neewbie O.o

[Stitches]

Hey! i'm stitches I got me a arc from Aldi (well I got it from cash con for £15)

Well after a long time of having it and a friend bought a cheap welder and he just got stuck in. We welded on some brackets for this back brake light. First time we both welded. Bad weld's I'll admit, more tack's than a weld.

So afterwards I shot home and step my kit up. after a few practise weld's I got the hang of how to start the arc.

This is what I did last night. I know it's not amazing or gonna win me awards

These are done on a sheet (not sure what metal) with a 1.6 rod on about 55 on my welder. I read arc's not the best for thin metal but it's all I've got to practise on at the moment. (having a kid drain's your money!)

Thought please oh and hey everyone and thanks for the help

 

[cumbriasteve]

Arc welding can be a challenge to learn, even more so with a cheap buzz box, thin steel and thin rods..so all in all your first attempts are doing ok.

Get a bit of thicker plate, some 2.5 decent rods and keep practicing, you will get there, once you have control you can move to thinner material with more chance of success.

I used a similar machine for many years and made a lot of items and money with it.

Bet you are also using the cheap hand held screen, one of the £25 auto darkening helmets off ebay will make a world of difference.

 

[rich r]

1.6mm rods aren't easy on the Aldi welder as they're right at the lower limit of it's range. Go for 2.5mm and you'll do a lot better. 3.2mm are easier still, but you should be able to get the hand of it with 2.5mm, which will work out cheaper as you get more per kg

I taught myself using Aldi rods on an Aldi 160A buzzbox - it's perfectly possible to do so. Use these forums and the tutorials and you'll get it. Lots and lots of practise and it gets easier.

Get hold of some steel plate that's 6mm thick too (old fencing, roof supports, bits of an old garage maybe?). Cut off a section, clean it up with an angle grinder and practise laying welds on that. Then when you can do decent stringers, cut off another section the same length and see if you can butt weld the two together.

And yes - auto darkening helmet is a must, as it means you can use your left hand to steady the rod.

 

[Stitches]

I picked up a mask for machine mart for a tenner on Sunday. the darkness is shade nine. with a spot light I can see where I'm starting.

I'm getting some thicker metal over the bank holiday. I can get a arc on the lower rod's but as you can see sometimes burn holes won't the bigger rod's burn through the metal sheet's I'm using?

 

[Robotstar5]

won't the bigger rod's burn through the metal sheet's I'm using?

Yes, you will need to find some thicker metal to practice with the bigger rods

and welcome to the forum from another Brummie!

 

[Stitches]

Yes, you will need to find some thicker metal to practice with the bigger rods

and welcome to the forum from another Brummie!

Thanks dude!

I'm one of those annoying people who use what they have at the time but hoping as i've read that smaller stick's are hard if I learn with with for a few days I should find the bigger stick's a bit easier