picture of my welds for critique

[owas]

This is where ive got to so far before I go to a college course on mig welding.

It is 4mm box section to 3mm pipe (stop and started between tacks as I cant do 1 continuous yet)

And 4mm box to box.

I shouldve cleaned the joint better was a big of a rush.

 

[lshigham]

Not bad for a beginner at all, more practise and try to get in to a comfortable position where you can prop your gun hand, makes things much easier.

You are moving a little too quick and erratically, also it's not fused at the toes so a little more power wouldn't go amiss.

 

[owas]

Great thanks!
Maxed out on amps on my snap on 160,
I think if I cut my nozzle down a little it should help as theres no stick out at the moment so more space between the wire and the metal and move more controlled and slower.

I think the stick out problem maybe the reason it missfires sometimes too .. as soon as it does my wire birdsnests at the wire feed, slightly annoying.

 

[Bede]

Turn your wire feed down a little. The welds are too cold but if you're on full power you're limited but a lower wire feed and slight weave will help to squeeze a bit more out of your welder.

 

[owas]

This is whats its from,
The weight is distributed over the two 2 posts with the tube going through.

Good for around 250kg? (realisticly wont be used past 150kg a handle)

 

[Sidewinder]

Try turning the wire feed, pressure, down if you keep getting "birds nests", if you can with that set.
It should slip before "birds nesting" really.

 

[owas]

Try turning the wire feed, pressure, down if you keep getting "birds nests", if you can with that set.
It should slip before "birds nesting" really.

Ill give that a go, im sure I did try and loosen it before but I probably still had it too tight.

What tends to happen it, theres a gap around the hole the wire feeds in to after the roller, it sort of bends and twists in to there and I have to cut it and pull it out (bye 3 meters of wire)

I also think I need higher quality wire, this ones a non branded one.
Will get the one weldequip has next.

 

[Sidewinder]

You should be able to stop the wire with your fingers from coming out of the torch and the feed rollers should then skid on the wire, this is sufficient pressure to weld with.
I did the same a few weeks ago by mistake, but, because I have a quick release top roller on my set it did not dawn on me until I had wasted 12m of wire!
That is I managed to tangle the wire 4 times before I checked the pressure.
Turned it down, voila, welds all done fine, no problems.

 

[owas]

Heres one I did just .. better ?


& loosend the wire feed tensioner way down and it now slips instead ... no more wasting wire

 

[owas]

Bumping .. anything?

 

[Sidewinder]

OK, I would say a little cold, and a little fast, but not too bad, can't see the thickness of the parent metal.

Oh & plus are you left handed?

 

[owas]

OK, I would say a little cold, and a little fast, but not too bad, can't see the thickness of the parent metal.

Oh & plus are you left handed?

Ill try a little slower again next time. Any increase or decrease of wire feed needed?
The thickness of this one is 3mm to 3mm .. welder is set at either 145-50 amps, forgot what the top setting was off the top of my head.

I did bevel the bottom of the upright peice too and cleaned it to bare metal around the weld, doesnt look like ive cleaned enough away though lol.

right handed, ive been pushing the torch as opposed to pulling, seemed to be more consistent that way.

 

[Sidewinder]

OK, yes it now does look like you have been "pushing" sorry!
Pushing is correct for most MIG work.
It is difficult for me to tell TBH any more than I have already given.
I would say the weld is a little "cold" though.
HTH

 

[owas]

How do they look now?
Havnt got around to doing the course, all my funds went on to the workshop

all 4mm steel.

 

[Kent]

Your handicapping yourself welding on muck and rust (get it shiny all around the area to be welded and at the earth point) . It looks like that Mig is fading The gusset runs look fine externally (not that it means much more than just that) but the box to box looks feeble . Are you serious about the weight loads on this item? If you are I should use a decent MMA inverter and some 3.2's if your on a low domestic supply for that sort of work and clean that steel up nice and bright first, the inside shot shows little especially when you have rust to burn off, look its only changed colour in the middle sections. You say you maxed out on 160? Well it wont give you that top power for very long at all . MMA will burn in a lot hotter

Don't just look at a weld do some test welds on the material and then smack the beejeebers out of it till it finally breaks, I have seen some visually ok (indeed quiet pretty looking) mig welds cornflake out and bust on the sort of steel your using and your talking a lot of weight

 

[Mid Wales welder]

Welds look good, but as above mig welding can be deceiving in that way. If your on the limit for power then you can always try vertical up (if you feel confident enough) as this will get better penetration with max power you have.

