Harbor Freight Tools Vulcan Migmax 215 Owner's Manual & Safety Instructions page 53

Basic Welding Technique
1. Press (and hold) MIG Gun Trigger and contact the
area to be welded with electrode wire to ignite arc.
2. For a narrow weld, you can usually draw the wire in
a steady straight line.
This is called a stringer bead.
For a wider weld, draw the wire back and forth
across the joint.
This is called a weave bead and takes
practice to perform properly.
3. Direct the welding wire straight into the joint.
This gives an angle of 90° (straight up and
down) for butt (end to end) welds, and an
angle of 45° for fillet (T-shaped) welds.
4. For MIG welding using solid wire and
shielding gas, the end of the MIG Gun should
be tilted so that wire is angled anywhere
in-between straight on and 15° away
from the direction you are welding. The
amount of tilt is called the push angle.
5. When using flux-cored wire without
shielding gas, the end of the MIG Gun
should be tilted so that wire is angled
anywhere in-between straight on and
15° in the direction you are welding. The
amount of tilt is called the drag angle.
6. The Contact Tip should remain within 1/2"
of the work surface. This distance is called
CTWD - Contact Tip to Work Distance.
Item 63617 For technical questions, please call 1-888-380-0318.
stringer bead
Weld MIG Gun angles,
viewed from front of weld joint.
45°
fillet weld joint
Push Angle
0-15°
Weld
Direction
Solid Wire with Shielding Gas
weave bead
90°
butt weld joint
Drag Angle
0-15°
Weld
Direction
Flux-Cored Wire without Gas
CTWD
(up to 1/2")
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