Its a Technique.

I have been often asked threw the last several years from some companies I've worked for, To teach some of the other employees how to weld, my area of expertise is TIG welding, But I've also learned how to MiG and Arc weld. So throughout this blog I will teach you step by step how you can learn how to weld like a pro and if you have any Questions, feel free to leave a comment and I will Reply. I am also gonna be putting up some Videos on some examples of how to hold the torch, and how to move the torch, how far you need to push the foot pedal, or if your machine is a strike arc, how you would be able to strike an arc without getting the tungsten stuck to the metal. so these few paragraphs would teach you how to weld aluminum, stainless, and mild steal using the MiG welder, and the TIG welder.
     

Aluminum:

First thing you want to do when welding aluminum is make a judgement on how to set your machine. You want to set your machine on a setting that will not burn through your material, So if your welding just say an aluminum plate that's a  1/8'th of an inch thick, you want to set your machine at about 150 to 160, that is about the average setting for your TIG welding machine for welding something this thick. next check your ac balance, you want the balance set to about 7 and 1/2. now you are ready to weld your plates together. After you have set your machine, unscrew the Back cap, and I usually push my tungsten out about a 16th of an inch, I need to be able to see my tungsten. The next thing you want to do is make sure your tungsten has a ball at the end of it, this is called AC TIG ball formation, now you are ready to weld.

: grab one of the plates and hold it with the hand your not gonna weld with and hold it on top of the other plate, its gonna look like an upside down T. < Figure 1. a

1. B

:Then your gonna tack each side of the plates in the corners to hold it together.
< figure 1.B

1.C

:When your tacking the two corners, you want to pulse the corner by pushing down on the pedal for a quick power blast, and do so at an angle where you want the gas to push the corner of the top plate towards the bottom, simultaneously until you see the plates fuse together.  as seen in < figure 1. c


Now that you have your two plates all tacked up, your ready to weld them together.

put the two tacked pieces in front of you on the table, and hold your torch comfortably, face the nozzle directly towards the corners and push the pedal half way. see figure 1.D

1.D

Wile holding the pedal down, you want to watch both plates melt together directly in the corner.then wile holding the 3/32 aluminum rod, when you see the two plates fuse, you patiently add the rod into the melted part of the corner, and afterwards you move the torch slightly to the left, about 1/16 , dragging the puddle, then you add another injection from the rod,  and repeat this process until you reach the end of your plates. One thing to keep in mind is that you dont want to burn through the metals, so your speed would have to be determined buy the thickness of the metal, on half inch plates you would take more time to melt the to metals but its the same technique.