First welds, advice and comments very welcome

[JohnMcBob]

So was off work today so decided to get my new clarke 135te setup and a bit of practice.

Done a few welds with some scrap i had lying about, one thing i've mainly noticed is i need an auto darkening helmet cause its hard to hold the gun in place then get the cheapy one in place + the fact you can't see **** until you hit the weld wherever it is

Anyway enough rant, here are some pics

Then decided to break it to see how weld it was welded

Seems to have done the job as i bent the wider side of the metal and then tore out the solid metal where i had welded

Still unsure on what power settings i need, got the gas at 5 out of 6 on the regulator and had the wire speed around 6 most of the time, if i turn it up to max 1 it blows holes, and at times 2 min seems like it's not getting the heat in very well without a massive build up of weld or it spatters and makes lumpy patches of weld that look horrid :S

 

[Paul90]

I'm no expert but I'd clean all that paint off and just run some 2" to 3" beads to get a feel for the right settings on that metal with your welder.

Then go on and try some joints and tweak the settings as needed.

I found that once you get a feel for what too little / too much power and too fast / too slow wire speed feels like then getting to good settings is much easier and quicker. Deliberately go too high and too low to get the feel of it.

I'm sure someone that knows what they are talking about will be along soon !

Paul