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09-15-2012, 10:03 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-15-2012, 10:09 AM by henryarnold.)
Ed,
It took me a lot of hours of practice to get to a reasonable weld.
Here's my very first weld with my new welder in 2006
After a few hours of practice and a couple of tanks of gas.
I know, not great but workable.
henryarnold, proud to be a member of MetalworkingFun Forum since Apr 2012.
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(09-15-2012, 08:40 AM)EdK Wrote: Will do Rick. I'm going to pick up some 1/8" steel today to practice on. The roll of wire I have on the welder now has been on there for almost a year now out in the garage with extremes of temperature and humidity so I may have to put a new roll on.
Ed
If there is any chance of the wire having rust on it, and when you are starting with limited experience, you should unreel the outer layers of wire and either; throw it away or keep it for tying things things together, etc, but don't try to weld with it.
If you are on a budget and aren't we all? you don't need to throw it all away just the outside layer or two, you can check it by using a white cotton ball gripping tightly around the wire and pull the wire through as smoothly as you can, pull two yards/metres through at a speed of about a metre per second, if the wire pulls smoothly without any grabbing and the cotton ball is free of any rusty colour(sometimes there is a slightly oily line but there should be absolutely no red to it at all, when I say no grabbing, I mean not even the slightest tug, if the wire passes this test it should be fine to use. Oh and the copper coat should be uniformly bright.
Looking forward to seeing the results.
Regards
Rick
Whatever it is, do it today, Tomorrow may not be an option and regret outlasts fatigue.
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(09-15-2012, 10:03 AM)henryarnold Wrote: Ed,
It took me a lot of hours of practice to get to a reasonable weld.
Here's my very first weld with my new welder in 2006
After a few hours of practice and a couple of tanks of gas.
I know, not great but workable.
Henry,
Your first welds look better than my welds after practicing all last summer. I was using flux core wire but that shouldn't be an excuse.
Ed
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(09-15-2012, 09:20 AM)dallen Wrote: Ed any wire that you go buy will probably of been stored under the same conditions, unless its rusty there will be nothing wrong with it.
get some scrap and practice setting the machine or as someone said use the autotune (myself I probably wouldn't like what the machine came up with) set your voltage and adjust the wire speed to suit.
remember three things
1. travel speed of the gun
2. speed of the wire
3. voltage setting on the machine.
Most people make welding out to be one of the dark secrets, but its actually just some techniques,
and what works for one person may not work for you.
DA
DA,
Thanks for the advise. From what I've read on the net, the Miller "autotune" works very well. Even pro welders that have tried it say it works surprisingly well.
Ed
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(09-15-2012, 11:50 AM)EdK Wrote: I was using flux core wire but that shouldn't be an excuse.
Actually Ed it's a perfectly valid reason, not an excuse, as far as hobby sized welders go, I've never seen a decent looking weld off of flux cored wire. So after 15 years as a trained weld inspector not one pretty flux cored weld, might be a good idea to steer clear of that stuff 
There are some proper uses for the flux cored process but these are mostly involving very specific metallurgical reasons often to add powdered alloying materials to the weld pool for hard facing and other reasons, these wires are invariably used on much larger machines than those available to hobbyists, as always a little bit of extra current hides a variety of welding sins, and hobby sized machines just don't have the grunt required.
If you can afford it always spring for a bottle of gas and use it at the right flow rate in order to both create a nice weld and to do it economically.
Best Regards
Rick
Whatever it is, do it today, Tomorrow may not be an option and regret outlasts fatigue.
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(09-15-2012, 01:15 PM)Rickabilly Wrote: (09-15-2012, 11:50 AM)EdK Wrote: I was using flux core wire but that shouldn't be an excuse.
Actually Ed it's a perfectly valid reason, not an excuse, as far as hobby sized welders go, I've never seen a decent looking weld off of flux cored wire. So after 15 years as a trained weld inspector not one pretty flux cored weld, might be a good idea to steer clear of that stuff
There are some proper uses for the flux cored process but these are mostly involving very specific metallurgical reasons often to add powdered alloying materials to the weld pool for hard facing and other reasons, these wires are invariably used on much larger machines than those available to hobbyists, as always a little bit of extra current hides a variety of welding sins, and hobby sized machines just don't have the grunt required.
If you can afford it always spring for a bottle of gas and use it at the right flow rate in order to both create a nice weld and to do it economically.
Best Regards
Rick
Ed,
Rick is right. The weld I showed was TIG with gas. I tried MIG with flux core and it was horrible not to mention the clouds of smoke, chipping the slag away, and clean up with a wire brush. It still was ugly. You should switch to CO2/Argon mix. You will see a remarkable improvement.
Henry
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The reason I started with the flux core wire is that I didn't want the expense and hassles of dealing with tanks of gas. I ended up getting a small tank of 75/25 to use with solid wire so that's what I'll be using to practice with. I'm off to get some 1/8" steel now.
Ed
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In my opinion, and it is just my opinion, flux cored wire is the single biggest reason folks give up on welding with a MIG, of course folks try it because it seems easier and cheaper, and it must be easier as you don't need to worry about gas flow etc, but when the welds look horrible most people give up, thinking it's their inability to weld, when it's just a function of the process.
Good luck with the practice, I look forward to seeing the results.
Regards
Rick
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Whenever I replace a spool of wire, I pass the wire through an ear plug (the squishy disposable ones) and then feed it into the feed rollers. It prevents the wire from introducing any crap into the liner. This isn't my own idea, it was suggested to me by a welding tech when I had my liner replaced a few years back.
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09-15-2012, 08:57 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-15-2012, 09:14 PM by Highpower.)
Ed, you will get comfortable with MIG (shielding gas) very quickly. It is soooo much easier to get good beads with. Flux core welding has it's place, but it is not the best process to start off learning with IMHO.
Once you have put down several good beads using the 75/25, go back and try the same welds using the flux core. I think you might change your opinion of which one is the bigger hassle. 
But if you ever need to do any outside welding in a breeze, that MIG weld can look even worse than the ugliest flux core bead you have ever made. Some day when you are in a hurry to make a weld and forget to turn on your gas bottle, and it WILL happen.... 
..... you'll see what it is like when your shielding gas gets taken away in a gentle breeze. 
While you are practicing, get in the habit of snipping off the end of your wire before you start your next bead. Getting rid of the little dingle berry on the end of the wire and getting the proper "stick out" will make your life easier in the long run when starting a new arc.
Willie
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