Top 5 Fabrication and Welding MISTAKES! (And how to fix them) 

Finally someone who knows which direction to used a grinder! Yes sparks should be coming towards you trust me sparks coming at you is a lot better than a grinder coming at you at lightspeed lol

I have been welding for years and the tips you have just learned me are now an everyday practice for me , Thank you

I use two speed squares, one for marking which hasn't been altered. And a second one that I've nipped the corner off of the 90 by about an inch, so it'll fit over a weld bead when making sure everything's square.

Hey Ant , you should make a welding safety video , how to stay safe with all those fumes, which respirators to use. Etc. it would be a good help

For cutting dead on, or checking how well you're lined up before cutting, just butt your tape into the teeth on the blade and line your part up. Don't push too hard and deflect the blade though. When cutting off marks, I personally like marking my cuts dead on and splitting the mark on the edge of the blade when I cut. Also as others have mentioned don't tack corners on structural work.

When marking out fab points, I usually use a steel ruler (of varying lengths) to do the marking. Easier than a tape unless the distance is too long. I bought some cable connectors that hold the cable plugs together. They're waterproof as they cover the entire joint. Don't remember where I got them. Had them for years and work great. Yeah...I've set fire to myself a few times with sparks 😆😆 Back in the '70s flared jeans with shredded hems were the "in thing". They made great kindling...

Love the videos man!! Great job!! I always seem to learn something new or look at something a little different with your videos, I appreciate the guidance!!

Awesome stuff man! I’m really digging this channel!

in structural work, tacking the corner increases failure rate. stress accumulates at corners so you should weld around those if the weld is important. cosmetic/light duty, it does not matter. if you were welding a fish plate on a cracked vehicle frame, tack near the center, weld just off the tack and around the corner to near your next tack. do the same on the opposite corner, then grind out the tacks and weld up the gaps

Good videos bro glad I found your channel. Im in Welding school. All this tips you give is very helpful and informative. Keep welding and helpin others👍

Possibly the best sign off ever! Legend.

Great video enjoyed it and learned something as well so big thanks keep up the great work and be good👍👍

I wasnt expecting it but all of those tips were useful. A tip I can give you is from a video from the Fabrication series where he shows that by scoring the metal and not plunging the angle grinder at all you can prolong your disk's life by 2 or 3 times I think it was.

good idea to put an "X" on the side to be discarded/cut to remind yourself or your helper to cut on that side of the line/mark.....

Yes, he is correct about sending the sparks towards your body and he’s also correct about making sure your shirt doesn’t take the hit. I’ve set a shirt or two on fire.

Cheers mate you say it how it is love your videos keep up the good work

Good tips we all make those mistakes sometimes

I just bought a engine drive welding machine and am planning on starting up a mobile welding business like yours and this video was very helpful these are just things that young people like me don’t know

Always a great video👍

I appreciate you brother you are one awesome welder. thank you for the tips appreciate it . God bless brother

I cut all my pieces (on a table) then layout (one) piece with 2 edge marks per intersecting bar (so I don’t have to eyeball from center) then I transfer that layout to all additional same pieces (on a table) instead of working off the ground and having to continually measure/layout. Also, instead of welding bars in (on the ground) I would weld bars in to make panels (on a table) then join section together.

Hey Anthony, As a lefty, I have a tip for you. Grinders are most definitely supposed to be held in your left hand. Give it a go, doing so left handed puts the disc on the opposite side of the grinder to your body. Allowing you to get the grinder closer to your body without throwing sparks all over yourself, resulting in greater stability and improved cut alignment (you can see over the disc onto the line better). In addition to this it allows you to brace off of the gearbox instead of the disc guard.

Great vid Anthony

Rut Row.....I will take note for sure.......thanks so much Mr Meltin'........hope the construction is going good....Paul

Thanks for your wisdom.

5:20 I usually use the edge of the the marker line. The marker width might be 1/8”, but the edge of the line is 0/8”. I usually use an arrow or scrubby marks to show which side is the side to cut

Great video!

4” on one end. 4 1/8 on the other. Perfect. Lol.

5:33 i would recommend turning that piece on it's side . Whenever possible always cut the smallest side

Well said 😂 big thumbs up.

