Please Evaluate my Crummy Welds!

[theKbStockpiler]

[Peter D.]

Yeah, so far my stick-out has been pretty short. I'll try again with longer.

BeetL62 from Eastwood reached out to me and put me in touch with Matt who does welding training and testing. I gotta say I'm blown away by their support and service. Matt put together a test piece using similar thickness of metal and the same welder I'm using. He emailed me a picture of the results and his welds were nice and flat.

For the Eastwood 135 Welder, he recommended turning the voltage all the way up past J and setting the wire speed to 4. I still need to fine tune my technique and make adjustments but this time my welds came out much flatter.

These are my results, not his:

These are flatter than before but not perfect. But I think it has to do with my technique and inexperience. However, it's definitely welded tight. I'm not going to be worried about my floors popping off as I'm driving down the road.
_________________
2019 Golf Alltrack, '65 Ghia Coupe Restoration in Progress

[theKbStockpiler]

[Mellow Yellow 74]

[modok]

How good is the outlet it's plugged into?
Makes a big difference.

You can also lose power on the ground connection.
I replaced the ground clamp day one, don't really remember what it looked like, but it must have been cheezy since I chucked it right off the bat,

[VengeanceASX]

Keep your wire short for a hotter burn. I also find that pure CO2 is a lot hotter than say a C25 mix. Your welds won't be as strong, but with spot welds, it will be minimal. You'll get a flatter puddle too, which is easier for finishing. Also, there are a few welds where you were pulling up while still arcing or the wire cooled in the weld. Maybe I missed it, but what size wire are you using?

[theKbStockpiler]

[Peter D.]

[theKbStockpiler]

The divot left in the center of the bead is not really controllable. If you could weld hotter it might be avoidable. It's just a sight cosmetic effect that MIG welding causes.. It's caused by the wire feeder stopping before the arc goes out so the wire does not get welded to to bead when you stop welding.
_________________
My beetle is not competing with your beetle. I have the yellow beetle in my town. There is a red one, a green one ......
Use all safety devices including a mask.

[Bulli Klinik]

Turn the amperage up. I have a more powerful MIG and I run it pretty hot for rosette welds, especially if you have multiple layers or are welding to heavier materials.

Trim the tip with every weld, a clean tip (.003) is going to be a lot hotter than a balled up end.

In order to get that spot welded look, start in the middle, confidently squeeze that trigger and WATCH what's happening. If you pay attention you will see the plasma moving out from the center of the weld to the edge of the hole. Practice until you're confident doing one fluid motion circle from the center of the weld to just before the edge of the hole.

If you insist on weld-thru, clean it thoroughly from where your welding. I use a cut down piece of stainless, braided aircraft cable chucked up and spun backwards in a drill.Dress it flat often. The splatter and the fumes have made me stop using that stuff unless absolutely necessary. I'd rather weld clean metal, then clean and soak the weld with Ospho, then prime with thinned epoxy to wick the paint into the seams.

All that said, your welds look pretty good from here.
_________________
I've never met a Bus I didn't like.
Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs

[Busstom]