daveyheats
New Member
- Messages
- 5
- Location
- Gloucester
Hi guys,
Newbie starting my journey into the welding and in need of some advice please. Sorry for the essay, but will try to be as thorough as I can!
I'm trying to weld in some small repair patch panels on the back of an old Mk2 VW Scirocco, and having some real issues with blowing holes through the metal. I occasionally seem to get quite a violent pop when starting a weld, which is causing these blow throughs.
Steel on the car is 0.8mm, and I'm trying to patch in mild steel of the same thickness, using a Clarke 135TE Turbo MIG Welder with 0.6mm wire and a CO2/Argon gas mix. I'm also rocking a new Sealey regulator, as the Clarke one that came with the welder was awful.
I've attached the earth clamp to some fresh steel on the back of the car, and cleaned up both sides of the areas I'm attempting to weld to.
I started with the machine settings laid out in the manual, but have since turned the wire speed down slightly and cranked up the gas flow in a naive / newbie attempt to solve the problem. (settings on machine are Power Level 1, Min and wire speed of around 4 or 5).
I'm tacking the new pieces in, and letting them cool after every 2 tacks. When I'm about to put down a tack, I'm pre-squeezing the trigger for around half a second to release the gas before starting the weld.
I've practiced for the last week on scrap metal of the same thickness on my workbench and not had any issues with blowing holes, only on the fecking car! I'm welding indoors with no wind etc.
Heres a photo of the set up I've got working on the back of the car, with earth clamp attached relatively close to the welding area.
This piece is a great example of what's been happening. I've managed to put down a good few tacks, but then one will randomly pop and splutter and blow through the metal, without me feeling like I've done anything differently.
Here's another piece on the right that I've already welded in. Was going great and was well chuffed with how it looked when ground down. But while filling in a pin hole afterwards, the bastard blew through again.
Is the metal not clean enough where I'm welding? Earth clamp too far away?
Any advice on what I'm doing wrong would be hugely appreciated.
Dave
Newbie starting my journey into the welding and in need of some advice please. Sorry for the essay, but will try to be as thorough as I can!
I'm trying to weld in some small repair patch panels on the back of an old Mk2 VW Scirocco, and having some real issues with blowing holes through the metal. I occasionally seem to get quite a violent pop when starting a weld, which is causing these blow throughs.
Steel on the car is 0.8mm, and I'm trying to patch in mild steel of the same thickness, using a Clarke 135TE Turbo MIG Welder with 0.6mm wire and a CO2/Argon gas mix. I'm also rocking a new Sealey regulator, as the Clarke one that came with the welder was awful.
I've attached the earth clamp to some fresh steel on the back of the car, and cleaned up both sides of the areas I'm attempting to weld to.
I started with the machine settings laid out in the manual, but have since turned the wire speed down slightly and cranked up the gas flow in a naive / newbie attempt to solve the problem. (settings on machine are Power Level 1, Min and wire speed of around 4 or 5).
I'm tacking the new pieces in, and letting them cool after every 2 tacks. When I'm about to put down a tack, I'm pre-squeezing the trigger for around half a second to release the gas before starting the weld.
I've practiced for the last week on scrap metal of the same thickness on my workbench and not had any issues with blowing holes, only on the fecking car! I'm welding indoors with no wind etc.
Heres a photo of the set up I've got working on the back of the car, with earth clamp attached relatively close to the welding area.
This piece is a great example of what's been happening. I've managed to put down a good few tacks, but then one will randomly pop and splutter and blow through the metal, without me feeling like I've done anything differently.
Here's another piece on the right that I've already welded in. Was going great and was well chuffed with how it looked when ground down. But while filling in a pin hole afterwards, the bastard blew through again.
Is the metal not clean enough where I'm welding? Earth clamp too far away?
Any advice on what I'm doing wrong would be hugely appreciated.
Dave