New Welds - HELP

[JonnyAlpha]

OK;

So I finally rigged up my Clarke 160EN Turbo and picked up a piece of scrap 5mm steel to do some test welds.

The plan was to get a feel for the torch and settings etc.

I am using 0.6mm wire and a 600g bottle of Clarke CO2 I also have a another bottle of I think Argon.

Attached is a picture of my first welds (not a pretty sight), the first spot welds and a couple of seem welds I did were reasonable, but I can't remember what settings?!?!? I then tried a few other higher settings but started to get a lot of soot and now all I get is real bad blobs.

The first problem I encountered was an intermittent wire feed which I solved when I found the the drum was set to the 0.8mm groove until I switched it to 0.6mm.

The disposable regulator can be set from 0 - 6, what should ot be set to to conserve gas but maintain a good shroud?

To lay down some decent welds do I need to set the welder to weld 5mm steel? Which according to what I have read is rocker switch set to MAX, rotary switch set to 3 and wire speed set to 12?? Tried that didn't like it?

Any advice would be great.

 

[JonnyAlpha]

Maybe I've run out of gas??? With the pipe removed and switching the regulator on how much pressure should there be ?

 

[keith19]

Personally I'd have started off on something a bit thinner, like 2 - 3 mm. Your 5 mm plate will take away all the heat that the 160 is capable of, if you're just laying it on top, especially with 0.6 mm wire, and penetration will be poor.

 

[gavuk]

where are you in the southwest?....if your close to a member they may be able to help...

 

[JonnyAlpha]

Personally I'd have started off on something a bit thinner, like 2 - 3 mm. Your 5 mm plate will take away all the heat that the 160 is capable of, if you're just laying it on top, especially with 0.6 mm wire, and penetration will be poor.

Iv'e got some thinner sheet metal that I also scavenged so I'll give that a go, but wondered why the first welds seemed fine and then all of a sudden black soot and rubbish welds.

 

[JonnyAlpha]

where are you in the southwest?....if your close to a member they may be able to help...

Braunton North Devon

 

[gavuk]

Bit far for me Jonny, from other posts on here i believe your disposable reg needs to be wound right up,co2 disposables will last longer than argonmix,but the weld/arc will be smoother and nicer with argon mix.Disposable bottles work out expensive,check the gas supplier sticky ,and get a cylinder ,there are rent free options for argonmix and co2,i use co2 costs £15 for a cylinder lasts ages and is ok for car bodywork eyc ...argon/co2 ...(there are different ratios) produce a smoother arc and a better looking weld and is easier to use on car bodywork,but will cost more....turn the gas reg up for now

 

[JonnyAlpha]

I just reluctantly bought a disposable Argon/CO2 from Halfrauds but will have one more go with the CO2. I also picked up some nice off cuts of 0.5 - 1.5 mm Sheet Metal (I'll measure later) and some various other assorted pieces of scrap.

I've been trying to get my head around the power settings:

The Clarke 160EN Turbo has a rocker switch with two settings (Min, Max), a rotary dial with three settings (1,2 and 3) and a Wire Speed Control (1 - 10).

I have used the MIG settings calculator and assuming I have read the manual correctly the 160EN has a min 30 Amp and a high of 150 amp and 6 power settings. (Min 1, Min 2, Min 3, Max 1, Max 2, Max 3).

So assuming I am welding 1mm steel I believe I should have the power set to Min 1?
As for wire speed now I'm a bit more confused!! The reference table on this site states a wire speed of 3m per second but I'm not sure what that is on my
Clarke 160EN (1 - 10).

To confuse things even more the manual states (posted by others on this site) that the wire speed control should be set to 6 for welding steel and that it is for fine tuning and that "The speed of delivery will increase AUTOMATICALLY as the current is increased and visa versa"

Any advice?

To test the wire speed I read another post explaining how to measure the wire speed by pressing the torch for 10 seconds and measuring the amount of wire expelled. Then multiply this by 6 (to imitate 1 minutes worth of feed), the answer will give the wire speed in metres per minute. Now again according to the wire speed reference on this site for 1mm steel it should be 3ms.

 

[gavuk]

Hi Jonny ,have you read the tutorial here video.....Malc explains it better than i can,down to feel and sound on any amperage,you will feel the gun being pushed back when too fast etc

 

[gavuk]

For 1mm .......try min 1......wire speed 6......then adjust wire speed until arc is sounding like frying bacon ...prob slow down to acheive this ....at wire speed 6 you will prob feel the gun pushing away or the arc stttttuttterrrinnggg...indicating too fast ...i hold the torch with one hand and using the other adjust the wire speed until the arc sounds and feels right ,try and maintain the gun to plate distance that you will eventually be using say 8-10mm otherwise it will behave differently when you try welding again....wish you luck

 

[JonnyAlpha]

I'll give it a go with the 1mm and hopefully will have a decent photo to post my success

 

[drum]

I think this vid shows what Gav was explaining about setting the welder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eB9qnktmDI&feature=relmfu

 

[gavuk]

Good video that .........Jonny ,did you try on 1mm?....sorry i had popped out ,1mm is not ideal to learn on 2-3mm is a lot easier ,for 1mm i use the thin metal technique ....thin metal technique /video....you still need to know how to set the wire speed etc

 

[JonnyAlpha]

I set the welder to Min 2 wire speed 6 but had to increase the wire speed, at Min 2 wire speed 8 i was getting a large blob with some penetration. I increased the power to Min 3 and at wire speed 7 was getting better penetration still not loads but a flatter weld. Also with the CO2 on max I got less oxidation and holding the nozzle slightly further away helped

I would take some pictures but I've just lost my phone!!! i'll dig out my camera tomorrow.

 

[gavuk]

What thickness material ?

 

[JonnyAlpha]

According to my old vernier calipers its about 1mm

 

[gavuk]

Could be the co2 is cooling the weld more than argomix and using 0.6mm wire ,not sure from your pics which are the manual and what are from here ....did you master the wire speed?.also were you welding mid sheet ?...if you try the same setting on a butt joint in free air you may well find your way to high

 

[shenion]

CO2 is hotter than argon mixes. It adds heat to the weld pool.

It does conduct less current and the arc duty cycle is less. So you need a higher voltage (power) setting. It also makes for less of a usable wire speed range. I had to use the next higher voltage setting to get the same current on my Clarke.

Too large a torch/work gap will produce the black deposits along with too low a torch angle.

 

[gavuk]

CO2 is hotter than argon mixes. It adds heat to the weld pool.

It does conduct less current and the arc duty cycle is less. So you need a higher voltage (power) setting. It also makes for less of a usable wire speed range. I had to use the next higher voltage setting to get the same current on my Clarke.

Stand corrected .......

 

[JonnyAlpha]

I think this vid shows what Gav was explaining about setting the welder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eB9qnktmDI&feature=relmfu

Just watched the video, thanks very much it gives an excellent method of adjusting the wire speed on the fly, however do you need to re-adjust for every type of weld as I have conflicting info that the Clarke 160EN auto adjusts for amperage??