conor1n
Member
- Messages
- 556
- Location
- London/Ireland
So guys,
At the weekend I started playing with my new welder, an ESAB Rebel 215IC. I only did stick and haven't yet played with mig, which I will need for my Clio project.
I think I caught on fairly quickly about the process, which seems to be slow and steady wins the race. I also noticed that the rod burns up fairly quick and you need to keep feeding the rod towards the steel as you are dragging it forward.
One of the first welds I did had a massive arc, which could have been 4 or 5 inches long.. the molten steel was going everywhere.
Overall i'm kinda proud of my first attempts. That said, I must watch some videos now for tips and tricks on improving. Also very keen to hear what you guys think.
EDIT: Current set to about 90-100 Amps. I set it to 80-85 for a few but the welds looked tiny and crap. It seemed like the ones around the 100 mark burned the rod very fast and a lot just sat on the metal. The steel was thick and the rods were 3.2mm.
Striking an arc is a bit fiddly too.. especially if you want to do it and start into a nice clean weld.. I found that if I wasn't sticking, I was raising the stick up too high before bringing it back closer, resulting in a bit of spatter.
Cheers
Conor
In this photo.. one the guys near me said that the 2nd from right was one of the best. As it had a nice bead and you could see it cutting in to penetrate on the sides.
I quite liked this weld. Was happy enough with it.
Welding a fillet to the main box. Turned a bit messy really.
This is one that had the massive arc. The melted rod just splattered all over the place. It didn't take me long to realise what was wrong.
At the weekend I started playing with my new welder, an ESAB Rebel 215IC. I only did stick and haven't yet played with mig, which I will need for my Clio project.
I think I caught on fairly quickly about the process, which seems to be slow and steady wins the race. I also noticed that the rod burns up fairly quick and you need to keep feeding the rod towards the steel as you are dragging it forward.
One of the first welds I did had a massive arc, which could have been 4 or 5 inches long.. the molten steel was going everywhere.
Overall i'm kinda proud of my first attempts. That said, I must watch some videos now for tips and tricks on improving. Also very keen to hear what you guys think.
EDIT: Current set to about 90-100 Amps. I set it to 80-85 for a few but the welds looked tiny and crap. It seemed like the ones around the 100 mark burned the rod very fast and a lot just sat on the metal. The steel was thick and the rods were 3.2mm.
Striking an arc is a bit fiddly too.. especially if you want to do it and start into a nice clean weld.. I found that if I wasn't sticking, I was raising the stick up too high before bringing it back closer, resulting in a bit of spatter.
Cheers
Conor
In this photo.. one the guys near me said that the 2nd from right was one of the best. As it had a nice bead and you could see it cutting in to penetrate on the sides.
I quite liked this weld. Was happy enough with it.
Welding a fillet to the main box. Turned a bit messy really.
This is one that had the massive arc. The melted rod just splattered all over the place. It didn't take me long to realise what was wrong.