I tack top center on something like that. But regardless of where the tacks are, hardwire or flux core, I just run beads over them and melt then in. I can't grind them flush because they are holding the thing I'm welding together. Hence why I keep a "tack weld" a "tack weld". Just a quick 'bzzt'. No beads until I'm ready. Id rather tack center on all the sides to avoid deformation of my fitup personally. (That said, with the stuff I weld at work it can range from pipe flanges, to wedges arranged in a circle to T-joints on an I-Beam) so it's probably situational on based on that. To each their own too, it still works. Thats how we learn in this industry.

“Look at that, dead fuckin nuts” welder talk for ya 😂❤️

8:02 I do this, this is very helpful when cutting straight lines with a grinder

Good video😎

When cutting I just butt the tape measure up against the blade and if you have a band saw you can just hook the tape on the blade. I got that tip from my local steel supplier 🍻🍺. Let’s have more stories anthony.

Ahaha subbed for the ending

The ending is hilarious haha

"a speed square is your friend" DARN RIGHT.

the other BIG thing is that if the sparks are comming toward you ... if the grinder catches it will get thrown away from you ......... a running grinder thrown with force comming toward you can take pieces off you faster than you know.

Appreciate you anthony

for marking a really fine line a scribe works great.

Awesomeness

thanks anthony

Dang Rockstar, its been awhile, along with huge entertainment value, you actually learned me some things! Well done!

Dot you have any videos showing or explaining how you price jobs out ?

Cheers for the content king 👑

Okay. Thanks 😊

It’s fitting seeing a welder behind bars lol been there

I learned the measure your mark the hard way, in our agg shop they had replaced the blade without telling me. I already had the marks placed but I measured infront of the line. My cut was almost an inch off and my teacher made me mig the whole gap

That first tip really only applies to mig right? As stick or flux core would penetrate and not sit on top?

I measure to the blade when cutting. Put the piece in the saw, measure from the edge of the blade to the edge of the material, move it until you get it where it needs to be, then cut it, always more accurate, and just the way I learned to do it.

I like your 😍😍 it teaching

Thank you for your time in creating this video. Much appreciated. How would you weld a crack in grey cast iron Goulds water pump down in the base of the bowl, the bend of the bowl or the seam but not. I only have a flux core welder with E71T-GS - 0.030 Inch Blue Demond wire. But, after I use a grinding wheel to make a trench I was thinking of using a nickel rod along with the pass. I would heat it up first after its all grinded and cleaned and I have a trench and holes drilled at each end. I will put it in a sand bath for 24 hours after I am all done. But, it's not more than an 1/8" deep cast iron. The crack goes all the way through. Hair line 98% of crack to about a two to 3 hairs crack 2% of crack. LOL. 1. Can I grind it out all the way through with a hole at each end of crack. I have been told not to go through the iron. But, there are no parts or anything on the other side that I have to be careful and not weld onto? 2. With using the flux and rod can I just go at a speed until the pool fills up all in one pass? The crack is about half the size of the pumps diameter. 4-5 inches. 3. Can I go the speed that would fill the trench then stop halfway or, (?, Distance of stop and go) Stitch it and come back before it cools all the way down to finish. 4. I can only get to the outside of the cover. Its about 10 " in diameter. I only have one shot. Please help don't judge because I am women. I have to get this done. Can't afford to be ripped off by someone else when I know I can do it We have no water. 3kids, and farm animals that need water. Update: I had called the manufacture and was told it was cast iron. But after grinding into it, its stainless steel.

It's the simple shit! Thanks

love all the curse words, a true welders vocab

Back and forth will also cut down on the amount of cutting wheels you'll go thru. That was proven by one of the reputable RU-vid channels - either Fireball Tool or The Fabrication Series.

Caught it Early!

Never measure from the end of a tape if you want spot on dimensions I've only been fabricating with box section for 35 years.

When marking out and using a speed square, Use a crows foot to mark it, place your marking utensil on the point and slide your square to you. That way you know for a fact you are directly on your mark

Mistake number 1. Not wearing safety glasses.

