Free Guide On How To Arc Weld

FREE guide on how to arc weld here. Blokes always like to work out in their workshops and garages all the time. Often you might need to know how to arc weld for that next big project you have planned. Here in this guide to stick welding you can pick up some tip, tricks and pointers on how to get you started.

Arc welding can hurt you and you must always wear the right personal protective equipment. You are going to need to wear a long sleeved shirt preferably with at collar that you can put up around your neck. Wear long pants made from thick materials, overalls or jeans are good. Get some thick leather welding gloves that will protect your fingers, hands, arms and forearms.

When you are welding there is often spatter and hot sparks flying around all over the place. I have learned the hard way by not wearing fully enclosed footwear. I have burnt myself many times from just using sandals and flip-flops. Please use fully enclosed leather work boots to protect the tops of your feet from the hot welding spatter. Welding and grinding go hand in hand so you are also going to need some protective eyewear and some earplugs. Get a full face shield mask because just using safety glasses won’t protect the rest of your face.

To get the best possible start I highly recommend going out and getting an auto darkening welding helmet because it will make learning how to arc weld so much easier. If you already have the standard type flip up helmet this will be more than adequate, these are usually picked up really cheap as well.

Before you start getting carried away and start welding, make sure that you clean down everywhere that you want to weld first. This means grinding off any rust or paint and any other contaminants such as oil and grease. These impurities on the metal will give you all sorts of grief when you’re trying to arc weld.

Welding rod selection. The best rod for a beginner to use is a standard type general purpose electrode. These can be bought anywhere and you don’t have to go to any specialist welding shop to get them. They are marked as a GP rod and have the AWS marking of 6013. They are easy to strike and hold an arc, with the capabilities to weld in all positions. There will be a description on the packet telling you how many amps to run these particular rods at.

Now we can connect the earth clamp to the metal you plan on welding. For the best chance of getting a good arc started grab some metal clamps so that you can hold down the metal you are going to weld to your bench. This will stop it from moving around when you are striking the arc.

Starting the arc. The best method is what is called the scratch technique. This involves you dragging the electrode across the surface of the metal until it starts sparking. Once it starts sparking the idea is to stop moving and keep the spark going. Practice this first as once you can establish an arc you’ll be right to lay down an arc welding bead.

Laying a weld bead down with an arc welder. Once you can establish an arc and keep it burning in the one spot you’ll now need to make what is called a stringer bead. This is just a weld in a straight line. Once you have that arc established, angle the welding electrode slightly towards the way you want to travel and slowly move in that direction. The trick here is that you have to keep the arc going and your hand steady. Practice burning up half a packet of rods and by then you should have it down pat.

Hopefully this quick little guide will get you up and arc welding in next to no time. How to arc weld at home is very easy once you learn the proper methods of doing it.

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