My First Welds (gasless mig)

[Agent]

Hi all. Firstly want to say a big thanks to hairymel off this forum for the scrap metal and grinding wheels he gave me, top man.
I've got a cheapy gasless mighty mig using 0.9mm flux cored.
The first pics here are of my first welds I did today, the squiggly ones were the first two I did the other day, then I got the idea a bit more and the others are today's. This metal was quite thick probably over 5mm






Then I did what mel told me not to do lol and joined 2 bits together, which won't matter too much because I can still use them. I welded the inside first which looks a bit ropey but held it ok. Then the outside which I thought wasnt too bad as it's my first day properly trying it. The small gaps between ate where I tacked it in place first.







Then this last few pics were on a really thin maybe 1mm metal, now I struggled with this because I timed that it blew a hole in under 1 second with the welder on the lowest setting(it only has 2 settings)
Regardless I tried to run a few beads by just blipping the power on and off but in reality I reckon I could of just about tack welded it to something and nothing more.





Last photo just shows the width of it.

All in all found it ok today, looking forward to starting my city guilds course in Nov.
Any feedback on anything or help welcome
Thanks again to mel

 

[brokenbiker]

what welder is it?

those beads look pretty much the same as the ones i can get out of my gasless

the fillets and corner welds are a tad ropey but nothing practice wont sort out.

just keep going and try to have fun while your doing it.

also, a tin of anti spatter helps get rid of the spatter afterwards, but the chipping hammer works well too

 

[brokenbiker]

also, get the material shiny with either a flap disk of a grinding disc. i know it doesn't seem like much but i find gasless needs a nice clean patch to start the arc on so it is nice and crisp.

always good to clean up the area the earth clamp is on too for the same reason.

once the arc is going it will burn through rust and crap, just good to get it started on a nice clean bit at least

 

[Wozzaaah]

Having never tried gasless wire and being unlikely to I'm gobsmacked by the amount of spatter it produces!
Not sure if it's down to set up, wire quality or technique but I don't think I've ever seen so much on welds that tbh, look half-decent.
You definitely need some anti-spatter spray but I'll bet you could eliminate a fair bit of it with some fine-tuning.

 

[brokenbiker]

unfortunately, there is one perfect spot in each voltage setting, and it is damned near impossible to find twice (or so i find anyway)

all of my gasless welds look like that, the anti spatter spray is a godsend as this stuff sticks quite well with out it, this is why i rpefer arc to gasless mig as you still have to chip the slag away and clean up after each weld but its a lot easier with arc. although the slag does just brush away with the mig, the spatter is the hardest part, especially on bright mild steel

the inside fillet could do with a little less speed, i find my machine doesn't like inside fillets on anything over 2mm. the outside corner joint looks quite good, just a little bit too fast in a few spaces by the look of it, maybe just a tad unsteady is all.

overall, not bad looking

 

[Agent]

Cheers for replys lads.
Yep the machine is a cheapy sealey mightymig 100. Yea I also thought there was a lot of splatter, I've not heard of the spray but then again I'm completely new to all this and no doubt will end up investing in a gas mig once I start the course, I can't imagine the instructor recommending gasless. However maybe I'll look in to this spray in the meantime. Do you apply it to the surface prior to welding or am I barking up the wrong tree??

Thanks for all the other comments, yea it was in the low setting which I'm told can still be around 40 amps which I'm also told is too high probably for the thin metal I pictured. Not sure on the joint names you mentioned lol, I'm yet to learn them I described them as outside and inside haha, anyone got a link to a chart of all the different types of joints and names of them per chance?

One thing I learnt today though by myself was what everyone describes as controlling the puddle, I could relate to that in the end and it made sense to go forward then back slightly, and on the top weld (non technical terminology) I would go up slightly with each movement

(Also I've ordered some new wire as mines nearly run out, not sure if that's something that will affect splatter if its a different brand or something)

Thanks again

 

[Wozzaaah]

Yes, just spray it on the workpiece and any clamps etc and it provides a layer that the spatter can't stick to, you just brush any spatter balls off afterwards. The actual weld burns through it fine.

 

[brokenbiker]

Cheers for replys lads.
Yep the machine is a cheapy sealey mightymig 100. Yea I also thought there was a lot of splatter, I've not heard of the spray but then again I'm completely new to all this and no doubt will end up investing in a gas mig once I start the course, I can't imagine the instructor recommending gasless. However maybe I'll look in to this spray in the meantime. Do you apply it to the surface prior to welding or am I barking up the wrong tree??

Thanks for all the other comments, yea it was in the low setting which I'm told can still be around 40 amps which I'm also told is too high probably for the thin metal I pictured. Not sure on the joint names you mentioned lol, I'm yet to learn them I described them as outside and inside haha, anyone got a link to a chart of all the different types of joints and names of them per chance?

