Newbie - welding tips/help/opinions

[Pigeon_Droppings]

Hi Guys,

I'm new to the forum and new to mig...so apologies if this is posted in the wrong place!

What a fantastic site...have spent weeks reading the various posts and gained a huge amount of information...now I just need a little help putting it all into practice.

I know I should be practising on 3mm...but I only had 1mm so I've been trying to butt weld it together - had lots of comedy attempts but I think I'm getting somewhere now (this is practise session 3...the first 2 didn't go very well - I couldn't see a thing...until I turned down the shade on my mask...using setting 11 now (hopefully that is OK). What I wanted to know is whether I have the settings close enough and just need more practise or whether I need to tweak the machine...I'm using a Kemppi 200 mig with 0.8mm wire (thanks weldequip) + an argon/co2 mix - I gave away my SIP machine and small gas bottles after deciding it was too difficult to use for a newbie .

Anyway any help would be much appreciated - plan is to make some small repairs to a project car I have...but before any of that happens I need to get lots of practise (and advice). From the reverse pic I think I started too cold but then got better penetration...I wandered off the join at one point and tried to go back over it so that was a bit of a mess!

Any help/advice much appreciated.

 

[cumbriasteve]

Hi and welcome to the forum, not bad for first runs but I would still get some 3mm plate, it allows you to get the hand of torch angle, speed and settings without the constant worry of blowing through.
It makes the learning curve so much easier and enjoyable.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings]

Cheers - I'll order some 3mm...I had a bit of 1mm scrap so decided to have a go but you are right it's probably going to be easier to work with something thicker while I build up the basic skills. Am away with work for 3 weeks so hope I don't forget what I've learned.

 

[ChrisJohnsSculpture]

Yeah welding thicker plate will make the learning process much easier as you can concentrate on basic technique without being too nervous about blowing holes in it all the time. For practice butt welds get some 25mm x 3mm bright strip if possible to minimise preparation. You'll still need to clean it up but it's a much easier job on bright steel than spending ages grinding the scale off the hot rolled stuff.

Generally it looks pretty fair for first attempts, you seem to be in the right area with the machine setting at least.

Are you welding a continuous bead ? it looks a bit like you might be doing a series of 'spot' welds. This is a valid technique for thin sheet but it is good to be able to run a continuous bead if at all possible.

It looks like the main thing you need to focus on is steering, once you've got the hang of controlling the melt puddle start to think ahead more about where you're going to keep to a straighter line.

It helps a lot to get yourself into a comfortable and well balanced position before you start so that you're not straining when you get near the end of the weld as this tends to pull your hand round in an arc as you go.

It may also help to draw a line parallel to the joint in chalk or paint marker (roller ball tippex pens are good for this) just to give you a clear visual reference and make sure you can see the weld as well as possible which means good lighting and a clean lens on your mask.

In terms of setting up the machine the key is to experiment, even when it seems ok just tweak it a small amount one way or the other to see if it makes any difference. Charts and tables can give you a starting point but there is a lot of personal preference and feel involved so don't be afraid to mess around with settings.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings]

Cheers Chris,

I wondered what the difference was with bright steel so definitely helps...have been using an old boot panel while I wait for a new delivery...bit os a pain sanding the paint off...on the up side it's off the car I plan to work on. I will get some thicker stuff to practise on. Good tip about working posture...I've been hanging over the bit of metal clamped in my vice which isn't great. I will try the line technique as I think this will really help me...I have another practice scheduled for tomorrow (I only get Sat afternoons free) so I will post my results...good or bad...will be on thin stuff again but I'm going to order a job lot of thick/thin and angles...cheaper as a bulk delivery....will also sort out the lighting which is very poor in my garage...I'll rig up a spot light.

Thanks again for the great tips...I'm enjoying myself which I guess is the main thing. You are right...I was trying the stop/start technique so I'd put down a small amount ...wait a second...put down a little more and so on. I think the main problem now might be my posture/work area so I will sort that out next. Previous problems were mask too dark but also mis-alignment of the sheets which caused huge problems on the thin sheet...so will be working hard on the prep!

 

[Pigeon_Droppings]

More sample welds

Finally had a chance to get some more welding done...took me a while to get back up to speed again but here goes...I did the butt welds from opposite sides so you can see the penetrations (saving on pictures!). I think the settings are OK...the welds are also straighter than before so I think the tips so far have helped me. I'm wondering if I need a wider weld as it's hard to keep on the join. I've improved the lighting so I can see more which helped but I still seem to wonder off the join towards the end. Any comments welcome...I tried the guide line approach but using a marker doesn't work too well...I'll try to figure out a better system and have another go. The alignment between the sheets seems to get lost towards the end of the weld (cant decide if the sheet was bent to start with...I did tack but not right up to the edges)...is this due to the heat maybe? I did blow a hole but that was more technique I think ....generally this doesn't seem to be a problem. I'm working on getting an order of thicker stuff to practice but will take me a few weeks to sort out (busy travelling around Europe with work over the next few weeks) so just using what I have to hand at the moment.