Is MIG welding the easiest to learn?

JeffNLA

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Glue gun of welding? I've been welding for 46 years. Mig, stick,Tig, Submerge, Gas. Everything is determined by your welding amps, material,gas, wire, filler rod, welding rod, conditions, For instance Caterpillars can be big huge monster machines. I've been to the factory they use mig welders, Wire and gas, NOT flux core!. The penetration of the weld depends on the size of out put of welder, material, size of wire, and gas.I've got a mig welder that can not weld 1/2" thick steel because it's too busy blowing holes in it because it's too hot. Gas is used to keep oxygen away from the weld until it cools enough. Flux serves the same purpose but it it generally used because of high wind conditions that would blow the gas away also most people don't know what type of gas to use. Most metal is mig welded it's faster, just as strong, more efficient and cost effective. I've been certified in welding for Military and civilian aircraft parts and ground support equipment. Titanium is my favorite thing to weld also nickel. I'll do it but it takes a special gun to weld magnesium {water cooled). And magnesium burns on it self so if it gets on you or in your boot it won't stop burning until it burns it's self out. The only way to make it stop burning is get it off of you. Then it will burn until it burns out.
^^^^ WHAT HE SAID^^^^ "Penetration" is a misnomer. All you have to do is fuse it and add reinforcement. Weld with a 7010 and right beside it weld with 0.045 hard wire with 75/25. Break both welds. There won't be a hill of beans worth of a difference if the welder knows what he is doing. Mig is generally easier and will work fine in your garage welding on clean steel. STICK is more versatile IMHO. If you are going to get a mig machine, make sure you have AT LEAST 220 single-phase electricity. Don't even bother with a harbor freight special if you want to weld anything above about 11 gauge. It CAN be done, but it will take multiple welds. And if you don't know how to do that properly, you can hurt yourself or someone.
 

Endmiller

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When you are MIG welding, first you want to make sure that the parts that you are welding are clean (no oil, rust, or paint). In my opinion, I found that you have to listen to the "sound" that is being made when you are welding. If it sounds like bacon frying in the pan, you know that your settings are relatively close to where they need to be. Feed your gun at a rate that will create the best bead. Don't crowd the bead by going too slow, but don't go so fast that you aren't getting the penetration that you need to make a good weld that is going to hold. I found that when I started out in the early 70's welding here at the farm, that it really didn't matter how pretty it looked, just as long as it did the job, and held together. Sure some of my first welds broke, hahaha, I remember the wedge on my wood spitter coming off the first time that I welded it to the I beam. Don't get discouraged. Practice, Practice, Practice, and in time your skills will improve.
 

rkoykka

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^^^^ WHAT HE SAID^^^^ "Penetration" is a misnomer. All you have to do is fuse it and add reinforcement. Weld with a 7010 and right beside it weld with 0.045 hard wire with 75/25. Break both welds. There won't be a hill of beans worth of a difference if the welder knows what he is doing. Mig is generally easier and will work fine in your garage welding on clean steel. STICK is more versatile IMHO. If you are going to get a mig machine, make sure you have AT LEAST 220 single-phase electricity. Don't even bother with a harbor freight special if you want to weld anything above about 11 gauge. It CAN be done, but it will take multiple welds. And if you don't know how to do that properly, you can hurt yourself or someone.
Using a 7011 or 7010 for the root pass will definitely give you penetration, In many code vessels they required a low hydrogen rod instead eg:7018 because it will get an NDT review. 7010 is not the cleanest rod, but still is a goto rod in many cases where the environment is not perfect or controlled, and it's DC+ setting along with cellulose coating provide more than adequate assistance for arc pressure to get well into the root of the joint.
 

