Automig 181, it wont penetrate 4mm.

[Drains]

Weldinator, that's a great improvement. Well done.

As Gav says, the best practice is to try jointing material - fillets and butts. With butt welds it's invariably worth leaving a gap between the pieces to allow for full pen. The thinner the material, the less gap required. For example I'd never have a gap less than 1mm, even for 1mm material. For 2mm material a 1.5mm gap, maybe - but it depends on your machine settings and travel speed. Do some experimenting if you feel like it. Your test pieces on plate don't reflect what really happens, inasmuch as you're getting penetration through solid steel - which you don't want. It is what you want in a welded joint though.

You're obviously getting the hang of adjusting voltage (the steps) and wire speed now, plus becoming familiar with manipulating the torch. Keep it up!

Finally - when you do weld up the car, don't grind off any weld unless it's cosmetic - it detracts from the strength of the weld and unless you're sure your welds are full penetration, can lead to cracking very quickly.

 

[Shox Dr]

I could be totally wrong but isn't there something about not grinding welds down for MOT

 

[the snooper]

I could be totally wrong but isn't there something about not grinding welds down for MOT

no as long as the repair is intact it will pass

 

[Wozzaaah]

Weldinator, I like the fact I asked you to do 4 runs and you did all those!
Plenty of practice there and some good welds too. Lots of bad ones too mind, but the good ones mean you're getting a feel for how things should be when the settings are correct.
Torch speed seems to be a bit hit and miss in places, thin, straggly, gappy welds show you're probably moving a bit too fast.
It might have seemed like a few of us were having a dig but you were asking all the questions and paying no attention to the answers.
At least you're now taking our advice on board and are heading in the right direction.
Well done, keep at it.

 

[Weldinator]

Butt welds and new lap welds.

Thanks guys for the comments, im glad im improving more now.

Below are tonight's butt welds and lap welds, i think they look ok, please dont forget these butt welds are m first ever, when on that coarse i never did any of those types of welds but it was over 6 years ago and iv forgot a lot.

What do you guys think of my efforts V ?

More to come...

 

[Weldinator]

Here are more with the lap welds.

I wont grind down the welds because i hope they will nice and clean and not too high. I just know it will be difficult doing it on the actual car itself due to many reasons, i will try hard.

 

[Weldinator]

Oh and the practice welds i did previously where there are gaps i think was due to wire speed being too slow if you look at the graph of speed and power figures.

Do i need to have clean steel on the other side of the lap welds ill be doing on the car, because i never did that on the bird poo ones. ?

 

[Weldinator]

In case you missed my last post, whats peoples thoughts about my attempts of butt and lap welds ?

 

[Drains]

In case you missed my last post, whats peoples thoughts about my attempts of butt and lap welds ?

Looking OK now. No worse than typical garage welding (and better than plenty). Time to get on with the job I reckon!

 

[Weldinator]

Thanks, its good to know it will be good enough to do the job well.

Things have changes some what, my beloved dog of ten years had to be put down two days ago, so iv not been in the mood to do any. The hire shop said due to their mistakes i can have the welder another week for £40 extra inc VAT so thats good of them. Its been an upsetting time for me but i will get this job sorted for sure.

I think number 3 butt weld is the best penetration and straightness, one of them went of line but i did the missing bit and made it look a mess, im getting there and as long as its strong and penetrated the looks are not important.

I will start on the car Monday evening and on the rest of the week till Friday when it has to go back.

Do i need to remove the paint from the other side of the welds so they penetrate well ? I dont remember reading that in the tutorial ?

Cheers.

 

[Stewy1984]

yeah clean both sides of the weld if you can.

 

[Wozzaaah]

No real need to remove paint from the reverse, the heat will burn it off.
Sorry to hear about your dog, lost one of ours last april and I still miss him.

 

[pedrobedro]

Did anyone mention using your spare hand to steady the tip and work forward away from yourself. It makes a world of difference so you don't wander and let the tip get further away from the work. Remember to breathe as well, you can tense up and forget in the heat of the moment

 

[Weldinator]

Yes i do breathe and use the other hand to steady it, the mask i had from the higher shop was rubbish so could not see b=very well either. I have tried the forward way its just in the difficult position im in around the cars engine bay its hard to see the weld pool. Im also hard of hearing so trying to listen to the weld also makes it more difficult.

I have ordered myself the Portamig welder now and i should have done before but my credit card did not have enough limit to buy one when i hired one, so i should have no problems now i will be using that one.

I can also make other things with it too, which is a bonus.

Now once i get the welder, i'm going to practice and practice.

Cheers.