 

[owas]

I did actually clean around the weld prior to welding it on the latest joints, its just the inside I haven't cleaned but i'm not sure how really, I've not cleaned the residue I get after welding properly on them too (All my steel has been left outside the last few years)
I went either vert up or down on the gusset run, don't remember which now.

I did try a destruction test on 2 5mm plates butt joined together with a small root gap.
used a massive ball pein hammer, all I managed to do was bend it back and forward lol. The weld didnt want to budge at all.

load wise, that's why I've put a gusset on every joint (the line below the box-box), its a strongman yoke this, had about 270kg on it and it didn't want to budge, always figured it would take a massive load to fail a weld this size with half decent penetration.

I had a pull bar fabricated before I could weld at some local workshop, 4mm angle to 4mm tube, abused the **** out of it, when I took it down a while ago to scrap there was literally 0 penetration on the angle.

btw I do have an parweld 160, I just cant do anything but run a few half decent flat beads with it at the moment lol.

 

[owas]

Also, I seem to be getting a little undercut sometimes, what is this a sign of , gun angle wrong?

 

[Kent]

I did actually clean around the weld prior to welding it on the latest joints, its just the inside I haven't cleaned but i'm not sure how really, I've not cleaned the residue I get after welding properly on them too (All my steel has been left outside the last few years)
I went either vert up or down on the gusset run, don't remember which now.

I did try a destruction test on 2 5mm plates butt joined together with a small root gap.
used a massive ball pein hammer, all I managed to do was bend it back and forward lol. The weld didnt want to budge at all.

load wise, that's why I've put a gusset on every joint (the line below the box-box), its a strongman yoke this, had about 270kg on it and it didn't want to budge, always figured it would take a massive load to fail a weld this size with half decent penetration.

I had a pull bar fabricated before I could weld at some local workshop, 4mm angle to 4mm tube, abused the **** out of it, when I took it down a while ago to scrap there was literally 0 penetration on the angle.

btw I do have an parweld 160, I just cant do anything but run a few half decent flat beads with it at the moment lol.

To let you know I built gear for bodybuilding in the 80s. If my old boss saw me using rubbish that had been outside for years he would have done his fruit. I mean really clean not nearly clean. I should be thinking 3 times max load personally because you don't know what someone will try and how many times it gets crashed and banged down over a long period and there is always a meat head who likes to cheat up a big one .

So you have already seen a fair looking weld with poor penetration by the sounds of it, not hard to cut directly through welds on a test piece and look. I should also want to do some breaks if I could- ( might need a big sledge hammer etc. if you break it with a std big hammer its not good) Bray the death out of it till it finally goes certainly great walloping big Lump hammer upwards for weld breaking.

Test the joints and thicknesses your working on if that's 5mm plate butt jointed with a route fine, if its 1" bar with a run around it though...........

Like I say with MIG your never sure by looking far more than any other weld type, welding on poor metal you often think you see a weld getting a good hold and then it hasn't when it comes to the crunch

 

[owas]

To let you know I built gear for bodybuilding in the 80s. If my old boss saw me using rubbish that had been outside for years he would have done his fruit. I mean really clean not nearly clean. I should be thinking 3 times max load personally because you don't know what someone will try and how many times it gets crashed and banged down over a long period and there is always a meat head who likes to cheat up a big one .

So you have already seen a fair looking weld with poor penetration by the sounds of it, not hard to cut directly through welds on a test piece and look. I should also want to do some breaks if I could- ( might need a big sledge hammer etc. if you break it with a std big hammer its not good) Bray the death out of it till it finally goes certainly great walloping big Lump hammer upwards for weld breaking.

Test the joints and thicknesses your working on if that's 5mm plate butt jointed with a route fine, if its 1" bar with a run around it though...........

Like I say with MIG your never sure by looking far more than any other weld type, welding on poor metal you often think you see a weld getting a good hold and then it hasn't when it comes to the crunch

the things that class as 'gym equipment' nowadays is so poor its amazing.
Have you seen the power racks on ebay, litteraly made out something like 1.5mm steel and rated to 250kg (thats really low anyway for a rack but theres no way im getting under 250 in one)

It only takes a quick wire wheel or flap dosk to get the steel back to clean smooth steel, I wouldnt be able to justify scrapping 4/5 tonnes of it lol.

deffintly taking what you're saying on board though , once ive drilled out theese 120 22mm holes today ill do another test piece.

I have always been told 150 amps is adequate for 3/4mm though? This snap on seems to never want to give up duty cycle wise on full wack.

uploaded a pic of a peice of equipment I brought before I knew anything about welding, how can people justify selling this? lol just sitting outside waiting for me to chop it up for steel now.