One thing you have to be careful about when filling large holes is to not build up what I call an igloo. In other words, make sure you’re welding flat, on the edges, rather than building those edges upwards, which is easy to do. If you do, when you sand or grind it flat, you’ll find another large hole left.

You’re right, every welding machine an welding rod welds at different temperatures. Your technique was called buttering way back when. Great job with your teaching course on filling a hole. Retired pipe welder of 42 years 🇺🇸

Square tubing 10 GA or thinner I use old school oxy/acetylene with 1/16" filler rod. I know it's slow but it looks awesome. Saves me a lot of time on clean up.

finally someone who speaks in layman terms that everyone can understand absolutely great thank you

Great stuff mate. I'm a pressure welder here in Australia, and love to see the variations in procedures and ideas from other countries. We're artists in molten metal, mate!

Thank You so much for this lesson, I’m a Disabled Vet trying to get back into welding again. It’s the only job that doesn’t hurt when I work. I have a TIG, MIG and Rod welder now. I have never even seen anyone TIG weld when I started 1 month ago. But you are teaching specifically to people like me that didn’t or cant go to school for welding. Thank You again Mr Ross. I’ll watch the rest of the videos.

Another tip that works well for me when burning holes, use a old/too short welding stick and stick it in and weld on it( much faster)

Great video especially for those just starting out; as an old school retired tank welder, you got all the basics right! speed is something you just have to get the experience to learn how,& when I had " blow outs" I have put a filler rod or scrap piece of similar material in the hole & weld it in place, if it's not for pressure or heavy structure. If it us for pressure or structural use,think about using a heavier gauge material to start with! And you got it made in the shade, with all the new steel & good equipment! If you have people ask about rusty metal; get it as clean as possible; the 6011 rod is a general purpose rod & is the only rod I will use on rusted or dirty metal, especially in the oilfield & junkyard scrap! I'm just glad that you and a few others are still out there working & willing to share your expertise & experience with others! Keep up the great work & don't let the devil get you down!

Experienced welders have been in many recovery scenarios. Welding thin material is challenging. If it wasn't for my mistakes, I wouldn't have learned anything.

Yes, I can relate to burning holes in thin metal with the stick welder.

This was super great. As a handy man that welds sometimes, this was exactly what I needed. Very helpful and encouraging. Glad you’re back posting

I’m a maintenance welder who has worked for a few different companies. On my own I’ll use 6011. But in most circumstances I have only been supplied 1/8” 7018. Still works okay if you set it at 120 and whip it fast . Just don’t pop a hole or it will require some Texas tig

Thank you Mr. Lee, my high school welding shop teacher. You are reiterating the principles of welding he taught us in the 90’s. Thank you for well made and informative videos.

thank you austin for taking your time and knowledge on teaching about your experience and techniques , i enjoy your videos and hope to see more

Glad I'm not the only one that blows on my work to cool it. Great video I love the walk away method to many times have I got in a hurry and got rite back after it and made the problem worse. Excellent reminder to just take it easy.

Austin, very nice video. I’m looking forward to more of them. You and your wife are doing a great job

Great tips Austin! Thank you for sharing your experience with us! I'm 62 but have only ever tried welding the odd thing here & there, and have not had too much success. Your instruction will certainly help me. Thank you and greetings from South Africa!

Good tips! I do a lot of 14 and 16 gauge galvanized tubing on custom livestock handling equipment. We mig everything in the shop but in the field we stick everything. I use 1/8” 5P+ rod at 70 amps and hold a long arc and whip the poop out of it. All verticals I run downhill too. It takes a little to get used to and you have to move fast! I rarely burn a hole in anything anymore but the fit has to be good. Keep on keeping on brother!

one of the biggest mistakes is when the weld gets too hot and just about to burn is to try and save it by more welding, stop and let it cool down and then restart carefully.

Watching you weld and solve problems, such a burnouts and closing gaps. You have the patience that it takes.

Thanks for putting this together and explaining things in simple terms.

Didn’t know I needed this video but man it was excellent. So much of what I make is 2x2 11GA and these were some excellent tips!

