Viewing the Puddle in MIG

[jlobin]

I am new to MIG welding. My experence, in the past was with stick welding, and I was always able to see the puddle, and therefore I was able to visually control the weld. I don't see any way to view the puddle in MIG welding, or am I not doing it correctly.

[mc-motorsports]

It's just diffrent, welding with SMAW, you have slag covering the weld as you go, so it's easy to see the puddle. MIG is much more difficult, you'll have to experiment with diffrent heat and wire speed settings, wire size and material thickness, and try whipping or weaving also.

[15mgtar]

For me it is very difficult to stick weld because I can only see the slack covering the molten metal. And resulting molten metal only sticking to 1 side of joint.

[OS2Pilot]

Hey jlobin,
To get the proper aid to help you, you need to indicate type of metal(steel/SS/AL). If steel, are you using solid wire w/gas, or flux-core? Are you using a regular or auto-dark helmet? What thicknesses of metal are you attempting to weld, heat/wf settings, & the direction of puddle you are employing? The more information you provide will result in the best method of application to solve your issues.

Denny

[mordantly]

yeah, when i bought my handler 120 box, i found the nozzle irritating as it blocks the view in addition to the differences in methods. i use a shade 8 for mig. it helps a lot! im used to shade 10, 150 dc-reverse and lighting up the whole field by my arc.