Thanks for the kind comment, and I am glad the info I share is helpful 😀.

Anthony has a great channel, I am glad he is doing it because he will inspire a lot of people to pickup a new skill. His sense of humor is also great, I will have to rewatch that septic tank truck video again 😅

It’s very common on 1/4 steel to have no root fusion with mig. The visual difference between a 140a pushed mig weld and a 200amp one on 1/4 isn’t much besides physical size. Yet the 140a weld will have no root fusion and the 200a will. Thats why I tell people to test things they do to know for sure. Cut and etches or a simple break test will tell a lot 😀

Once you weld things and get decent it will always be with you 😀. Recently I sat down with someone who hadn’t welded for 30 years, and within 5 minutes he had some perfect beads going. With a smile on his face at the end too lol.

@@makingmistakeswithgreg Very cool indeed. 😎👍

The easiest way with stick to adjust for thickness is to use rods based on thickness of metal and run the rods at the appropriate amperage. As a general guide (with 7018) is 1/16th rods are good for thin sheet metal up to 1/8th material (maybe a bit more). 5/64 are good to a bit over 1/8th depending on joint configuration. 3/32 is good for about 1/8th to about 1/4. 1/8th rods can do about 3/16 to about 3/8. 5/32 rods are good for about 1/4 steel and over. You can run the rods outside of those parameters but they would not be ideal, and it depends on the joint style. If your welding a open bevel butt joint, 3/32 rods will work better on 1/4in plate than 5/32 will because the 5/32 will likely not have a proper root. With all that said I will do a video on this exact subject to hopefully give some insight to what you should be thinking to get it dialed in 😀

I will, it will be just a little bit. I will have a video coming out for stick shortly that covers welding cast iron and oddball materials. The awesome thing is all of the rod recommendations will carry over for tig as well. The rods use the same Numbers (like 309) as tig rods. Just as a quick general guide for filler recommendations here is a short list that will help you. I will actually make a quick video on this soon too: 308L: use on 304 stainless and 301,302,305 309: welding stainless to steel, & 409 exhaust 312: spring steel, some castings Er70: use for mild steel, & chromoly Nickel:cast iron & corrosive environments Like I said I will shoot a short video on this and have it out within a week. I may also release a laminated filler selection guide that will help as well 😃

Note: 309 works well for “mystery stainless,” e.g. cheaper cookware and what you might find in a pile at Clackamas Steel - and 2) when you’re welding square steel tubing and the like, and a “smooth and lovely appearance” is desired, e.g. for furniture-type stuff, where you don’t want to be grinding anything. A lot of current tubular steel has something “off” about it, such that 70s-6 or 70s-2 doesn’t seem to look right - welds like a kind of taffy, almost.

If the steel is cold you will lose penetration. A good rule of thumb is if the steel is below 50 is to warm it up to around 90-100 and things will work better. Couple tips on the tack welds: when you weld over them it’s common to lose penetration before and after the tack. That is why in many cases tack welds are ground down before welding over. Tacking can generally be done far hotter than what you would weld at, because you want fusion. The start of any weld will generally have the least fusion, so running a tack hotter will assure some penetration. For mild steel it is acceptable to use a rod like 6010 or 6011 to tack and weld over it with 7018. Tacking with a rod like 7018 will typically produce starting porosity and the restarts are far faster with 6010/11. All things to consider 😀

Thank you so much for the advice. My next step, as soon as I can swing it, will be to see if you have a course I can be a part of and if not then join as a patrion member to give you some return on your valuable time. Best regards always.

7014 has limited penetration so outside corner joints would actually help it a lot since it would penetrate good. It also has a pretty liquidy puddle which flows out nice and make a round profile which limits grinding (if desired).

So overhead outside corner joints will be tricky. It really depends on what thickness of metal. If it’s 1/4in you will have a very hard time laying down enough metal in a single pass to fill it properly, without having it drip molten metal. If it’s thinner material like 1/8th (3.2mm) you will have to move fast and use 3/32 rods. It will also make a difference depending on how vertical the joint is. If it’s a 90 degree where the upright plate is vertical it will be easy than if the weld needs to be done with plates in a V pattern. The main things to consider are: aiming the rod to what you want the puddle to stick too, keeping a tight arc, moving at a speed that allows you to fill the joint without having the puddle drip out, and using enough amperage to get fusion. With 6010 or 6011 such a joint would be real easy with some practice. 7018 will be slightly harder because of the liquid nature of the puddle. Some trial and error will be needed to dial it in.

Sure, here are a bunch of thoughts: 3/32 rods can weld 3/16th steel no real issue. 3/32 7018 will deposit enough metal to make a ideal size weld. The main downside to them is it make take quite some time to put down as much metal as 1/8th rods, and you may have to two/3 pass things. You may be able to do a slight weave to deposit more metal (slow your travel speed) too, but you won’t make it far on a single rod. The upside to 3/32 rods is if the material you’re welding is in anyway inconsistent in thickness (due to rot or wear) 3/32 rods will be far more forgiving. I wouldn’t be worried at all using them for that situation. Don’t be afraid of amperage with the 3/32 rods either, welding thicker steel 90 to 105 amps depending on machine will put you in a good spot for sure. Harbor freights 7018s aren’t too bad, I did a comparison of them and for general use I think they will be just fine. They have a graphite tip to which makes starting them easier and reduces starting porosity. I use esab 7018 prime rods mostly but for what you’re talking you’re not gaining anything over the harbor freight.

@@makingmistakeswithgreg Great- good information, thank you very much for that. And this is an actual project down the road at some point, so I'm looking forward to it.

@@user-ru7jh5df9z that kind of project is a very approachable project for all skill levels. Worst case is you might have to grind a few welds but if you can run a few solid beads on plate that are straight that’s a doable job. It’s much easier to weld thicker plate than thinner material. Like I said the key is run enough amperage (and try to be as consistent as possible). You can do it 😀

Thanks for the subscription, I appreciate it. Ultimately I am sharing my knowledge because I needed something to do, and I want to help people believe in themselves/develop skills. It’s a bit of a struggle to learn how to do everything to make videos, but I am slowly improving. 😀

I used 7018 in the video. If you’re asking which I prefer, that’s a really hard question. If I had to pick one probably 6010. Far more useful for poor fitups, filling holes, and welding on poor quality materials lol.

@@makingmistakeswithgreg good to know

@@makingmistakeswithgreg I thought you were using 7018 because when you showed the back of the weld penetration wasn't there, also slag was a dead give away lol. awesome as usual though.

its an outside corner joint there is no root gap. thats like putting a root gap on a 3 pass fillet weld.