any advise

[luccass_j]

I took under consideration all the advise I got at my first attempt. I did a little bit more welding with proper shielding gas. Ive got some pics I wanna post. Any comments or advise welcome. The pictures are in order the top and the other side of the weld. Also my attempt to butt join two pieces together.

 

[BrokenBiker]

best advice i was given when i asked the question you have just asked, is, get some 3mm plate and start with that. something like 150mm x 100mm and just weld from one side to the other, starting at the top and working your way down.

once you have finished the plate you will know how much stick out you need, how fast to travel, how much wire speed you need and what power settings to use.

then you can move down to 2mm and have a play, then 1mm and have another play.

it helped me no end starting on thicker stuff as there is very little chance you are going to blow holes in 3mm with a mig.

that said, your welds don't look too bad...apart from the blow holes they look like proper welds, so just keep practicing

 

[luccass_j]

Thanks wise advise I may as well do this.

 

[BrokenBiker]

it is a lot easier to learn to control the puddle on thicker metal, and i find it a lot easier to see the puddle on thicker too.

 

[luccass_j]

Does it have to burn through? (Without the holes of course) but just the way my first 2 pics look like

 

[Fintray]

It's not burnt through, just full penetration of the metal.
It shows that your weld has melted the full thickness (and will be far stronger) and is not just stuck to the surface.

 

[BrokenBiker]

as fintray says, a full penetration weld is stronger than a surface weld. with thin body work type material it is hard not to get full penetration.

this is why we chamfer the edges of butt welds on thicker material, so the root pass can achieve full penetration, then use the following runs to build up to the original thickness of the metal

 

[skotl]

On the last pic, though (and I'm a beginner, too), does it not look as if luccass_j has been running a wee bit fast? Or the wire feed is too slow?

 

[BrokenBiker]

to me it looks like an unsteady or shaky weld, although others may be along to correct me

 

[luccass_j]

Thanks for all the comments I do appreciate them I bought couple of sheets of metal to practice and I'm supposed to get some off cuts. So when you do your weld do u grind both sides or only the one we can see?

 

[BrokenBiker]

i generally on clean the side i am welding, unless i have very easy access to the back of it and i know i am going to have full penetration, then i clean the back.

but, if your not going to have full penetration there is no point cleaning the side your not going to weld, as long as the mating surfaces are clean, and the area you are going to weld is clean it will be fine

 

[luccass_j]

But what do you do once uve joint the two pieces together and u have full penetration do u leave the other side or u grind it flat?

 

[BrokenBiker]

again, depends on application. if for instance you are welding a pipe, you want full penetration to get the strongest joint possible, but you wouldn't be able to get in there and grind it off.

the same for body work in most cases

if you are welding a gate though and have to butt weld some bits of flat bar you want it all to look like one piece once its welded so you would grin it all flat, both sides and both edges if needed