second first attempt!

[Beetle70]

I have now got the wire feeding through on my Clarke 90 Mig welder and it is fitted with a new reel of 0.8 wire, new liner and new swan neck and a bottle of argon gas.... but!
~Having taken the machine setting from the site and from the manual I can get it to weld but I am not getting any depth to the weld i.e. I can easily knock off the molten wire from the surface of the 2mm sheet metal which is clean.

I read some of the previous posts which suggested slowing down the wire feed to get more penetration but all I seem to get is more weld material sitting on top of the sheet metal. I have also varied the power settings to see if that will help but without too much joy.

Any suggestions would be appreciated - my old Beetle is sitting patiently in the garage waiting for me to learn
Cheers
Alan

 

[dave_sussex]

I'm not an expert but check the polarity of your torch and clamp.

for gas it should be torch + and earth clamp -

for gasless it should be the other way round torch - and earth clamp +

I have had mine set wrong before and it did exactly as you've described.

And you say you are using Argon gas? not Argon/CO2? i think pure argon is for welding Alu... maybe another member can advise on this, i'd be using CO2 with steel.

Dave.

 

[cumbriasteve]

It sounds like your settings are too low, charts are rough guides only in my opinion and machines can vary a lot and as Dave mentions the polarity has to be the right way round
Co2 or even better Argon/Co2 mix is the correct gas for mild steel, pure argon is not really suitable
Would be a good idea to post some pics on here, it makes it a lot easier for others to help you.

 

[Chickenjohn]

To penetrate a sheet of 2mm steel, i.e. laying a bead onto the surface and getting penetration of the beat to the other face of the sheet, you will need to set your 90amp welder to maximum. (or near maximum).

Those settings are meant for butt welding two pieces together (where there will be a tiny gap).

Also, make sure your torch angle, distance from piece and speed of travel of torch are correct (see tutorials on this website). You are possibly holding the torch too far from the plate. Should be ~1cm or less from the plate.

Another point, with the user name of "Beetle 70", I'm going to assume you want to restore an old VW. In which case 2mm steel is too thick. You need to start practising butt welding 0.8mm or 1mm steel pieces, 1.2mm at the most. VW enthusiast friends of mine told me there is no bodywork on a Beetle that is 2mm thick.

 

[Beetle70]

The user name is a give away lol

I have a couple of bits on the chassis head that need closed up hence the 2mm plate, I have thinner sheet for the body itself and new floor pans to fit but that is a long way off.

I had a mate come round to day to see if he could help. Now reduced the wire speed right down to 2 on the speed dial (5 on the instructions) and what a difference it makes. Should say it is the argon / CO2 mix I have.

Thanks for all the suggestions and hopefully after some practice I will be able to actually put some metal on the Beetle

 

[Chickenjohn]

Glad to hear you are making some progress on this! Please do post some pics of your practice pieces.

 

[oz.]

Bodywork might not be 2mm thick but once you get used to laying down nice beads then you can reduce the thickness of the sheet. Attempting to learn on 1mm will just end up with loads of holes, this will annoy you making it boring and you'll lose the mojo.