Affect of Magnets on welding MIG

[jesus_man]

So I wanted to add some tabs to a little project I am making for my Dad. I have a small and a large triangle welders magnet. I was using it to space the tab correctly and straight, but in such a way that the 1.25" wide bracket was laying flat on the side of the magnet. I tried to burn it in and the weld would splatter a LOT and not be uniform at all! I finally get one side of it welded down, but not pretty. I remove the magnet and start the other side, which seems to go much better?? I have one more tab to weld on. I use the magnet as an aligning tool again and tack the tab into place, but again it was splattering. After I get one good tack on the tab, I remove the magnet and the welding went smooth again. After I ground all the welds down to look nice, no one will know how bad it looked so no issues there.

So for those of you just learning like me, be mindful of using the magnet as it will affect your welding.

J.D.

[LarryL]

Arc Blow

I believe that a nearby magnet's effect on a welding arc is called "Arc blow." When I first began tig welding, I experienced the phenomenon of nearby magnets deflecting an arc while one is dcen welding. Arc blow does not affect the arc during ac tig welding. Nowadays I'll use a magnet to hold steel pieces in place just to tack weld them together. As soon as I've applied the tack welds, I'll set the magnet aside and complete the welding without it.
LarryL

[jesus_man]

That's what I did Larry. Thanks for the info.

J.D.