How to Mig weld for beginners

[@James-sz2hr]

Some of the best welding videos on KZbin. Very detailed explanations and demonstrations!. Thanks!

[@massa-blasta]

I just wish I could see the person talking. I understand witness protection program and all that. I think he's a giant. 😉

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

Thanks for the kind words 😀. I have a years worth of content in my brain just for welding. I have far less time/ experience welding than most other things (like restoring historic buildings and fixing cars). Above anything else I hope to inspire people to pickup skills and build stuff. 😀

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

Funny story, guys at my work needed up finding me, and now I have two machinists watching my videos 😅. I never mentioned anything about having a channel but they found a video searching for something. Maybe one day I will show myself, but for now I will be the mystery man. I am actually fairly well known in my area, but I try to keep a very low profile. I have no desire for fame and I have passed numerous opportunities to be interviewed on the TV dealing with some of my restoration projects. I just want to inspire people to learn things and do good for them selves. 😀

[@steinbauge4591]

Looks very thorough yes.

[@jessealanis7443]

Best tutorial on the subject I've found so far. I appreciate you sharing your vast knowledge with us. Thank you

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

Thanks for the kind words 😀. I have a couple more MiG welding videos coming out in the next week or so. I want to see everyone knowing what they are doing so they can build cool stuff 😀

[@Cptnbond]

I finally got my flux-core wire, thus the MIG welding series will be very timely. Cheers.

[@johngersna3263]

Outstanding Greg! I just bought a new Hobart Handler 210 MVP. It might be overkill for what ill be doing but my old 110 Powermate Quick Fix was 40 years old so I decided to treat myself. I figured that I deserved it. 🙂 Anyway, I'm really looking forward to this series on MIG welding. God bless and have a wonderful day. 😊👍👍

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

There will be a ton of info to help you out coming out in the next few weeks 😀

[@morgb2321]

Always appreciate you teaching me something new everyday sir, Thank you!

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

You’re welcome, and thanks for sticking around to learn stuff 😀.

[@mariodesmo]

Again, an excellent video! Looking forward to the next one!

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

Thanks 😀. I have a bunch more coming out soon. Without a doubt they will help people get dialed in on MiG 😀

[@ectmagic]

Just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to make these videos. Been watching the stick welding playlist but then decided to get a gasless mig instead since they're not much more expensive. Your explanations of things are really clear so hopefully I'll manage to not make a complete mess of things once I get the welder 🤣

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

Thanks for the kind words 😀. You will find Gasless flux core far easier than stick. The only thing I don’t like about it is the tendency to get porosity, however using better quality wire and perfecting the stick out will take care of 99% of it. You surely will make a mess of it at first, but it won’t take long to get much better. The real cool thing is that stick and flux core are somewhat similar, so skill gained with one will help with the other. If you can stick weld good flux core wire will be very easy. If I were you I would focus on stick first and get decent then move to flux core. It’s kind of like training for a 10 mile race when you only need to run 5 miles, you will be in better shape than if you just train for 4 miles and hope you can make it 5 lol.

[@ectmagic]

@@makingmistakeswithgreg would you say it's worth getting a cheap and nasty ($20 used kind of price) stick welder and a reasonably ok but not the best quality flux core welder over just getting a decent flux core if budget is tight?

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

@@ectmagic based on that situation I would say spend the money on a single decent flux core welder. The reason is simple: a decent flux core welder can do much with less skill than stick. A decent flux core welder can weld everything from auto body thick to 1/4in steel. A stick welder will really struggle on anything thinner than 1/8th. If you had a bunch of 3/16th or thicker material to weld you would be better off with the stick machine. If I had to pick one single welder to own on a budget 100% it would be a flux core machine. Just use quality wire with it on critical jobs, cheap wire for practice.

[@ectmagic]

@@makingmistakeswithgreg thanks for the advice. I'm mostly wanting to learn so that I can keep my car going beyond it's natural lifespan, so it sounds like the flux core is the way to go

[@mkearn724]

Always very informative as usual. I truly enjoy the content that you produce.

[@Bradleyscience]

Very well done and quite informative. Cheers

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

Thanks for the kind words 😀. I will have a bunch more MiG welding videos coming out shortly so stay tuned 😁.

[@alienpioneer]

You're a gem, thank you !

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

You’re welcome 😀

[@scrapperstacker8629]

Great video. I have a Millermatic 135 that I bought probably 20 years ago I barely used it because my career took a different path. But now I want to get back into welding mostly as a hobby doing scrap iron art. And maybe a few small side jobs. Thank you for all the information.

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

No problem 😀

[@jimhowell4064]

Another great video!

[@user-vw6ej7ib5c]

Thankyou, very clear. You are a good comunicator.

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

Thanks for the kind words 😀. If you're into learning mig welding I have a new mig welding video coming out this upcoming saturday. Its titled "Mig welding blind". I highly recommend watching it because I show how you can make good welds without knowing where the welders settings are at. It's easier than it sounds and if you practice what's shown in the video you will become a much better mig welder. 😀

[@massa-blasta]

not going back to C25, after using Co2. Just use a slightly higher voltage and a slightly lower wire feed speed, save money and increase penetration. To dial in on a Hobart, I suppose it would be better to use a lower voltage tap and higher WFS with C25 or a higher voltage tap and lower WFS with Co2.

