MIG Welder

Gas metal arc welding (GMAW), sometimes referred to by it's subtypes called metal inert gas (MIG) welding or metal active gas (MAG) welding, is a handy welding process used in various industries and factories. This type of welding involves holding a consumable wire electrode near the metal parts to be joined with the flame being fed through a welding gun. A MIG welder can be either semi-automatic or automatic. Using a direct current (DC) power supply, GMAW (a MIG welder) can be classified into four broad categories; globular, short-circuiting, spray and pulsed-spray. Each of these variations have their own advantages and disadvantages. Mostly, a direct current power source is used with a MIG welder.

The MIG welder came about during World War II. It was developed to speed up the process of weapons manufacture and war equipment production. After the war, when the economy thrived, this welding method was incorporated in workshops and industries. Postwar, and with a booming economy, it was mostly used in shops and factories. MIG stands for metal inert gas. Stick welding involves melting the flux on the electrode and also forming a gas. This gas is responsible for protecting the melted material from exposure to atmospheric gases like hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and others. In stick welding, the flux on the electrode melts and forms a gas to shield the puddle from the atmosphere. The atmosphere has gases like hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, as well as others. These gases can also cause weld defects in the final weld if they get into the weld pool. A MIG welder involves a solid steel wire spool being fed out of the machine through a liner that ejects from the end of the welding gun. In MIG, a spool of solid-steel wire is fed from the machine, through a liner that comes out of a contact tip in the MIG gun. The contact tip is hot, or electrically charged, and when one pulls the trigger it melts the wire for the weld puddle. The choices are gas shielded and flux cored wire with advantages and disadvantages for each type of welding, but gas shielded is by far the nicer method. Welding is truly a useful art in almost all aspects of life.