I bought myself a welder for my birtday a couple weeks ago. I welded a couple beads on some steel and bought some 3/16" steel to practice on which I welded together and made useless. I couldn't wait any longer so I took a victor 1.5 apart and started.
This was my first attempt

Second weld

third was the end

other side


this is the jaws, the top weld was set at a higher temp and went better than the bottom jaw

finished product



finally


Welders or trap modifiers please give some feedback as this is my first welding experience. I think I've figured out to use high heat and I've got the speed set correctly but have a hard time keeping a steady hand unless I can rest on something.
Also are the self darkening helmets worth the money?

i havent done any mods on traps, but was going to school to get a welding certificate from carl sandburg college, i was about halfway through when i switched majors, anyway, what kind of welder is it? not beutiful, but i can see your getting better, i think your running serveral short beads over one another, i would practice some more, the mods i have seen havent been welded all the way across, but instead there are a couple of short intermitent beads, it also looks like you were playing with the dials, i can see some spots are too hot(they melted way in) and some parts are to cold (it looks like they are just sitting on top, didnt bite in) this might also be caused by moving the arc in and out which is bad dont do it, dont try to hold perfectly still, instead find a rythm and make slight movement back and forth. are you pushing the arc arcoss the weld, or draging it acros? looks like you might have done both, but i cant tell in the pics. by all means rest your hand on something, as a welder you have to be comfortable to do your best work, you only need to move your wrist slightly for what you are doing, so it shouldnt be a problem, imo the auto darkening helmets are worth the money, i hate getting all the clamps out and trying to keep a peice just so while i stumble around in the dark trying to get positioned, with an auto helmet 9 times out of 10 i can hold my peices together with one hand and weld with the other, and see what im doing while thats goin on, makes for more presice welds i think, and on small stuff, like your traps, you never need to take off your helmet, all the work can be done with your facemask down, and when your ready you just grab the welder and go to it, important to me when im starting and stoping alot. also, and this isnt mandatory, but its the way i was tought, you should fill your craters, the little blowout when you end a weld suddenly, just hold that last bit a hair longer than you are now, makes a nice solid bead all the way across, i hope this helps you out, but really what you need is to practice, just get to know your welder

Thanks Wcrose19, I understood most of what you said. The welder is a simple 110 gasless, I was always pulling the arc but had a hard time keeping constant movement, I'd get stopped(hot) then try and make up for it(to fast and cold). But for now it is the most beautiful trap I've ever seen.(until the next one)
thanks again

you mods will work fine but I feel you are overdoing your welding, All you need is to weld the ends of the baseplates and then just a little tack weld on each side of the D ring. You really don't need to weld along the entire edges. Same on your laminations, just weld the ends and then a couple tack welds along the mid sections. To much welding can and has warped metal on traps before.

But I will say this, even though you are learning, I have seen experienced welding shops do worse welding jobs on traps than you did.

Just my thoughts and experiences, Keep trying, You'll get it!

P

Thanks Purity, I guess I wanted to keep practicing so I filled in every spot I could. Yes the trap was getting hot.

Not bad for your first try! As Wcrose said, it really isn't necessary to weld all the way around the seams, just in a few key areas. For example, on the laminations you only need to weld at the ends and in the middle. It doesn't take much to make a strong connection. This will also help to control heat build up.

To help steady your hand, use your off hand for support. It's perfectly alright to rest your hand on something to help keep consistent travel speed and arc length.

I would highly recommend an auto darkening helmet. You will find it is much easier to get better results when you can see what you are doing at all times.

All said, the only way to get better is practice, but you've got a good start.

Josh

Nice. I'm about to try my first mods. What material do you use for the jaws?

strips were mb brand 3/16"
base is JC's
All of my traps are getting 3 mb crunch proofs

I just got done modifying some traps for the first time also. A buddy of mine did the welding. He did a couple of the baseplates like your first pic where he welded a bead all the way down instead of just in the middle and the ends. I had to do a lot of grinding so that the lever would fit right over the frame where the spring pin comes through as I couldn't set the trap after I got it put back together because the weld was causing the the lever to not sit right. Did you have any problems with that?

No I didn't have a problem with the levers. I beveled the edge of the baseplate and the trap where I could so my attempt was to weld in the groove. The levers ride higher than the weld and I didn't weld under the part of the base the spring pin fit though.

looks good to me

ive never used a 110 gassles, so for all i know you are doing great, we had real fancy migs at school, and i just have a little stick welder at home, i havent used it for trap mods, but i dont really need to do any mods either, anyway the best thing to do is practice, play with welding at dif speeds temps, and the motion you make, can be simple back and forth, slight zig-zag, someguys make tiny circles, not on small stuff, but with the big gun i use to do squares, to makesure the thick metal was hot when a made my weld, anyway practice makes perfect, but dont get frusterated if you reach a point were you cant get any better, that just means you have outgrown the machine you are useing and its time to upgrade

go to http://www.traps4kids.com and "enter" and go 1/2 way down the page on the left to "trap modifications" and you'll see all you need to know.
It's a great site full of info.
Hope this helps
John

You got good advice from several posters. I used to weld woodstoves in a factory, so had plenty of welding...LOL. Try to get your welds more centered onto the material (practice and auto darkening helmet)

Try some antisplatter spray (keeps the dingleberries easy to knock off)as you aren't using gas sheilding.

I use half moons to get a smooth pattern and prop your hand up with the other and slide it along. Use it as a rest. Remember, you are pushing a puddle, not pulling it.

Play around with your amperages, wire speeds etc. On the third picture right hand side of the trap, you had the speed, amperage etc correct. On the 1st and 2nd one you didn't get enough "cut" into the metal. Again, practice will look after it.

I don't have any fancy argon wirefeed gear of my own like I used to use at the factory. Heck, that kind of gear makes it easy to do a perfect job. Just a cheap stick welder.Here's about the best I can do with that.