Cheers bear, I shall take a look,
Norlander,
I shall have a go at different speeds and see, the main thing I'm finding is sometimes I'm getting good penetration and other times I'm not....
What do you mean by welding MMA? And did you mean Royal Marines?....that's weird if you did because I don't think I have mentioned my previous job!
I have looked at the mig tutorial but the videos don't seem to load for me
Yomp or tab. Brew or mashOK, MMA is Manual Metal Arc welding http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/arc-tutorial.htm if you have not done it forget it, you won't have picked up angles and travel speed habits.
You may find that, without changing the settings on your machine, you will get better penetration by "pulling the gun" as opposed to "pushing it".
You may find differences with the gun closer or farther out because of how much wire is sticking out of the gun "stick out".
With some material, you start off cold,but the job heats up and thus penetration increases (bit like sex).
You start off welding on an unsupported bit , then run onto a supported bit, the support sucks heat from the job and you lose penetration because you have lost heat.
Keep your eye on that puddle area, once you crack reading that, you know when to speed up or slow down.
Yes, I meant Royal Maureens coz I am ex para-which is why I have grasped all the teknikal fings about this welding lark strate off,and why, if you are an ex booty, you have not.
get a bit of steel and drill a load of holes-say 8mm (9mm holes are my favourite-but lets not go there), then practice filling them,stop n start, short bursts of the trigger and work your way round the edge, pause for second or two to let it cool- watch the weld dull down from yellow thru red to black then hit it again.Fair one mate, makes sense thanks.....now, on a project, what do you do when you blow through? How do you repair that?