12 replies to this topic

[leadly]

Hey guys.

Spent yesterday cutting random grooves into a small off-cut of mild steel and then removed any burrs and prepped the surrounding metal ready to weld today.

Here are a few pictures.

Here's a picture of what i was welding with.



and.......here are my welds. Pretty poor but im quite happy with the one on the top left. It took abit of time getting used to the welder and getting the settings right, also had to loosen the rod feeding reel cus i'd got the rollers to tight so nothing was feeding through.



Gonna go and clean them up tommorrow and then get a new mask on friday as i'v only got one of those rubbish hand held onces which has resulted in me burning the top on my head a lil bit.

[danie garry]

not to bad but u should clean the metal first, should work better then

[leadly]

cheers, i did clean around the grooves i made but i'll make sure i clean a bigger area next time.

Ah, there's a question, can anyone recommend a decent flip down welding mask?

Thanks in advance,

- Rich

[satvinder]

when welding with mig use the sound to help you out. if it a spitting sound then you have it to far away. just keep trying and play with all the settings. thats what i did and now its easy.

[satvinder]

also make sure theres a good earth and this helps with getting better welds

[luiji89]

looking good!, im going to learn soon so i'll be very interested in this!!

good effort man!

[leadly]

Cheers all, i'll try and update this with my next attempts as sort of a welding project thread.

As well as a new mask, think im going to invest in some clamps and things.

[satvinder]

got a angle grinder to grind the welds flat?? and clean them up?

[leadly]

got a angle grinder to grind the welds flat?? and clean them up?

Yup, thats what i'm planning on doing tomorrow if i'v got time after going to the gym. There's only so much i can be bothered to do in 1 day as i'm working nights this week.

[mini93]

you need to work on your speed and stability, you seem to deviate off line slow and then speed up, when you get the new mask try supporting the torch with both hands, welding tip about 10mm away, straigh over the work and a bit of lead into the directiong your going.

looks as though your trying to weld a cut back together? just clean the work surface and work in a straight line on the ground for now without trying to bridge anything. (work needs to horisontal for starters too)

also when you think you have a good weld look on the back of the plate and you should be able to see signs of penitration

[mini.cooper998]

also dont just check the surface, turn the metal round and make sure there is a small ridge of weld on the back side. the metal shouldnt be flat on the back if it is you arnt getting good penetration and the weld will fail over time.

for more advice use

www.mig-welding.co.uk the guys on there are a fountain of knowledge and can diagnose problems in a heartbeat and give advice to make better.

with mig welding once you have your settings right its always the same if using the same thicknesses of metal thats the joys of it

also if still struggling try using argon gas rather than gasless as to be honest gasless is tripe

[panelbeaterpeter]

Some people have said looking good.. sorry but those welds looks terrible. Firstly you need to clean the metal, you'll struggle getting a nice weld on rusty steel. There's no need to groove it either, not sure why you've done that. Clean the metal, and for starters I'd set the welder to 2 and min, the wire speed I'm not sure, you want it so make a sound like sizzling bacon, not sputtering, (too fast) or blobbing and seeming to melt back into the shroud (too slow). For your weld on the top left, you have the wire speed too high, and your heat too low. Practice on all the settings, just to get a feel, you want to be able to get good penetration, you want to be able to see the weld from behind. You shouldn't have to grind the weld down to make it look good, only if it's proud and you need to dress it down for cosmetic purposes. Do some destruction testing, weld two bits of metal together and try to physically break them apart, using a vice and a hammer. If the weld breaks, it's not good enough. Practice is everything. Not sure if you're using gas or not, but I would suggest try it if you're not, you'll never get a particularly nice weld with gasless.

Edited by panelbeaterpeter, 17 March 2010 - 10:02 PM.

[lrostoke]

Can't tell how thick that metal is, but worth practising on metal same thickness as mini body panels. Thick stuff is pretty forgiving, thinner stuff you will probably find you don't want to be doing continous runs but short bursts. Keeps the heat down and stops blow through.