My first welds

[Harry Worth]

Finally saved up for my welder. Here are my first attempts. It's a lot more fun than all the angle grinding I've been doing on my old wreck. B***ger my camera's battery is flat - I've put a couple of pics in my photo album - please let me know what you all think. I seem to be getting penetration but the weld seems a little tall.-Thanks

Edit: Here's the pics from Harry's album.

First attempts

Second attempts

 

[Chickenjohn]

Looks a darn sight better than my first attempts to weld, several years ago!- certainly the 2nd attempts.
Maybe just knock the wire speed down a tad if you feel the weld is too high.

next step before starting work on the car is to practise joining bits of 1mm thick steel together, rather than just running beads across a piece. You may have to tweak the power settings for butt wleding bits togther rather than running beads across a sheet.

 

[pedrobedro]

Stop wasting wire and gas and weld something useful. Your welds are as good as anything you need to hold your car together and what you've done there would have held a couple of wings and sills on.

 

[Chickenjohn]

Stop wasting wire and gas and weld something useful. Your welds are as good as anything you need to hold your car together and what you've done there would have held a couple of wings and sills on.

I disagree, it is not a waste of gas and wire to get comfortable and confident with the technique of welding! He has achieved the first stage which is to run a neat bead with penetration. Next stage is to butt weld pieces together, then master plug welding and then he is ready to start working on the car.

Harry- I would advise not cutting anymore of the car out till you start welding some bits back in.

 

[Harry Worth]

Thanks for the advice

Thanks for the comments - Yes - I've got to sort out some more metal to start having a go at butt welds - Had a go already with not too much success - I was either missing the gap slightly (eyesight not what it was) or blowing holes. I ran an angle grinder (1mm disc) partially along a piece of 1mm thick sheet metal and then tried to join it back together. I effectively therefore have a 1mm gap between the two sheets of metal - is this making life difficult for me? Had a little success using the pulse method and actually got a couple of pulsed runs that looked vaguely OK - got a bit excited and ground them down with an angle grinder so sorry, no pics. I found that if I tried to weave back and two across the sheets I blew holes. Is it worth knocking the power substantially back from the setting I've been using to do the beads to tackle the butt welds?

Hope a plug is OK - Many thanks also to the guys at Rapid welding, Portsmouth for setting me up with pretty much everything I needed (threw in a free pair of gauntlets too).

 

[Bsmith]

You don't need a gap with 1mm sheet, just the edges tight together, you should still get weld penetration right through.

 

[pedrobedro]

I got mine from Rapid last year Harry, good service. If you look at the welds in your bottom picture you'll see the ones that have gone near the edge have burnt away due to heat build up. Steady the gun with your other hand and push away from you and possibly speed up your travel. Don't bother with weaving on 1mm thick metal just go straight down the join. Some people recommend .6 wire for thinner metal but I use .8 for everything with no problems.

 

[Harry Worth]

First plug weld

My welding seems to be getting worse with practice - is that normal? I was working left to right on these rather than downwards as yesterday - I'm beginning to think that made a difference!

Had a go some plug welds with what was left of my scrap metal and as it turned out what was left of my gas. My biggest problem seems to be getting the tip just where it needs to be. My first/second pic is just plugs. The far right plug didn't get close to the sheet underneath - somehow managed to just fill the hole only.

The second join I tried to run a bead on the bottom and top seams as well as the plugs. This is how I plan to join my floorpan - Didn't turn out great, seemed to weld everywhere but where I needed to be. I'm using an energy saver lamp to illuminate the work - next to useless!!! Bad workman and all that! I can sort of see some of the welds looks OK ish - seems solid. I guess lots of practice before I go anywhere near the car.

Off to scrounge for offcuts and back to Rapid Welding for more gas (that knee high bottle didn't seem to last any time)

 

[Chickenjohn]

Hi harry, don't despair, it's not that bad! It is much harder to join two pieces of metal than to run a bead down a single sheet as i said.

With your plug welds- make sure the two pieces are tightly clamped together near the hole you are welding- you need to start in the middle of the hole and spiral out to the sides to fill the hole with weld and join the top to the bottom pieces.

As for your aim, that will come with practise, you can use your left hand to steady torch while you squeeze the trigger with the right hand. Keep practising is the key! You need to develop a bit of a "feel" for welding and some confidence before tackling the car.

get a big cylinder of gas and a regulator, those little disposable bottles last no time at all. Also, welding is seeing, so get yourself a reactive helmet and you will ba able to see where the torch is pointing before you pull the trigger.

 

[Harry Worth]

Thanks John

Hi John,

Many thanks for the encouragement.

The bottle I'm using is a short version (one third) of a full size one - I was a bit surprised I got through it so quickly - beginning to think something was leaking. I'm not using the little disposable ones. Helmet is an auto darkening one but I'm still struggling to see well before the arc strikes. You've just made me recollect that there are some adjusters in the helmet although I think the problem is that I need better work light - It's not a very well lit garage plus I leave the door shut so I don't scare the neighbours or disturb my gas flow. Might try the next size up bottle - I've only got a small car and the bottle I'm hiring just fits width ways in the boot - I'll ask at Rapid Welding tomorrow.

 

[Chickenjohn]

Hi Harry,
no worries, reminds me of when I was learning to weld. Get some strip style inspection lamps to shine on the workpiece. The ones with bulbs don't last long when you are welding, the sparks soon destroy the bulb! and the jam- jar ones heat the bulb up so much it does not last long either.