Whether you are a professional welder or merely an amateur, you still should follow certain guidelines that will keep you safe, save you time, improve efficiency, and guarantee a successful project. For example, although it isn't usually the responsibility of the welder to verify or inspect the material given to be used for a specific project, he always should check to see that he has received the correct material before starting to weld. This includes filler wire and rods in addition to the material that will be welded.

Working Conditions

Before engaging in any kind of welding it's a good habit to verify the equipment's conditions. This is to ensure safety and for quality reasons also. Look over the overall conditions of the machine including the torch, the nozzle, and the cable for wear or any damage. The tip in a MIG torch wears out more quickly than most welders expect and any looseness with the wire and the tip must be fixed by replacements or else the welding current won't be able to pass into the wire as well, causing erratic feeding and poorer weld quality.
The hose for the gas should be attached securely to the regulator. The machine itself and the wire feeder should also be free from any cracks or splits. The return cable should be free from any damage and connected securely to the welding machine. It's impossible to create quality welds without secure wiring winding the machine's circuit.

Preparation

It's vital to perform correct preparation if quality welding is to be achieved. Most workshops have an assistant prepare the joints, but a professional welder always checks that the weld preparation fits a match with the blueprint set out on the welding procedures. Any attempt to weld without correct welding preparation seriously harms the chance of getting a professional quality weld. All defective preparations should be repaired before beginning any type of weld. This includes cleaning in order to remove any and all contamination from the spot on the project that will be welded.

Sequencing and Procedure

The welder must follow the blueprint carefully, getting the sequence just right. Failure to do so leads to simply guessing how the project should be welded and ruins the chances of obtaining a good quality welding job. Follow the welding procedure to the letter, following even the seemingly unnecessary steps, particularly attentive to the parameters of voltage, welding sequence , electric current, and travel speed since these factors have a large influence over mechanical elements of the welds as well as distortion.

Processes

The welder must be faithful and loyal to the welding process specified in the procedure that is utilized to execute the weld since many joint types are more qualified to fit into one particular welding process. Don't over-complicate things by straying, it is very difficult to execute good quality welding with the wrong processes. This applies to equipment failure as well. It's never appropriate, for example, to substitute a TIG machine for a MIG machine to try and finish the project. Sometimes a process calls for the need of a turning roll to turn the work piece. In the absence of a turning roll, the welder is left with few options and stuck at an impasse until he can locate one. If the project has already been preheated then it must remain heated during the delay which could have been avoided with proper planning, putting the quality of the weld in serious risk.