Hello all, first post. I've never welded before and have decided to take the plunge and bought a SIP 130 Turbo DP. I'm in the process of getting ready to weld up my practice car, a Fiat Uno and thought I'd get some tips from the peeps in the know. At the moment I've got it is setup for gasless flux wire 8mm, I'll be doing most of my welding outdoors as my garage is not big enough to accommodate everything.
Anyway, I got a practice piece and my first go has been a complete failure. Even at the lowest power I was blowing straight through the metal and I wasn't getting a good weld pool, just burning straight on through. To be honest I think my practice piece was too thin and the only way to void blow throuugh was to move the gun very quickly and even then it wasn't guaranteed. I measured the thickness of my practice piece and it is probably only 0.6mm. I think I really need 2mm for my repairs on the arches to provide the required structural strength. To be honest it was difficult to work out how the power is set, the manual wasn't clear and there are 3 switches to set the power and a seperate wire speed fine control.
A few tips would be appreciated and am I best chucking this practic piece in the bin and getting something more useful from the local fabricators down the road? I've read that gasless is better for thicker metals.
Anyway, I got a practice piece and my first go has been a complete failure. Even at the lowest power I was blowing straight through the metal and I wasn't getting a good weld pool, just burning straight on through. To be honest I think my practice piece was too thin and the only way to void blow throuugh was to move the gun very quickly and even then it wasn't guaranteed. I measured the thickness of my practice piece and it is probably only 0.6mm. I think I really need 2mm for my repairs on the arches to provide the required structural strength. To be honest it was difficult to work out how the power is set, the manual wasn't clear and there are 3 switches to set the power and a seperate wire speed fine control.
A few tips would be appreciated and am I best chucking this practic piece in the bin and getting something more useful from the local fabricators down the road? I've read that gasless is better for thicker metals.