feeling nasty

[Iain Westland]

Bad morning so took it out on the Welder. I have a Clarke 160EN using Argoshield Light, wire speed was about 5.25 and the machine was running on the lowest settings. 0.8mm Wire

Not the nastiest of set ups but the bit that realy pushed it ... the steel. I decided to use 20G - thats about 0.9mm thick, and then it was to butt weld it rather than over lap it.

Reason, to see if I could and kill a couple of mins. Could not get a straight run but with a weave I could get it to not blow (ignore the very top - I didnt want to burn the clamp so lost concentration)

Back to the drawing board I think

Iain

 

[belassie]

do you know of any welding courses near oxford? I have asked my boss for training in mig welding and im learning a bit at work but id love to go on a course and my employer has agreed to pay for it if i find a course!

 

[Iain Westland]

Cant help, I'm self abused/taught - as you can see. Theres a thread on here for courses somewhere, Wycome uni used to be art based so there or amersham might be up to it, but I'm not aware of any down there and the sis is on holiday so cant ask if shes a prospectus knocking about

Oh, and welcome to the forum

Iain

 

[Iain Westland]

knew it was here somewhere

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/courses.htm

 

[chunkolini]

Try pulsing the trigger of the welder on and off as you work along, this can give a tidy weld in thinner material, you want to watch out for the edges of the metal just starting to melt then leave off for a moment, with practice you can move along wiute quickly and leave a weld that looks similar to tig welded, almost as though you have a series of tack welds ovelapping each other.

Chunko'.

 

[malcolm]

Thin metal is rarely fun. 0.6mm wire makes the world of difference - smaller weld pool, fewer amps, and more scope to control the wire speed.

I generally use the method Chunko suggested on sub-1mm - much more control. http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/thin-metal.htm

 

[^neo^]

if you can get your hands on a block of brass / copper / ali to put underneath while you weld it will take some of the heat out of it

 

[NTwoO]

Try pulsing the trigger of the welder on and off as you work along, this can give a tidy weld in thinner material, you want to watch out for the edges of the metal just starting to melt then leave off for a moment, with practice you can move along wiute quickly and leave a weld that looks similar to tig welded, almost as though you have a series of tack welds ovelapping each other.

Chunko'.

This is what my Bester did with its stitch function except the argon keeps flowing in between the welds. That results in cleaner welds. It also lets you concentrate on one less thing. It is also handy if you weld filthy stuff. Crank up the amps to burn through the junk and stop before blowing through. Personally I would say an absolute must with a MIG unit.

 

[Hitch]

I wouldn't bother with the weave.... youve got plenty of power to just run a bead along it.

 

[Iain Westland]

Tried the bead but it kept blowing, the weave was more a left to right left to right type movement to get the pool moving. I used 0.8 as thats used for the rest of my stuff and its primarily about daily useage. I'm looking to start butting sill repairs rather than the usual overlap for customers with a more discerning wallet, figured if I could get this to happen on 20G then it would be a lot easier with 18G or 16G.

I'd probably go for the spots in the real world but wanted to see how far I could go with minimal down time. will keep trying, bit like guitar solos, play hard ones in practice then the gigs easier (so my son tells me anyway)

Thanks for dropping buy Guys, all pointers gratefully received

Iain

 

[gavuk]

Hi Auto ,rather than butting you should consider joggling ,slightly easier /faster ,i've bought the tool haven't had a chance to use it in anger so can't offer any real advice on its use but looks easy enough and has a hole punch for plug welds,i bought the air operated version from machine mart.....Gav

 

[Iain Westland]

cheat

I like to do things the hard way first then find the easier routes. That way if it goes female fun bags up on me then I can fall back on harder ways.

Not seen the air one, will have to look into that, any links per chance sire?

Iain

 

[gavuk]

Cheat?.......of course its my time ......airjoggler..........Gav

 

[Iain Westland]

looks like fun, thanks Gav

Iain