Proper Start & Stop Techniques for Welding

Part of the Video Series Welding Basics: Techniques for Tig, Mig & Arc Welds

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Learn proper starts and stops with a welding machine from an expert in arc, tig and mig welding in this free DIY video.

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Proper Start & Stop Techniques for Welding
Hello! My name is Mac and on behalf of expertvillage.com I am going to give you some tips and techniques on welding. Previously we had discussed running a string or bead and the proper direction of travel and how a student makes a proper bead of weld. These electrodes eventually become used up as you proceed with your weld and it becomes often necessary to change the electrode and pick up a bead of weld where you stopped and continue. Now it is extremely important to do this in the proper way. Avoid by all means making excessive strike marks on the plate. Strike marks are a defect, where cracks can start. The appropriate method for doing this is as follows. Proceed with your simple stringer bead, stop and change the electrode. When you go to strike your arc and reestablish your bead, strike your arc in the area where you will be welding over in the direction of travel; back up, pick up the end of the bead where you stopped, reverse direction and go back over top of your strike marks, continuing your bead to weld; melt the strike marks out and you will not have any strike marks on the plate. Strike marks are a defect and you need to avoid them. When the bead gets down to the end of the plate, make a simple back step of three eighths quarter of an inch to fill in the crater crack at the end, the crater at the end of the weld, so that you do not get any cracks emanating from it and break the arc.

About the Expert

Expert: Malcolm MacDonald has traveled extensively throughout Canada working in almost every aspect of the Welding Trade Industry since 1968. Read More