How are my welds looking?

[Muddy Beast]

So I started practicing my welds today with my 90amp flux core welder using .8mm wire. I took some pictures of my progress, so please critique me. I notice no matter what I do, and no matter how clean the metal is it always splatters...is this normal?

I've been playing around with the welding temps, my welding style, etc. But need advice, it seems thicker metal is easier to work with too...I've been doing "C's" from advice from another, but am not sure which direction it should be made, what angle to have the wire, etc. I'll be getting some scrap metal tomorrow so I can practice on better metal then old control arms and such.

Oh and also while I have this thread, what does everyone use to cut holes into their bumper? Like cutting so they can put a recessed bumper hitch in, etc? I figure I could use a grinder but it wouldn't be perfect...is there another way to cut other then a plasma?

Thanks!

~Scott

 

[xcm]

practice practice practice =\

 

[xcm]

wait..... you got me! best troll ever!

 

[Muddy Beast]

practice practice practice =\

I'm aware but I'm trying to learn the technique...so what advice can you lend? I know what good welds look like, and I'm far from it. But let's change that!

~Scott

 

[xcm]

ive come back to this thread 3 times in 5 minutes... to re-gawk at the terror.... its like watching snuff... JESUS CHRIST

 

[Muddy Beast]

ive come back to this thread 3 times in 5 minutes... to re-gawk at the terror.... its like watching snuff... JESUS CHRIST

Hey now, these are my very first beads with a cheap harbor freight welder. You gata give me credit for trying to learn so I can make my own stuff.

~Scott

 

[xcm]

ok, i hope this thread will be moved waaaay outta adfab... im no professional welder, but you make me look grandois! think of it as 2 puddles... on on each side that will become 1.... the puddles are the ends of the C, and in the middle, thats where you just merged the two back where you used to be. .... seriously though, its hard to explain... theres tons of great books, hell i read my home depot welding book like 3 times...

 

[Muddy Beast]

Yeah I realized after I posted it's not advanced fab...but wasn't sure where to put it so I'll let a mod do their thing.

As far as the puddle thing, thanks! That is exactly what I was confused about...

~Scott

 

[xcm]

set your heat for max, get more scrap metal, and practice till your high from fumes...

 

[Muddy Beast]

Yeah I'm going to pick up some scrap tomorrow, some thicker stuff similiar to what I want to make my bumper out of and just do that all day. (well, after I fold my other quarter panel)

~Scott

 

[xcm]

shit, hit youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxAHPJL_crU

 

[AIbandit]

I have a college welding course book in PDF format if you want. This looks like bad arc welding lol... practice will definetly help
Get her set up for MIG with gas. It has much less slag(splatter) then flux So yes as long as you use flux it will be ugly. after you weld use a wire brush to clean off the crud.
As for the angle its around 15 degrees from 90

 

[beakie]

as for cutting holes, a grinder will work fine, you may have some cuts further into the metal than required, but thats the beauty of metal, just fill it in (with weld), grind it down and it never happened.

if you know of someone who welds, get them to give you some pointers, hints, tips. if you have access to a really good welding machine get some time on that to learn what a good weld look like, so you'll have a better idea on what to look for with yours... when you have the settings set properly.
since your working on scrap, don't be afraid to crank up the heat and really burn it in, check the backside for "discoulouration" too little heat and the metals will look no different. then when your done, cut across the weld to see how well the weld penetrated the 2 metals
as for the splatter, you can never prep the metal too much, and you can buy 'splatter guard paste' which will help control the flux a bit. once you stop welding, wire brush that area, and where you will be welding next, dip the tip (anti-splatter) and get back at it.

take all this with a grain of salt, I am NO welding expect, this is just what has helped me pick up a very handy skill that I feel confident building with. once you have the basics down your wonder why you didn't learn earlier and build things sooner.

 

[dellstopjeep]

I was gonna say go to community college welding and have some fun practicing with bad ass welders and nice tools. Gave my buddy a great start when learning and its what I i will do when I and finally afford a decent welder.

 

[AIbandit]

found this little quick start guide.. its british though
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/learning-mig.htm
Penetration should go like this (reverse side of weld)

 

[Muddy Beast]

I was gonna say go to community college welding and have some fun practicing with bad ass welders and nice tools. Gave my buddy a great start when learning and its what I i will do when I and finally afford a decent welder.

I work a couple hours from full-time...so that makes that hard.

Thanks for the tips though guys, I know what good welds look like...I know some guys who weld for a living and they also build rigs (Fords and Toyotas are their thing) but they don't have much time to lend for info that fits my schedule. I just wanted to make sure it's normal for a beginner to have welds that look like this and if there are any immediate things that I should change (is it obvious I'm not moving the tip correctly, using the right heat, etc.)

~Scott

 

[xj92]

Use the high heat setting. Move the weld very very slowly until you see a liquid puddle forming, then continue to arc back and forth across the two pieces, moving the puddle with you as you go.

 

[ChiXJeff]

One of the best things you can do to analyze your test welds is to use a hacksaw (powered, preferably...) to gauge penetration, puddling, and general weld quality.

 

[WTF]

The number one thing with flux core wire is having clean surfaces; not pieces of material being welded and also the ground point that rear swaybar bracket(?) doesn't look that clean, and it looks likt the factory control arm(?) was ground down a little, but could have stood to be have a larger area cleared off around the weld area.

After you have a buinch of clean metal, crank the heat up and then find the correct wire speed, the easiest way to explain it i you want a constant 'crackle' sound with enough wire feeding to build a small red molten puddleas you move, and not the intetmittent 'pop,pop,pop'.

Another thing to try is just laying a few 2 inch long beads into the middle of a flat piece of steel. After you can make that look decent and penetrate appropriately, then move on to joining two pieces of steel.

Also find some thicker metals that what you've used there; thicker stuff is easier to learn on. you will learn more about weld penetration and not have to worry about burn-through as much.


Flux is hard to make a bead look good but keep practicing and it will start to look a lot less like bird shit than your pictures.

 

[asp]

i started welding not too terribly long ago and here's what i've learned.

-make sure what you start with is clean (no rust, etc)
-you're using flux core and it spatters a lot. i would be inclined to wire brush the surface between welds to get rid of the spatter/dust/crap that builds up.
-keep the tip of the gun close to the weld pool. i found part of my biggest mistake was pulling the gun away from the pool to be able to see it better. i've found that keeping it where it should be (pretty freakin close) works much better. i prefer to always be able to see the weld pool, even if that means doing the bead i'm burning in sections.
-in terms of shape, i too have found that the c's shape works well, but not so much a c as this:

hope that helped.

in just a few months my welds have gone from this (wow this looks terrible now and sorry for the size)

to thisstill needs help, but miles better than before)

hope that helped and good luck.