My 1st welds. Feedback would be much appreciated.

[fox]

Evening all.

I finally got around to getting some gas for my Portamig, and thought I'd have a play this afternoon, and this is what I turned out after about an hour or so.
I've got a jig to make to support my mini when I cut most of it away, so I wanted to 'get my eye in' before starting that.

Metal is 30-30-3 SHS, and I was as happy and comfy as I could get, so I haven't got much in the way of 'racing excuses' to blame if I suck!
These are in no order, and were probably done with various settings too; I forget.

How'm I doing? Criticism welcome

Al.

 

[Hitch]

Honestly, they look pretty good..... few points though.

Start at the begining of the joint, and stop at the end! I used to have the same problem when i was learning. Dont be afraid to go too far along.

Top one looks pretty good, middle one, could do with being a fraction hotter, notice it looks slightly cold on the edge where the radius of the box is.

Bottom, theres a fair bit of spatter (the little lumps) But that is common where you net numerous wleds coming together, unless you use a bit of anti spatter spray. Torch angle will help though, tilt it up slightly more than you have been.

What have you got your gas flow rate set at?

 

[fox]

Thanks Hitch - really appreciate the pointers.

Guilty as charged - I wussed out, going round corners No excuses
Note to self: Man-up. /Do/ the corners.

I might have faffed around with all the settings as I was doing these, hence the wild variations, but I'll aim to duplicate #1 then - noted.
ISTR I 'paused' as I moved the torch, doing that one, whereas the others, ISTR I 'just went along'.
Torch-angle - also noted. Thanks for that. Bet that's all over the place ATM.

'Hotter'? Higher wire-speed?

Gas is Argo-light, set at ~11lpm, with the trigger pulled. I dialled it up a smidge as I went along, as it was just below 10 for a while. Wire's 0.6 FYI.

Again - thanks - really appreciate your input.

Al.

 

[cumbriasteve]

Nothing wrong with those for your first welds with a new machine, you will 'fine tune' over time as you get used to the machine, I can tell right away now if my wire speed is a bit out or power wrong

There does seem to be a problem with the gas though, I got that when I first started with my portamig, tried upping the gas a bit and that helped a touch...then it just got better over time.

I think I was perhaps holding the torch wrong so I could see easier what was happening, this in turn affected the position of the gas coverage, as you get better you don't tend to need to look so closely and the torch angle returns to what it should be.

 

[fox]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the tips. Much appreciated.
I suspect the gas was/is a tad low for a start, but mainly - I bet my torch positioning's all over the place.

If I dial the gas up, and more importantly, point the torch in the right direction I'm guessing the brown 'soot' will go away? Was that the giveaway for gas and torch angle?

Regards to Cumbria - I was born and bred in Carlisle!

Al.

 

[cumbriasteve]

Hi Al
Yes my soot was so bad I nearly had to get a chimney sweep in

it probably is the angle as Hitch mentioned, unless your guage is reading a bit wrong, with mine if I hold it next to my face I can feel it gently and hear the 'hiss'..watch out for that wire if you try that...3" of wire through the cheek tends to hurt a tab

my welds are a lot cleaner now and I get that sought after bacon sizzling sound

 

[fox]

Cheers Steve. I'll double-check the gas flow, spike myself in the face, and go for the sizzling sound, and all will be fine

Al.

 

[Norm]

Hi Al , cant offer any constructive criticism as I am still on the bottom of a steep learning curve myself, but they look very good for a 1st attempt to me. Thanks for posting as I was struggling with where to start and stop on corners on box section myself and have picked up some pointers from the advice you have been given.
Regards Norm.

 

[Chickenjohn]

My thoughts are pretty much the same as "hitch", do the corners and pic no 2 the weld looks proud, could be hotter and a flatter bead. Other than that, brilliant!

Please do post pics when you start restoring your Mini!

 

[fox]

Hi Norm,
Thanks for your kind words! Glad my mistakes could be of help! Still, that's what it's all about!
I hope you're getting as much satisfaction from your learning-curve as I am.

