S/H R-Tech 180... working towards Car Body work.

[arther dailey]

Welcome and congrats on getting a good deal on the mig , there are sections on here with how to do , look it up and peruse one evening , glove wise being right handed I use heavy old gauntlet on left which I rest mig on and lighter glove for right "trigger" finger , find it gives a lot better or easier control. Enjoy both the mig and the forum

 

[wyn]

The CO2 gas is a liquid in the bottle so probably needs standing upright when using it.

 

[aesmith]

I saw a few bad reviews for the Rtech True Colour Speedmaster one. I think something about them not kicking in when arcing up.

I not had any problems with mine.

 

[MikeBs]

I use a GYS Alien mask with a cheater lens (my eyesight is not what it used to be) and I’ve fitted a hood around the back to stop light getting in from the back. It works well for me.
I got it in a sale a couple of years ago for about £70 and was a great leap from the Screwfix mask I had prior to that.
The gloves I like are Tegara 130A. I don’t do a lot of heavy duty welding so the metal is not very hot when I’m finished. I still need to be aware that I don’t have thick gloves on when holding or picking stuff up. I also have some heavier duty gloves that I use occasionally, when the 130A’s aren’t quite making me feel comfortable about not getting burned.

 

[Retro Rust]

Not much news on the welder yet. Still yet to get a helmet although tomorrow afternoon/eve I will be buying one from Rtech just as I've used one before on a test with them.

Did a silly thing the other day as I was advised opening up the unit and blasting it with air (due to the machine being dirty). I was talking to my Dad and tried to pull of the torch which obviously had wire in it. At first it seemed a bit slow to feed the wire through but now it seems the motor isnt struggling again so I'm guessing the tension etc is good again.

Hoping later next week I can have a go with some metal.... which i still need to buy haha

 

[Retro Rust]

but if you wear your boiler suit over the boots no issue

Arc eye, if you wear safety glasses you wont get arc eye, you will see the bright light but the UV rays wont burn your eye as they wont pass through the lens of the glasses, if your that paranoid its an option for you.

You will be able to turn your roller for say 0.6 and 0.8 wire sizes.

Slow going here but no my big work comments are over and I have a free week, ordering some stuff to get going on Monday (everyones bloody closed this weekend!). Regarding the UV safety glasses. Did you mean something like this? Might be useful in general.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/milwaukee-performance-yellow-lens-safety-glasses/708gc

 

[chrismac]

Slow going here but no my big work comments are over and I have a free week, ordering some stuff to get going on Monday (everyones bloody closed this weekend!). Regarding the UV safety glasses. Did you mean something like this? Might be useful in general.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/milwaukee-performance-yellow-lens-safety-glasses/708gc

Yes something as bling as that is fine, not point going over board as they will get scratched and worn out,
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/16107346...Z8jVFQpUrdkeH+Lq+MMlhFjtNw==|tkp:BFBMzOyp3qFl

is also equally are effective as an example,

 

[Retro Rust]

Right then! A box containing a welding helmet , Anti Splatter spray, 0.8 Tips (for when I get gas mig wire) and a "Pea Shooter" flow tester turned up this morning. I went out and bought a 6mm Steel plate for my work bench and some 1mm sheet steel from a metal shop, cut the sheet up and tried running some welds before tried to join bits together.

As I still don't have 0.8 mig wire and a welding trolly for the bottle I just tried the flux core that came in the machine. At first I turned the voltage + wire speed near 12 o clock and that blew holes in the 1mm sheet. Turned it down with some slightly better results but generally struggled getting things to stick/ penetrate.



Voltage and Wire speed around this region seemed better .

Out of interest I tried a fillet weld which didnt work. The weld never seemed to penetrate and the metal kept falling apart.


I did get it to stick on its end though. I'm not sure if this is technic rather than the settings though.

I bent this over and tried to weld it in a kind of loop. It stuck and I can't pull it apart by hand like the others. Its really not pretty though.

 

[Retro Rust]

A quick wire wheel of the last weld made it look a bit better but theres gaps.




After a brew break and looking at R techs welding chart. I tried a but weld. Again seems to penetrate but at the same time doesnt go through to the other side.. I was able to pull this apart by hand. These settings were slightly lower I think.



I have a video of all this which I'm uploading to youtube now. Not too sure what to do with all this, I think I was naively expecting better results today but it hasnt put me off.
Any pointers i'm all ears.

