Today I've been playing with my clarke 120 after fitting the welding clamp and seems I can make good joins on two pieces of 2 mm steel (total 4 mm).

The motor stalling problem appears to be due to the wire roll being too tight - I used a file to open the hole out and the stalling has not occured.

BUT
I am struggling to join two pieces of 3 mm with good penetration. (both butt join and T join)

So which welder have you used to join 3 mm mild steel?

My sip 130 turbo will weld 3mm. Power up and wire speed down a bit.

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

says it should do up to 3.2mm (without V notching)

I'd do it with my 100A welder on full. Perhaps not ideal but its the only one I have. Weld the join from both sides and you should get full penetration. The trouble is you'd have to take it slow to build up heat in the part which could lead to distortion once it cools so I'd weld a bit at one end and let it cool then weld a bit at the other and let it cool then weld a bit in the middle ...

ah! it was you! you could get those clamp fittings from the car audio bit in halfords.... but you've done that now...

clarke 151te can weld 3mm easy wnough. i'd have thought yours would too?

interesting replies....

I am using 0.6 mm wire (feeder can do 0.8 mm but I don't have any), wire speed is 7/10.

Would using 0.8 mm wire help?

I would be welding a square tube onto end plates so not possible to weld from inside.

I investigated my test T weld pieces. I cut through the weld and polished it up and cannot see any sign of a join; also tried to hammer and then chisel off the piece; part of it came away, near the edge but not the rest.

any root gap? What about V ing?

Personally I'd arc weld it - no worries over penetration then!

I go for an Arc far easier and a Clarke one isn't that expensive. But I'm old fashioned I use arc or gas.

arc


tony

I'd go Arc as well, faster and less faffing about.
Cheers,
Bob