My first attempts at welding

[Dantheweld]

So I have first practiced on clean metal. 1.4mm and then some 1.2mm

At first I burnt through and even killed the tip. I was playing with power settings.

Then I hit a sweet spot and did those 2 welds.

So then I thought u would attempt some butt welding

This went well. But in the back of my mind I was thinking about the old metal I would be welding to. So practiced on an old bit of sill and new metal and I started blowing holes again but in some places ok

 

[BrokenBiker]

those welds arent really big enough for people to be able to say how good/bad they are really.

why have you started on such thin material? why not start on thicker material where there is no chance of blowing holes? will make learning to control the pudle so much easier and you will then have the right skill set to be able to jump onto thin stuff without having to think about everything that is going on

 

[Dantheweld]

those welds arent really big enough for people to be able to say how good/bad they are really.

why have you started on such thin material? why not start on thicker material where there is no chance of blowing holes? will make learning to control the pudle so much easier and you will then have the right skill set to be able to jump onto thin stuff without having to think about everything that is going on

I am welding up the sills on my car. I wanted to learn on thin stuff so that it is relative and I have an idea of what settings to use.

 

[Dantheweld]

So today I had a go on the car. I will let the pics do the talking.

 

[BrokenBiker]

I am welding up the sills on my car. I wanted to learn on thin stuff so that it is relative and I have an idea of what settings to use.

thats all well and good, but its still good to learn on thicker stuff...welding thin material is harder than welding thick and if you already have the skills to weld beads on thicker material then you only need to worry about not blowing holes, rather than not blowing holes, torch angle, arc length, travel speed etc...

its up to you how you want to do it though, just offering advice.

have you got any pictures of any longer beads or runs?

 

[BrokenBiker]

are you using gasless wire?

 

[Dantheweld]

It's not easy welding to the old crusty stuff. I did sand blast it with glass media. I also used weld through primer. Thinking maybe u shouldn't have as the welds don't like it.

 

[BrokenBiker]

It's not easy welding to the old crusty stuff. I did sand blast it with glass media. I also used weld through primer. Thinking maybe u shouldn't have as the welds don't like it.

weld through primer is fine, that is what it is for. are you using gasless wire or normal wire with gas?

 

[Dantheweld]

I don't have much spare metal. I will find some tomorrow and run some beads and post up pics

 

[Dantheweld]

weld through primer is fine, that is what it is for. are you using gasless wire or normal wire with gas?

Normal wire with 80/20 argon co2

 

[Dantheweld]

Just to add I have read all the learner stuff on here and from what I did, it seemed I was doing ok lol

 

[BrokenBiker]

80/20 isnt ideal for thin material...ideally you want 95/5...what is your gas flow set to?

the brown soot around the welds usualy indicates a lack of gas coverage, and the 3rd pic to me looks like a rather porous weld, which would also show poor gas coverage

 

[HughF]

80/20 makes no difference, you should get fine results with that gas. I have done miles of bodywork with argoshield heavy with good results.

 

[BrokenBiker]

80/20 makes no difference, you should get fine results with that gas. I have done miles of bodywork with argoshield heavy with good results.

really? i was always told for anything under 10mm 80/20 is a no-no as its too much active gas

 

[HughF]

Yep, never had any problem. The only gas you get stateside is 75/25 and they do loads of bodywork with it.

 

[Dantheweld]

I have some pure CO2 is it worth trying that?

 

[HughF]

Not really, it's horrible stuff

 

[Dantheweld]

80/20 isnt ideal for thin material...ideally you want 95/5...what is your gas flow set to?

the brown soot around the welds usualy indicates a lack of gas coverage, and the 3rd pic to me looks like a rather porous weld, which would also show poor gas coverage

It's a clarke 135te. Settings are on 2 and min with wire speed at 6.5

 

[BrokenBiker]

I have some pure CO2 is it worth trying that?

you can, i used to use straight co2, welds a bit hotter but not uncontrollable. i learnt on gasless then moved to straight cos and didnt notice much difference, but then moved to argoshield light (95/5) and it was much smoother

 

[BrokenBiker]

It's a clarke 135te. Settings are on 2 and min with wire speed at 6.5

what about gas flow settings? those are just voltage and WFS