First welds opinions please

[Geodawg]

Hi guys,
I've manage to get a decent play with my machine today.can you let me know how these welds look ( I know they're not pretty, but am I on the right track? Is the penetration ok? The metal is about 2mm thick.

top view





under side view

 

[Richard.]

They look clean it's not easy to give an opinion on moving forward with out seeing technique. Try some simple joints. (Butt, lap, fillet) practice a steady hand, consistent speed and maintain a stickout. I personally believe the secret to getting those 3 things right is been comfortable . If you can sit down , use the other hand to steady your torch, practice without the arc and adjust your position till your comfortable to produce the run start to finish.

 

[Geodawg]

Cheers Richard, I'll have a go at some joints next and see if I can get more comfy (these were all done standing up) I'll sort out a seat for the next time.

thanks again for taking the time reply...

Cheers,

Geo

 

[Richard.]

In most cases you probably won't have the luxury of a seat but it helps while your trying to perfect your technique with bench work.
Best of luck.

 

[Jan]

After a few goes flat on the bench start to hold a few up in the air with magnets or a vice. On the same heat setting you're likely to burn through thinner gauges due to the lack of a heat sink on the back side of the metal. Also warping might start to become a problem.

 

[Geodawg]

cheers Jan, I had the sheet slightly raised on a couple of brackets (or should I say my attampts at welding a couple of upright bits to another sheet I had below this one) which did result in me blowing through at one point and had a good bit of warping going on as well. all good fun though and lets me see how to feck it up without it costing me, as this is all practice for when I need to use it in anger when my bus needs any work done on it.

 

[Geodawg]

I had another we play with my machine and did a few different joints and this time I did all the weld straight with no weaving as advised, and I'm happy with the results as I can see an improvement from when I was first playing about I've uploaded the best of a bad bunch let me know what you think. I've included a back and front of each.









One question though, how do I stop blowing through when I get to the end of a joint? you'll see from the photos I've stopped short

thanks again for all your help guys.

Cheers,

Geo

 

[Jan]

I had another we play with my machine and did a few different joints and this time I did all the weld straight with no weaving as advised, and I'm happy with the results as I can see an improvement from when I was first playing about I've uploaded the best of a bad bunch let me know what you think. I've included a back and front of each.



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One question though, how do I stop blowing through when I get to the end of a joint? you'll see from the photos I've stopped short

thanks again for all your help guys.

Cheers,

Geo

No idea, but I tend to 'blob' a bit of metal into the edges of the hole to close it up. Mind you I'm still fairly crap at welding!

 

[DanielW]

I'm no expert neither but what I did do is played about with each setting on the welder to see what mustered a better short weld for the thickness of the material and then jotted it down on a note pad.

Then when I found the best weld I then set the machine and started a few longer welds,the bleedin wire feed speed is the one that hampers me and keeping the same distance from metal to tip..

 

[Geodawg]

cheers guys.

 

[Richard.]

Try 3/4 and a 1/4. In other words don't push the heat all the way to the end stop a 1/4 of the distance before you finish the run then start at that end and run back into the end of the previous run.

 

[Kent]

Why all the stopping and starting on a joint? To be fair I should if I was you get a section on 5-6mm plate about 100-150 square and just fill it with continuous welds starting along the edges 1,2,3,4 then work inside those 1,2,3,4. look to complete the job without any voids. It will get smoking hot so a big heat sink under it is good and keep dunking it in water(don't do this with working welds though). work around it without going in one direction so start 1 right to left, 2 away, 3 left to right, 4 towards etc. even swapping hands coz when your in a tight spot you often have to do this
The aim is just to make it look neat and straight all the welds running straight and just touching the last.

Then and only then move to joints, when you have that sussed and confirmed with a big hammer break test work on uphill, downhill, overhead etc.

When I learnt we had to sign our names and I really do feel my long name got me extra practice in this tests your ability to see what you are doing and keep track of your progess.

