Have I made the right choice?

[andrew_c]

Hello ladies and gents. I've kinda done this the wrong way around - bought the equipment first and now wonder if I've got it right.

I'm a newbie to MIG welding and never done it before! Bought myself a Clarke 151TE (Turbo) to use on my project car. Going to be using it on things ranging from car body panels to a possible engine mount.

Left the shop with quite a few goodies today - Monday was my 21st so it's a 'self bought' birthday present.

So as well as hoping the 151TE will do everything I need it to do, are there any "real beginner" tips I should know before I am let loose with this bad boy? I'll be getting some 2mm mild steel to play with, maybe make a few brackets with it. Hows best to go about welding? Someone just give me some tips!!

Ta guys and gals, Andy.

 

[Omniata]

A good place to start would be the tutorial:

Tutorial

Just play around until you work the wire feed and power settings out

As for the welder I think you've picked a good one for the work you've planned, although I would perhaps ditch the disposeable gas cylinder and try to get your self on an argoshield mix from a distributor if you can...

 

[Debs.]

Hiya Andy,
Welcome to the forum.

Looks like Santa has been early to your house......with smashing combined Christmas and Birthday presents.

There`s lots of helpful advise here-abouts from experienced MIG`ers and a very helpful tutorial too.
I`m sure the more experienced forum members will be here soon with advise and feedback on your purchase......I`m a novice too!

Hope you`ll soon be welding happily with your new gear.....please remember to post pictures of your projects here too!

 

[Porschemaniac]

Welcome to the forum Andy,

Nice welder - I'm sure that you'll be happy with that. I have the older (blue) version of this and I really like it.

I would just echo what everyone else has said; there are some great tutorials on here (and they certainly helped me).

When you have finished the bottle of CO2, try CO2 / Argon mix - it really does make nicer welds.

For learning on, 2mm is a good place to start.

In my experience, there really is no substitute to rolling up your sleeves (metaphorically speaking, of course) and getting stuck in. And few things are as much fun to learn.

I'll be interested to hear how you find the Clarke helmet; I understand that there may be one under the Christmas tree for me this year

 

[andrew_c]

Thanks for the warm welcome, got home from work today ready and willing to get down to some intense welding practise! or.. maybe NOT. I shouldn't have assumed these things were ready to use and abuse.

Ah well.. after about 3 hours reading the entire manual I've finally gotten it set up. Went to drag the thing outside and there is a blizzard. *sigh* ah well maybe tomorrow!

Also had a play with the lid, brilliant idea!

 

[andrew_c]

finally managed to get a go with it today! played with all the settings. really got a feel for the wire speed now. too slow and it starts to hiss and you can see it melting back up to the nozzle thingy.

power settings are quite easy to figure too. too low and you may as well blow on the metal, it does nothing. not really managed to go too high yet though. probably because I was on 5mm mild steel.

didn't really start with runs, went straight for this!

Great fun!!! more tomorrow!

 

[Bobtail4x4]

You will find it welds better if you clean the rust off. lol.

 

[andrew_c]

yeah I found that out later

hehe thanks!

 

[rog8811]

Newb to newb question, have you a feel for how long the disposable gas bottle is going to last you?
I have asked this in my own intro post but I thought it worth asking here as well

Regards rog8811

 

[Wozzaaah]

Andrew, some of those welds are looking pretty good, seems like you've got to grips with it pretty quickly.

Rog, you'll only get about 7 minutes welding time out of a standard size disposable, even less if you're welding outside as you'll have to crank the gas flow rate up to compensate for the wind.

 

[Drains]

Andrew, that seems like a good start. As you have a mixture of good welds and bad in there, it won't take too much for you to work out which ones are good, and how you did those, as opposed to the poor ones. I'm not going to tell you cos I don't think I need to.

Next though, try doing some butt welds, instead of fillet, and see how that goes

 

[andrew_c]

Thanks for all the comments, really appreciated. I spent about 30 mins on the welds above probably less than 15mins actually welding though. Bottle still has some gas to go!

Noticed a few things I did wrong but the main one was this.

Kept moving the wire too high (1) and not actually making enough contact on the bottom. Got some advice to fill the bottom (2) in and go over the top again (3).

Other thing was my hand control. It sucks! My hand wobbles all the time and sometimes means im moving too quick and not getting a large enough pool.

On the plus, I do have to recommend the welding mask! The one that came with it is only worth heading for the dustbin! Automated one did mean I could help steady my hand too!

 

[pedrobedro]

Use your other hand to steady the gun, it's not a water pistol you can point and squirt. Put your left elbow down on something solid and brace the swan neck against your gloved hand thumb. I only use one hand when tacking and holding the piece of metal being welded in position.

 

[chap]

Use your other hand to steady the gun, it's not a water pistol you can point and squirt. Put your left elbow down on something solid and brace the swan neck against your gloved hand thumb. I only use one hand when tacking and holding the piece of metal being welded in position.

This is good advice. Automatic welding helmit that leaves the other hand free to support, makes the world of diference!

Also the welds look good as starters.. no bird sh*t in sight!

 

[andrew_c]

got onto building a couple of items for my engine (main reason for the welder)

first I built an alternator mount. although i did blow a few holes in the thin tube bit - got the hang of it in the end.

then i moved onto something more substantial. the engine mount. i did the welds, ground them back, went over again and ground them back again. just to make sure they were gonna hold.

they aren't the worst in the world. i have confidence in them.