Pete

[Pete Hughes]

Hello, its a long time since I have logged on. Thought it better to go away and read some books and stop bothering people.

Up until the last time on you all had been really helpful, I could do some advice again please. I have attached some pics and you will see that the weld looks ok but when turned over it looks as tho i have welded that side too (too much penetration?) is there a guide as to amps volts and wire feed for differing thickness of material?
thanks again

pete

 

[malcolm]

Sorry if Simon offended you last time - written word is terrible for accidental offense - you can't see people wink on a forum. Sensitive members would need to write their posts very clearly.

Now that you are back you could try my very own calculator. That's intended as a starting point for people like me. Professional welders will go a bit faster and use a different calculator.

The calculator is intended for butt welds. For corners remember the metal is at an angle so appears thicker to the welding torch.

 

[Drains]

Aye aye. Pete, I do hope I didn't offend you too! Malcolm, read those posts back in the right order and you'll see Pete was walking out the door as he came in. I didn't intend to help him leave! And of course I can apologise for myself. Please don't take responsibility for me - no one else does. Well - the missus has her moments... but she still makes me make my own apologies.

Anyway. Pete, my best suggestion is to follow Malcs rough guide to settings, but also to experiment with different voltage and wire settings an see what happens. Also, try joining two pieces of steel, rather than just running a bead on top, as weld prep (leaving a small gap, in the case of thinner material), makes a big difference to penetration and settings. Don't be scared to run a few feet of weld on some bits of old scrap so that you get the hang of things. The downside is that if you're using disposable bottles you'll get through them whilst practicing, instead of making the most of them on the important stuff.

Regards

 

[Pete Hughes]

Practice

Thanks, your comments are very much appreciated. Wil do as advised, the only thing is that I do have the same feel of control over MIG as gas.

Cheers all

 

[Pete Hughes]

Cheers Simon

 

[malcolm]

Now you can see Pete what trouble the written word can cause.

My intention was to apologise for the written word and not for Simon (who is fantastic and has contributed a massive amount of brilliant and really helpful stuff on the forum. Good point about messing around with settings though - I'll add a mention to the calculator page.)

So Pete - you might be able to lift me out of this hole by getting the thread back on track by letting us know if any of what has been said was helpful of if we've missed the point entirely.

EDIT> Taking too long to prepare posts can catch you out also. Forums are a minefield.

 

[Pete Hughes]

Thanks

Thank you Malcom, and Simon.

Yes, just being part of a forum like this helps. At least you feel that all your "cock ups" are not in vain, learn as you go along, even tho you want to smash the set to pieces.

 

[Drains]

My intention was to apologise for the written word and not for Simon (who is fantastic and has contributed a massive amount of brilliant and really helpful stuff on the forum.

Malcolm. I don't know what to say. Other than - thanks, and I couldn't be more fantastic than this forum. There you go.

Cheers dude.

And Pete - good luck with your welds!

 

[snowcat]

Arhhhhh isnt this nice all freinds again...... still a few spats keep things intresting

On the issues of penetration, its difficult to assess without running some true joints, full pen on a but weld is not always necessary and can sometimes cause issues with H/D, but a partially penetrated joint takes grater care to insure fusion is correct......... doing some destructive tests on scrap is a good idea....

A fillet BTW is normally only ever a partially penetrated joint, full pen can only really be achieved by welding both sides..... however a correctly fused joint with a 70% leg-length of the thickness of the vertical plate will be as strong as full penitration.......intresting huggh..

 

[Welderpaul]

Simon (who is fantastic and has contributed a massive amount of brilliant and really helpful stuff on the forum.

Creep

 

[Drains]

Creep

Oy! Cost me a tenner for him to write that!