Tack Welding

[John Payne]

This is my first post here. I found out about this site from the chaski welding forum.

I'm pretty much a novice welder, I have made a couple of useful mobile bases for the machines in my garage. I would like to get better at tack welding with my Lincoln 175+ (.063 tubing, MIG/Argon/CO2, .025 wire).

At the recommended settings, my tack welds are globs of metal. I can see where they were after I finish weld because of the bump. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[rangerod]

Tack Welding

John Payne

Ther will usually be a "bump" left after you tack weld. It just how big of a bump. If the tack is a bump but is not that big it will be consumed when you weld the joint up. If you can take some pics & post them it will be easier to see if your tacks are excessive or not BTW welcome to the board you will definately find some very good advice from the more experienced welders on this site. Have fun

[Sberry]

I am not sure what kind of work you are doing but I tack in gaps, cracks, on the toes of angles and all kind of advantageous places to reduce the runover in obvious spots. I grind a lot of tacks up for critical apps too.

[Hobart Expert Rock]

HI JOHN PAYNE..............WELCOME ABOARD..........IT WILL HELP TREMEDOUSLY IF YOU COULD TELL US WHAT YOUR PROJECT IS....... THIS WILL ALLOW ALL ON BOARD TO COMMENT AND A LOT OF US WILL......... YOU SEE EVERYONE LIKES TO HELP SOLVE THE PROBLEM..................WE WILL HELP....................ROCK.......
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[Guest]

Hi JP, welcomr to the forum...Here's how I do it...make your tacks the same size as the weld your going to put down...1/4" long to, say, 3/4" depending on how much the tack has to hold. As you weld up to the tack, melt into the tack and watch your build up then sweep in front of the tack, and back up and catch the first ripple that has the height you want. With a little practice you can do it and never know where the tacks were.