What Is Welding?

What is Welding?

Welding is the fusion of two same or similar materials by the application of heat. At Your DIY Spot we are involved in welding metal.

Here are some of the joints you can learn to weld when you do the welding course at Your DIY Spot.

5 basic welding joints

The most common welding processes are arc welding and MIG welding, and also TIG welding.

These are welders at Your Diy Spot.

The welding process(es)  uses a power supply to create an electric arc between an electrode and  the base metal in order to heat the metals at the  joints to be welded.

It can be done using either direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC).

MIG (Metal Inert Gas) and TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) welding are Gas shielded welding proceses. During MIG welding,  a continuous flow of shielding gas  and consumable wire is fed  through a welding gun. 

 TIG welding uses a continuous flow of gas through the torch while the welder introduces the filler wire manually to the weld pool.

Some advantages of MIG welding are that it is easier to learn, longer welds can be made without the need to stop and restart.

Advantages of TIG welding are that it allows welds of higher quality, with or without filler wire, good control of heat,  low distortion and it has a greater ability to weld thinner metals.

TIG Welding is used for welding a wide range of metals including stainless steel and aluminium.

MIG weld seam on aluminium

Welding is useful when done well,  when done badly it can be a disaster.

Here we have

the Good,                      The Bad                        and the Truly Ugly.

Good weld Bad weld 1Ugly. ugly weld

We will show you how to weld. At first you will may start out doing ugly welds, then with practise and some guidance, your welding will improve. Then eventually after a bit more practise, you will produce good welds regularly like someone who has done trade certification.

Some of the most basic and frequent mistakes in welding are:

  1. Not preparing the weld joint surfaces properly.  Any paint, rust or dirt can lead to problems and a bad weld as a result.
  2. Using the incorrect shielding gas for the intended application.
  3. Wrong polarity. This could produce an inadequate weld bead.
  4. Wrong contact tip sizes.
  5. Incorrect travel speed, i.e. going too fast or too slow.
  6. Incorrect welding machine settings.
  7. Insufficient shielding – i.e.  to much wind exposure blowing the gas away while welding.
  8. Not maintaining the the welding machine and its components, like liners, contact tips, and other parts.
  9. Mismatched filler material, i.e. not having the right composition for the metal being welded.
  10. And last but not least..   the human factor.

At Your DIY Spot we will teach you how to avoid all theses mistakes, and having you making beautiful welds in no time.