Thanks to the info on here I feel that I am making some basic progress with welding, but I am struggling a bit with the "keep practicing" approach to improvement - in that it's hard to know exactly what i'm doing wrong each time i do something (or indeed - if i've really done something right!)...
Sorry, not sure what happened there. I uploaded to Googledrive and linked - they show fine in the post at my end whether i am logged on or not...
Here's the first pic (the straightwelds I was laying down and trying to increase the speed of pass each time)
Thanks to everyone who commented a couple of months ago. Time has flown! I picked some bits out and had another go today. (Perhaps being more consistent in my practice would help!).
The advice last time I took to be, too slow and power too low.
So I turned up the power - and tried to move more...
I've done a bit of 'sticking things together' for a while now - but have never been happy with the tidy-ness of what i'm doing. So i'm trying to start from scratch and get a lot of basic practice in.
My welder is a Sealey Supermig180 - i'm using 0.8 wire and Hobbyweld 15. I'm trying to keep...
Just hoping on this thread - am having similar problems to the OP - mig welding in my garage - with a Clarke auto darkening mask (one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/Clarke-CWH6-Activated-Welding-Headshield/dp/B00ERS2VT4). Cannot see anything when the arc strikes. Tried putting light onto the...
I'll have a good look at that. If it is a void it would be where the pieces of metal had direct contact - rather than where I was applying the weld - so could it be down to inadequate surface prep?
The weld in the pic above is definitely not something I am 100% happy with - i'm realising it's a lot easier to weld something in a nice position in a vice on a bench - than if you have to crawl about on the floor to try and get to the bits of metal!
Here's a couple of pics of a test weld I...
Sorry if the filesize is wrong, I am not great at uploading pics to forums normally! Here's a weld I did tonight - bit spatter (do I need to turn up the gas to stop that?) but you can clearly see the golden/coppery blobs in the weld... I guess, from the purple/blue discolouring I got decent...
Thanks to the wealth of information on here - and a bit of trial and error - I've got my new welder up and running ok. It's a Supermig 180 and i'm using 0.8 wire with some Hobbyweld 15 and currently practicing on 3mm plate.
Once i'd got the wire speed OK I tacked together a few bits of 3mm...
Holy thread resurrection!!!
Well - I never did get round to taking pics of my efforts last summer - the welder I was using was knackered - and someone offered to do the welding I needed doing...
However, I need to do more now - and my mate is too busy to help at the moment, so I thought i'd...
The wire was rusty on the outside (been sat in the welder for years I expect) so I wound off LOADS until it looked like it was good and shiny. The tip was cleaned up with a bench mounted wirebrush machine - the shroud is a bit grotty on the inside.
I think I did get the 'machine gun' effect a...
First of all - apologies for no photos - i'll definitely get some next time!
Second - I know this is the forum for technique rather than equipment but i'm not sure which is the problem!
My first effort at welding this weekend (just starting to build a kit car!) and it didn't go well...