John - thankyou very much for your encouragement!
I'm going to take everyone's suggestions on board, and see if I can improve - I've been given some good pointers.

I've only owned the mini for 6 months, and it's coming along slowly, but as soon as I've built the jig, I'll start posting up in the project section.
The jig will be the biggest thing I've ever designed and fabbed, so if it works out, I'll be pretty pleased with myself.
Then, it's on with the sheetmetal, which will be a challenge in itself; pretty much every panel is as rotten as a pear!

Al.

 

[PhillipM]

I'll admit, when doing square section like that, I usually set the work up so I can comfortably start in the middle of straight run, go around the corner and then to the middle of the next straight, I find it a lot more forgiving for starting/stopping when doing it on the straights. But then, I'm crap so I need all the help I can get

 

[fox]

Hi Phillip,
Good point! Hadn't thought of that!
I'll give that a try - makes good sense. Thanks!
Al.

 

[fox]

Day Two of the learning curve.

Swings and roundabouts today. I think I've turned out /some/ ok welds, but plenty of godawful ones, usually because the torch crept towards the work for some reason.

It's getting easier though, and I'm less tense, which is helping, and if I concentrate, I can weld around a joint with 2 welds (going around corners!!) rather than in 4 short stitches.

Also, I seem way better at downhand than anything else (going flat-across, and flat towards-myself), which seems unusual.

Today's photos are of the same joint. The 4 sides were welded in just over 2 passes, with half of each pass being downhand.

The sharp-eyed amongst you will note that there's no photos of the final weld. Unfortunately that's because that one was a godawful puddle of rubbish!

Do a few more hours tomorrow, and see if I can improve my consistency...

Al.

 

[KICKSY]

You should be proud of welds like that, it took me a good couple of hours to set
up my new Clarke 160TM. My first welds were dogs 5h1t.

Well done,

Dave.

 

[Delgado]

Not looking too bad for first attempts, but you're making the mistake of going way too slow, and letting the welds build up too much. Size wise those welds would look more at home on 8/10mm stock. Concentrate on setting the machine up right (on some scrap) and keeping the arc at the front edge of the weld pool, as with mig/mag welding the machine settings dictate to a certain extent the travel speed/ bead size. With thin material like that I would imagine that lack of root fusion wouldn't be so much of an issue, but best to learn correctly from the start.

Ps. No real need to weld around corners for what you're doing, do the fillets first then the flats (or horizontals) and you'll get a nice tidy job.

 

[fox]

Thanks for the encouragement Dave. I'm still turning out plenty of tragic rubbish, so thanks for the praise

Delgado - thanks for the tips.
So my welds are ok, but the steel's wrong!!

I've wound the settings up a little more, am weaving way less, and am trying to keep the arc at the front of the pool. Sometimes, I'm not getting 50:50 penetration, but the bead's a lot narrower.

Top photo's the 'aircraft-carrier-deck welding' from yesterday, and the next two are trying to follow Delgado's advice.

Thanks for the tips and support. Helps massively.

Al.

 

[Chickenjohn]

Looks pretty good to me except for one bubble on one weld.

I would forget the 3mm box section welding and start practising butt welding on 1mm sheet as you are intending to restore an old Mini.

Master Malcolms thin metal technique and the plug welding technique as these will be useful on your car work.

 

[fox]

Thanks John.
I'm only starting with box because the mini needs so much sheetmetal cut out that I need to make a jig to support it before I can do anything else!

I've been reading up on Malcolm's thin metal articles, and the plug-welding tutorial. Very interesting. I had a go at plug-welding some ~0.9mm sheet today, just for a change from all the box I've been welding!
Not as easy as it looks, but I was getting better at it after I wound the power up a little.
Once the jig's made, I'll focus 100% on improving my plug-welds. As you say, I'll definitely need to be able to do those well!

Al.

 

[Delgado]

Looking much better, maybe try with no weave at all, and in this order.....

 

[fox]

Thanks again Delgado. Helpful drawing - ta!
I'll try that. That's the opposite order I've been doing them in so far, although I'm not doing them in that order for any specific reason TBH!
Thanks for your input. It's really helping.

All the best,
Al.