First effort, advice please.

[tharriso]

I had a little go last night of my welder.

I did not bother looking at any guides as it was getting late and if I start looking at videos and my books I would never get going. So I just turnt it on and started.

0.8 mild steel wire. The piece is ~3mm thick.

I started from top to bottom in the pic below. Twiddling the knobs and switches as I went.

There seemed to be a lot of splatter and stuttering. Is the brown discolouration normal? Not seeing that on other peoples efforts...

There seems to be a lot of pitting in the weld too.

I could not tell if the gas was coming out or not, my regulator just has a knob no gauges. I could not hear it hissing anywhere at the bottle or torch.

I would appreciate any guidance, obviously I do not know a lot so keep it simple.

 

[Wozzaaah]

They show the classic signs of no shielding gas.
If it's a disposable cylinder then you need to turn the regulator to fully open. If you can't hear it at the nozzle then it's not coming out.

 

[tharriso]

Thanks

 

[tharriso]

Had another go today. I could hear the gas this time. Here is the pic, top to bottom again...

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

I'm guessing you started ad the top and at the bottom you have something that resembles a weld. Try less torch angle and don't weave the torch.
Not a bad effort at all when you got the machine right!

 

[tharriso]

Yes I get bored quick so I stopped there. So the bottom one is more or less right then?

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

Well. It looks like a weld and would hold metal together. It's not pretty but not bad at all for a first timer.

 

[zardoz]

What type of machine do you have? Are you using disposable gas ? If so has it run out yet ? (welds are still looking rather gas starved)

 

[tharriso]

It is a clarke 160tm. Yes disposable bottle.

I had a good go last night, did not taking pics but looking a lot better now. Though I am still getting the brown sooty deposit all over the weld and surrounding metal. Is that indicative of a gas problem?

 

[Robotstar5]

It is a clarke 160tm. Yes disposable bottle.

I had a good go last night, did not taking pics but looking a lot better now. Though I am still getting the brown sooty deposit all over the weld and surrounding metal. Is that indicative of a gas problem?

Probably run out of gas, they only last about 10 minutes