Bobbles

[Agent]

Hi all.
Did my first piece of welding today. Bought a cheap 100 amp gasless mig to try out before I start an evening course in November.

Set the wire up etc and started welding on the low setting(it only has high or low setting)

It seemed there was a hell of a lot off bobbles in and around the area of the arc but not a solid bead. I turned the wire speed down and it got worse, so tomorrow I'll try again but what could be the cause.

I'm wondering if maybe I need to crank up the wire speed and keep the arc shorter therefore creating more filler in the weld and hopefully stopping the bobbles.

Any advice from someone who has half a clue greatly appreciated lol.

Cheers

 

[skotl]

Welcome!

Pictures would be extremely useful, but you're always gonna have a harder time with gasless.

But, without pics, we're literally blind

 

[gordon stephenson]

Make sure your earth/return contact on the work is nice and clean.

 

[Agent]

Hi, thanks for replys, yea the earth was on a bit of a rusty part of the metal so maybe that's not great, I'll try find a new earth point on the metal today. I've uploaded one pic that I took.
So the bobbles on the top part are just where I've burned the wire off because it became too long.
The weld is supposed to be between the lock keep(I'm a locksmith so had to use these spare bits of metal lol) and the pipe.

It's actually seems solid and welded and won't move but obviously it's terribly messy and very bobbly, as I said the ground clamp was on rusty metal and the arc did seem intermittent. Later on I turned up the wire speed and held the torch closer to the metal and it did seem a bit better.

Any ideas?

 

[Dev]

Is that galvanised? Welding galvanised metal is bad for you.

 

[Agent]

Not sure mate, why is it bad for me?

 

[Dev]

Metal Fume fever

Metal fume fever is due to the inhalation of certain metals, either as fine dust or most commonly as fumes.
Exposure usually arises through hot metalworking processes, such as smelting and casting of zinc alloys, or welding of galvanized metals.
The symptoms are nonspecific but are generally flu-like including fever, chills, nausea, headache, fatigue, muscle aches, joint pains, shortness of breath, chest pain, and cough. A sweet or metallic taste in the mouth may also be reported along with a dry or irritated throat which may lead to hoarseness. [6] Symptoms of a more severe metal toxicity may also include a burning sensation in the body, shock, no urine output, collapse, convulsions, shortness of breath, yellow eyes or yellow skin, rash, vomiting, watery or bloody diarrhea or low blood pressure, which require prompt medical attention.[7] Flu-like symptoms will normally disappear within 24 to 48 hours. It often takes 4 days to fully recover.

 

[Agent]

Blimey, thanks for that. I'll try and find some other metal to practice on then lol, don't fancy any of them symptoms to be honest

 

[Wozzaaah]

Trying to practice on rubbish like that will only end up frustrating you and will teach you nothing.
Get some proper steel to play with.

 

[Agent]

Yea ok, I tried on some flat steel I found and managed a couple of good looking beads.

Any recommendations of where to buy mild steel sheets? eBay seems a bit ridiculous

 

[octo0072000]

look for steel stock holders in your area
better is small welders fabricators places walk in and ask for some offcuts
offer coffee money beer tokens

 

[Agent]

Lol ok, I got a mate who scraps cars, he's just said I can have as many bonnets and bits as I need. Perfect... Hopefully.

Hopefully can do some cutting and re welding