Some Pictures of my welds

[John Payne]

I'm a new welder, also. I don't know how much it applies to fluxcore, but one of the better pieces of advice I received for MIG was to practice on clean, new metal of the thickness I expected to use on my first project (.063 tubing for me).

After practicing on rusty scraps, new metal made a huge difference. I'm embarrassed to say how many little pieces I cut that first 10' of tubing into, but it was worth it.

Good luck.

[Sundown]

Kfriend,

Hang in there, these guys can get you through most anything. I have only been doing this about 4-5 months now and have made every mistake in the book. Like the man said, you can be welding with a mig in just 15-20 minutes, but it will take you a much longer time to be halfway good. I have found that along with being a highly technical skill, there is an art to this thing. About all I can tell you is to practice, ask questions, observe, then do it again and again...you will improve. If I could get better, believe me anyone can...Have fun and be safe

[Roger]

I would practice weld 1/8" steel with your welder. Less problems burning holes and easier to see than thinner metal. When those welds look good then practice on 16 gage steel (.060"), or 18 ga. steel (.048") and finally 20 ga. steel (.036") which is probably close to the body metal in that old car. If you start right out trying to weld 20 ga. with flux core wire you will have too much frustration blowing holes. If you were using solid wire with shielding gas then thinner metal welds are easy so you could start with 18 ga.

You are probably already collecting tools. The cheap 4.5" right angle grinders $20. from harbor frieght are ok for body work. Get 2 or more so each can have ginding disc, flap sanding disc, cup wire brush ect.
I've seen cheap firepower 4.5 at walmart with trigger switch that are ok. Get the grinders with american 5/8" threads or M10 threads on spindle as they fit wire brush nuts. M10 to 5/8" adapter is available. Some made in china models are only $12 but have M14 spindle thread.
They are not best tool but hold up well to home use. Dewalt made 4.5" grinder with plastic gear housing that doesn't hold up.

[kfriend]

few more questions as I go

rather than start a new thread on my lack of skills...hopefully people will continually check back and offer advice/answer questions:

-I did take some more pictures last night, but they came horrible because of the flash. Will try to get some more up tonight. In the meantime:

-My beads do appear to be improving (I think). Here's what I'm wondering though.

-The beads seem pretty "TALL" in relation to the top of the metal I am welding. I see these pictures posted by other people, and I'm wondering if they are grinding down their welds to be flush with the metal? If not, then mine are still really ugly.

-Penetration. On the bottom of the metal I can see where the weld is, it's flat however (when viewing from the bottom) it is NOT protruding from the bottom of the metal...just looks flush (in most places) Is this desireable? Or should the weld "sink" down beyond the bottom face of the metal?

-I tried what Dan suggested in removing the nozzle from the gun and I think the two beads I laid down looked considerably better than the rest of them (is this a common practice?)

-QUENCHING? Overall is quenching a fresh weld with water a bad bad thing? Like, can it make your welds brittle?

I think that's it for now. I read something in a sheetmetal fabricators book last night that made me feel a little better about SUCKING so bad...it compared learning to weld like riding a bike. You have to do it for yourself...people can offer advice etc, but in the end, it's YOU on the Bike (holding the gun) riding (laying the bead).

BTW-I'm using 1/8 steel to practice

[bluesman2a]

Tall beads: can be a combination of several things, too little heat and putting too much weld material in one spot. Try cranking up your voltage/heat to resolve this. Most of the beads you'll see around here are not ground down, just brushed clean.

Quenching: I'm sure there are others who can answer this better than I, but in my experience, for the average hobbiest welder, it's better to just let it cool naturally. Cooling something so fast can lead to warping, and I'm sure it's not great for the weld.

[kfriend]

Well I've got this little 125 set to as hot voltage wise as it gets.
Maybe I'm spending too much time in one place...tough to tell, because I feel like I am either rushing, or not spending long enough in one place.

Maybe the new pictures will shed some more light on what I need to do to improve---

Any comments on the "back-side" of the metal? What should that look like?

