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sprayerDrew
Perfession not a hobby !
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Hi 0.6 is best for body work mate but people use both 0.6 0.8 wire!
Be careful on exhausts as they are very thin i learned the hard way even on lowest power setting
Drew
Be careful on exhausts as they are very thin i learned the hard way even on lowest power setting
Drew
rtbcomp
Moderator
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Welcome to the forum.
Which welder have you got?
Not quite sure what you mean by 18-20, as for wire you're best with 0.6mm steel wire. Get a decent wire from a proper welding supplier, the stuff hobby shops sell isn't always that great!
First thing though, have a good read here:-
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/
And click on "MIG Welding Tutorial"
Which welder have you got?
Not quite sure what you mean by 18-20, as for wire you're best with 0.6mm steel wire. Get a decent wire from a proper welding supplier, the stuff hobby shops sell isn't always that great!
First thing though, have a good read here:-
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/
And click on "MIG Welding Tutorial"
thanks alot mate but anit all the wires for differnt metels thanks
Iain Westland
Member
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just get normal mig wire
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What you're using is the correct combination. 
0.6 and 0.8 is the diameter of the wire in mm, bigger wire for thicker steel, smaller wire for thinner steel.
0.6 is the smallest you can get and is ideal for car bodywork.
If you ever change to a full-size cylinder then I'd change your gas mix to a 'light' one but 80/20 will work fine.
0.6 and 0.8 is the diameter of the wire in mm, bigger wire for thicker steel, smaller wire for thinner steel.
0.6 is the smallest you can get and is ideal for car bodywork.
If you ever change to a full-size cylinder then I'd change your gas mix to a 'light' one but 80/20 will work fine.
Tino
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KMpuggy
Not got a clue
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Im in the exact same boat as you and you have found the right place. Just browse around on here, you will gather so much info. Ive got 0.8m wire in my welder and ive had it for about a week and im itching to use it. 2moro will be 1st day of practicing on some old car doors and wings ive got lying around in the shed. Best thing you can do, watch the tutorials on here and get some practice in on some metal, good luck. Any questions dont be afraid to ask as im sure people will help you out, i cant, coz im a newbie,
gotta start somewhere tho. 
peterd51
happy to be here!
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Hi,
that's about it from a disposable bottle, 5 - 10 minutes depending on how much gas-flow you set. The small regulators don't have much control, it's basically on or off.
Also, some welders and regulators tend to leak a bit, so if you're not welding for a few minutes while setting up your next workpiece it's a good idea to unscrew the regulator a couple of turns on the bottle to save some gas.
Lower settings are used for thinner sheet metals. Try each setting in turn on a scrap sheet and you should see the difference in each run.
Regards
Peter
that's about it from a disposable bottle, 5 - 10 minutes depending on how much gas-flow you set. The small regulators don't have much control, it's basically on or off.
Also, some welders and regulators tend to leak a bit, so if you're not welding for a few minutes while setting up your next workpiece it's a good idea to unscrew the regulator a couple of turns on the bottle to save some gas.
Lower settings are used for thinner sheet metals. Try each setting in turn on a scrap sheet and you should see the difference in each run.
Regards
Peter
thanks for all the replys but i think im doing sumthing really wrong because sum of my welds well most of them just cum apart and anit strong as they should of been I was welding in my garage last night then my gas ran out AGAIN so i put the welder on ebay ad i only had it 3 days i dont know whether to take it off
WELDING ANIT SO EASY!!!!!!!!
WELDING ANIT SO EASY!!!!!!!!
backpurge
Member
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It's all about practise and you aint gonna get that if you are running out of gas every 5 minutes. Get yourself a bigger cylinder and some thicker plate to play around with.
Start off on as high a setting as you can without blowing fuses, when you've got the hang of that turn your voltage down one click and re tune the wire speed accordingly, when you've got that setting sussed turn it down again and so on and so on. When you get to the stage where the arc isn't hot enough to fuse the weld to the plate ie the weld is sitting on top of the material rather than blending in to it, get some thinner plate and practice on this.
Is there anyone you could go to to that can show you what it should look like?
Start off on as high a setting as you can without blowing fuses, when you've got the hang of that turn your voltage down one click and re tune the wire speed accordingly, when you've got that setting sussed turn it down again and so on and so on. When you get to the stage where the arc isn't hot enough to fuse the weld to the plate ie the weld is sitting on top of the material rather than blending in to it, get some thinner plate and practice on this.
Is there anyone you could go to to that can show you what it should look like?
