Decided to make a sierpinski's tetrahedron as a first REAL project! I built a shitty angleiron workbench (with an old door ziptied onto it as the tabletop) before but I'm actually trying this time so it's different
170 welds completed so far 
!! So, only 346 left to go!!... 
This was a really good idea until I remembered how complex fractals are, like GIRL, DUH, fuck was I thinking hahaha
Its REALLY scuffed though, I'm talkin like using my stick welder to melt a half inch off the end off of the pieces I had precut to make it shorter so it will fit in the actual dimensions needed, I've been holding the smallest (~2") pieces with a wrench and holding it in place freehand. It's been a lot of fun so far, and I'm definitely improving as I go, I weld my welding stick to my stock way less often now, and achieve arc much more reliably too, which is cool to see my own progress within the project!
I hurt my shoulder a bit ago so I haven't been able to do much lately, but welding is pretty low impact in that I mostly just sit on a folding chair in my driveway next to my shitty workbench lol
Have some more views!
When it's done it'll look like this image I found on google
A small thing that will help a lot is getting a steel wire brush and scrubbing the site of the weld before you try to strike the arc. It clears the area of the oxide layer and makes it easier to start and get a cleaner weld.
Have you been beveling the weld locations?
It’s been a while since I’ve got the chance to talk welding with someone so my neurons are lighting up. I miss it so much. I need to get my own setup arranged because I refuse to do it as a full time job.
Hell yes, bring on the enthusiasm sister!
oh HELL no I haven't haha, my main focus was to stay as on grid as possible with the structure, but I've been doing most of it without any prep on the materials
Ah, okay. If you take a grinder to the edge of the material to create a little bevel, it can help get a better penetration on the weld and get a bit of a flatter weld. You’d have to lower your heat a bit and change the angle to redirect the heat towards where the metal is thickest though.
You’re probably fine as is, it doesn’t look like the material is that thick, but with thicker material a small bevel of 1/3-1/2 of the thickness can help a lot.
Ooooh I think I get what you mean that makes sense! then the weld starts deeper on the added stock and then the area that was ground away is rebuilt by the weld, increasing the surface area of the bond as well!
Exactly :3
Also, if you’re welding material with a larger gap between them, you can do a series of tack welds to give yourself more material to work with without burning through the metal. This works better with MIG welding though.
With stick, it’s bad practice but you can take an electrode, knock off the flux, and use the electrode itself as a filler metal.
If you’re using flat pieces of metal together and are afraid of it burning though, you can use a backing bar to both draw excess heat away and reduce the chance of blowing through the weld by providing structure for the weld pool to sit on. You need to use metal with different properties than what you’re welding though, otherwise you’ll just end up with a 3rd piece of metal attached to your weld piece. I think I remember using either bronze or brass.
just had the thought, would I be able to manuver inside the fractal to be able to actually get a mig torch to the weld point? The stick isn't exactly convenient but idk what mig torches are like
With a mig torch, a metal wire is constantly fed through a tube instead of you constantly having to swap electrodes. It may be difficult to access some spots initially but once you get to it, you’ll have to move less.
Oh don't I know it! Like a dozen of these bars have a half inch or more that is all just the electrode filling empty space cause the bar I cut was too short xD
(I’m gonna try and reel in my excitement on having someone to rant to about welding now.)
No need :3