Very new to welding cant get it right

[ollied]

Hi all,

I have recently taken a leap into the unknown and bought a welder as i want to be able to fabricate my own stuff for my car, as i do a lot of engine swaps, and i hate paying others to do it.

I got a clarke t160en, i have sussed the controls out power wise and feed speed. I however cant weld consistantly, i get all sorts of problems sometimes its the wire birdsnesting inside the machine, i know this is to do with wire tension?

the second problem is i dont seem to be able to weld anything at the moment, what usually happens is i pull the trigger there is a pop and the wire has dissapeared, if i keep the trigger pulled it does come out but sometimes it is stuck to the inside of the tip.

The third problem is i cant figure out if im using gasless wire or gas wire, the reel is coppery colour and when i bought it it was set up for gas (it was 2nd hand)

Really want to get past this as i have some steel measured, cut and waiting to be welded up into an engine stand

thanks for any help
ollie

 

[madkayaker]

OK
problem one is the wire feed rate to high bird nests to slow it splutters
2 sounds like dirty liner or blocked tip time for a bit of a service i think
3 if the real is coppery that means you need gas

Welcome to the world of welding

 

[greyshirtguy]

ollied,

Have you read the Tutorials on this site??
I found them to be a first-rate introduction when I first started.
When I "knew nothing" they were extremely useful to get up to speed and answered a lot of questions that I had similar to yours.

 

[runnach]

Birds nesting is nowt to do with wire feed speed! If wire feed tension is too tight, then you may have problems with birds nesting if wire burns back (fuses) onto tip. Too tight also reduces drive roll longevity, make sure you read up on proper drive roll setup..............

Cheers............

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

as above, but can I add that if it's second-hand then I'd clean out the liner and the metal spiral bit in the torch before doing anything else.

They do get bunged up over time especially if rusty wire's been used.

It's only a few screws to take the torch apart and it's fairly easy to re-assemble it afterwards.

I found on mine that the spiral bit was full of 'dust' and I just waggled it around then tapped it on the bench a few time, finally blowing through it to clear it out. It's better if you have a compressor, or maybe if you don't then a trip to the local petrol station and use their air-line?

Alternatively you may want to sent a private message to Weldequip on here as he can supply the parts at a very good price. His service is excellent, usually next day delivery.

The rest is just trial and error, make sure you've got the roller tension as low as it can be while still gripping the wire. That way, if you do get a burn-back and the wire sticks to the tip, the rollers will slip and not cause the birds nest.

Then it's down to torch position, angle and distance from the work, you can get a good idea from the tutorials on here, and lots of practice on scrap.

Regards
Peter

 

[ollied]

Right i got some new tips and also some .8 mm wire to have a practice with.

If coppery color wire is gas wire, then i have been using it without gas as i was told when i bought it that it was glassless flux cored wire, could this have something to do with the burn back and the wire sticking to the tip?

cheers

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

you get loads of spatter, a very bright, unstable arc and a raucous buzzing if you've not got the gas on.

You'll certainly see the difference when you use gas with normal wire and you should be able to hear it too.

Regards
Peter

 

[Mr peepers]

Also if your not using gas on wire that needs gas it will give you nothing but porosity(pinholes in your weld). The machines at my shop like to do the disappearing wire trick,its really annoying because it happens when your in a good position or need to tack something really quick I just spin the gun around and it usually pops free. Wire feed welding is all about settings, get those right and your welds will look good.