KMpuggy
Not got a clue
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- 93
Sounds like a gas problem maybe? not getting enough to the weld, a leak somewhere? i had same problem when i didnt have the gas switched on. It just made blobs on the surface that you could peel off. And i thought mig welder would be a doddle, as they say, practice makes perfect, all about setting the welder up and getting it right and it makes it so much easier. But i think you might have a problem with the welder tbh, and its not cheap when your practicing using them little bottles that keep running out. Im not one to really give you help as im in the same boat as in learning, hopefully someone can give you some help.
backpurge
Member
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There is a tendancy, typically on DIY type applications, for people to get "hung up" on shielding gas issues. If you are welding at low power settings in the PA (flat position) in a draft free environment you would be suprised how little gas flow you can get away with
Argon based mixtures are about 1.5 times heavier than air so as soon as you pull the trigger the gas literally falls out of the end of the torch and blankets the weld pool, similiar to turning a water tap on. The majority of industrial applications never need more than 15 ltr/min, I've seen cases where people are running as low as 6 ltr/min with no problems, at this low a flow rate you can't even hear the gas flowing with the torch right up to your ear.
If you haven't enough gas on it is apparent immediately, the weld pool will produce a lot of sparks and the deposited weld will look like a piece of Aero chocolate
If the weld is just sitting on top of the parent material and not biting in, it is down to incorrect parameter selection, either not enough volts or too much wire, if your machine has multi tap in points for the earth lead which controls the inductance this can have an influence also. Turning the gas flow up will have no beneficial influence at all, in fact you are more likely to cause further problems
Argon based mixtures are about 1.5 times heavier than air so as soon as you pull the trigger the gas literally falls out of the end of the torch and blankets the weld pool, similiar to turning a water tap on. The majority of industrial applications never need more than 15 ltr/min, I've seen cases where people are running as low as 6 ltr/min with no problems, at this low a flow rate you can't even hear the gas flowing with the torch right up to your ear.
If you haven't enough gas on it is apparent immediately, the weld pool will produce a lot of sparks and the deposited weld will look like a piece of Aero chocolate
If the weld is just sitting on top of the parent material and not biting in, it is down to incorrect parameter selection, either not enough volts or too much wire, if your machine has multi tap in points for the earth lead which controls the inductance this can have an influence also. Turning the gas flow up will have no beneficial influence at all, in fact you are more likely to cause further problems
thanks mate great help and no theres no one to help me
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Right, snap out of it and let's be having you!! 
Don't sell the welder, be patient and learn to use it!
First off, disposables are no good to anyone, let alone someone who's learning as you'll get through them too quickly (as you've found out).
Try and find a non-rental supplier near you or even
Get some nice, clean 3mm sheet to practice on, run lines on it using all the power settings until you're happy with the shape, width and penetration and know what works best THEN move on to doing joints.
Post some pics of your attempts so far so we can advise as to where you're going wrong.
Don't sell the welder, be patient and learn to use it!
First off, disposables are no good to anyone, let alone someone who's learning as you'll get through them too quickly (as you've found out).
Try and find a non-rental supplier near you or even
Get some nice, clean 3mm sheet to practice on, run lines on it using all the power settings until you're happy with the shape, width and penetration and know what works best THEN move on to doing joints.
Post some pics of your attempts so far so we can advise as to where you're going wrong.
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SB Metalman
Red Panda
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This is my penn'th worth.
If you are fixing the car for say patches or fixing up the body work or maybe sill skin etc you can get gasless mig welders at quite affordable prices nowadays. I bought a clarke 90en from machinemart, mainly because they have gasless (cored) welding wire and accessories easily available. Have a look through the forum regarding best welding machines and equipement,. Have a look at weldequip shop for ideas!
I was rubbish to start with and I'm still learning new things, actually I'm still rubbish but
I have got my old escort's through a few mot's with it.
You might be able to use gasless wire through your welder.The other members on the forum might be able to tell you if you can or not. However gasless welds aint pretty ( bird pooh welding, my favourite phrase for this) but it will take a breeze and you can weld outside and it can be forgiving of rust and paint as long as theres some clean metal to weld.
Don't give up, the rewards are great. Practice and read the Tips at the start of the forum. more practice, ask questions, nothings too dumb when your starting out. oh did I say practice.
It sounded like you needed some penetration to melt both bits of metal. Power too high will melt holes in the metal (blow through) . Too low and you wont melt the metal enough ( no penetration)
Whatever you decide, all the best
If you are fixing the car for say patches or fixing up the body work or maybe sill skin etc you can get gasless mig welders at quite affordable prices nowadays. I bought a clarke 90en from machinemart, mainly because they have gasless (cored) welding wire and accessories easily available. Have a look through the forum regarding best welding machines and equipement,. Have a look at weldequip shop for ideas!
I was rubbish to start with and I'm still learning new things, actually I'm still rubbish but
I have got my old escort's through a few mot's with it.
You might be able to use gasless wire through your welder.The other members on the forum might be able to tell you if you can or not. However gasless welds aint pretty ( bird pooh welding, my favourite phrase for this) but it will take a breeze and you can weld outside and it can be forgiving of rust and paint as long as theres some clean metal to weld.
Don't give up, the rewards are great. Practice and read the Tips at the start of the forum. more practice, ask questions, nothings too dumb when your starting out. oh did I say practice.
It sounded like you needed some penetration to melt both bits of metal. Power too high will melt holes in the metal (blow through) . Too low and you wont melt the metal enough ( no penetration)
Whatever you decide, all the best
