Nothing seems to be going to plan

[Jack Cox]

Hi guys thought it easier to start a new thread for a whole new bunch of problems I took the plunge and got myself a bottle of hobby weld 5 now so I'm not getting robbed every 30seconds for a new gas bottle. Ive been playing around on 1.5mm sheet but no matter what i do with my welder settings it doesn't go smoothly The machine I'm using is a clarke mig 90en and the manual says for 0.6 wire on 1.0-2.0mm mild steel settings 1-Max wfs 6 but when i use this the weld wire balls up on the end and falls off all the time rather than creating a puddle, if i turn the wfs up it starts to spatter all over the place there seems to be no middle ground at all if i drop the power down i get the same problems with lower wfs. I also keep getting a lot of brown dust on all my welds, my gas is set to just above 10 on the gauge can't remember the unit but it is what i was suggested by the gas supplier and i sometimes get lots of pin holes too

If anyone could help me out it would be grand i will go get some pictures in a few mins and upload them

Thanks guys

 

[octo0072000]

turn it up to full power then try it on some 2 or 3 mm sounds like your have not enough power and too much wire feed
the settings are only advise you need to work out what works for you

suggest you read this

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/clarke-90.htm

 

[Wedg1e]

Is it clean steel? Also, your travel speed might be too fast or slow...

 

[Jack Cox]

I don't have any more metal i only have 1.5 and I'm running out of that at the mo i did experiment with power settings and wfs on a scrap and i found that 1 min and wfs at 7 seems to work well but i might be misled witch is the bottom left on the last picture

 

[Wendelspanswick]

That looks fine for a beginner, the brown soot is nothing to worry about, its just impurities burning off.

 

[Jack Cox]

whats the best thing for me to do keep running beads or start trying to do joints ?

 

[Wendelspanswick]

You can try some lap joints if you are happy, beware of using small tokens of steel as the heat builds up quickly and you will burn through. If you practice on larger pieces you can cut off the scrap as you go.

 

[the snooper]

Have you also changed the tip to a .6 to suit the wire

 

[Jack Cox]

I have changed the tip for a 0.6 one to match the wire and i still can't work this out for the life of me. Yesterday i was sat happily for a good hour playing away with different techniques and got quite happy with one of my welds (I even primered it to keep it) packed everything away came back today same machine settings same material etc and it doesn't want to work i don't know where i am going wrong, If i turn the machines wfs speed down the wire balls up at the end and kind of hisses at me rather that cracking and if i turn it up the slightest bit it starts to push the torch back at me i've attached a few pictures of my attempts, hopefully ill have something more cheerful to post soon The top picture is my best/favourite one so far

 

[GRUMPY1950]

Check you have a good earth to the metal you are welding.

 

[God mode restorations]

Don't be so down..we have good days and bad days when learning. .we never stop learning. .the more you get the hump with it.the more it will frustrat you..your welds are looking OK. May be try practice on some thicker material like 3mm..just until you get the feel...mig welding can be so gun angle critical. .

 

[Bladevane]

If i turn the machines wfs speed down the wire balls up at the end and kind of hisses at me rather that cracking and if i turn it up the slightest bit it starts to push the torch back at me

Jack - have you checked your wire feed by holding the trigger and winding the speed up and down while noting if it does change the speed how you would expect?

 

[Jack Cox]

Don't be so down..we have good days and bad days when learning.

yeah i did read that post back and i was having a bit of a rant there, i tend to get frustrated quickly but I'm working on that

Jack - have you checked your wire feed by holding the trigger and winding the speed up and down while noting if it does change the speed how you would expect?

I have done that and i noticed that the wire feed between 1-5 doesn't change loads but between 6-8 it changes a lot with little movement of the dial so i assume its just going to be getting it set perfect.

I have watched many more videos and done more reading and i attempted a corner joint today and I'm quite impressed with myself, started off cleaning the shroud out with a screwdriver out in a fresh .6mm tip and got everything working machine set at 1 - max wfs at about 7 and i got this



Came out much better that i thought did take a while but i was weaving between the top and bottom plate more this time

 

[God mode restorations]

That's better...sometimes it's just a case of setting machine up..it's trial and error .also make sure when your welding that your in a comfortable position. Difficult at times but being comfortable helps you to relax and can make a vast difference.good stuff and keep going..

 

[Bladevane]

wire feed between 1-5 doesn't change loads but between 6-8 it changes a lot with little movement of the dial

Jack - could it be a dirty potentiometer issue on the wire feed. Surely there should be progressive and smooth speed change?

 

[T0rnado69]

the wire feed between 1-5 doesn't change loads but between 6-8 it changes a lot with little movement of the dial

that does sound like as Bladevane has said....
dirty contacts on the potentionmeter.

pretty simulator to a volume on a set of headphones.
when you turn them up or down you lose sound to one of the speaker.
basically dirty contacts, as we all know copper goes dull and gets dirty.

 

[Jack Cox]

Thank for the help guys i will have a look into it i presume just take the casing off and poke around at the contacts on the dial ?

Anyways I have been building myself up to my first project i want to weld up the inside arches of my car (main reason for learning) I had some welding done on my floorpan before but they didnt clean any of the rust off before hand just welded a patch over the top so naturally that has rotted away aswell so i cannot wait to get my hand on it and do it all properly. I have been reading around about stitch welding for thinner metals as i believe my arches are around 0.7 and I'm going to be using 1.2-1.5 to patch it up. I had a go at it and can say I'm happy with my results what do you guys think? comments and criticisms appreciated to help point me in the right direction 2nd picture being my most favourite weld yet

 

[johnakay]

looks like you've not enough gas going through.
there shouldn't be any pin holes in your welds in other words porosity .
where about are you?

 

[Jack Cox]

The pin holes are kind of self inflicted i had plenty of gas flow but there was the occasional gust of wind outside and the base metal wasn't as clean as i thought it was underneath