Just about to electrocute / blind myself

[Petergg]

Are you pushing or pulling are you moving in small circles

Peter

[bishbosh]

Did some pushing and some pulling. I think I was more comfortable pushing as I had better control over the direction. Trying to do circles but they're more like triangles

[white90]

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.

Hence the other comment I made

not in a position to offer advice

Try weaving that's what I got from the welding forum Roger posted up.

the one with short video clips

[Kim Horsevad]

I was reliably informed that light / universal makes no difference to what I am doing.

Dont know the product names of your shielding gas in England, but it will be somewhat easier to learn to weld using argon/co2 mixture. Less spatter and better looking weld beads. When the day comes where your welding really is supposed to be extra strong use pure co2. The weld will propably not look just as good, but the weld will be stronger.

10 -12 litres pr minut works for me too, btw.

[NickSuzy]

The first time i tried welding, i was welding up some hinges on a horse box and going quite nicely but i though to myself, it does seem ever so bright and yes i did have the mask on my face.

After 10 seconds or so i stopped looked at the mask and it had no glass in it.

That evening i woke to total blackness and felt like someone had been sandpapering my eyes while i was asleep.

Very painful and will never ever do that again.

Nick

[dollythelw]

pure CO2 gives marginally improved penetration over an Argon/Co2 mix but a much poorer finish, correct technique, equipment settings and joint prepping removes the need for pure CO2 as a shielding gas.

[Kim Horsevad]

pure CO2 gives marginally improved penetration over an Argon/Co2 mix but a much poorer finish, correct technique, equipment settings and joint prepping removes the need for pure CO2 as a shielding gas.

Seriously dont want to argue with the expert in the field, but every publication and textbook I have read on the subject has had extensive text about chosing the right gas for the job - just as chosing the right kind of electrode is important in stick welding (hopefully this gives some kind of meaning in english...)

For what I know pure CO2 is used for welding items of structural importance where deep penetration is required, and gives a more convex bead shape. Pure CO2 is normally avoided in normal industrial (non structural) welding, due to allround finish and look, and because the convex bead shape leads non-expirienced welders to use more wire than strictly nessesary. Pure CO2 (on normal "mild steel" ) will also produce more welding fumes than an CO2/argon mix, BUT the CO2 welding will still be the strongest.

Maybe this is of almost zero importance when welding automotive repairs and fabrication - i cant say for sure. Never had any formal traning in welding as my daytime work is teaching and sysadmin'ing...

Also been told - but have not been able to find any sure confirmation on this - that adding an amount of helium to the argon/CO2 mixture would result in better penetration.

Always used pure CO2 myself.

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

Bish

Just had a look, Jez comments are spot on as you woukld expect, and little to add except.

.....You have two "Tubes" you are trying to weld up -

IMVHO not the best things to learn on I would suggest,

get some flat steel off cuts and Butt and seam weld these and post up pics.

Don't be disheartened, keep at it and post up next efforts.

With the early shots you will also have had the wrong sound 0 you are looking for the sound of frying bacon noise - odd I know but you'll understand when you hear it - and you'll see the weld as better when you hear it

HTH

Nige

[dollythelw]

no worries Kim - its good to discuss stuff I can only go on what I was taught (which doesnt necessarily mean correct or definitive! ) but heres my take on it;

CO2 does provide more penetration - no debate there, the weld structure with CO2 is deeper but is also narrower - for single pass welds which cant be fully prepped out I can see the attraction, the comment regarding Argon/CO2 use and correct (full) prep, setting and technique is valid though - even for structual big heavy and nasty stuff.

I understand CO2 for structural welds still finds favour in the US but they seem to think anything else is exotic and should be feared. A heavy prep with a tig root and multirun mig with a tig dressing will stamp the living daylights out of a CO2 shielded weld using the same process any day of the week - the key characteristic being exploited is the broader penetration pattern of an Argon/CO2 blend (as well as refined grain structure from repeated hits). As for Argon/CO2 blends not being used for structural welds its used for railway rolling stock (the TIG, MIG, TIG process is used for bogies), truck and bus chassis, digger booms and buckets, tank turret components etc and it seems to hold up pretty well.

Im not sure who the main gas suppliers are for you guys over there and it would be interesting to see if they have a different slant on the process - the big player over here are BOC industrial gasses and they work in conjunction with TWI, thier MIG shield gas selection chart is HERE. more food for discussion

sorry for the hijack Bish BTW!

[FridgeFreezer]

A heavy prep with a tig root and multirun mig with a tig dressing will stamp the living daylights out of a CO2 shielded weld using the same process any day of the week - the key characteristic being exploited is the broader penetration pattern of an Argon/CO2 blend (as well as refined grain structure from repeated hits).

Is that before or after the Sikaflex? What colour is strongest? We need to know!

[Warthog]

The Links below may help you? The first link is from the Miller site. Explaining Spray, Globular and dip transfer modes and their uses P13,14,15 of the PDF. Then the second has the actual sounds that they make when set-up (About 1/2 way down ta page) The MP3 files make it a little easier to understand the modes.

http://www.millerwelds.com/pdf/mig_handbook.pdf

http://www.weldingengineer.com/1mig.htm

[honitonhobbit]

Is that before or after the Sikaflex? What colour is strongest? We need to know!

Personally I favour Belzona Liquid Metal for my imitation welds - much easier to form with a spatula

[bishbosh]

Ahem! Back on topic gentlemen

Turned the power down from 6 (max) to 5 and upped the wire speed a tad. The brown soot has gone and I am left with a clean weld (You know what you're talking about Jez!!, Well, welding wise anyhow ) but I now have fine spatter. Any tips?

First attempt is the top run in this picture, the bottom run is after adjustments:

A few close ups of that run:

Turned the piece over and had another go, this time I tried to "pull" the first two runs at the left hand end of the pictures and found it much harder to control direction. Second attempt on the top this time:

and the obligatory close ups:

So what do you think? Further adjustments necessary?

Nige, I thought the box was the perfet training piece as it has a nicely radiused corner that forms a nice prep for the weld to sit in. Any reason why it's a bad idea practicing on that? (I've got lots of it you see !!)

[Bull Bar Cowboy]

Fine splatter is actually OK and can be caused by numerous things. The usual culprit is slightly dirty wire or surface contamination. BTW, if you are not going to use the MIG for a few days and you have the normal garage environment, then remove the wire and store it in the airing cupboard …… same applies to new reels. The top shelf of our airing cupboard is full of MIG reels, 3 & 6 mm rods.

The welds are getting a lot better Charles …….. its difficult to tell from pictures but maybe just a tad more wire speed is needed on the voltage setting you are using.

Not comes the hard bit …….. practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, and more practice ………. Until you have developed a technique that you are comfortable with that gives you good repeatable welds.

Ian

[dollythelw]

box is gonna give you a hard time because you are effectively hitting into length of the wall - plate would be a better practice piece if you can scrounge some up? slow your speed of travel slightly