Welding for Beginners in Fabrication by Jason Heard

Author:Jason Heard [Heard, Jason]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2013-12-17T16:00:00+00:00

The second kind of hand control is one that has the thumb controls built into the torch like the picture below. They are expensive but arewell worth the extra money if you are serious about using a hand control. This torch combined with a button cap will provide a great setup that can be used in very tight situations like tube chassis welding.

Even with all the advancements in the controls that can be used with TIG machines, I prefer the standard corded foot pedal. They are reliable, easy to use, and are still used by countless top industry fabricators.

MIG welding Wire – With all the know-it-alls in the off-road industry, it's easy to get confused about what welding filler to use and for what. Keeping with the “Cut the Crap” theme, I will make this very simple for you.

ER70s-6 : This welding wire can be found in all sizes / spool diameters and is the most economical of the welding wires. Be sure you get the “-6” filler; the others are not going to be optimal for what you will be welding in off-road fabrication. This is a good wire, but not great.

ER80s-D2 : The optimal wire for everything off-road. Very few utilize this wire, but it’s quality is better than the ER70s-6 and can be found everywhere for only a small amount more than the above.

Stainless Steel : This is a little tricky. The welding wire will reflect the base material you are welding; for this you need to contact your welding store to be sure you get the proper stainless wire for the stainless base material. An example of this is 304L base requires 308L.

Chromo : Rarely found in wire, this is one I do not recommend you buy or use. It requires certain treating and preheating processes, and for just about 99% of off-road fabrication it’s not needed. For a beginner, I suggest staying away from this material as filler.

TIG welding ROD – Even more than MIG wire, the TIG rod selection is confusing. There is an abundance of misinformation regarding TIG rod usage and strengths. The main misconception is that utilizing certain rods will increase the strength of the structure. Typically, this is NOT the case.

Some rods will increase the strength of the weld, but only the weld. This is mainly true for Chromo welding. Chromo is only going to be so strong and is very susceptible to being affected negatively by the welding heat. Typically, Chromo will break right at the edges of the HAZ area of the weld. The HAZ area is the “Heat Affected Zone” of the weld and is technically the most brittle area of the work piece, unless properly heat-treated post welding. What this means is that some welding filler will not provide any more strength than others in some situations.

ER70s-6 : This welding rod can be found in all sizes and is the most economical of the welding rods. Be sure you get the -6 filler. The others are not going to be optimal for what you will be welding in off-road fabrication.

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