Excellent topic. That’s what I tell my students, a welder knows how to work the metal. How to switch up rod movement, amperage, angles, arc length, and travel speed. Pipe welding is great but I feel that this builds experience, character, confidence. I’ve welded 14 gauge rectangle tubing with 1/8 6010. Made some stairs to a mobile home with them. I set the amps at 65-67 and as soon as I establish a puddle, I move. Whip and pause is really the best way to speed weld. I also keep a tight arc length.

Great down to earth video! A breathe of fresh air on quality welding. Thanks for posting and sharing your expertise!!

It drives me crazy welding thin stuff! I always learn new ideas from your videos!!

Thanks Austin. I learned all these lessons recently building my first desk project. Poor fit up and beveled my edges! It’s been a nightmare. I ended up borrowing a mig welder from a friend, which I’ve never used before. I’m almost done with it, but it’s been a challenge!

Thanks Austin for most of us diy hobby welders, who for the most part are only welding small wall materials, and hardly of any decent length welds to really get a feel or understanding for the weld pool, since its a lot of stop start and blow out patching.

Doing a bit of pre-learning before getting some informal instruction, and I really like your teaching style!

Great vid, I came up with something like this technique for filling blow throughs when repairing an old car chassis with a very cheap welder, decades ago. The metal was like lacework in places, but strong elsewhere. Some places where the corrosion had made large areas thin, I'd add extra patches when this occurred, but other places I'd go around the hole building up with metal, cooling with water and chipping off the slag between each pass to save time. Since doing that car I've done a lot of amateur stick welding over the years and I've never had welds with so little slag from the cheap rods I've used. I've also extensively used gasless (cored wire) MIG and the slag from your rods looks more like the welds from gasless MIG wire. My stick weld rods leave a thick slag more like a black ceramic which needs chipping off with a hammer. Sometimes it's so thick that it looks as though I've done a great weld, then I chip off the slag and the metal isn't even joined! Maybe I missed it, but what rods are you using?

I'm right in the middle of welding school and I'm starting to realize that "spin the nob and watch the arc" is a completely valid method for adjusting your settings.

It's comforting to hear you be honest about what you don't know. I've done 1G tig for so long I probably suck at everything else now lol

Great videos sir, I'm a diesel technician by trade for the past 22years in no way a welder but I can stick things together and your vids have taught my quite a few tips I was missing and my welds are looking so much better! Keep up the great work man

Thank you for your contribution Austin! I really needed this lesson!

I love the advice about walking away for a minute and grabbing a coffee, nice job filling that blow through

That pressure you're talking about around the 19 minute mark is the pressure of your employer to milk every bit of wealth out of you possible, even into the detriment of your product. All they care about is stealing the wealth you create.

Prep and Patience! Damn that’s great advice and a good mantra to repeat - I blew through some thinner stuff yesterday and I’m giving this a try today !!! Love the videos

i started out with a lincon 200 on 16 ga tube back in the 50s with a 1/8 6013 building columns and rails,still do the same now but have learned different ways to perform,didn't have time to keep adjusting heat so learned to use the heat i started with but keep in mind that as the metal heats up you gotta compensate for the heat

I use Texas tig for thin metals...works great for me but I love learning from others and their experiences. Being able to experiment with different techniques taught me that there is usually more than one way to achieve the end result. Of course some methods are better suited to each application. Thanks for sharing 👍

Hey “A” man, as usual great content. Heat control is what you have to be aware of. Holding the puddle together and knowing when to get out of it before the blow out/through. Hood down lights on.

When filling larger holes, I will grab another rod, that I've already beat the powder off of, and dab it on the rim of the hole. Bridging the gap with a cold rod, for extra material quickens the process. My dad would just clamp it next to the main rod, but that takes practice to keep it close to the arc.

This is good advice, enjoy your down to earth approach to teaching.

I love the honesty!!

Thanks for sharing with us Austin. Excellent information. Keep up the great videos, we sure enjoy them. Fred.

Weird trick I do is hold very long rod angles, like 45 degrees, or more. It reduces penetration into the root, seems to help a bit.

Man when I’m welding thin gauge material, unless the fit is very tight I don’t even bother trying to weld it “right”. I just grab another rod, break off the flux and Texas tig the whole weld lol

"Walk away" is some of the best advice ever! Also lowers my frustration level. Some welders have an 'arc force' adjustment. It's basically adding some 'constant voltage' effect to automate arc-length. This is usually helpful but not for me on thin metal. It can get out of hand so fast. One thing I do is to turn arc-force off/down completely so I can control the heat on the fly. If it gets too hot then I crowd the arc to lower the power. With arc-force on much it will just punch a hole.

