How am i doing..

[T0mmyM]

Finally invested in a thermal arc 181i on friday and pulled the bonnet off an old scrap car i had up the unit

Saturday i setup and started trying to lay beads..

After a little while and alot of adjusting machine things seemed to improve a little..

Sunday i thought id try a bit of fabrication so i made this torch rest, although its not the best i was quite pleased with how it come out.

I went out in the garage for half hour today after work thought id try some spot welds..

Not sure why im getting the little divet but they seem pretty flat?

This is only my third day welding, i have been watching a lot of youtube videos for tips but any advice be much apreshiated, cheers

 

[cumbriasteve]

You are doing well for 3 days welding, much better than some manage

It's obvious you are getting the hang of it fast, there are some where gas coverage has not been great and a couple where the wire speed may have been too fast.

That is however the whole learning curve and you can see a couple of nice welds, especially so if that is car panel thickness.

 

[Richard.]

Finally invested in a thermal arc 181i on friday and pulled the bonnet off an old scrap car i had up the unit

Saturday i setup and started trying to lay beads..

After a little while and alot of adjusting machine things seemed to improve a little..

Sunday i thought id try a bit of fabrication so i made this torch rest, although its not the best i was quite pleased with how it come out.

I went out in the garage for half hour today after work thought id try some spot welds..

Not sure why im getting the little divet but they seem pretty flat?

This is only my third day welding, i have been watching a lot of youtube videos for tips but any advice be much apreshiated, cheers

The little divet on top of your spots is what's known as a small crator. It's really common but on critical application can be a stress riser and can crack. It's caused by contraction of the pool as it cools. A bit of torch manipulation just before you come off the trigger will help to reduce. On a longer run I tend to before letting off the trigger back track over the end of the run only 10-15mm to fill it before it develops.

 

[T0mmyM]

Its good to know i am heading in the right direction, im finding theres quite a fine line between too much and not enough heat. The panel im using is around 1mm in thickness.

As for the spot welds, today i thought id try cutting out and welding back in a small section on the same thin sheet bonnet. This is something i really want to learn to a high standard so i can eventually fix the rusty patches on my car. I found it hard to not blow through or if i wasnt blowing through the weld would sit proud and look *****. Obviously the other problem is warping but think i was getting a little hastey and not giving the panel time to cool.

As you can see in the photo i can achieve ok spot welds untill it comes to joining two pieces together! I used a 1mm cutting disk so the gap wasnt massive?

Any advice would be awesome thank you

 

[Richard.]

The craters on the spot welds have reduced a lot. Nice. What did you do different.

 

[T0mmyM]

I pulled the torch away quicker and to the side instead of up seemed to work

 

[T0mmyM]

Tried welding a few more panels in last couple of days.. Really hard to get a consisted spot weld on a butt joint with 1mm gap. Anyone have any techniques that might help?

 

[trewjohn2001]

Looks ok mate, I leave a gap too. It will look messy until you have filled in all the tacks and ground it back.

Once I have the panel tacked in place I strike on the bottom of the last tack if you see what I mean. Rather than starting a whole load of fresh tacks- this way you can stop the weld from building up too high. You can usually get away with two tacks without distorting the panel. Pull the torch back for the second strike to reduce the heat a bit.

I use a magnetic Earth clamp - you can get a good consistent earth close to your weld - good for repeatability of settings.

 

[trewjohn2001]

All filled in

 

[T0mmyM]

Cheers guys

John - my main concern is panel distortion! Like you say i guess its all about taking your time and not letting too much heat into the panel. The magnetic earth looks like a great idea i guess it saves the hassle of finding/making an earth too.
When you say you leave a gap, is there a reason for this? I find my tacks are pretty consistant minus the gap as you can see from pics!

Mrfuzzy - thanks for the tip also read somewhere its best to make a join near a crease if possible as the panel has more strength? Im going to start a few bits on my mk1 golf in the next week or so. I will start with a couple of smaller holes in the chassis where it wont show if i mess it up! I do have a full scuttle and a pillar to tackle though if i have any chance of driving it this summer do-able i think i just need to get stuck in but also take my time, i want to do a decent job after summer ill need a full rear arche panel and both bottom sections of the rear quaters.
Ill have to get myself some anti splatter spray, didnt know it existed to be honest and it does clog up fairly quickly.

Thanks again for your input

Tom

 

[T0mmyM]

I have a local store called migtigarc im sure they will stock it, its where i bought my welder really nice guys
Thanks for the heads up, not so sure im keen on the last two.

 

[T0mmyM]

Had a go at following my tacks down today, not the tidiest but did manage to fill the gap consistently without blowing through which i was pretty happy with
I found that starting the arc in the centre and keeping the torch still worked best.

The panel did distort as i was doing 4-5 tacks at a time, when i come to start the car i will do less and give the panel time to cool.

Are there any good methods to cooling panels down quickly or is it best to leave it do its thing?

 

[mike 109444]

Ref blowing through you can use a piece of copper or ally tube at the back (bent and beaten to shape) held along the gap then weld and it should reduce blow through.

 

[trewjohn2001]

Tom I leave a gap as it avoids distortion and keeps the weld low. The panels pull together as you weld, without a gap the metal has nowhere to go but up or in. You can see this in action if you leave a very small gap between the patch and the panel you will see the gap closes up after a few tacks.