First weld ever (not really, I welded once in 7th grade but I’m not counting it). It’s terrible, it’s awful, but I finally got off my butt and tried.

About 3 hours before the Governor decided to close the state for 21 days, I was driving past HF, and decided to stop and buy their cheap welder, so I can teach myself to weld. 

For fun I was just making sloppy lines (very sloppy) and then wanted to see if I could make 2 pieces stick together. They are stuck and they have not yet fallen apart!

It may not be a big deal to you but after almost a decade of school and countless years of intellectual navel gazing it is very nice to be doing things rather than thinking things. 

Appears to be stuck, so long as it's not structural. Chip the slag out so you can see how well without testing to destruction. Grinding welds smooth is NOT considered a pro thing. 

About doing things rather than  thinking things. Just don't forget they are NOT mutually exclusive, thinking and doing are actually a pretty good partnership.

Frosty The Lucky.

Congratulations, welding is always an advantage when manufacturing more complex workpieces, preparing fittings and Damascus packages. However, an important tip from me.

While welding a handle to a forging piece in my garage, sparks or possibly a hot piece of welding slag fell into a remote plastic container. Inside the container were epoxy residue that burned when I was out and was forging on the fuel forge outside. Coincidentally had to get something in the garage and was just in time to prevent the small fire from spreading on the garage interior with a bucket of water that was ready. Since then, I have a separate place in the forge to weld that has been cleared of flammable materials. SMAW (stick) welding is also possible outdoors with GTAW (MIG / MAG) and GTAW (TIG) unfortunately cannot.

It is surprising how far spudderballs can travel.  Yards and meters, not just feet.

Spudderballs and sparks can be hot enough to ignite many things flammable, sawdust, dust bunnies, oil rags, and etc.  They are hot enough to put holes in plastic containers and sometimes break glass.

Good idea on the bucket of water being handy.  

1 hour ago, Glenn said:

It is surprising how far spudderballs can travel.  Yards and meters, not just feet.

I seen them used to demonstrate ball lightning and plasma during a weather demonstration when I was in Jr high. It was pretty cool watching them bounce around. 

Pnut

 

Hit the upright piece with a hammer if it holds ya got some fusion if it don't clean it and try it again do that a few times till ya figure out to run a proper bead ,and remember nobody was a pro the first day...

Chamfering the end of the rod will also give more leg length to the weld making it stronger also.

Is the vertical plate a piece of leaf spring? If it is, preheating it would be advisable. 
 

David

David, good move -but even than it will be fragile while welded with under matching welding consumables ?!  Picture 1 looks like a combination of mild steel and rebar so for me no reason to concern  

Ask me why its not a good idea to use the same workbench for reloading and welding

Good for you, mpc. Welding is fun. And starting a post in the welding sub-forum with "BEHOLD!" is genius.

Those little HF welders are not terrible, but the flux wire that comes with it usually is. It's usually pretty dirty. You may have better results with name-brand stuff (I did) and they sell Lincoln MIG flux wire at Lowes. Your local welding store, if open, may have better selection and better pricing, but at minimum, try a roll of the name brand and see if that works better for you. I have a favorite Central Welding store that's full of knowledgeable, helpful people and while I may be the stupidest customer they have, they are always quick with good info.

Again, good for you.

On 3/30/2020 at 10:30 AM, vern509 said:

the same workbench for reloading and welding

Been there and done that, only once though (I'm a fast learner).

Why is it not a good idea to mix reloading and welding?  Is it because the only time you can have too much ammo, is in a house fire, perhaps? 

~~

Why are plastic gasoline fuel lines and torch cutting inside pickup truck beds not good company?

But, I digress... MPC, keep practicing! 

Be safe.

Greetings!  Congratulations on your accomplishment!  I am basically right there with you.  I've stuck a few things together (anvil stand and recently the welding cart) and while the welds don't look too good, it seems to be holding up just fine.  And, the projects were a lot of fun!  Keep at it with a project of some kind.  Best regards!