One thing I learnt today though by myself was what everyone describes as controlling the puddle, I could relate to that in the end and it made sense to go forward then back slightly, and on the top weld (non technical terminology) I would go up slightly with each movement

(Also I've ordered some new wire as mines nearly run out, not sure if that's something that will affect splatter if its a different brand or something)

Thanks again

same machine as me.

different brands of wire very rarely make a difference to spatter.

as for joint names, if you put two flat bits of metal side by side and weld them together, its a butt

the inside joint you did is called a fillet.

the outside joint is also a fillet, but we call it an outside corner joint, because it is.

there is also a lap joint, where 2 pieces of metal are laid out so that one is overlapping the other, and you weld down the edge of the top piece.

hope that helps.

spray the material you are going to weld, don't worry about being too heavy with it either. i also give a quick squirt into the shroud and onto the tip as spatter builds up in there and causes feed problems. although you can weld without the shroud as its not needed on gasless, it just directs the shielding gas on a normal mig

 

[Agent]

Oh quality cheers mate, is it just called anti splatter spray or is it a specific brand name?

 

[brokenbiker]

have a look on weld equip, it is on there and also can just search anti spatter spray on ebay. Halfords sell it too next to the gasless mig wire

 

[Agent]

Brokenbiker- thanks for that mate, thanks a lot for the joint info bud. I'll copy and paste that somewhere I can refer to them.
Oh you got the same machine, do you get this splatter too? Also how do you find the thin metal like I posted? Just seemed to eat it up today

Thanks for advice on spray too mate

 

[brokenbiker]

yeah i get exactly the same spatter. i have used maypole, sip and sifbronze wires and always the same.

to weld thin metal, i use 'min' on the switch, between 2-3 on the wire feed, 0.8mm wire and i tack everything together, about 30mm between tacks, then once all tacked, i use the stitch welding technique shown on the mig tutorials on here. you have to be quick though as if you wait just a tiny bit too long the slag freezes and you have to stop and clean up the weld before starting again.

using this method i have very good success with thin metal, infact its 90% of what i use this machine for

 

[Agent]

Ok mate nice one, I'll check out that stitch method, not heard of it so ill give it a try. Yea I mean I noticed a small tack was ok for a split second but as soon as you started moving unless you was moving at 50mph it was gonna get too hot a blow a hole. I think my set up was exactly as you described yours, min setting and around 3 on the wire speed so there's no reason stitch shouldn't work then (aside from the fact you're obviously actually skilful and I'm not yet lol)
So you can use that stitch method on car panels too which I'd imagine are a similar thickness to the last pic I posted?

 

[brokenbiker]

the stitch method is pretty uch just a series of quick tacks, that overlap slightly.

i use mine for body work on cars, have even welded a bike petrol tank with it, although that was a bit harder as it leaked on first 3 attempts

 

[Agent]

Lol at the bike tank, that's something I'd do no doubt.
Yea just read the tutorial, seems a logical method I guess, I can see I'll run in to problems here with my mask as I might not be able to see constantly if the arcs not always active as it's not an auto darkening, I'll maybe try this out on that metal Sunday and post some pics

 

[brokenbiker]

this is the best wire i have used, it is only noticeably different to the others but is a bit smoother and works better on the lowest settings.

http://www.weldequip.com/gasless-mig-wire.htm

also, the anti spatter spray

http://www.weldequip.com/xcalibur-anti-spatter.htm

 

[Agent]

Sod it i already ordered 2 new reels yesterday but I've got that link for next time now. Thanks for the anti splatter link, I'll order some up now, should do the trick by the sounds of it

Also talking of lowest settings any idea what amps our machines are at per setting?

 

[brokenbiker]

haven't a clue. i just adjust it on some scrap till its running right.

i would assum on min and 3 it is around 40 amps, on min and 7 around 60, on max and 4 around 75 and on max and 8 around 90 ish.

this is only a rough guess going from the thicknesses i get penetration on with those settings

 

[Agent]

Just tried stitch welding on the thin metal again, realised the power was on max so flicked the switch to min and I got ok results. I'd had the switch on max for the thick lumps of metal I posted photos of and forgot to switch it back to min for the thin stuff.
It wasnt the neatest stitch welding but it was a bead and it held and there were no holes so it's a start I guess

 

[brokenbiker]

that's good. I find that I can use max on the thin stuff, just a lot quicker with the trigger.

I much prefer stick welding to gasless mig, but stick welding on thin stuff is a bitch of a job so the mig has its uses, and it has to be gasless as its always used outside.