Spent a whole weekend trying to get a clean weld on a simple bracket

I was making a wall mount for a tool rack, just a basic L shape with some holes. My welds kept looking like bird poop, no matter how I adjusted the heat or my angle. Turns out the steel had a thin layer of mill scale I didn't clean off well enough. That little mistake cost me about eight hours of grinding and redoing. Anyone have a go-to method for prepping steel that saves time?

2 comments

2 Comments

brianm279h ago

Wait, eight hours just for mill scale? Are you sure it wasn't something else like your wire feed speed or gas flow? I've welded over light scale before and it's usually just a bit more spatter, not total bird poop.

olivia_morgan88h ago

Nah brianm27, trust me it was the scale. Thick crusty stuff, not that light film. My settings were dialed, just fought me all day.