Thanks for all the advice...

[Ali The Farmer]

Hey guys...

A few weeks ago I joined this forum and got a great deal of advice and help, and I just wanted to say thanks very much.

A fair amount of practice later, and I'm producing fairly decent welds 50% of the time, which is a massive improvement. I managed to get an auto-darkening mask in the end on 6 months int free credit; wow, what a brilliant/simple piece of engineering,I can't believe how much easier it makes it all, even if it is a tad warm as I'm working outdoors and it's 34.

I'm still using 2mm box profile steel, as is the norm here, but overall I'm ok now. The only issues I have are with vertical up welds (I think I get the angle wrong), and trying to get right into a horizontal 90 deg join on the 1st pass. I usually tend to end up with a bead on each limb, and then one to join those together on top.

What is interesting is that with even a little experience, you immediately know if the weld is good or not as you do it. Certainly chuffed when I did an 8cm 90 deg join bead without stopping, and then with one tiny tap, the slag popped off in one piece

Cheers, Ali

 

[keith19]

Good to hear from you again, Ali. And good to hear about your progress. Glad that you managed to get an auto helmet, it makes a very great difference.

Vertical-up arc on 2mm would be a challenge to anyone, you would need to move very precisely and very fast with little or no dwell on the sides.
Vertical-down would be easier?

Best wishes and keep us informed of how you are progressing on that 2mm box steel; many of us use a mig for that sort of work and can only admire your tenacity in learning to make a good job of it with arc welding.

 

[Seano]

Good news Ali......keep plugging away at it, you'll get there in the end...even your verts will come with time...