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Hiya just wondering if someone thats understands welding could offer a bit of advice. Is it possible to check the photos of my crappy welds and let me know where I'm going wrong as I'm struggling and have no real idea what I'm doing when it comes to welding and fab work. Ive played with the power and wire settings and cleaned up the areas that I'm welding but its just popping and throwing sparks everywhere. Cant get the sizzle that everyone talks about. The little bits ive done are strong enough for panel work but before i get to anything thats important and structural i need help. Cheers [/URL] [/URL] [/URL]
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Last Edit: Apr 7, 2016 15:20:48 GMT by spongebob
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don't blame yourself straight away, check the welder out, especially make sure the earth cable and clamp have good connections, then that you have a good steady wire feed. Maybe try full power on a big bock of steel to see how that goes. Don't leave too much gap between work and nozzle.
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bigdaz
Part of things
Posts: 201
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There's this chap on YouTube I've been watching chuckE2009 is his name he has done some great videos on how to weld and what to look for if your doing it wrong I'd have a look at that he's a bit of a bell end but does know how to weld lol
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Thanks ill give themm a check.
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Wilk
Part of things
Posts: 528
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Forget trying it on thick steel. You need something compatible with what you're trying to weld!
You don't state what type of welder you're using... Presume it's mig Start off with low setting and medium wire speed. See what the weld looks like. Then try faster wire and see if the weld improves or gets worse. Mess around with power and speed until you get a result where you can see the penetration at the other side of the sheet without burning a hole through. Bend the sheet to check if it's held strong by bending
Use short tacks a few cm apart and the eventually fill in the spaces by overlapping the last weld slightly. Practice on bits of scrap til you're happy that you can achieve the result you're after. It's a lot better to wreck the scrap bits than that smart viva
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If it can be fixed with a hammer, then it must be an electrical fault
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,714
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Welding advice please. Dez
@dez
Club Retro Rides Member 34
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Fairly hard to tell from those pics but it does look like you either have not enough power, or too much wire feed. It looks fairly clean so we can discount t that for the minute, unless you're not using proper gas.
Lower power could be the setting on the welder or a poor earth or worn out tip. You should turn it up til it blows holes then go back down one click. I can't see much blue-ing to the panels to indicate heat so it looks like you ain't burning it in enough. Too much wire is just that. You need to set the wire feed so it's just enough for it not to burn back into the gun, unless you're trying to gap fill. There is obviously too much metal stuck on there though so I'd try turning that down to start with.
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Ok thanks for the advice guys. Ill have another play around with it. Cheers. Lee
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The welder is a boc mig190c. Currently on power 3 of 6 and wire speed 9 of 18.
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This is the other side of that panel. Shows decent penetration butlooks like curse word from outside. Is that likely wire speed rather than heat? [/URL]
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It wont hurt to check everything else on your welder - change the gas shroud , torch wire tip and check the liner is not worn and snagging the welder . Maybe get a flowmeter if you have not got one to go in your gas line and look up how many litres a minute you should use - i only say this because of the dark soot marks in your first picture .
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smurf
Part of things
Posts: 829
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Where are you based mate? If you're not too far from me, i'll be happy to help you setup for a cuppa as payment
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Laser cutting and cnc punching (up to 3mm stainless and ali, up to 6mm mild steel)
Mail me a dxf file and i'll get you a price Metal folding and custom fabrication service also available
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smurf
Part of things
Posts: 829
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Also, weldingtipsandtricks.com
The bloke on there has a few vids on how to set a mig, he has a youtube channel as well
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Laser cutting and cnc punching (up to 3mm stainless and ali, up to 6mm mild steel)
Mail me a dxf file and i'll get you a price Metal folding and custom fabrication service also available
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what i would do is have a peice of scrap, the same thickness as the car body work, set it on a bench where you can reach the welders wire feed while you have the torch in hand, that or get someone to face the other way while you weld adjusting it till its sounding like bacon frying. if you are using co2 it works but its not like using an argon and co2 mix gas, usually 90%+ argon to co2
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Darkspeed
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,710
Club RR Member Number: 39
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Welding advice please. Darkspeed
@darkspeed
Club Retro Rides Member 39
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Turn the wire speed up to 12 and see if that improves things and go from there - if it starts blowing holes leave the wire feed at 12 but the power down to 2.
ETA
As a rule of thumb you are looking at about 40 amps per mm thickness of material - if we make an assumption that the 190 is equal power settings over the 6 1.0 to 1.2mm body steel should be about power 2 at maybe 60 amps - the wire speed then allows a little power modulation around that so lower feed slightly lower power. I have a 185 and for with similar settings - you also do not say what wire - I use 0.6 - and also you do not need the gas howling out of the nozzle - just enough for shield so start with a minimujm flow and increase - a flow meter is good item to have.
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Last Edit: Apr 7, 2016 18:54:43 GMT by Darkspeed
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rustywagon
Part of things
Just joined; long time lurker!
Posts: 31
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I'd look at your gas, make sure it's flowing enough.
other than that, up your wire feed.
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Ok cheers guys ill have a play about with some of your suggestions tomorrow. The welder from the mot station came over for a look earlier as he was locking up and checked the setup for me. Hes set my gas level and wire speed up for me. He got it working fine on clean steel but it gets right up to 7/8 on the power before it welds properly so he thinks either my extension lead or power selector might be strangling the current. He says he uses a 190 mig similar to mine and never has to go above 2/8 on car bodywork. Thats the first thing i need to look at he said. Ive got a 32 amp feed going to my compressor so I'm going to get a junction box and fit sockets in my garage so i don't have to use my old 10 meter extension from the house.
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Last Edit: Apr 7, 2016 19:05:37 GMT by spongebob
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Thats sounds like its the problem , 7 or 8 would be for 3+ mm stuff !!
1 or 2 should be right you only need 20-30 amps for bodywork .
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Darkspeed
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,710
Club RR Member Number: 39
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Welding advice please. Darkspeed
@darkspeed
Club Retro Rides Member 39
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For low amps a 13 amp supply should be no problem but extension leads should really be avoided - Check your earth clamp is really sound and clean.
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See if the leads getting warm/hot !
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I'm getting a garage consumer unit tomorrow so i can have proper mains sockets in there so i don't have to run an extension lead. Once thats sorted ill try again and adust my welder as some of you have suggested. Thankyou for your input guys Much appreciated
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