 

[Cobbler]

@Retro Rust You say you need a welding trolley, you have a welder, there’s your first project. Good practice, better than bits of metal, you’re making something

Edit. I see you are using magnets to hold it, when I’ve tried using them, I found it pulled the arc all over the place. I always look for some other way of holding it if possible.

 

[Onthespotwelding]

That pigeon isn’t well

 

[JOEPRO]

A quick wire wheel of the last weld made it look a bit better but theres gaps.

View attachment 485391 View attachment 485392


After a brew break and looking at R techs welding chart. I tried a but weld. Again seems to penetrate but at the same time doesnt go through to the other side.. I was able to pull this apart by hand. These settings were slightly lower I think.

View attachment 485393 View attachment 485395

I have a video of all this which I'm uploading to youtube now. Not too sure what to do with all this, I think I was naively expecting better results today but it hasnt put me off.
Any pointers i'm all ears. View attachment 485394

Are you using gas? Definitely seems to be gas issues, are you welding outdoors?

Doesn't look like the steel was cleaned much. Try flap discs and always, always buff the steel clean just before welding.

Try to run nice seady spot welds in a run. For car bodywork that is what you need. Don't be afraid to adjust both dials and get it running just right. Practice, practice and more practice.

Do you have a good quality welding helent? Make sure you can see the weld pool and try to apply good hot welds. No one likes droplets of pigeon do do.

 

[Onthespotwelding]

I recommend watching @doubleboost utube channel.

He even gives you the settings to use and what material thickness it’s for.

It’s a series, Watch them all

 

[Retro Rust]

Thanks for the replies !

This is Gassless Flux Core @JOEPRO . I do want to go to gas but the machine has this in currently as stated in the first post. I will change it though, just wanted to start welding. I have an Rtech "Mask 6" which seems pretty good. I dont have much experience and have turned the settings pretty high as I'm concerned about arc eye. Maybe I need to turn the shade down a bit.

@Cobbler I am using magnets and I heard that once on Cortina City's youtube channel although I didnt think anything of it today

@Onthespotwelding thanks for this! I will check this out.

 

[Mark 2]

Bear in mind that fluxcored runs somewhat hotter than normal mig. For wire speed, read current. I tend to run the voltage one notch more than the current setting.
Start by running some beads on on the plate and get a feel for it and observe . Constant travel speed will help but 1mm sheet is going to heat up fairly quickly. Practice, do it wrong, then practice some more.

 

[Retro Rust]

Bear in mind that fluxcored runs somewhat hotter than normal mig. For wire speed, read current. I tend to run the voltage one notch more than the current setting.
Start by running some beads on on the plate and get a feel for it and observe . Constant travel speed will help but 1mm sheet is going to heat up fairly quickly. Practice, do it wrong, then practice some more.

Thanks mate! I did try that at first. Initally it blew holes in it then didnt seem to do a lot when set too low. Thought I had the sweet spot when I tried the fillet weld but obviously not haha. Yeah I knew flux isnt great for this but didnt expect it to be this tricky. Wondering if I should get normal mig wire and ratched strap the tank to the thing I've got the mig on till I get a trolly.

I didn't post it before but this is my Earth clamp. I did clean it up a bit towards the end in case it wasn't helping things. Didnt seem to change anything though.

 

[JOEPRO]

Have you checked / changed the polarity for flux core?

 

[Retro Rust]

Have you checked / changed the polarity for flux core?

The earth is in the + on the inside (can't see the lable here) and - on the outside . I guessed this was right as the previous owner said they'd used it this way. Looks the same as in @doubleboost video too? Will double check again tomorrow.

 

[RonMig]

Yeah I've been thinking all week about how to get my Capri high enough on one side facing away from the neighbours.

This gave me an extra 8 inches for my front sill and bodymount, so worked ok for me -

As you're using flux-core wire, you don't need the gas shroud - so take it off. You will then be able to see where the wire is, more clearly.

Also, try bracing your trigger hand to keep it steady, looks like it's wavering around too much.
In the video it also sometimes seems too fast - you should be pulling the weld puddle with you, not jumping away from it...

Having a clean-cut wire helps with flux core, as does wire-brushing back to clean bright metal - any black crusty stuff (slag?) and smoke debris can cause problems you don't need...

If you have some thicker metal, maybe 3 or 4 mm, maybe practice on that; the thin stuff can wait until you're getting consistent beads rather than blobs.

The blobs are normal for a beginner, just keep trying / practising...

 

[Mark 2]

You've written that oddly but it appears correct. The torch connection inside the case is on negative so the earth cable, on the front, should be plugged in the positive.