Tool Reviews

Mill scale is the dark, hard coating left on hot-rolled carbon steel after it cools. It is mostly iron oxides, not bare steel. MIG welding over it can work for…

Small gaps are common when patching sheet metal, repairing rust, or joining parts that did not fit as tightly as planned. MIG welding can bridge those gaps, but filling a…

Thick steel does not automatically require a larger MIG welder, but it does require enough heat to fuse the root of the joint. Most penetration problems come from a cold…

Rust inside a MIG gun liner causes more than an ugly weld. It increases feeding resistance, makes the wire spool surge, and can produce bird-nesting at the drive rolls or…

Correct MIG wire-feed tension is a balance: tight enough to push the wire through the liner, but light enough that the drive rolls do not crush it. Excessive pressure can…

A shielding-gas leak can waste an expensive cylinder and ruin welds before the problem is obvious. MIG welding gas leaks also create a safety issue: argon and carbon dioxide can…

Contact-tip-to-work distance (CTWD) is the distance from the end of the MIG gun’s contact tip to the surface of the workpiece. It is closely related to wire stickout, but the…

Horizontal fillet welds—often called the 2F position—are easier than vertical or overhead welds, but they still expose poor technique quickly. Gravity pulls the molten puddle toward the lower plate, which…

Lap joints made from unequal steel thicknesses are common in brackets, automotive repairs, equipment frames, and sheet-metal fabrication. They are also easy to weld poorly. The thin piece can burn…

Polarity is one of the easiest MIG settings to get wrong and one of the fastest ways to ruin a weld. The correct choice depends on the wire, not simply…