Biggermore

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First and foremost every type of welding has it's place and purpose. But all and any welding needs to be done on a clean surface. Anything will show up on an x ray of your weld' Paint,oil, dirt, rust, flux, soap stone or anything else does not burn off.it clearly shows up in your weld. If your going for a certification you will fail. If you dip your tungsten while (tig welding) into the weld pool more than twice you will fail. I used to weld master links for the arrest cables on aircraft carriers to stop a F14 Tomcat landing at 145 mph. in 2 seconds That's almost 40 ton moving at 145 mph stopping in 2 seconds. Weld contamination is an easy thing and will always weaken your weld as bad as weld undercut or using the wrong rod or wire. So if you use a 6011 on something you should be using a 11018 or 7018 rod on you just screwed yourself. Welding rods or wire absorb tensile strength from the surrounding material. So if what you are using is of a lesser tensile strength you have weakened the weld just by welding it. Also when welding cast iron if the cast didn't hold how the hell do you think brass is going to hold it. and it needs to be pre -heated post- heated and stress relieved And welded with inconel or nickel 55 or 99, one is machineable the other is not..
 

Tylerco67

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I have been welding for many years as well but only as a home mechanic. Started with Oxy/Gas, went to stick and then bought a Linde Auto Weld. Of all these the wire feed was the easiest to learn, for me. It provides a good fix for available welding jobs from auto body to heavy welding. That said, be aware that altho you may do well with your welder others may not. I lent my auto weld to a friend doing body work on his Camaro and he had an auto body guy do his welding for him. That guy couldn't get the machine to work for him at all. My buddy called me to complain that my welder was junk so I went over and tried it. Worked just fine cause I knew my machine. Nice flat spatter free weld which impressed my friend but, I loaded the welder back on my truck and brought it home. No sense letting someone else ruin my machine. Read up on your material and pick a know brand like Miller or Lincoln. You can spend a lot of money on any of these welders but any mid price Mig will do the job. I love my Linde and it was expensive at the time (bought in the 80's) but it still works like the day I got it. Stick took me forever to figure out but I still have my big Miller Ac/Dc and altho I haven't done Oxy/Gas in years, I imagine that would come back quick. Overall, I would recommend a Mig any day depending on what you wish to do.
 

rkoykka

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I believe when we hear a question like "Is MIG the easiest to learn?" the question is said by someone without years of experience or certification... it's just an honest question based on "Can I do this?" The answer is yes, and quite easily. Even with a 125 amp machine, 20 amp circuit, and a propane torch to preheat material... success can be had with a little practice and some youtube video's to get you going. I apologize for us who start getting technical over such a simple question. You see our love for the craft gets us a lil carried away sometimes.
 

rossww

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I believe when we hear a question like "Is MIG the easiest to learn?" the question is said by someone without years of experience or certification... it's just an honest question based on "Can I do this?" The answer is yes, and quite easily. Even with a 125 amp machine, 20 amp circuit, and a propane torch to preheat material... success can be had with a little practice and some youtube video's to get you going. I apologize for us who start getting technical over such a simple question. You see our love for the craft gets us a lil carried away sometimes.
I'm an absolute novice.

I've used my 110v flux core/ mig once (flux core) with visually good results.

"Using a propane torch to preheat "-what's that all about? Does it soften the metal for better penetration?
 

zigeuner

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I have been welding for many years as well but only as a home mechanic. Started with Oxy/Gas, went to stick and then bought a Linde Auto Weld. Of all these the wire feed was the easiest to learn, for me. It provides a good fix for available welding jobs from auto body to heavy welding. That said, be aware that altho you may do well with your welder others may not. I lent my auto weld to a friend doing body work on his Camaro and he had an auto body guy do his welding for him. That guy couldn't get the machine to work for him at all. My buddy called me to complain that my welder was junk so I went over and tried it. Worked just fine cause I knew my machine. Nice flat spatter free weld which impressed my friend but, I loaded the welder back on my truck and brought it home. No sense letting someone else ruin my machine. Read up on your material and pick a know brand like Miller or Lincoln. You can spend a lot of money on any of these welders but any mid price Mig will do the job. I love my Linde and it was expensive at the time (bought in the 80's) but it still works like the day I got it. Stick took me forever to figure out but I still have my big Miller Ac/Dc and altho I haven't done Oxy/Gas in years, I imagine that would come back quick. Overall, I would recommend a Mig any day depending on what you wish to do.

