Help on welding with hh135 - true novice

[GWOL]

Okay, I know these welds look like crap, compared to some of the great welds demonstrated here, but Rocky D, and Dan said to send some examples to get some help.

Just no laughing out loud, I have only been doning this about 6 months off, and on.

I was using a HH135, fluc corded wire, #4, 30 speed. This was on a scrap 1/4" plate. I was trying to use some of the diff. tech show on the forum.

Anyway here they are, any helpfull suggestions much apreciated. Thanks in advance

[GWOL]

another crapy weld sample

Please be kind, Iam just learning how to weld, I think. Hehe

[Bob]

Hey, go easy on yourself. Those look better than I can do so far. Same machine, less than 2 months.

Is this self shielding wire that comes with this machine or using external gas sheilding? What gas?

Just a guess, but if these are done left to right, the flat at the right ends of some might be post arc oxidation. They say to hold the torch steady and just let off the trigger to keep the gas around while initial cooling happens. Seems un-natural to me.

The chunky ones might be having too much stick out (torch too far back) I have made lots of those.

Bob

[GWOL]

Bob, Thanks for the input. Yes Iam using the flux core wire for the sample welds in the pictures. I just put this together real quick to get some ideas on what to do different. I got a 10 pound roll of fluc core since Iam just learning figured it would be easier to learn to weld one step at a time. I konw they would look much better if gas shielded but not worried about how nice they look right now, still have so much to learn.

Anyway, will keep reading on here, and trying to make them 1/2 as good as some of the samples shown on this forum. But hey, I dont have 45 years experience like some people here

P.S. - any comments, good or bad are much appreciated.

[Arbo]

Not Bad!

Gary,

You have nothing to be ashamed of there. Those beads appear to have good penetration, and a really pretty smooth. Just keep working on holding the gun steady and keep your weave uniform and steady. Whenever possible rest your arms on something while working the arc. This will help you to get a smooth weld. Keep up the good work, and keep practicing.

Arbo

[Mark Whiddon]

Practice, practice, practice, one thing that helps me is to grip the torch with the right hand as if you are going to weld, then place my left hand (palm) directly in front of the right hand with the thumb on the left side of the torch and the fingers around the backside of the right hand. Best way to describe it would be almost like firing a pistol using both hands. I then brace my left forearm on the work (however I can to steady it). this keeps everything steady and I can just concentrate on keeping the weave smooth, and making sure that the weld is penetrating ok. Don't be so hard on yourself because you can only get better with practice. One other thing is if you have some small little pieces of scrap metal (any size, shape or thickness). just start tacking them together, you will really see how your welds are coming along when you do that. It also gives you the chance to fine tune your welder a bit.

[GWOL]

Thanks for the comments Mark, that does make sence and one of the projects Iam working on it to make a welding table. This will make the whole process of steading the welds, and being able to make them better.

Like everyone has said, practice, practice, practice is the key, and all the great help here from every also is very much appreciated.

[Dan]

First of all lets make sure that your travel technique is proper. With self shielded fluxcore wire you want to drag or pull the weld bead. Pushing the bead creates a high chance of trapping slag. Since your dragging the puddle a definate side to side motion should be used to help flatten the weld bead out. Don t use a circular oscillation motion because this too creates the chance of trapping slag.

Also, I ve never really seen very much benefit in practicing weld beads on a flat plate. These type of weld bead tend to pile. I ve alway believed that your practice time would be better spent welding actual joint designs. I would start out by practicing on T joint fillet welds, because this is one of the most common weld joints. With a HH 135 your best material to practice on is going to be 1/8" and thinner. 1/4" material needs more than 135 amps so the weld bead is going to be a little lazy, which is going to create some inconsistency in your bead. Thinner material is going to allow your weld bead to be more consistent because it will allow you to have a more fluid weld puddle.

Mark has already given you some good advice to follow.

I will tell you though that solid wire and shielding gas, would greatly increase your ability to make consistent high quality welds. Reason being because you not having to deal with the smoke , slag, and spatter that self shielded fluxcore wire produces.

For now though I would like to see you set up some weld joints run some beads on them. Then if you want post them too.

By now too you have probably realized that self shielded fluxcore produces a lot of spatter. This is nothing that you are doing wrong it is just one of the characteristics of the wire.

To be honest with you , you are doing pretty good for the short amount of time that you have invested. I ve seen beads that looked like a snake ran by people who had a lot more time invested. Untill you switch to a solid wire and shielding gas your weld bead will not look like the welds that Rocky D and I have posted.

[GWOL]

Dan, thanks for the great suggestions. I have already got some 1/8 " scrap stuff to practice on and will be working on some joints like you said. I only dream of making welds that look like some of the samples you, and the others have posted. Also by me using the flux cored wire, I can always use that as an excuse "its not me, its the wire iam using"

Anyway, thanks for all the help, will post some more pictures on practice welds in the next couple days. And thanks again from all the great suggections.