Well said Greg. Thanks for taking the time to explain it.
Mario - I'm a total newb at welding, I have a Lincoln SP135 that came set up with .030 wire, I practiced and practiced and seldom produced welds I was satisfied with. I recently switched to .023 wire and have only practiced a couple of times now but I'm kicking myself for not doing it a couple years ago. For practice I've been using some 1/2" x .065 sq tubing welding up small square frames and T's and with the .023 wire I'm actually satisfying myself.......
(door is wide open Greg)
I picked up some scrape sheet metal and that's my next challenge. No doubt understanding, anticipating, and controlling heat induced shrinkage and contraction is the challenge.
As you mentioned proper fill lighting is critical, I thought the arc itself would be enough, but without proper light my results are embarassing.
Tool acquisition is the other fun part of this endevour! It would be cool if someone would post a sticky that identifies all the basic tubing and sheetmetal tools needed to get started then phase 1, 2, 3 tool needs all the way to the Greg Weld level.