There's something about knowing your own tools. especially welders. The old Linde welders are transformer-based as were many in the pre-transistor era. They will stick weld as good as anything on the market. By the way, I used to lend tools, but never again. The person who borrows items will never care for them the way that you will. I'm talking about returning the item with dents, scratches, broken parts and so on, in the event that you ever get the item back. I once lent a pair of 6" C clamps to a neighbor. It took me 6 months to get them back. LOL.
 

California

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re Preheat - The couple of times I've welded broken feet back on to cast iron lawn furniture (using nickel rod), I preheated and welded over the propane burner that belongs to a turkey deep-fryer.

Stock photo:
1bcce848-8ff5-4cf2-9174-51fd91e52490_100.jpg
 

sonny580

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It's personal preference for the most part. I have always been a stick guy but recently was given a Century 200 wire jobber and wire is the hardest stuff to weld with! ----Can't weld dirty iron, can't do this cantdo that!---WTF!!--grab stick and weld! lol!! ----I can do o.k. with the 200 now but it's still a joke, so I use it more just to play with for now and do medium stuff with,--not worth a hoot for thin stuff, --least not for me, so I got a lot of learning to do yet!
 

Biggermore

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There's something about knowing your own tools. especially welders. The old Linde welders are transformer-based as were many in the pre-transistor era. They will stick weld as good as anything on the market. By the way, I used to lend tools, but never again. The person who borrows items will never care for them the way that you will. I'm talking about returning the item with dents, scratches, broken parts and so on, in the event that you ever get the item back. I once lent a pair of 6" C clamps to a neighbor. It took me 6 months to get them back. LOL.
I agree loaning tools is like loaning money. Let them go to a automotive parts store they will loan tools. I loaned a 3/8 ratchet (new) and the guy shorted it out on a 24 volt connection. He fried it, he gave it back said "sorry" and asked if I had another. Um, no, I don't "sorry". A friend of my wifes asked to borrow rent money she gave it to her ,then I found out they had 3 new cars in the driveway. Wonder why they couldn't pay the rent? Took over 6 months to get it back a couple of bucks at a time. Can I loan you money or sign for you? oh, I'm sorry dude my credit score is 250. Can I loan you a tool? Sure just as soon as I get it back from the last guy I loaned it to.
 

Endmiller

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Here is a trick that I have picked up on. Now mind you, this may not work for everyone, and I may be opening up a can of worms here. My eye sight isn't as good as it once was due to close up that i have done in the past. I MIG weld with flux core wire. I take the gas nozzle off because I am not using gas. I find that it makes it easier to see what I'm doing. I found that with the nozel off, it will sometimes hit the metal that I am welding, and short out. So I wrapped the gun tip with black electrical tape. I can get close to what I am welding, and it doesn't short out. It's a win for me. The tape will in time, burn away, so I will simply re-wrap and continue.
 

CA_Bgrwldr

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I found MIG to be a lot easier than stick, but then again, learned how to stick weld back in HS, then never welded again for about 12yrs, and only had a MIG available to use at the time. Outside of small equipement repairs, most of my welding is with automotive restoration/fabrication and trailer building that I do as a hobby, can't imagine trying to do it all with stick.
 

Thirdroc17

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Not being a certified welder by any means, none of my welds would ever pass any kind high tech inspection, however, I've never had one my welds break in my personal use. I do like to overbuild though. That said, I use a stick, have for 50 years, it'll do a lot of things a MIG won't. I've tried MIG, couldn't make it happen. So which is "easier"? Depends on the individual and what he expects.
 

CB

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Hard to keep feeding stick electrodes to a robot. And most metal object manufacturing that involves welding is done with robots, which are wire fed.

Even the TIG process is seeing increasing use of hot wire and oscillating wire feeding, in front of and behind the puddle, instead of cut length electrodes manually dipped by hand.

