if your mig welder is set for "mig" welding, you need to reverse the voltage polarity, for flux core wire.
I think it is but I'll check
I have a Harbor Freight not too far away so I can get any supplies we might need.
Learn how to Gas Weld first on that seat. Then learn your welders. Go take a Vo-Tech Class.
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Taking a class is actually good advice. I took a basic welding class for adults a night or two a week for 6 weeks at the local high school up in Idaho. I was 58 and the youngster in the class. It was a lot of fun and really helped me out.
I never took any classes for welding. I started with coat hangers and gas and busted bicycle pedals.
Kept using coat hangers for many years and then needed a trailer and taught myself how to weld with 6011 and a Lincoln AC DC.
Onto mig much later and got a job welding and fabricating at Terex.
So many of those guys welding there could not weld or read blueprints but there were some that absolutely could weld.
I fixed a few messed up welded items there that others that had schooling just messed up horribly.
Practice makes perfect.
Keep practicing.
I have a lot of scrap steel as you do I know.
I will give you some if you do not have any at home.
Kept using coat hangers for many years and then needed a trailer and taught myself how to weld with 6011 and a Lincoln AC DC.
Onto mig much later and got a job welding and fabricating at Terex.
So many of those guys welding there could not weld or read blueprints but there were some that absolutely could weld.
I fixed a few messed up welded items there that others that had schooling just messed up horribly.
Practice makes perfect.
Keep practicing.
I have a lot of scrap steel as you do I know.
I will give you some if you do not have any at home.
I learned stick in high school and gas welding on the farm. I hard surfaced plowshares and chisel points every year. I still have my stick machine from the farm but I'm afraid to plug it in. LOL!
I AG Shop I made a set of slide in stock racks for the pickup from 1 Inch square tubing with a tambour gate and a stock trailer from a kit my brother-in-law still drags around. It has been since the late 70's that I welded anything. I still know the basics and the principal of it but not the new machines. My TIG can weld stick as well as TIG. I just have to come up with the money for the gas.
I AG Shop I made a set of slide in stock racks for the pickup from 1 Inch square tubing with a tambour gate and a stock trailer from a kit my brother-in-law still drags around. It has been since the late 70's that I welded anything. I still know the basics and the principal of it but not the new machines. My TIG can weld stick as well as TIG. I just have to come up with the money for the gas.
If it's an AC welder (Lincoln crackerbox, etc.), just remove the cover, blow it out, and make sure the fan works (well, make sure there's not a possum inside either). They're an incredibly simple design.
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If your tig machine is ac / dc, get a bottle of argon!
Argon will work fine on steel and stainless, and is a must have for aluminum!
Cant use co2 on aluminum!
Ac is to weld aluminum
Dc for steel, stainless
Follow your machine instructions for the proper polarity.
(Green) pure tungsten electrodes for aluminum. Radius the end the arc flows from. Use with AC voltage
(Red) 2% thoriated tungsten electrodes good for steel and stainless. Grind the end the arc flows from to a sharp point. Grind marks should flow in the arc direction.
Use with DC voltage
Size of the electrodes depends on the max current (amps) used. Also ac voltage uses a larger tungsten than dc does.
Careful with your tungstens they are very brittle and if you bump them they break easy!
Fun!
Argon will work fine on steel and stainless, and is a must have for aluminum!
Cant use co2 on aluminum!
Ac is to weld aluminum
Dc for steel, stainless
Follow your machine instructions for the proper polarity.
(Green) pure tungsten electrodes for aluminum. Radius the end the arc flows from. Use with AC voltage
(Red) 2% thoriated tungsten electrodes good for steel and stainless. Grind the end the arc flows from to a sharp point. Grind marks should flow in the arc direction.
Use with DC voltage
Size of the electrodes depends on the max current (amps) used. Also ac voltage uses a larger tungsten than dc does.
Careful with your tungstens they are very brittle and if you bump them they break easy!
Fun!
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Like all said, get the gas, but Tig is the way to go with that project. When I worked for Smith Tool in Ponca, the maintenance dept took a field trip to Boeing in Wichita. They were bragging on one guy's ability to tig aluminum. He ran a bead on the edge of some aluminum foil he took off a sandwich to prove it.
Totally blown away.
Tig welding is like playing a guitar. If you do it a lot, you get good at it as it's a learned trait. If one does it once a year, you pretty much have to retrain yourself every time. When I was tig welding for awhile, I found listening to music to get a rhythm worked wonders. Taught me how important that rhythm was to get the stacked dimes even.
Totally blown away.
Tig welding is like playing a guitar. If you do it a lot, you get good at it as it's a learned trait. If one does it once a year, you pretty much have to retrain yourself every time. When I was tig welding for awhile, I found listening to music to get a rhythm worked wonders. Taught me how important that rhythm was to get the stacked dimes even.
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