Just done my first ever "weld" - now to refine!

[CWA]

Just had a go on an old Fiesta wing, using my new Clarke 151TE with CO2 gas. I have LOTS and lots of questions and am bound to have a load more as I go on. Here are a few of them:

How do I know if the gas is working as it should? As I understand it, the gas only comes out of the nozzle when an arc is struck? When I turn it on at the regulator (from 0 to 4, of 6) I don't hear a hiss or any pressure building, but I'm not sure if I should.

Reading through the tutorials on this site, it says to slow down the wire speed with power, and it gives some example values. But reading through the Clarke manual for the welder, I get the impression that the wire speed is altered with the power automatically and all you need to do is fine tune the speed according to how it feels. Can someone with experience of this welder confirm that?

Some pictures; a few blew through, some seem generally splattery which is why I was wondering whether the gas was working. But I think it may be because I wasn't holding the welder close enough to the metal, after reading a few more articles on here.

I'm going to have another bash at a bit of exhaust pipe, a bit thicker so it should be more forgiving. I'll chuck up some pics in a bit aswell!

 

[steveo3002]

half pull the trigger , you should hear the gas

 

[CWA]

I'll give it a try, so it's like a two-stage trigger or something?

BTW Steve, are you on Club Polo with a similar/the same username?

Going to upload some pics of my first load.

 

[Wozzaaah]

Not enough gas. Those 'welds' are very sooty and porous.
Get something thicker to practice on too.

 

[steveo3002]

yeah its me on the polo forum ...been welding it today lol

try a higher power setting too , those look like theyre sitting on top , no harm in trying it on max power and working your way down

inspect the back of the panel too , that should show how its penetrated

 

[CWA]

Right, I'm pretty sure my gas bottle isn't working properly. Tried what you said about listening Steve and I can't hear anything (this was on 6, highest setting). The new welds still look the same, with brown crusting around the outside.

Is there anything I can try to open the seal of the canister? I've tried unscrewing and re-screwing the regulator back onto the canister dozens of times with no joy (this is what is advised on the canister). Is there anything I might have overlooked? I don't want to prod the nozzle with anything, as I did this with a paint rattle can and quickly learnt my lesson.. 90% sure that is a bad idea lol

 

[BigBadJV]

Are you using the high capacity disposable canisters from Machine Mart? I had to return 2x 110ltr CO2/Argon mix disposables last weekend because the regulator couldn't open the valve even when screwed beyond the maximum setting.

Given up on the disposables already, planning on getting a cylinder from HobbyWeld.

JV

 

[smoggyrich]

I had the same problem with the regulator on my Clarke machine. Not matter how far i wound it down i never got any gas. I changed it to something like this and it worked....

I soon changed to a full sized regulator to use larger re-fillable bottles. I've been using a Co2 Pub gas bottle. Much Cheaper if you are planning a lot of welding.

 

[tombardier]

I've found that you can stop the gas flowing if you screw those disposable regulators on too tight. Try loosening it off a bit

 

[CWA]

Wow so it's been about a year, but I've finally got a new gas bottle from Machine Mart and had another go at this! Pics are below, sheets 1 and 2 are just general practices to play about with wire speeds and power settings. I think I had a couple of good runs in there, forget to take reverse side shots though. The metal was quite thin, I was on the lowest power setting (MIN 1).

Sheet 1

Sheet 2

I had some practise runs along a length of exhaust (2mm thick). I wasn't sure whether MIN 2 or MIN 3 was the better option, I blew through quite a few times on 3.

Then I chopped some pipe in half and tried welding it up, I put four tack welds in around the circumference then tried running along through the gaps as shown. It doesn't look like I've penetrated through very well, I ended up going for MIN 2 so maybe I should have tried 3?

Any comments on anything that is most likely not obvious to me would be great.

 

[keith19]

The pipe welds don't look bad for starters; we've seen plenty worse on here.
It helps on exhaust pipe to put up the power a bit and do short tacks which blend into one another, unless the pipe is very thin. That is not bad pipe at 2mm, gives you something to work on. This guy shows the fast and hot technique; you have to adapt it to your own machine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JohBHzhOyPg

 

[Weldinator]

Very useful for me, im about to weld some exhaust tubing and that way looks so neat. I would have to pull the trigger on and off every few seconds as my portamig doesn't have that facility.

Not bad for your first few go's, a little under cutting, some nice and flat others a little high. Try a higher wire speed too, i find going round in circles with the weld pool as you move along helps me.