I have never picked up a welding torch before today. This was done with a Clarke 105EN gasless. How does it look? What have I obviously done wrong?

Regards,
Dave

Hey Hey. congrtatulations!!

To me it looks like the weld is not being shielded properly?... If you are welding with the "no gas" option... then I assume you are using the correct flux cored wire?


I have a similar clarke welder... I tried it with "no gas" and it was crap... Switched to gas and its fantastic....

As above, gasless welderes aren't great, it will take a while fiddling with settings but within a day you should start to get decent welds - get some gas and keep it up!

Rather than starting off butt welding steel together I'd say have a long practice just running long welds up the middle of a peice of scrap, you can fiddle with the settings as you make different runs and see what happens - I found it made the learning process a lot more simple

Take yourself here.

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

and pick up some starter tips.

Practice practice practice, and one you get it nailed, keep your hand in.

when I finished my welding course, I could do a 2mm wide weld on the outside of a butt joint between two pieces of 1.5mm plate and make it look really nice.

right now, I would shall we say, be struggling.

P.S. Get gas and forget the gasless thing.
A CO2 pub gas bottle and an accommodating fire extinguisher supplier to fill it is what you're looking for.

push the weld not pull when welding
keep up the good work
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7CJwS5isrQ

quote:

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Originally posted by thunderace
push the weld not pull when welding
keep up the good work
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7CJwS5isrQ

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Looks like the weld area is'nt getting shielded well enough so you're getting contamination from the oxygen in the atmosphere. I've never used a gasless one though so I'm not sure how much you can do about that other than make sure there's no draughts.
It also looks like you need more power on to get the penetration, difficult to see ho thick the steel is but I'm guessing it 25x25x3mm angle? For a little welder like a 105 it'll need to be turned fairly well up.
My first weld was in about 1991, there wer'nt any pictures taken & it would'nt have been with a digital camera & it definately would'nt have been posted on a forum. I am however sure it did'nt look any better than yours! It takes a while to get it right, just time, practice & patience.

Looking at your photo it looks like you are out side NOT GOOD if windy weather

Thanks all for the pointers and advice. I've just ordered myself some 1.2mm steel sheet to use as scrap to practice on. Does anyone have a gas regulator they want to get rid of?

If it's not structural and it holds together it's fine. It looks a bit like you needed more amps, the weld looks a bit cold. Turn it up to full power and turn the feed speed up till it pushes back at you and stutters then turn feed down a notch at a time till it melts evenly. Hold the torch with two hands and keep the same distance from the work and keep practising on the thicker metal till you get a feel for the weld and watching the pool.

quote:

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Originally posted by 02GF74
how is he able to go so slow?
wire feed must be really low - if I go that slow then the wire melts back into the tip.

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Just a thought......I suppose gasless MIG isn't really MIG at all.....

Just.. M