Mig welds can look good yet perform poorly lacking penetration and forming unseen voids within the weld (not normally an issue on thin stuff but bear it in mind) , on some metals I have seen them actually come right off clean (rare but scary) even though visually they looked fine. 2-3 mm stuff though if it looks good it likely is good just don't take it as granted on stuff that matters

 

[Geodawg]

Why all the stopping and starting on a joint? To be fair I should if I was you get a section on 5-6mm plate about 100-150 square and just fill it with continuous welds starting along the edges 1,2,3,4 then work inside those 1,2,3,4. look to complete the job without any voids. It will get smoking hot so a big heat sink under it is good and keep dunking it in water(don't do this with working welds though). work around it without going in one direction so start 1 right to left, 2 away, 3 left to right, 4 towards etc. even swapping hands coz when your in a tight spot you often have to do this
The aim is just to make it look neat and straight all the welds running straight and just touching the last.

Then and only then move to joints, when you have that sussed and confirmed with a big hammer break test work on uphill, downhill, overhead etc.

When I learnt we had to sign our names and I really do feel my long name got me extra practice in this tests your ability to see what you are doing and keep track of your progess.

Mig welds can look good yet perform poorly lacking penetration and forming unseen voids within the weld (not normally an issue on thin stuff but bear it in mind) , on some metals I have seen them actually come right off clean (rare but scary) even though visually they looked fine. 2-3 mm stuff though if it looks good it likely is good just don't take it as granted on stuff that matters

the stop starting were because I was blowing through on occasion and the the sheet was also starting to distort the odd time, plus half the time I ran off line... I will only be using my welder for car body panels (my own vdub bus) I don't plan to do any really thick stuff or structural. I see where your coming from on the plate with loads of welds... but I can only play with what I get for free at the mo mate which is usual thin gauge stuff between 1 and 2mm .

thanks for your input it's much appreciated.

Cheers,

Geo

 

[Jan]

The advice re practice welds on much thicker metal still holds good. As you master each thickness/gauge you can progress to thinner and thinner stuff so that, when you actually start to weld what you want to join, you are proficient enough to avoid blow through and reduce warping to a minimum.

 

[Geodawg]

The advice re practice welds on much thicker metal still holds good. As you master each thickness/gauge you can progress to thinner and thinner stuff so that, when you actually start to weld what you want to join, you are proficient enough to avoid blow through and reduce warping to a minimum.

Hi Jan, I hope you don't think I was dismissing the idea of practicing on thick metal, and if anyone thinks that, I'd like apologise now if it came over that way. I was merely trying to say that at the mo beggars cant be choosers and I'm stuck with what I can scrounge from my mates work (which are only off-cuts of 1mm and 2mm thick sheet metal) and these fit in with what I plan to use my welder for. I@m happy to practice practice practice on what I can lay my hands on for free as funds are low at the mo

I appreciate all the help I get on here

Cheers,

Geo

 

[Richard.]

The advice re practice welds on much thicker metal still holds good. As you master each thickness/gauge you can progress to thinner and thinner stuff so that, when you actually start to weld what you want to join, you are proficient enough to avoid blow through and reduce warping to a minimum.

I disagree , he is going to be using different settings, arc transfer , and even technique welding squares on a thick lump of steel. He will then approach his 1mm thick joint and be just as lost with how to approach it. He would be better taking the steel he wishes to use and performing the joints he wishes to learn on until he is happy with the results. Car body welding is very rarely done in continuous runs more often than not it's a case of tack after tack . Looking at the progress in the pictures he is moving in the right direction. Well done mate.

 

[Kent]

yeah, if you can put the early work in without stopping and blowing holes it will help you a ton. THEN work down to thinner stuff and joints! I understand the money side but if you go down to a local fab shop they are normally more than glad to get a £5 note in their hand for a bit of stuff from the bin than 20 pence to £1 from the scrap man. Being cynical the guy who takes your fiver will likely not care what the boss gets anyhow if he aint on the floor that is, heck if you give your plates back to them they will be worth more as they have now increased in weight

If your learning to weld its way easier to learn with a bit of juice behind things to start with and work down towards the thinner stuff

The whole running off thing is why you do the pad of welds from all directions, why you work towards things like signatures. Joints shouldn't come before the weld pad and such exercises though. At present you fighting burning through before you can run a nice looking weld bead correctly along the joint.