[@ismaelzambrano1945]

Amazing videos thanks

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

You’re welcome, thanks for taking the time to learn Inorder to better your skills 😀

[@scottjune3554]

All right that seems to be a decent welder

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

So far I like it a lot. It’s too bad the prices skyrocketed because I paid well under 500$ shipped to my door for it with rebate. The cheapest I can find now is over 700 and am not sure the rebate is still good 🙁

[@MyLifeinChile]

As a new welder I am absolutely loving your videos! I'm hoping you can answer a question for me. I just bought an inexpensive mig/ flux core welder and I notice that the contact tip sticks out from the nozzle about .056 inches or about 1.4mm. is this a problem? I primarily bought the machine as a flux core welder but like the possibility of using gas one day. Thanks

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

Great question. That small of a stickout shouldn’t be a huge issue. As long as you keep that tip to weld pool distance at about 3/8th (9.5mm) with mig and about 5/8th (15-16mm) for flux core you should be ok. If you notice porosity, lots of soot, or other indications of poor gas coverage, you could sand the tip down a bit and it may help. If everything seems fine you should be ok 😀👍

[@melgross]

Work clamp Greg, work clamp.i know habits die hard. It may seem to be pedantic, but while we know it’s not a ground, beginners don’t. You know what will happen if the work clamp is attached to a real ground.

[@Zonkotron]

Nothing will happen. Lol. Every time you weld on building framework you are connecting it to a real ground. Transformers, electronically controlled or not, do insulate.

[@iamomid]

Greg, for Esab Handyarc 160i mig welder, do you think that duty cycle of 15% => 160A,22V, 60% => 80A,18V and 100% => 62A,17.1V is too bad? It costs around €650

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

A 160a mig welder can weld about 1/4inch steel. Although the duty cycle is low, it’s probably based on real world numbers. Aka ambient temp above 90, assuming a reasonable “cushion” before thermal trip. If you want to weld 1/8th (3.2mm) and thinner I think you will be just fine. If you want to weld 1/4 (6mm or so) and a bunch of it you might want to go to a 200amp class machine.

[@markdeitchman8938]

just curious: have you experienced any problems with circuit breaker tripping when using your firepower welder on 120 volts? I have an everlasting 140 mig welder. it tends to trip my 20 amp breaker when I am welding on the higher settings.

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

Great question. I ran it on 120 just to see if it worked, but I didn’t push it. The biggest issue with MiG welders is it’s very easy to exceed 20amps from a wall outlet. Now a 20 amp breaker has two ways it will trip: a direct short of probably 30 amps which is a instantaneous trip, and a thermal trip that requires time to heat up a element to trip the breaker. It’s easily possible to well exceed 20 amps on a 20 amp breaker and not immediately trip it. Well the MiG process is funny because it’s output is dependent of wire speed. Your voltage is fixed but it’s amp output (and thus current draw from the wall) is based on how much wire you cram in. When you run on 120v some welders will only allow a max voltage and wire speed (aka it caps settings), most won’t. So all it takes is 20-30fpm of wire too much and you draw too much current. To put things in perspective a 120volt 20 amp circuit will allow say 25amps intermittent. That’s 3,000 watts of power at the wall. Well a MiG machine running 18 volts could output 157 amps at 100% efficiency. Sounds like a lot until you realize most welders are lucky to hit 60%. So you’re actually looking at 100 amp output from the welder off that circuit without actually tripping the breaker. Most welders will trip a 20 amp breaker at around 125 to 140 amps of output with MiG, depending on voltage setting. This is why when welding thicker material on 120 I always tell people to run flux core, you can get solid penetration that MiG won’t get on 120 volt input power. I am actually going to shoot a video tomorrow dealing with MiG welder efficiencies and that will definitely clear up a ton of thoughts on it. I will compare outputs and efficiencies on 120 and 240.

[@markdeitchman8938]

@@makingmistakeswithgreg thanks greg for the detailed explanation. appreciate your making the time to respond.

[@philthyphil3324]

I have very little experience with mig, I mostly weld stick and tig, but ive been thinking of getting a mig welder. How are you liking the firepower fp 200? Its on my list, along with the primeweld mig180.

[@yurimodin7333]

I just got the PrimeWeld mig180 with the spool gun for $550. I have not used it on mig yet but so far the stick welding its done has been pretty good, it actually gets penetration with 7014 unlike my old buzzbox. I hear great things about Primeweld and everything looks good, I just got my welding cart setup and my bottle mounted today so I should be running some mig soon.

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

I have never ran the primeweld mig180. I can tell you the firepower fp-200 has exceeded my expectations. I paid 460 or so dollars for it (150$ rebate) through welding supplies by ioc. I do mostly tig and some stick, I am actually a very inexperienced MiG welder. The machine runs smooth an welds good. If you can find it with a rebate it would be 100% worth it. Esab sells the same welder as a esab brand for around 1,000$ so its not a cheap welder. I have atleast 10 more videos coming out with the machine so it’s limits will be pushed lol 😀

[@yurimodin7333]

I just ran the MIG180 today on mig for the first time, seems to work good as far as I can tell.

[@jimgobrew]

Please tell everyone the bass flow depending on the size of the nozzle

[@markdeitchman8938]

correction: everlast, not everlasting.