An arc welder uses electric current to melt steel and join pieces together with a welding rod. The rod is covered in flux to protect the weld from contaminants. The traditional arc welder is being replaced by the MIG welder, which uses a coil of wire and a shielding gas. The TIG welder uses a wire rod dipped into a molten weld pool. Eye protection is necessary when observing welding.
An arc welder is a device used to join two or more pieces of steel together. Using electric current, the arc welder generates enough heat to actually melt the pieces of steel. A welding rod or electrode is placed into the positive side of the arc welder leads in what is commonly called the sting, while the negative, or ground, lead is attached to the steel with a clamp. Striking the electrode on the steel creates a spark, and as the steel melts, the electrode melts into the pool of molten steel and brings the pieces together.
The solder rod is covered in a material known as flux. As the rod melts, the flux creates gases that protect the weld from contaminants and allow welds to cool without being affected. Once the weld has cooled, the slag from the welding process must be chipped off the weld and wire brushed to ensure the weld is presentable. It is best to never look at an arc welder in use, as the flash from the welding process is as bright as the sun. If you observe welding without eye protection, serious eye damage can result.
The traditional arc welder is slowly but surely being replaced by the wire welder. The Metal Inert Gas, or MIG, welder uses a shielding gas that protects the weld instead of a coated welding rod. MIG also varies from arc welding machine in that no welding rod is used. The MIG welder uses a coil of special wire which is driven into the weld puddle by an electric motor. In arc welding, the welder must be sure to move his hand down as the welding rod melts. This is done to keep the distance from the rod end to the weld puddle the same length, resulting in uniform weld depth and penetration.
MIG welding, unlike an arc welder, feeds the wire from the spool, so the welder only needs to focus on moving the hand in the direction of the weld. Settings on the wire welder allow the welder to fine-tune the characteristics of the machine. The tungsten inert gas, or TIG, welder resembles the arc welder in that a wire welding rod is dipped into a molten weld pool created by heating steel with a welding torch. The wire rod is melted, creating a weld bead, and the process is repeated until the entire weld is complete.
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