Avoiding welding mistakes is more about techniques and best practices than using sophisticated equipment. Defective work has a domino effect in whatever application the weld is used for.
Welding mistakes fall into that elusive category of either learning from your mistakes or being smart and earning from the errors that others make. Better still, is a list of common mistakes, so you can avoid repeating classic welding disasters.
Why Avoid Welding Mistakes?
You’d think the answer is obvious but the facts show that some half a million people were injured in welding accidents in the space of just one year. So, you get that welding is dangerous and why shouldn’t it be? You’re messing around with extremely potent levels of heat and energy needed to bond two pieces of metal in all sorts of ingenious ways for all manner of inventive applications.
In covering the three most common welding mistakes then, we are not going to remind you that safety comes first. Your personal protective equipment, equipment, and working environment are included. If and when you are required to operate a welder outdoors, or in confined spaces, or from temporary scaffolding high above the ground, all due caution can never be over-emphasized.
That said, let’s list the top three rookie mistakes that affect the quality of your work.
Welding Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make
- Iron Contamination – when stainless steel meets iron particles and any medium conducting electricity, you’ve got the ingredients for galvanic corrosion. That translates into a deterioration of steel’s passive layer and your risk of pitting – another rookie mistake – is significantly increased. Making this mistake is most often caused by dirty tools and equipment.
- Shoddy Storage and Handling of Filler Metals – A classic welding mistake is made by incorrect storage of filler metals. People tend to keep them where they can be exposed to grease, oil, dirt, or moisture. You don’t want to know what that does to your welding project. Best practice would be to store filler materials in a clean, dry place under controlled temperatures.
- Arc Strikes – You may argue that this happens unintentionally. That may be so, but whenever your welding arc strikes out of your work, remember that it is going to ruin any metal it touches, including the piece you’re likely working on. To avoid this error, you need to tune into your welding zone and focus, focus, focus.
Whether you are a home-spun welding wizard or it is your job, good welding is something of an art. You have to have the end in mind as you are working live with heat intense enough to turn metal into liquid form which tends to want a life of its own unless it is in skilled hands. Common welding mistakes can and should be avoided. Happy welding to you!
Contact the Steelmor team for welding requirements, questions, and projects.