Another Bad Day of Welding

[bob_CBR]

This weekend thought I would do some welding. My motorbike had a few holes in the exhaust and i wanted to plug them up. The part was covered in rust and made out of mild steel. I got a wire brush disc and removed the rust. I then had a go at welding up the holes. I should state at this point that I have never done a good neat weld.
The area’s around the holes where so thin I just blew holes in the metal at the lowest power setting at the lowest wire speed. I moved a few mm away from the hole and did a spot weld to test and that did not blow a hole. So, I thought i would make my way over welding to the last weld. Total area to cover was the size of a 20 pence piece.
My issue was that the weld was just building up. I was not getting a nice pool, and if I turned the power up it would melt the wire back to the contact tip. More wire would just result in more build up. My welds where spotty and had holes in them. I was not achieving flowing metal. However, I was working upside down.
Also, when I weld thicker stuff on a bench I tend to have alot of weld building up. I am using 8mm thick wire in a Clark 160T, so i was think would 6mm wire make a difference to what I am doing?
Any comments welcome. My welding hobby is not going very well 

 

[backpurge]

Don'T think there is any need to go to 0.6mm wire, it's just down to practice. You need to master the technique of depositing a series of overlapping spot welds, make sure you concentrate the spot you are laying down between 50 and 75% on top of the previous spot so this takes most of the heat allowing a small amount of weld to flow onto the parent material. There is a tendency to get carried away when it starts to flow all right and start putting too much weld down, don't worry about stopping every now and again to let stuff cool down. Practice on thicker plate first in the flat, then master different positions, when you are happy with this try thinner plate and so on and so on.

Don't worry if you don't get it straight away, it takes time.

As I say to guys we are training, professional welders serve a 4 to 5 year apprenticeship for a reason

 

[bob_CBR]

Yes I will have to put more hours in on the old welding. Not been welding for long. I have just set my cellar up with a work bench and just getting my head around an extractor system.

So looking forward to being able to weld something that does not look like tat by the end.

 

[strube1369]

Bad Day

The guy that got me started in welding told me there are three rules in welding.
Practice
Practice
Practice

 

[mike os]

The guy that got me started in welding told me there are three rules in welding.
Practice
Practice
Practice

well he obviously was only an amater.........




he missed a few practises out there

 

[outofthefire]

Were you welding outside or in a draft, the holes in your weld sound like there wasn't enough gas shielding your weld. You can weld a bit hotter if, rather than trying to run a bead you weld a spot for a second then let it cool then move on. Also if you can get a bit of ally or copper sheet down the exhaust and pushed against the hole it will act as a heat sink but also the weld will build up over the hole and wont stick to the plate.

 

[bob_CBR]

I was welding outside, there was no wind that day but i guess the smallest draft can effect the gas. I Will put in the practise, I am just installing an extractor to my cellar so I do not breathe in the waste gasses. I like the tip about the ally or copper sheet, Will try that next time.
Thanks all.
Will post pics the moment i make a decent weld!

 

[superls]

im not a welder by trade, but have done a fair bit on exhausts and car bodywork, and moving to 0.6mm and a propper mig mix gas, really really helped me on thin stuff

 

[bob_CBR]

I see you live in chesterfield, where do you buy your welding wire from??
I live in Eckington so can not be that far.

The gas i gave got is good stuff, but I want to try 0.6mm wire out.

 

[fluxcored]

Been filling holes in some rusted exhaust also this weekend.

Was impossible to get a pool going and do a continuous weld so had to follow Outofthefire's technique.

The result was terrible as I expected it to be - it ended up looking like a lump of gum but I expected that.

It was after all not a proper repair job - best would have been to cut out the rusted section of the tubing completely and weld in some new ones.

Your gas seems to be good and 0.6mm will surely help on this tubing but I think you're stacking the deck against yourself.

Meaning - and I assume you want to do a continuous bead - on this, not perfect condition tubing as thin as that and keeping a bead going will be extremely difficult even under the best of circumstances for a beginner.

Before spending money on the 0.6mm get some 2mm and 1mm sheet and do a few practice runs on that - pretty much what Backpurge was suggesting. And try the spot weld technique.

Just a few hours horsing around and you'll find that you're not so bad after all.

 

[bob_CBR]

Will give it a go this weekend.

In the end I ordered a new downpipe for my bike. The exhaust was just 99% rust. The welding was just going to maybe postpone the inevitable replacement of the downpipes to next month. I think I will save my money an invest it in a quality auto darkening item. Might help me see what i am doing.

I will let you all know how the welding went on over the weekend!!! Take some pics :-)