Thanks again Austin. I kind of learned filling holes (TIG) using the "I'm rushing - time for a break" routine - it works! Good video again.

I love 6011, but when welding thin stuff I’ve really come to love 3/32 6013, so easy to weld with, and it’s also easy to make look good as long as your going uphill.

Another top shelf video! I really appreciate the focused learning opportunities. A Mig video just like this one would be super amazing👌!

As always, nice video! Thanks for teaching so clearly.

Thank YOU sir. for your time and help. Bless you.

Those are great little machines! Rod size, travel speed and arc gap all come into factor when welding thin stuff. I’ve had to knock the flux off a 7018 and use it as a TN TIG rod, lol.

Good job young man! well explained !

I love your videos. About stick welding thin material, almost 30 years ago I made patch panels for my 1970 FJ40 Landcruiser and welded them in with stick. All we had on the dairy was a Lincoln buzz box. I found some 3/32 6011 that came on a pallet from a farm auction. I burned some holes. Filled them with the "okie tig" method. I did About 1" beads 8" to 12" apart and let things sit. I would go do feeding or something and come and repeat. I'm no body man by any means. But I got the job done.

Great advice Austin. Thanks for all the tips. 💥💥💥

Just what I needed to see. Thanks

Some key points: 6:35 no bevels on thin material necessary 8:30 long arc as compensation for cold 9:00 stroke presented on school board, also 10:10 11:50 basic accedental hole tip: leave it alone to cool off

Great instructional. My son finds it helps to have some scraps of the same material to do test welds in order to get settings right. So when you're cutting and fitting up, save some of the scraps to do a few setting passes on stuff that doesn't matter.

Glad this video popped up in my feed! I'm doing a 14 guage sheet metal to 14 guage square tube build and got holes everywhere! I've been filling the gaps with 7018 and 1/8 round steel.

I just bought an inverter welding machine for house use, watching videos and started practicing, thanks for your informative video.

Most informative upload. As you say "patience " it takes as long as it takes. What you rush is when you make mistakes, gonna take twice as long

Welder here 28 years experience, what I've learned over the years concerning thin metal it's best to whip and pause which gives the base metal a fraction of time to cool avoiding burn through at appropriate speeds. Practice makes perfect. Great video demonstration my man.

I love your channel because it gives a more "out in the field" type of welding than being in school for welding. (I go to hobart right now for welding and I'm about to graduate.)

Great lesson, much appreciated.

Thanks Austin for the tips. Darlington, South Carolina

Austin instead of 3/32 6011 try using 1/16 6011 for light gauge material and down hand is your friend! 1/16 is the key I build and installed ornamental iron for years and 1/16 is key!

Nice to see how its done in other countrys. I have done a lot of high presure gaspipes mostly stainless tig and its very important to prepair the welds with the right angles and put enough material in between the gaps. On highload-constructionwork too. Nice video.

best welding channel i ever seen

Thanks for the tips I use 3/32 6013 rods, but I'll try with a 6011. Haven't seen you in awhile and I enjoy watching you weld. Keep the videos coming!!!

I'm dyslexic and I learn by doing and by watching videos on KZfaq.

I am right there with ya learn hands on. Just started my weld class in nov.

Thanks GREAT explanation for DIY Welding

Thanks for all the tips I'm 74 and started welding about 5 years ago. I sure do like repairing metal although it doesn't look that good but it works

Excellent tip for filling holes that I burn through 👍🏿👍🏿

One of the best videos

I don't do any kind of welding but it's fun to watch and learn about. Thanks for the video!

THANK YOU AR! Always learn from you!

