Rubbish first welds

[Wocka]

Hello, thought I'd share some frankly embarasing first MIG welds with you all.

I've borrowed a Clarke 85en gassless MIG from a chap at work. Ideally I'll practice until I'm good enough to patch up an exhaust pipe. I'll buy my own MIG then for future jobs.

So here they are (clickable thumb):



Not great eh..

I can heat the metal up nicely and see it pooling, but dont get enough wire to melt into the weld before it blows through. Could it be that the metal is just too thin to learn on?

I've played with the settings, there is only high/low power and high/low wire speed. It's currently set on low power/high wire speed. I also need to buy a proper helmet/visor, the hand held one i'm using is not great.

That's enough excuses, any tips or comments would be greatly apreceated.

Cheers

 

[langy]

I've seen worse by people that have been doing it for years

Keep practising and get a proper MIG, those gasless are pretty aweful things

 

[James325]

Not bad considering that wing is very thin.

Bmw e30 ?

 

[Wocka]

You're too kind..

Yeah it's an E30 wing The exhaust I want to fix is on the E30 too.

I realised the spatter I was getting to begin with was because of the excessive angle I was holding the gun at, I'm now pointing it straight at the metal. What's the reasoning behind the angle?

 

[Wocka]

I think the wire speed was too high. I've set it to low power/low wire speed:



Bit better but still no nice round bead, the welds have a crater in the middle.

 

[keith19]

Everybody holds the torch at an excessive angle when they begin, because it seems easier to hold the torch at an angle than move your head sideways to see the weld pool. But the gas shroud gets lost and you get excessive spatter, as you've found.

"What's the reasoning behind the angle?"

A 15 - 20 degree angle helps keep the pool shrouded with protective gas, and helps push (or pull) the weld along, and helps you see the pool to some degree. It also helps to pre-warm the metal a bit when you're pushing the weld. Have a look here:
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/learning-mig.htm

 

[Wocka]

^ makes sense, thanks for that.

 

[Wocka]

Do you think thicker wire would help? I'm using 0.6 at the moment.

Thanks

 

[Sean]

Theres a lot of slaggy scorch marks being deposited but not much metal.

Looks like you need the torch closer, the power down lower and the wire feed up.-ah re read first post( rather than just looking at the pictures) it is low and wire feed fast, Hmm you got a good one top left just beside the group of holes can you remember what you did there moved the torch slower?

look at the tutorials at the top of the page for thin metal technique


as for thin metal - Pah! its a BMW try that on a 2cv with its 0.5mm bulkhead you dont know how easy that thick stuff is

 

[malcolm]

You'll not learn a lot trying on 1mm sheet especially with gasless wire - it's either going to not penetrate or blow through.

The technique is getting in the middle where it doesn't do either of those things. If you try 2mm sheet you'll likely find it's possible to work without blowing through. Then you'll find the technique you learn can be applied to the thinner material.

 

[Wozzaaah]

Do you think thicker wire would help? I'm using 0.6 at the moment.

Thanks

0.6mm gasless? Are you sure?
Afaik it's not available in 0.6, the smallest is 0.8mm.

Quite honestly that machine will be rubbish for learning on, two power settings and two wire feed settings means you will have little to no control over what's going on.

 

[Wocka]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I think it's 0.6 wire because it's on the 0.6 groove in the roller (there are two, this one i can see is marked 0.8).. or perhaps i'm mistaken.

This MIG is all I've got for the moment, I'm going to buy my own at some point but probably not this month.

Do you think trying to tack the exhaust i need to fix will be a mistake? The pipe needs to be reattached to the muffler.

Thanks

 

[malcolm]

You can't buy 0.6mm gasless wire. But the markings on the rollers are confusing. Some manufactuers mark the side of the roller closest to the groove, others mark the side you can see - I think Clarkes are like that. Normally the Clarkes have 0.6 and 0.8 grooves. The way to tell which is which is the 0.8mm groove looks bigger than the 0.6mm groove.