You should also when laying out measurements pull the tap from the same side

When I cut using the chop saw I usually mark dead on and cut behind it

Can’t mark center using a 1/4 inch wide mark. Unless you’re doing sub standard work

I liked this guy a lot compared other guys that attempt welding on here lol. You can always tell when someone knows what they're on about 👍

where did you buy em boots

I get it but what I do is cut on edge of line. Comes out perfectly each his own

Normally mark bang on the size then just cut half way down your line. Either way works I suppose.

The spark trick with the grinder is quite interesting. I cut so that the sparks go away from me and as you showed the grinder wants to "jump" some times. Thank you for the tips

Another tip, don’t welding anything out until the whole project is taced up

I don’t mark on center if I’m make railing besides the actual center of the top rail, I’ll just go over 4” or 3 7/8” whatever it is, then add my thickness, mark the lines. Then move over. Just depends what I’m doing though

MM77 Approved 👍🏼👍🏼…………..Black Stallion should sponsor you. I’m a hobbyist welder, I weld stuff for myself, friends, and family. I’ve ordered a BS jacket, gloves, one of those neck protectors, and while looking for the neck protector, found the glare shield that goes on the back of my hood. ( I’ve had a couple eye surgeries and the glare from behind me has caused me some problems. ) All this since watching your videos. Love your videos, SUBSCRIBE ! See, you didn’t expect that!! LOL!

That first weld was clean as fuck dude 👌

turns out i was making 3 of those mistakes pretty frequently

Thanks for these tips anthony!! Just started my welding channel, covering my journey at school, love for people to give me some feedback back. Thanks

Are you living in Montana ? If so call Infinet Machine in Absarokee Mt. it is up for sale. Bob

I like this fuc***g guy🤙🏽💯 im tryna learn this skill as we speak. (Underwater)

What temp are you running at

I'm dissapointed nobody caught this!! If you have a 24 inch opening and you want evenly spaced pickets you have to add a picket size to your 24 dimension or your last picket will be half a picket to wide. If his end picket was 3 1/2" all his others are 3 1/4"inside. Trust me on this!! I have layed out a million pickets. Its a very common rookie mistake in fact lts very easy to spot when looking at . A pro makes them all the same.this is how you do it with a .5" picket you add .5 to 24" so 24.5"÷6 = 4.083 center to center, find center or 12" inch mark your tube put 4.083 in memory function in calculator hit plus memory recall and you get 8.166 and so on. 4.083 is a long 1/16" and 8.166 is a short 3/16". A little practice and its easy. It will make your life easy in a rail shop. And for Gods sake use a calculator and learn decimals or your a hack. I have seen guys fail inspection of rail because of this 3.88" in between pickets but 4.12" between between picket and post

Hay bro keep up the bad ass work fuck haters make that money and push those skills some older guy have gave me some of the same tips changed the game love the content bro

Blade width = Saw kerf.

👍👍👍👍👍👍

The video was great, the sign-off DELIGHTFUL! Keep up the great work.

Weld around corners is stronger

🤙🤘👍

is that your welder?

Is this your shop or someone else's? Do you ever land a job where you work in someone else's shop and use their stuff?

😎👍

1:20, man, I thought that was some Cute Hot Babes knee in the shot, then I remembered you are up in the cold north....

1.Cross square 2. Cross square 3. Cross square again 🤣🤣

Don’t understand you got a cold cut saw

Fucking good video 😂

1:10 No controls; welding on the inside is different than the outside.

4:42

Good way to start your channel, I've been a fabricator/ welder for the best part of 44 years. I am still active and working in this field. I can help you and your followers. My specialty would be thin wall, and Galvanized tubing, heavy metal fabrication and structural welding. I can even show you guys many way's to prevent injuries in the work place by using simple steps...Great gob..well done

Tip 6: When scoring with a cutting wheel, it also preserves the life of your wheel. Plunging just eats your abrasive

I mark what I want and cut to the right of my line, leaving the entire line.

Run hotter pass and hotter fast tacs

45 DEGREE CORNERS for a CLOSED FRAME

This is great information. I am self taught so I appreciate all the great tips..

just curious, can you blink your eyes without cursing?