frustrating settings

[STOCKSY]

Hi just wondering if anyone can give me some pointers , i am in to car restorations mainly beetles and campers but other do creep in the problem i seem to get is that i cannot get stuff weld properly even though i have been doing weldiing for a while and can seem weld quite well i end up blowing holes or having pigeon poo welds , my welder is a clarke mig 220 te and i have it on settings 1 and 2 wire speed anything more and the wire spits and pushes the gun away but im sick of filling holes with weld , oh and i have watched the tutorials and been on a welding course so this is now frustrating me any HELP PLEASE

 

[Wozzaaah]

One of your main problems is that machine starts at 40A so isn't really geared towards automotive repairs.
What diameter wire are you using and what power setting?

 

[STOCKSY]

using .8 wire but going to get some .6 wire instead there 7 or 8 settings im using it on 1 i brought this welder cus it was quite a good deal might have to see if someone wants a swap

 

[Wozzaaah]

Power setting 1 with 0.6mm wire might be ok, worth a try for the cost of a small reel of wire.

 

[STOCKSY]

cheers wozzaaah will see wot happens otherwise i will sell the welder and get a slightly smaller 1

 

[bigbadbugga]

cheers wozzaaah will see wot happens otherwise i will sell the welder and get a slightly smaller 1

its not really the size, its the minimum setting.

My portamig 185 goes down to 15A, which means you can almost seam weld 0.8mm steel.

Have you tried the stitch method? I used to find it worked quite well with my old clarke welder, the key to success with it is the quality of fit between the panels to be welded, clean steel, and a good rhythm with the spots of weld.

The spitting and pushing the gun away thing used to happen to me a bit, I found it was often a bad earth clamp connection. Its worth grinding a nice clean spot for the earth clamp within 12 inches or so of the area you are welding, also, check the tension on your wire feed and clean and powdered metal out.

 

[slimjim]

yep sounds to me like its an earth problem, I sometimes get it to, to be fair the clarke machines that I have used did'nt come with a very good earth clamp, so I would be looking to get something more heavy duty!

 

[STOCKSY]

the earth is quite heavy duty cus the machine is quite big . it is removable, CHEERS everyone