jeff
06 F350 4x4 SCrew
94 Jeep YJ (confused, partly Ford, Chevy, I-H and Dodge)
02 Boxster S
Another suggestion on welding sheet metal, use .23 wire rather than .30. It will be easier to lay smaller wire. On sheetmetal, you never want to lay a bead longer then 3/8" at a time. htis will mimimize the warping. Also, move around the panel, do not weld end to end as suggested on the thicker material. you will burn through.
I am self taught on the mig welder and I can lay some nice beads. But I learned in shop class at school (20 years ago) with a stick welder so I had a clue as to what I was looking and listenening for while welding.
Everyone else is correct though, practice is key. The suggestion about the community college is a good one, I'm even contemplating it myself.
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Rosati
64 F100 with a few upgrades.
everybody here has made some solid suggestions....all I can suggest is to go out and pick up a bunch of scrap metal, grab your hood, a good pair of gloves, your new best friend (the welder) and start practicing....the auto darkening hoods are nice, but I actually prefer a regular hood with a nice big lense (easier to see with for me). I also tend to use a lighter shade when mig welding as opposed to arc welding.......and one more thing....if you have any exposed skin while welding, USE SUNSCREEN
I don't have an autodarkening helmet but I found that if I open up the garage door and work in direct sunlight I can see well enough to get started. When it's cloudy I shine a halogen shoplight on the work from a few feet away and it provides just enough light to get started. You might have to wait a few seconds for your eyes to adjust but it works.
I'm not sure how much this applys to mig welding, so maybe one of you experienced MIG guys could verify this. But with stick welding I've followed this advice with great sucess:
When welding thin material, slant the work about 30 degrees and weld downhill. It welds cooler this way because there is less penetration. The opposite is true, welding uphill penetrates more and is more likely to burn through thin material.
The basics for Mig & stick are the same. If you can stick weld, Mig will come very easy to you. I use both "push" and "pull" in Mig depending on what I'm welding. As they said before, start with heavier steel untill you get the feel then go to lighter steel. When you get a good feel try Aluminum - talk about having to move fast. Keep practicing you will get the feel of it, It's just like swimming you can read all the books but untill you get wet... Greg
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