any experienced welders?

tjsdaname

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Oct 17, 2007
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was out in the garage messing around with the welder today, it's a Clarke gasless mig welder... I have maybe an hour total experience welding. any tips?

here is what it turned out like. what do you think?
the first couple spots, I was messing with the wire feed and heat. thats why the looks so bad..


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practice makes perect. looks good for a rookie. just make sure on important parts you are getting enough penetration.
 
Looks good...You'll get better with practice. Again, its all about the penetration. It doesn't have to look pretty to stick and do the job.
 
more heat, less wire, and slow down. make sure your metal is CLEAN i dont mean wire wheel clean i mean grinder clean. u wanna burn in your weld, it should looks like a roll of quarters over lapping each other. weave back and forth slowly. steady your welding hand. also dont use your welder on an extension cord unless its a GOOD one not a cheap orange cord ;)
 
practice practice practice. different metals and gauges get use to settings and fine turn from there. welding is more then just sticking 2 pieces of metal together. u did good but it was not worth painting ;) LOL
 
Speaking of painting, it's harder to see the weld with paint on it. Even coloration around weld indicates things. It's all about practice. Also make sure the metal is clean. Mig and intersheild don't do well with rust/paint. 6013/6011 arc can burn that stuff up.

Also DO NOT EVER use clorinated brake clean around any electric arc/mig/tig welding or for cleaning for welds, you will be dead or wish you were.

If you doubt me search it on google or any welding web site.
 
Tips are as follows:

Set your heat range based on the thickness of the metal you're welding. That looks like about 1/8" mild steel. You'll need about 100 amps (give or take) to weld that with decent penetration. If your welder is 115v, it's probably a max of 140 amps so if it's labeled 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4 3 or 4 will work. If it's a 90 amp welder, you'll need to use the top amperage rating.

Once you've set your amperage, use the provided chart to figure a starting point on line speed. Once you've got the speed set according to the chart, you'll need to start welding. When the welder begins to weld, you'll need to have it at arms length so you can adjust/ fine tune the line speed adjustment.

You want to adjust the line speed asjustment by feel and sound. If the torch is "pushing back" against your hand you need less line speed, if the wire is sputtering and a ball forms on the end of the wire, you need more line speed.

When you've got the line speed just right, the wire will be feeding into the weld pool and it will have a nice smooth "frying bacon" sound. The closer you get the line speed, the smoother the sound will be and the cleaner the weld will be.

With a flux cored mig welder, splatter is a way of life but when the wire speed is right it will produce less splatter.
 
practice practice practice. different metals and gauges get use to settings and fine turn from there. welding is more then just sticking 2 pieces of metal together. u did good but it was not worth painting ;) LOL

I painted it because we will be using it as a number plate bracket on the 90mod.

it's more then strong enough for that lol...
 
SPLATTER IS A WAY OF LIFE lol your right but u must agree that even with flux you can get welds to lay down and penetrate. he didnt get any penetration in them welds i can see that even with it painted. it looks like big bird took a sh*t on it ;) sorry man but i dont want anyone getting hurt from shotty welds. you painted it so you must be wanting to use it on something :-/
With a flux cored mig welder, splatter is a way of life but when the wire speed is right it will produce less splatter.
 
THose stich welds looks great for an hour of practice! Don't be afraid of the heat it is your friend! If your welder came with a manual, read it (I know that can be boring) but it will tell you how to operate that machine correctly and give ya tips.

And yes you can get great welds with flux core! I took my test with Flux on 1/2" plate vertical, had great welds. Spatter is gonna happen, no big deal! Remember to chip the flux off and I agree grind your metal clean, that'sfirst important step to a great weld!

Keep practicing! You'll be a pro in no time! -Bob