my first ever welds

[luiji89]

hey all, got my clarke 90en and im starting to weld!!
i'm using it as a gasless here are some piks...
advise/tips please

i was not keeping it straight, i was just trying to get a feel for it, thanks toby!

the main use why i got this welder to learn on was because i have a classic mini and i would like to do my own repairs.

 

[luiji89]

the wire feed was on 4 out of 9

the power was 1 and min...

on the mini forum they said try 2 and min and see how i get on, what do you think?

 

[Wozzaaah]

Get some thicker steel to practise on.
Learning on thin stuff will make it hard work, as you can see you're already blowing holes. Thicker stuff will enable you to practise torch control and will give you an idea of how the welding parameters affect the weld shape/penetration.
That steel looks like it has or had some sort of coating on it?
Clean, uncoated steel is what you need, something around 3mm thick is ideal.
Oh, and if you're tackling a mini, get some shielding gas and 'proper' wire, it's much nicer to use than gasless stuff and less likely to blow holes.

 

[BChild]

Get some thicker steel to practise on.

Learning on thin stuff will make it hard work, as you can see you're already blowing holes. Thicker stuff will enable you to practise torch control and will give you an idea of how the welding parameters affect the weld shape/penetration.
That steel looks like it has or had some sort of coating on it?
Clean, uncoated steel is what you need, something around 3mm thick is ideal.

Agreed - I have some 3 mm stuff I've covered in welds both sides before I started tackling thin stuff and I still blew holes = you don't need a huge bit mine was 2 ft by 1 ft fitted nicely on the workmate and meant I could work at a happy height to start with (I did toast the work mate top tho!!)

Oh, and if you're tackling a mini, get some shielding gas and 'proper' wire, it's much nicer to use than gasless stuff and less likely to blow holes.

Used gassless wire in one part of the Mini repair and I'm cutting it out again and doing it with gas!!

 

[tux]

Another vote for getting gas and wire here. I've been using a Clarke 90 gasless for the last 10 or actually 15 years now and have just got a 151TE with gas yesterday. The difference is phenomenal and it is soooo much easier.
I would also recommend getting an auto darkening face mask. this too makes things heaps easier as you can concentrate on your torch control rather than worrying about getting arc-eye!