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theKbStockpiler Samba Member
Joined: July 07, 2012 Posts: 2316 Location: Rust Belt
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:40 am Post subject: Re: Please Evaluate my Crummy Welds! |
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more stick out and they will be a bit hotter |
That is only with Stick welding. MIG is the opposite. _________________ 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. |
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Peter D. Samba Member
Joined: February 25, 2004 Posts: 718 Location: Stamford, CT
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 11:22 am Post subject: Re: Please Evaluate my Crummy Welds! |
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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 |
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theKbStockpiler Samba Member
Joined: July 07, 2012 Posts: 2316 Location: Rust Belt
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 4:36 pm Post subject: Re: Please Evaluate my Crummy Welds! |
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he recommended turning the voltage all the way up past J and setting the wire speed to 4 |
The chart on the inside of the cabinet is just a rough guide for the first few times you use a welder as a reference of where to fine tune from. On my own transformer 110v model I adjust wire speed to a minimal plus maybe a little more if my stick out increases. A longer stick out prefers a little more wire speed. If I inadvertently move the nozzle away from the piece a little , I don't want the pool to change because of it.
On a small welder ,increasing the MIG wire speed actually seems to cool the weld down instead of increase it. You mostly want to stay in between stubbing into the work piece or having the wire melt off in globs. _________________ 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. |
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Mellow Yellow 74 Samba Member
Joined: October 14, 2014 Posts: 1615 Location: Sydney, Australia
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 4:51 pm Post subject: Re: Please Evaluate my Crummy Welds! |
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theKbStockpiler wrote: |
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more stick out and they will be a bit hotter |
That is only with Stick welding. MIG is the opposite. |
Yeah you're right, I got it the wrong way around - I should have said to try with a bit less stick out _________________ 1962 Karmann Ghia
1974 Deluxe Microbus
1985 Caravelle (Vanagon) |
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modok Samba Member
Joined: October 30, 2009 Posts: 26776 Location: Colorado Springs
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2019 2:53 am Post subject: Re: Please Evaluate my Crummy Welds! |
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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, |
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VengeanceASX Samba Member
Joined: December 26, 2018 Posts: 98 Location: Bakersfield
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 6:54 pm Post subject: Re: Please Evaluate my Crummy Welds! |
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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? |
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theKbStockpiler Samba Member
Joined: July 07, 2012 Posts: 2316 Location: Rust Belt
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 7:48 pm Post subject: Re: Please Evaluate my Crummy Welds! |
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Also, there are a few welds where you were pulling up while still arcing or the wire cooled in the weld. |
Small welders do not have a burnback adjustment if that's what you're referring to. _________________ 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. |
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Peter D. Samba Member
Joined: February 25, 2004 Posts: 718 Location: Stamford, CT
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Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 7:54 am Post subject: Re: Please Evaluate my Crummy Welds! |
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VengeanceASX wrote: |
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? |
I'm using .03 in welding wire. My technique could definitely use improvement as far as pulling away. I have to keep reminding myself! It's definitely not as easy as it looks.
I'm welding a patch into the bottom of my tunnel this weekend then I'm starting on my floors. Hope I don't mess up! _________________ 2019 Golf Alltrack, '65 Ghia Coupe Restoration in Progress |
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theKbStockpiler Samba Member
Joined: July 07, 2012 Posts: 2316 Location: Rust Belt
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Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 1:07 pm Post subject: Re: Please Evaluate my Crummy Welds! |
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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. |
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Bulli Klinik Samba Member
Joined: January 16, 2005 Posts: 2077 Location: Bulli Klinik, Colorado Springs
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Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2019 9:35 am Post subject: Re: Please Evaluate my Crummy Welds! |
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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 |
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Busstom Samba Member
Joined: November 23, 2014 Posts: 3837 Location: San Jose, CA
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Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2019 10:35 pm Post subject: Re: Please Evaluate my Crummy Welds! |
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Mellow Yellow 74 wrote: |
theKbStockpiler wrote: |
Quote: |
more stick out and they will be a bit hotter |
That is only with Stick welding. MIG is the opposite. |
Yeah you're right, I got it the wrong way around - I should have said to try with a bit less stick out |
Just to add some clarity to this: stickout only applies to TIG and MIG welding, and in this case, the OP should be shooting for between 1/4 and 3/8's of an inch MIG stickout. Stick welding uses no nozzle or cup, hence no stickout - only "arc length" - and that arc length should be about the same as the diameter of the electrode (less the flux), too much arc length will cause spatter and porosity.
And I'd agree, the OP's welds look pretty good, nothing to be worried about there. |
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