Well I had my first go at welding this weekend. I got my welder all set up and went to halfords and got a couple of little CO2 bottles, they don't last long do they!
My mum was throwing out an old metal bunk-bed so I took the frame cut it up and attempted to weld it into all kinds of weird and wonderful shapes! Started on some flat bits first..... unsurprisingly, I'm not very good!
I think a large part of my problem was the fact that I can't see a thing out of my welding mask. It's an old flip down thing that's been in my garage for years. I literally can't see a thing untill I start welding, then I see a green spark and the red glow of the molten metal. The only indication I have that I've blown a hole is the red glow dissapearing.
And I can't see well enough to see where I'm going or how far away from the metal I am! A bit of a disaster.
I think possibly because of this I was holding the tip a bit far away. There was more of a machine gun sound rather that a burning fire. I turned the wire speed up till it pushed away, and also so far down that very little happened at all really.
Only a couple of my 'welds' looked like continuous lines, most were kind of blotchy. Could the machine gun sound and blotchy lines be because I'm too far away from the metal and the wire is breaaking contact?? This is pure speculation on my part... does it sound plausible?
I did get some metal joined to other metal so I'm calling it a successful first attempt!! Roll on next weekend so I can have another shot.
Unfortunately I think it will be next month untill I can affford a new mask. At least thats plenty time to find one eh?!
Sorry for the essay but I'm pretty excited about it all.
Rick
My mum was throwing out an old metal bunk-bed so I took the frame cut it up and attempted to weld it into all kinds of weird and wonderful shapes! Started on some flat bits first..... unsurprisingly, I'm not very good!
I think a large part of my problem was the fact that I can't see a thing out of my welding mask. It's an old flip down thing that's been in my garage for years. I literally can't see a thing untill I start welding, then I see a green spark and the red glow of the molten metal. The only indication I have that I've blown a hole is the red glow dissapearing.
And I can't see well enough to see where I'm going or how far away from the metal I am! A bit of a disaster.
I think possibly because of this I was holding the tip a bit far away. There was more of a machine gun sound rather that a burning fire. I turned the wire speed up till it pushed away, and also so far down that very little happened at all really.
Only a couple of my 'welds' looked like continuous lines, most were kind of blotchy. Could the machine gun sound and blotchy lines be because I'm too far away from the metal and the wire is breaaking contact?? This is pure speculation on my part... does it sound plausible?
I did get some metal joined to other metal so I'm calling it a successful first attempt!! Roll on next weekend so I can have another shot.
Unfortunately I think it will be next month untill I can affford a new mask. At least thats plenty time to find one eh?!
Sorry for the essay but I'm pretty excited about it all.
Rick