first time i have tried welding i have some car body work to do picture of first attempts welder clarke 135te turbo switches set at min and 2 gas argon mix wire 0.8 wire speed betwwen 5 and 6 gas set at 25psi tried on some thinner old body panel with a lower setting and had some burn through would i be better with 0.6 wire for body work or do i need to turn the gas up
Those look pretty good, what's the reverse look like? You could try tacks well spaced apart to minimise burn-though and heat distortion - even waiting a few seconds to let them cool a bit. Then gradually go back over again, 'rinse & repeating'.....
Fine start , I personally would stick with 0.8 wire , play with your settings and stitching technique , play with a copper backer too , practice and patience , it will win the day the secret is to enjoy what your doing and enjoy the results and that way it wont become a chore.
The second gauge is absolutely useless for setting flow rate, how did you arrive at that setting, can you hear the gas gushing out? You can set the flow rate by sound, you should just be able to hear it at the nozzle. If you wind the wire feed tensioner off to stop the feed and back the regulator off too, then pull the trigger and increase the regulator so you can just hear the hiss. Reset the wire feed tension and run a weld, check the quality. If there is any porosity, increase the regulator a little more. A flow meter will pay for itself in gas saved.
No, that's pretty much the same as your other one except for the scale. An add on or peashooter like these:
They are not particularly accurate, can you hear the gas flow? Another way is to turn the gas down until the weld quality deteriorates then up it a bit.
Like Tom said above a copper backer is a great idea for that thinner material to prevent burn through. I personally prefer 0.8mm+ wire to use and it just feels right. If you stick with the 0.8 I'd maybe try doing stitch welds and going back over the missed parts with another stitch if needed as the previous cools
hate to keep asking silly questions i have been trying plug welding not sure what the back is supposed to look like picture of back and front right hand is front 1mm sheet