Jump to content

Just about to electrocute / blind myself


bishbosh

Recommended Posts

OK,

So I have bitten the bullet and bought myself a welder – a second hand Rand 160S. It is in pretty good nick from what I can tell so all I have to do now is plug it in and away I go right…? :unsure:

I have a regulator, reel of wire (0.8mm), the welder and as of Saturday I will have a bottle of Argoshield. I even have a funky red welding helmet and some nice blue gloves. B)

My problem is that my welding experience is limited to 15mins with an arc welder on the farm putting a feeder back together and a couple of hours being burnt by Tangoman :lol: when he did my sills. How do I go about setting up the mig to operate correctly?

Obviously I should start with a low current setting, but what about wire speed and gas pressure / flow rate etc? How do I make sure the wire feed clamp is tight enough?

Anyone fancy fish and chips in Weston on Saturday? Damn fine chippy around the corner….

Err, when I say anyone, I mean anyone who actually knows how to weld please!!! :ph34r::lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

or stop past here and have a play?

if not grab some scrap, dial it up and have a play, too much wire and it will feel "stabby" as the wire pummels into the plate, not enough and you will either burn back to the tip or start spray deposition - aim for the sound of bacon sizzling in the pan (it'll make sense), start about 10 on the gas, wire feed is easy - it needs to feed without skidding (make sure the rollers as nice and clean - not rusty!!), cycle the trigger a few times and watch the roll - if it over runs tighten the damper that holds it in place, if the rig is secondhand at least blow the liner out of the line with compressed air but best of to replace it (cheap), keep the shroud clear of spatter, clean everything you want to weld and have fun :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cheers Jez,

Will certainly take you up on your offer one day - if only to see what you get up to in that "lab" of yours! :lol::moglite: but for now I want to practice with my new toy!

I shall try your settings and see how I go....... I'll be sure to count fingers and toes before and after too. :blink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Charles

before you embark I'd seriously consider an auto darkening helmet

the difference and protection for your eyes is un-questionable.

best investment I made.

and take pics for the people on here to critique how you are getting on, great helpful advice I got on here.

ebay have some autohelmets or there were a couple for sale in the classifieds this week IIRC.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SPEEDGLAS-9000V-MIG-...VQQcmdZViewItem

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A Decent MIG does thin to thick, and is very flexible in what it xcan do

IMHO ARC is more suited to heavier plates and guages of welding, and it a PITA to try to ARC thin stuff, its much "older technology" but for the right Job ARC is very good, just not as flexiable as MIG

Nige

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tony,

It was your rapid progress :i-m_so_happy: that spured me into action :blink: .

Already have a shiny red autodarkening Murex helmet.

Unfortunately, I also have a sh!te BOC bottle:

Was all ready to go this morning, collected the argoshield bottle and set it up. Opened the tap and the bluddy regulator to bottle connection was leaking. Tried to tighten it but it actually got worse :huh:

A closer inspection revealed why:

post-121-1173551286_thumb.jpg

I have circled one of the cracks in the hemispherical seat, but there were at least three :angry: .

Of course, sods law says that I'll discover this 15 minutes after the depot has closed for the weekend. :angry::angry: . Majorly hacked off - lost the complete weekend :angry::angry: . Had to go cut the grass instead :angry::angry::angry::lol:

Still, at least I'm not blind / dead!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Charles make sure you call 0800111333 and complain

I got a full refund on mine after 2 flty cylinders

Just notice my contents gauge is reading almost empty after only about 2 hours (in total) use.

Had the bottle about 6 weeks. Do you think they'll accept a complaint or say I left it turned on, which I definitely didn't?

Bob <_<

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, it is official - I cannot weld!! :lol::lol::lol:

Had my first go today, and after sorting out wire jamming (new liner) and getting the gas bottle swapped I experimented with a few bits fo scrap.

I eventually found a combination of power and wire speed that enabled me to make what looked like a passable weld. Great thinks I. Now all I need to do is replicate that each time. No chance! :lol: It would seem to be a lottery as to weather I get a nice flat weld or a big gob of pigeon poo! At least it's only a storage locker I'm building.

No pictures I'm affraid as I didn't have the camera handy and I couldn't stand the humilliation!! :lol: Perhaps after I've practiced some more.......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, it is official - I cannot weld!! :lol::lol::lol:

Had my first go today, and after sorting out wire jamming (new liner) and getting the gas bottle swapped I experimented with a few bits fo scrap.

