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Item 62181
SAFETY
MAINTENANCE
BASIC WELDING
WELDING TIPS
SETUP
1. Press (and hold) Trigger and contact area to
be welded with electrode wire to ignite arc.
2. For a narrow weld, you can usually draw the wire in
a steady straight line,
this is called a
stringer bead
.
For a wider weld, draw the wire back and forth
across the joint.
This is called a
weave bead
and takes
practice to perform properly.
3. Hold Torch in one hand and the face shield in
the other. If a hands-free welding shield (not
included, see #6, page 4 for guidelines) is used,
then both hands can be used to control Torch.
4. Direct the welding wire straight into the joint.
This gives an angle of 90° (straight up and
down) for butt (end to end) welds, and an
angle of 45° for fillet (T-shaped) welds.
5. The end of torch should be tilted so that wire
is angled anywhere in-between straight on
and 15° in the direction you are welding. The
amount of tilt is called the
drag angle
.
6. The welding wire should extend no more than
1
/
2
″
past the tip.
This distance is called
stickout
or
CTWD
- Contact Tip to Work Distance.
stringer bead
weave bead
Weld Torch angles,
viewed from front of weld joint.
45°
fillet weld joint
90°
butt weld joint
Stickout
(up to
1
/
2
″)
Weld
Direction
Drag Angle
0-15°
Basic Welding Technique