Running a bead with good start & finish

[JpnnyL]

No probs running a fair bead on 3mm Ali. Start and finish are a bit lumpy. All suggestions appreciated. Thanx in advance!

 

[JpnnyL]

Here's a picture

 

[Liquid Metal]

For the start, only thing i can suggest is do a small circle before moving along the joint. Also snip the blob off the end of the wire.
For the finish, not much you can do really, except pause for a little while, whilst gradually increasing the stickout to decrease amperage to fill in the crater, unless your machine has a "crater fill" function.
Cant think of anything else off the top of my head lol

 

[chevy2]

+1 for snipping the wire back and removing the blob from the last weld,
this way you're not trying to melt a big blob with very little heat at the start.

 

[brightspark]

if it needs to be so good on the ends tack a bit of scrap metal on either end weld along and cut the excess off

 

[JpnnyL]

Thanks guys for these ideas!

 

[Richard.]

A lot of the trouble with the start is the fact that the steel is cold and so you get that cold high lump at the beginning and then it flows as you get going. Try a spot of preheat at the start to help with this.