While no one can argue with the understanding of heat input that comes from learning gas welding, and the understanding of arc length that comes from learning stick welding... the mig process in industry is the mainstay today, and will only be replaced by more modern and mechanizable processes tomorrow. So there isn't really a down side to learning MIG first, because parameter settings, gas selection, CTWD (stickout), and travel speed are all manual inputs to semi automatic MIG that require both practice and understanding to succeed in the process.

The attached photo is a MIG fillet lap joint on a weird and complex couplet of weldments I'm building currently... 1/4" thick angle iron leg edge lapped onto 3/8" plate, untouched, unbrushed, unpicked, straight out of the gun. I licked the bead profile higher on the vertical leg, because the vertical leg is the 3/8" plate that serves as the "spine" of the weldment. (1F/70S-6/.035/595wfs/29.5v/C10... and only one tiny droplet of spatter)

cIMG_0305.jpg
 

California

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The attached photo is a MIG fillet lap joint
That's beautiful. Many of us wish we could weld like that.

But at least for me doing mostly farm repairs and minor fabrication I'll never accumulate the experience or quality tools to do work like that. At least the photo gives me something to strive toward.

Can you restate 1F/70S-6/.035/595wfs/29.5v/C10 in terms a pre-beginner would understand, as a guide to buying hardware and materials?
 

Rancher Ed

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CB,
Excellent points and explanation. Also a very nice looking weld! What machine do you have?

California,
1F = A fillet weld made in the flat (1) position. Here is some more information on welding positions
70S-6 = ER70S-6 which is a very common MIG wire for steel
0.035 = the size of the wire
595wfs = the wire feed speed in inches per minute
29.5v = the voltage set on the machine
C10 = 90% argon / 10% CO2 shielding gas
 

bigb

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While MIG may be easier to learn it is also easier to make pretty welds that don't hold and not realize it. I am a firm believer that a welding student should start with OA and learn the puddle, the heat, the penetration and then move on from there. Too many buy a MIG and "glue" stuff together without any understanding of penetration and the puddle. OK for light yard art but not for anything where a failure could put life or property at risk. Becoming proficient at OA will give you the understanding you will need to become proficient with the other processes.
 

CB

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One doesn't need to learn how to ride a motorcycle before learning how to drive a car.

Just because one knows how to drive a car, doesn't mean they know how to ride a motorcycle.

Those who know how to ride a motorcycle, and have operated motorcycles on city streets and public highways, will likely agree that what they learned about traffic, reading the intentions of other drivers, and having a keen sense of the surroundings at speed, with nothing but their leather and helmet between them and death... are skill sets that made them a safer, more skilled, more alert, and more in tune operator of automobiles.

So while motorcycle riding experience can produce better car drivers, motorcycle experience is not required to become a skilled car driver. I know drivers of automobiles who have driven 70 years and never once learned how to ride a motorcycle, and never once caused an accident or received a moving violation of any kind.

One can learn how to mig, with excellent results, including sufficient penetration into the base metal without burn through, including sufficient toe wetting and tie ins without dimension altering distortion, including porosity free beads of adequate leg lengths, and including sufficient heat management to reduce the HAZ or cause annealment... without ever picking up a gas torch.

The reality is that costs of oxygen and acetylene have skyrocketed, and the handling of these gasses in a home environment... from cylinder safety to hose inspections to valve and regulator care etc etc... may not be worth the investment of time, money, and training to become proficient in a process that one will not regularly use, only as preparation for a process that one might more readily use.

Forty years ago, wire feed welding machines were prohibitively expensive, and outside the reach of most hobbyists. Today, electrical welding, even with the cost of consumables, shielding gas, the machine, and the electricity to run it, can be less expensive per inch of weld than the cost of fuel gasses sold in the smaller sized cylinders.

One doesn't need to learn to paint houses before learning to paint murals. And vis a versa.

Mig welding has it's own layer of skills that need mastering, whether already skilled in OA or not. Sometimes, the skill set can be opposite of what applies to other processes.

Don't feel as if you have to acquire an OA rig first, and then all the experience to use OA, in order to "really" learn how to use a MIG welding machine. That way of thinking is an unnecessary discouragement to folks who are excited to learn with what they have, or what simple set up they can afford.
 
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