Going for the record - worst first welds ever!

[SiPMerlin150]

Still not enough gas mate, notice the hollow weld to the left? Thats porosity. Is it drafty where you are welding? Also it could be the angle of your torch. Hold it 45 degrees from vertical and keep the torch shroud as close to the work as possible. One thing I learned from here is what one experienced welder said.

'I've been welding for more than 20 years, and still manage to bump the shroud on the workpiece even now'.

 

[skid]

Hi mate , it's not drafty where I am welding and I do try to get the torch as close as possible but using these rather rubbish disposables I could well imagine that the bottle is weak and the regulators , as has been said on this thread, just look a bit cheap, it wouldn't suppose me if this one was faulty like the first one was.

Thanks for the advice a lot I'll experiment with the torch position and also now I know I'm getting somewhere I'm gonna invest in a proper co2 bottle

 

[SiPMerlin150]

Sounds like plan, those regulators do look naff. Have to admit I've used one for a little while now and its been ok. However I hate my hobby MIG. I mean it works fine, but it suffers the hobby MIG erratic wire speed at lower amps. I only use it for stitch welding car panels and its great, but for anything else I would use a professional set. I've just been in the shed and had a little mess around with mine. I'll post up a picture of what i did.

 

[SiPMerlin150]

As you know the brown soot is typical of using co2 as a sheilding gas, but you can see its mainly around the welds rather than on them. Excuse the spatter, that is the erratic wire speed which I mentioned.

 

[skid]

They look nice, I'm impressed. I don't think I'm going to do anything structural or at least what I'd call critical. I bought this welder about 2 years ago to do an exhaust and that failed really badly, been mothballed ever since, but really glad I picked it back up. Now I know what it is capable of, and what it is no good at.

What is spatter actually caused by? Is it a case of too slow wire speed , what is actually happening when spatter occurs?

 

[SiPMerlin150]

the wire speed slows momentarily and this creates a longer arc which spatters the weld all over the place. Thank you, for the compliments, They aren't the best of my welds, comes close though. If you get the chance to try someones larger MIG set, a more professional set, have a go, it improves the quality of anybodies welds no end!

Repairing exhausts, and various thin metal car repairs, hobby MIGs are great for that, but anything like fabrication jobs, like 3mm flat bar for tailgate repairs on wagons, really would be suited to a bigger unit.

 

[jammy]

My 2c. I think that for someone who knows how to weld the disposable bottles might be OK, but for a beginner they are useless. I went down the BOC deal route and although it seems like a high initial outlay, you don't need to worry about the gas problem and can concentrate on the welding. At £10 a bottle or so you only need to use 8 of them in 1 year to make the BOC deal worth it and the aforementioned lack of hassle and frustration when you think you're just getting the hang of it and you run out of gas.

 

[skid]

Found a place not far away that sells a full 6.35kg bottle for 65 quid, you own the bottle and can get a refill for 15 quid. Sound any good?

I'm just a bit worried about hooking the tiny plastic pipe from my welder to the regulator on this bottle how will that fit ?

 

[wyn]

I'm just a bit worried about hooking the tiny plastic pipe from my welder to the regulator on this bottle how will that fit ?

You would need this sort of setup to go from the 4mm plastic pipe to a large regulator

 

[skid]

Thanks !!!