I eventually found a combination of power and wire speed that enabled me to make what looked like a passable weld. Great thinks I. Now all I need to do is replicate that each time. No chance! :lol: It would seem to be a lottery as to weather I get a nice flat weld or a big gob of pigeon poo! At least it's only a storage locker I'm building.

No pictures I'm affraid as I didn't have the camera handy and I couldn't stand the humilliation!! :lol: Perhaps after I've practiced some more.......

Don't give up

There are a number of very goods threads here on the forum re welding - read them

couple of basis that may help

1. CLEAN the metal, that means in my book a flap wheel, and clean not just where you are going to weld but an inch around it as dirt will contaminate, grinders are IMHO not as good a finishing with a flap wheel, and then wipe over to take flap / grinder dust away

2. EARTH, flap wheel clean for the earth connection.

3. SETTINGS. This is the bit that will drive you mad, get a load of scrap steel of a thickness, and get the welds right for that, then take a mental note of the seetings. ie I know with my welder that to weld up 6mm plate I would set corase setting to 2 and fine setting to 3 and wire speed to around 4ish. If I use someone elses welder I have to poke the settings to get it right

GAS - if you have a dual gauge then one gauge shows how full / empty the bottle is the other shows how much gas your letting out, if it has a green band on it get the gas to show in the middle of the green AS THE TORCH IS TRIGGERRED, often it drops on torch being used, this can move it from green to too low !

If you get a "Blob" on the metal then prob the setting is too low, or your not moving the torch correctly / too slowly

If you get the wire almost or spitting or trying to push the torch away from the metal you want to weld wire speed is too high

If you get a "Fissssssssssing" sound and burn tips wire speed to slow

You are aiming for a sound like bacon being fried

I also suggested to TC my method of learning the settings via 2Blow a hole and then back in down" method, it sounds odd, but it helps me...have a read of my comments there

Pics worth a 1,000 words so post up some pics !

Nige

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your wish is my command Mr Cordell Sir! :rolleyes:

Tonight I tried to continue a bit of fabrication but was appalled at the "welds" I was producing so I decided to go back to basics and just try to weld two bits of off cut together.

The pictures are of two pieces of 25mm box with a 3mm wall welded side by side:

This is with the settings I had been "fabricating" with

post-121-1174429319_thumb.jpg

Total rubbish - don't need you lot to tell me that. So as I had never tried it, I turned the welder (150A) upt to full power and tried again:

post-121-1174429447_thumb.jpg

still no good, but I could see that some of the blobs were at least penetrating slightly into the parent metal. It felt that there wasn't enough wire being fed in so I turned up the speed a little:

post-121-1174429594_thumb.jpg

Wow! what a difference. I could at last actually see the weld going down and it even looks half decent. Whether it is or not I'll let you decide. Anyhow, bouyed up by this vast improvement I increased the wire speed a bit more:

post-121-1174429751.jpg

I was a bit off line to start with but that was the best so far.

Having run out of room on that side I turned it over and welded the whole length (in several bursts as I have to steady the torch with both hands and rest one hand on the bench). I didn't change the settings at all:

post-121-1174429859_thumb.jpg

and some close ups of various bits:

post-121-1174429921_thumb.jpgpost-121-1174429912_thumb.jpg

post-121-1174429900_thumb.jpg

I had cleaned the metal with a flap wheel to bright steel but when I welded (With Argoshield light) I ended up with a lot of brown "soot" everywhere. Any reason why?

So, there you go. Over to you lot to pass verdict. :ph34r:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use Argoshield Universal.

And look on the bright side

you're getting better :)

I am in no position to pass comment or offer advice

but good efforts so far more practice I find gets it better and better

especially with the hints tips from those who defiantly know better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

how much gas are you running?

I have always found 10 to 12 Lt/min is about right with argoshield lite ................... and about 8 to 10 Lt/min with Air Products argo (cant remember the trade name) for work shop conditions ................. and still external conditions .............

If theres a breeze then I go up to 15 Lt/min ............. if I cant weld with that, then give up till the wind dies down or put up a wind break.

:)

Ian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Volts down and wire up eh? OK, I'll give it a go.

I was reliably informed that light / universal makes no difference to what I am doing. Would have preferred universal but when I changed the defective bottle of Unviersal they only had light and I didn't want to wait.....

The regulator is in the middle of the green with the trigger pressed. IIRC that is about 10 - 12 l/min but I'd have to check the gauge to be sure. I am welding in the garage so no wind effects.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience. By using our website you agree to our Cookie Policy