Newbie

[seabod]

Hi all, my name is Sean I work in the aircraft trade and have been lurking on here for a while. Car was due for M.O.T start of next month I’ve always fixed / repaired my own cars as I’m a qualified mechanic and was in the train for 4 years. I’ve never attempted body work before but the rear sill on my Focus has gone so thought how hard can it be . Had very limited funds so brought a not so mighty sealy 100 gassless. I’ve literally just done my first 6 passes but started raining. Was set to high power first two runs to purposely blow trough to see what I could expect, wire speed at 3. Then there on set to low and wire speed set to 4-5 also using pulse technique on the last run. So here they are my first welds any advice.

 

[seabod]

Sorry forgot to mention this is 1.2mm mild steel so not the best to practice on

 

[cumbriasteve]

Hi

No good sugar coating it but those 'welds' leave a lot to be desired.

Gasless is not the nicest to use, gasless on thin steel even less nice and a newbie with thin steel and gasless is a hell of a challenge you have set yourself, hence the results you have.

If you were close enough I would have invited you to fetch the machine over because I suspect even someone with decent experience would find it a challenge.

The only thing I can suggest is get some thicker steel to practice trying to lay a bead and get some of the initial learning in with reduced chances of blowing through.

My worry is the problems you face with the equipment you have may put you off learning and that would be a shame, it's a great hobby if the equipment is working well.

 

[seabod]

Thanks for the response . I know it’s far from the best starting point being a gasless notsomighty mig and only 1.2 mill. I have searched and looked trough this fourum for weeks and know how I ‘should’ start about it but being off work with a work injury and having needing the car fixed with no funds it’s the problem. My plan it to basically concentrate on short pulses and go from there, I’m back to work Monday and will be coming into funds soon so this it’s really just a short term start / get the car fixed solution

 

[daedalusminos]

I agree with Steve, get some thicker practice sheet...3mm. Weld, weld and weld some more, nice beads with gasless are relative, but until you master that it's pointless trying thinner stuff.

 

[seabod]

Just tried pushing doing half second pulses and seems slightly better.. I seem to be getting penatration, just seems such a fine line before blowing trough. I’m back to work Monday so will grab some thicker stuff, I wasn’t expecting so much splatter? Is that due to being gasslass or me, or maybe the material has a coating

 

[slim_boy_fat]

@seabod Welcome to the forum, fella

Have you read the tutorial(s) section on arc welding? Green button at the top of the page - they provide good starting info , but you'll get lots of help here, just don't be afraid to ask.

 

[seabod]

Cheers slim_boy_ fat yes I’ve read all the sections a few times over the past couple of weeks very informative. I think I just now need to practice practice practice. Back at work on Monday so will find some 3mm scrap to practice on, also have a blast on there gas mig they have in the tool room. I’m thinking I don’t have the best scope to do 1.2mm on this mig as lowest setting is 55 amps but if I speed up my weld to avoid blow trough the weld is very poor. Best result so far is half second pulses.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Cheers slim_boy_ fat yes I’ve read all the sections a few times over the past couple of weeks very informative. I think I just now need to practice practice practice. Back at work on Monday so will find some 3mm scrap to practice on, also have a blast on there gas mig they have in the tool room. I’m thinking I don’t have the best scope to do 1.2mm on this mig as lowest setting is 55 amps but if I speed up my weld to avoid blow trough the weld is very poor. Best result so far is half second pulses.

Difficult to tell from your pics, but ensure your practise bits are clean - no rust or mill scale. Take a flap disc to it before welding and see if it helps.

 

[seabod]

Difficult to tell from your pics, but ensure your practise bits are clean - no rust or mill scale. Take a flap disc to it before welding and see if it helps.

Ye will do mate. It only arrived today so fresh so no rust but I’m starting to think there may be something on the material now although I did use white spirit to clean it up next time in getting a disc on there to make sure 100%

 

[seabod]

FEKING RAIN.

To pulled a old washing line pole from the front into the garden to have a practice on, its thick but not sure how thick so cleaned it up got about 4 quick passes on there experimenting with wire speed and then it decides to Chuck it down

 

[Parm]

FEKING RAIN.

To pulled a old washing line pole from the front into the garden to have a practice on, its thick but not sure how thick so cleaned it up got about 4 quick passes on there experimenting with wire speed and then it decides to Chuck it down

For a newbie (I’m one also when it comes to welding) your metals needs to be clean shines.

Only the old masters can weld to stuff like that, but then they know what they are doing

It’s not as easy as they make it look

 

[seabod]

For a newbie (I’m one also when it comes to welding) your metals needs to be clean shines.

Only the old masters can weld to stuff like that, but then they know what they are doing

It’s not as easy as they make it look

Had a 40 grit wheel on it it was clean except a few pit marks but can’t see that in the pics and after I did a few passes

 

[seabod]

So... long time no see.. long story short is I’ve moved from nights to days and I am now in tooling so am being trained up on all the machines ect. Best part about it is we have tig mig and arc and whenever I want for as long as I want I can practice. So I’ve only just started and had about 15 mins playing about with settings ect and it’s 100x better than my first attempt with a gaskess cheap welder... here are the pics. Pleas bear in mind this was first time using a proper mig welder and had about 15 mins to play with it.

 

[seabod]

Oh and also this is my first ever attempt at arc.... it’s a different kettle of fish for me. Bloody hard but I have got someone who is going to train me (coded welder)

 

[LewisT]

Nothing to input, but that's some serious iridescent on those arc welds

 

[seabod]

So have been reading / practicing and today had to do a tool repair. Unfortunately had no pics of the damage before I welded but was a inch long defect about 4-6 mm deep. Also only got a pic after my last pass, did 3 passes using 3.2 electrode at 90A. Had Simon the welder look and he gave some good input but happy with how things are going.

 

[seabod]

Had my first ever go at TIG today. Never even held a torch so was just a bit of a play to get a feel for position, pedal, and which hand feels best for feeding/torch.

Can see at the bottom is where ryan showed me a little demo, the rest is me. The balls where where there was support Blocks underneath so couldn’t do a run, silly me. Anyway let me know what you think.

 

[Yamhon]

Night and day difference! What is that helmet you're using please?

 

[seabod]

Night and day difference! What is that helmet you're using please?

It’s a 3m speed glass with air filtration