[Dan]

Ken

If you want your weld joint to have a 100 % penetration by welding from one side of the joint, then you want the weld bead to penetrate the joint completely and have a slight amount of reinforcement too. Now since your running the recommended settings for your wire size from experience with the machine I know your running a hot enough setting. So, on 1/8" steel to achieve 100% from one side you need to either increase the gap between your two pieces or bevel both pieces. If you go the bevel route, just bevel the material about half the thickness (1/16"), and gap the two pieces at least a 1/16" too.

Removing the nozzle is a common practice when using a self shielded fluxcore wire.

If you are still running an .035 wire, I highly recommend that you get a roll of .030 and try it. The smaller diameter wire will give you a little more control over the weld bead. For single pass welds I prefer an E71T-GS. My favorite being Hobart's Fabshield 23.

Ken

By all means at this point do not evaluate your skill level towards mine or others. You have only been doing this for a very short time, and with more practice you will improve. Ive been welding for 15 years and I began by taking a 2 year welding course at my local community college. So just be patient and the skill will develope.

[kfriend]

As always, I really do appreciate you guys taking the time to type out suggestions for me.

Dan-
I'm using .030 wire currently. And I gave up on trying to butt-weld, figured I should just lay down practice beads on the 1/8 steel. That's why I was asking about penetration.

I don't put alot of thought behind comparing your welds to mine...I just know that your welds are HOW THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO LOOK (and mine aren't).

BTW-I sent the link to this board to the Manager of the shop here at WHOI. From what I hear he is one of the best aluminum welders in the state. He manages the guys who build underwater-vehicles for checking out sunk-ships and whatnot...like that little submarine called "Alvin" that they used in finding the Titanic. He runs a 125 too at home, maybe he'll frequent here and add to the wealth of knowledgeable members.

[Dan]

Ken

If you just weld on flat plate, it is going to be difficult to keep your weld bead from piling. It has always been my opinion that practicing on flat plate has miniumal value to it. However, instead of starting with a butt joint, I always recommend starting out with a T joint. My reasoning for this is, because it is pretty much the most frequently used joint design . Also, I feel that it is an easier joint design to master over a butt, so this will help develop your confidence some. Following along the lines of practicing on the most frequently used joint design I would move onto a lap after a t joint, then an outside corner, and finally the butt joint.

[Hobart Expert Rock]

KFRIEND IF YOU GET A CHANCE POST SOME NEW PICTURES SO WE CAN SEE HOW YOUR DOING.....................ROCK...........
[email protected]

[Roger]

MIG Settingts

Here is best advice I have seen on MIG settings from Mike Graham.
For deeper penetration, increase wire speed, drag gun instead of pushing, decrease stickout.
For shallower penetration (for thin tube) decrease wire speed, push instead of dragging, increase stickout.
For a larger bead increase wirespeed and slow down.
For a smaller bead decrease the wirespeed and speed up.
For a higher, narrower bead decrease the voltage, drag the gun and increase the stickout.
For a flatter, wider bead increase the voltage, push the gun, and decrease the stickout.

Obviously some of these work against each other. If you want flat
beads on thin tube, then turning up the volts too high adds to the risk of burning through, so you might turn up the volts a bit and turn down the wirespeed a bit so that you've turned up the volts significantly *relative* to the wirespeed, but you haven't necessarily added more heat. You've changed the balance, but not the total amount.

[kfriend]

Ok here's another picture. Per Dan's advice...I'm not going to post any of the (non-jointed) beads I laid.

This is a fillet, it was kind of tough to get a decent picture because of the angle and the lack of light...plus it's tough to focus for some reason. I actually think this looks halfway decent:


(pay no attention to the stray weld nearest the bottom...I was just playing around)

[Roger]

Your taking picture closer than camera can focus. Take picture in focus then select small area of picture showing weld. That helps reduce pixel count, and extra distance helps reduce flash over exposure.

[bjdenommee]

Looking a bit better, keep at it.