Welding

Welding is a completely new skill for me. On this page, I'll document some of my adventures (well, hopefully progress).

2004/04/11. My very first run at arc welding. I played around first with just touching the electrode (rod?) to the steel piece (scorched circles). It makes a nice big flash of light and also makes the transformer hum. Couple of lessons: 1) if the flux coating on the electrode is too long compared to the metal core there's no arc. 2) it is really hard to see through the mask. I can see the arc as a green spot, but I can't make out anything else. 3) brief contact between the electrode and the metal doesn't do a whole lot more than spark. I need to practice (a lot more!) in order to maintain a little pool of liquid metal. 4) there were lots of little balls of fire scattering away from the arc. Some care needs to be taken in selecting work environments.

2004/04/11. Even though I finally got several beads of metal between the two pieces, it was just a dry joint.

Questions? Comments?