Mig Welding Techniques Taught by a Machine...What?

Can a Robot teach you some new mig welding techniques?

I sure think so.

Watch this video closely and you will see a perfect demonstration of how to make a vertical uphill groove weld.

This video is filmed using an aluminum mig welding setup but that doesn’t matter. What matters is paying attention to the movement of the torch.

You will have to be patient because the good stuff is about half way into the video but it’s worth the wait.

I have always thought that watching automated welding machines run was a good way to become a better welder…but only if you pay attention to what’s going on.

The reason a machine weld looks so uniform is because the torch maintains the same stickout distance and also moves precisely the same distance forward every time it travels from side to side.

It advances about 1/8” every time...That’s key.

You might think that since you are not a robot, you can never be that precise.

Well you are both wrong and right. You can never be as precise as a robot,… But you can be better.

Most of us that work with nuts and bolts can tell a ¼ inch bolt head from a 3/8 inch easily. We can also tell a 3/32 rod from a 1/8 rod. We don’t even need for them to be next to each other. So we are capable of estimating 1/8 inch pretty well.

The next time you are welding a vertical weld, in your minds eye, try to move the arc exactly the same distance each time you go across the puddle. Try 1/8 inch first and go from there. Another thing that I want you to notice is the mig welding technique used.

It is a series of triangles.

The mig gun actually moves in and out of the groove so that the stickout stays the same. This can be described as “tracing the puddle”. That’s actually what this mig welding technique does is trace the puddle by making triangles. Each triangle advances about 1/8 inch.

Even though the video is showing an example of mig welding aluminum, the same technique works on steel. The stickout used (stickout is the amount of wire sticking out from the contact tip to the arc) should only be about 3/8 inch for steel and up to ¾ inch for aluminum.But the technique of making the 3d triangles works for most anything.

I have even started using it with stick welding and it works great for vertical welds.

Why don’t you give it a try and let me know how it works by going to the contact us page?

Good luck welder

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