3/32" is decent with 6010/6011 but 5/64" makes life a whole lot easier assuming you're stuck stick welding it 😉 I would recommend 6013 downhill but most people hate it because it's a pain to learn (runs similar to the stainless steel electrodes). Of course, if I'm in a hurry and stuck welding outside then nothing beats .030 flux core on thin gauge bale rings and gates 😁 Being a expert at fixing mistakes and poor engineering decisions, buy some copper bar stock of different sizes to stick into the hole leaving about an 1/8" gap. The copper makes the filling process go so much faster because the gap for the weld puddle to fill in is more manageable and on top of that the copper pulls the heat out of the weld quicker making the repair process faster. This also applies to fixing holes in flat panels except you use copper plate instead. The weld metal won't stick to the copper 😉 I used this technique to repair a round metal chain wear plate on a John Deere baler. The chain links had worn two grooves through the plate and the master link was getting caught up in it causing the baler to throw the chain off. Worked like a charm 😎

I pray to God I'll find a mentor like you when I hit the field 🙏🏽

Nice to see the technique I already use that I learned through self taught experience is used by more experienced welders than me. I must be on the right track lol!

You're right about wanting to do it right the first time, but it takes time and practice. I've had a lot of practice filling holes on my neighbour's 1950s steel boat - 3 or 5 mm sheet metal, rotten down to 1 mm in places. Hills and valleys all over the bottom of the boat. Also painted with coal tar on the outside and inside, even after removing it, the welds still fizzed like soda. Sometimes a certain current setting worked well, until I met an area which was very thin, and blew a hole. Then had to run a 2 mm electrode at 40 Amps electrode negative (!) to not blow through. The worst hole I had to fill was about 2 cm in diameter. Patch it with a plate? Expect another

Awesome video, thanks for making this

Thank you Austin 👍

I stick-weld 14-ga all the time by tapping my rod all along the weld path, establishing several "heat-sink bridges". This gives excess heat a safe pathway to evenly distribute the heat load. Once I have a dozen or so small tack welds, I turn up my heat a bit and lay down an even puddle. Hand rails and fences usually get ground and painted. That even puddle makes even grinding a piece of cake. Holes? Ya, they happen - mostly along cut edges. Tapping first lessens your chance of a run-away hole getting started. To fix a hole, tap first and let it cool before attempting to lay down a puddle.

They make 1/16" 6013 rods, just as a heads up. They are great for thin materials, and they lay a nice looking bead.

GREAT STUFF DUDE‼️

Nice tips. Whip, drastic travel angle, push the puddle, or Texas tig…….whatever it takes. Keep the content rollin 💯

Awesome video man 🔥

Brill video man some great tips well made and narrated keep up the great work dude

Thanks I appreciate the help love watching your videos learned a bunch off you

Well done Austin ! At 9:20 we call it " step in and step out " weave when running 6011's on thinner metal , allows the puddle to cool slightly then weave over it again . I tell ya the what , the best welders learned on an old gas driven welder where the engine RPM surged , spit and sputter . You was constantly changing your pattern / style depending on the sound of the engine . LOL and keep up the great work !

Good video. I didn't even know this was possible to fix. I'm trying to get through welding school now, stuck on thin metal overhead, trying to find that happy balance between achieving enough penetration and not burning through

Thanks for this video, it is excellent.

It really helps ,when you’re welding thin material to not use a high penetrating rod such as 6011 or 6010, Use some 6013 or 7018, also you can run 6013 vertical down and it’ll do a really nice job on thin material, you also can buy one 1/16th welding rod.

Nice job Austin. It’s encouraging to see you lean into your uncomfort zone and show us some techniques to real world obstacles. Keep this up- we could use more hands that can weld anything from the crack of dawn to a broken heart! When back filling a Grand Canyon hole I’ve also used another welding rod and even round stock as filler, like TIG & stick at the same time.

Thank you so much. I mean it. I learn best just like you and I do appreciate everything about you sir.

Austin, very informative, cheers from Florida ,Paul

Built a hand rail on site out in the field around a conex that had a concrete platform with stairs. Did it all in the rain with a stick welder lol. I did end up with a few gaps due to fitment issues. Mainly overhead welds on some of the angled pieces coming down off the stairs. I ended up breaking the flux off a piece of 3/32 7018 and Texas tig welded it lol. When all was said and done all I heard all week from the people I was working for was how nice the hand rail turned out lol. I was mainly a shop fabricator/welder for a few years before I got a taste of field work, and you would be surprised how much shop knowledge helps out in the field on site.

Thank you this was great! From a VERY new beginner...need all the help I can get. Down south here in Arizona

Thanks for the useful video. Ugh, hate burning through and your technique will help. I need to turn down the heat!