burnzy

Being a ford site I'm guessing a lot of us are quite well versed in a bit of welding.

I've just recently picked up a Clarke 130en to practice with and to use for little jobs, could people kindly point me in the right direction for literature, or give me pointers.

I tried it out on an old site box, the metal wasn't clean and I was using fluxed wire, now I know I wasn't helping myself at all with trying to learn, but I just wanted to have a go on anything

Apart from noticing I wasn't getting the penetration that is needed I noticed I could feel the wire pushing the torch, I tried it on a galvanised pellet catcher too and I still wasn't getting penetration on that either even at full settings (2mm steel)

I know my first port of call is to get some clean scrap metal to learn to lay beads (not pigeon shit ) but what should the torch feel like in my hand should it feel smooth as I start running the weld pool, and not be able to feel the wire against the metal being welded?

Any help will be gravely appreciated

moesin2005

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/

burnzy

Should of just told me to google it

Spot on though, I'll get reading

gcfcos

I taught myself to mig weld cars
When I was an apprentice (got thrown in at the deep end) I just had nice clean scrap metal to practice on and just played with the welder settings untill it penetrated properly and looked good. Then the boss gave me his mates ford Granada and I did 26 patches of welding on that and took me all week lol was fine after that marathon. Just have a play with the settings on the welder and make sure the metal is clean and where u clamp the earth on make sure that's clean too and u shouldn't go far wrong. As for gasless mig I've had a go on my mates and it was shocking to use, in fact he ended up doing something on It so it could run gas and it's been mint since.

ajamesc

Biggest part of welding is a good welder and the metal your trying to weld. Play about with it till you find a setting that works for you then practice and more practice. I find with mig the trick is for me to get it just hot enough to make it all glow red without blowing holes. This dose require being on and off the trigger or it gets too hot but nothing wrong with that. We do have a really good welder at work that's powerful as we do thick stuff working on trucks are one uses 1.5mm wire but you can use it on thin stuff if your careful and good with it

burnzy

Thanks my guys, I'll get some proper bits of metal, trouble is I'll be practicing outside so gasless is my only choice to begin with.

And gcfcos, you reverse the polarity of the torch and earth clamp to go between gasless and gas welding and obviously correct wire and gas if needed, welder also needs to be set up for it.

That's what swayed me towards the 130en model as it can do both gas and gasless, and also the real good reviews it gets as a hobby machine.

Caddyshack

You can use gas outside. Gasless is awful and even an experienced welder would struggle in comparison. Get gas if you want to do it right.

gcfcos

Ah I see dosent sound like too much trouble to run it on gas then mate when u want to

M K

iTrader: (9)

If your thinking of starting out gasless I wouldn't even bother starting mate!

Get gas set up as it's fine outside, if breezy just up the flow a bit to suit,

I'm far from the best welder but I'm ok with mig and tig,

The wire pushing the torch away is because the metal your practicing on is not clean and your not getting a good earth through it

Also make sure you buy a quality mig wire and not some unbranded eBay stuff that's cheap, you can run into all sorts of problems with dodgy wire

The other thing that's very important is a good lid, I started with a really cheap lid and had lots of problems doing a nice bead, then my missus bought me a top of the range speedglass lid and it made a lot of difference for me although there are plenty of other good lids available at a more reasonable price

tosh

My first attempt with welding was outside with gas and had no problems, but I would recommend going for a refillable bottle of Argoshield and fitting a regulator to suit as it costs a fortune if using the stupid little disposable bottles.

burnzy

Thanks guys, I'll get gas set up then, MK I currently have a auto darkening helmet but can't remember the make, I can see the weld well enough and it's adjustable in darkness, I'll see if I get on with it, otherwise I'll look for another one.

I knew the metal I was welding on was crap, I was like a kid in a sweet shop when I brought the welder home, I would of literally welded anything it did feel like trying to weld with a cheap stick welder like I've previously tried

I'll keep at it and maybe even bless this thread with a picture of metal pigeon shit

stuboy

ive found gasless welding to be ok... i used to use gas mig before

steppy

Gasless is ok on thicker stuff, when teaching myself to weld all those years back i started gasless with a mig i bought cheap as chips, when i got the basics i bought a better welder with the facility for gas and an auto darkening lid, the difference was that great, i was so happy it was like the day i discovered wanking, i only weld outside and find gas to be fine out there, as people have said its practice practice practice, get some scrap and crack on

ray barker

gas is deffo the way to go. first change the wire to .8 from .6 using .8 is is better it fills allot more. turn the gas up so you can feel it on your cheek when you squeeze the triger from an inch away from your face. allso get .8 tips other wise the wire want come through when you set the welder up do so on a bit of scrap thats the same as your going to weld for instance if theres amp settings from 1 to 5 and its a plate to go on the bottom of your motor put it on setting 2 may be 3. put the wond to the job a quarter/half inch from the job squeeze triger dont do school boy error make sure gas is on dooow. when it starts with your free hand turn the wire speed settings both ways this does what is says adjust it so that it makes a crisp clean fine cracking noise. if its to slow the wire will glow orange before its done anything. if to fast you will feel it pushing the torch against the job when its right youl see find the sweet spot it will be smooth you wont feel it through the torch its the finest cracking noise you want. you do this before you start a job every time. when you start weldind allways tack first every quarter inch right arround the patch whip the lumps of and then join it all up when you see the patch lifting with heat tap it back down other wise the gap will become to great and you will blow through. when your butt welding leave a 1mm gap and weld up the gap. this is the nearly old school way. i had to gas weld with oxy/ setaline bottles for the first 15 years i didnt see a mig untill 1990. oh by the way you will end up with arms like a junkie and you will get burnt to fuk good luck

gcfcos

Arms like a junkie lol I know that one mate it looks horrific dosent it lol. A guy I used to work with had sleeves he bought to wear over his arms while welding, I was always going to invest in a set of those.

ray barker

i dont miss welding up shit boxes thats for shore. when i was an aprentice i used see the wife in the evenings even her parents used to to ask what happened to my eyebrows and hair burnt fingers. a couple of years ago i thought things were getting a bit warm i was on fire my self and the time a big white hot blob went down my ovies down my stomach ended up on my you no what

gcfcos

Yeah I've got a few dodgy scars myself lol

ray barker

when i was a lad i had to fire whatch. my village garage where i started after school or somtimes. they would wait outside the garage first thing for me catch me on the way to school they would tell me i didnt have time to go school today were to busy lol. i got paid good money then allways a packet of fags as well got taken to the pub at dinner pasty and coke