weld critique Options

[r_towle]

It's all about developing your technique.

More practice! About three more hours, at least. Until you can make better looking welds, you don't need to touch your car with it. You want better looking welds with good penetration, but not too much to grind off.

It looks to me like you've got the wire feed speed too high, which makes for a bigger bead. This will help prevent blowing through, but aslo alot of grinding, and less penetration. You want to melt the two pieces of metal together with as little bead as possible, with the least amount of warpage. Simple right? That's why the three hours of practice.

When I took a TIG welding class, all I did for the first twelve hours was make surface beads. That's it for twelve hours. I'm pretty good with a MIG too.

You are using a real MIG with gas right? No gas, it's not MIG.

Yes it is MIG with Argon/CO2 mix

I was pretty happy with this section. I thought the penetration was pretty good. You don't think so huh?



The rest is definitely crap and is the result of burning through and then trying to fix it without grinding the high spots off first. I suppose I should try moving the amperage down to "A" and slowing the wire speed down a little more. I don't think I can turn the wire speed down at the higher amp setting and not burn through every time. I suppose I am just getting impatient.

Thanks for the input,
John

You are really almost there.

A little bit slower movement, you will have it.

Once you can control the size of the bead, and how it flows, you will know when you are about to blow through.

Try a few tests, move slower, but back your tip away from the piece a bit more to see what it does...
There is a sweet spot for thin sheet metal where you are farther away from the piece then a 1/8 inch piece, yet you can move at the same speed when welding.
This prevents the blow out, the weld is just a slight bit cooler.

You blow through because you cross the line that turns the metal a workable moldable metal that will flow towards the heat, instead you push just a little bit to far and it turns into a liquid...its a fine line.

I found the final adjustment was me.
I got the hand speed right
I got the wire speed right
Gas was good.

the final adjustment was how far way from the piece I was...just a half inch higher made all the difference in the world...I now can easily weld 16 guage...and before that..it would evaporate, and I would never think of welding such a thin piece...

Keep practicing, try a few new things...your close.

Rich

[IronHillRestorations]

It's all about developing your technique.

More practice! About three more hours, at least. Until you can make better looking welds, you don't need to touch your car with it. You want better looking welds with good penetration, but not too much to grind off.

It looks to me like you've got the wire feed speed too high, which makes for a bigger bead. This will help prevent blowing through, but aslo alot of grinding, and less penetration. You want to melt the two pieces of metal together with as little bead as possible, with the least amount of warpage. Simple right? That's why the three hours of practice.

When I took a TIG welding class, all I did for the first twelve hours was make surface beads. That's it for twelve hours. I'm pretty good with a MIG too.

You are using a real MIG with gas right? No gas, it's not MIG.

Yes it is MIG with Argon/CO2 mix

I was pretty happy with this section. I thought the penetration was pretty good. You don't think so huh?



The rest is definitely crap and is the result of burning through and then trying to fix it without grinding the high spots off first. I suppose I should try moving the amperage down to "A" and slowing the wire speed down a little more. I don't think I can turn the wire speed down at the higher amp setting and not burn through every time. I suppose I am just getting impatient.

Thanks for the input,
John

John,

The highlighted section is pretty close! This is what I mean by practice. When 95% of your beads look like what you've done here, then go for it. Tune up and down from where you are now, and be sure to take notes on your settings. See how smooth you can get the beads before blow through. Rich's advice is right on.

Just remember one thing, if you put welds on a car like Spoke, DON'T SHOW PHOTOS!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy11.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy11.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/poke.gif) (all in good fun Spoke!)

[scotty b]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) the highlighted areas are looking much better. Try and get the spots to overlap just a hair more, and let it burn in a little more. There is a fine line between "burning in" and "burning through" that will come to you with practice. Eventually you will know by the sound of the weld (IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif)