new to welding just had a go at 316 stainless

[pc18]

well i plan to make an exhaust for my civic shortly. i was hoping my friend was going to lend me his tig and teach me how to get going with it but he seems to have let me down. so im having a go with my mig.

its 316 stainless, 1.5mm tube (i think)
ive .8mm 316 wire in the welder and halfords disposable argon co2 mix 86/14%

heres my first go on the left of the pictures

on the left side i was adjusting the power and wire speed as i was going to try and get it right, i blew a couple of holes at first. on the right side i kept the settings the same all the way round.

on the right i was coming to the end of the join and the weld seemed t just ball up on the wire and not want to stay on the tube?? so it left a small hole

and heres the settings the welder was on.

any feedback would be great. With the stainless it seems to want to ball up on the end of the wire quite alot, and i ended up with a welded up tip which i had to change.

 

[simonallen]

if it was balling up before welding I would suggest a little more wire speed

 

[pc18]

Thanks I will give that a try.

 

[Tino]

A different gas mix would help you a lot. Argon co2 mix 86/14% isn't great for stainless. You need a lot less co2. If you only have disposables to chose from I would try pure Argon, but that's not ideal either. Best is to get mix that is for stainless, like Stainshield from B.O.C

 

[pc18]

I see, I don't really want to get a bigger bottle of that for the mig as I'm hoping to get a tig shortly so I think I will be going with a hobby weld bottle of argon.