No serious Brad just give me a shout if you want at any time
Graham
I am going to start practicing welding soon. I think it's one of them skills that a bloke should have at least some experience of.
So, I am using a small Kende gassless mig 105/f machine.
Any tips before I start, or should I just get stuck in.
Brad.
Have a bit of a light read about the subject, wear gloves, clean metal helps a lot, good ventilation...
I taught myself 20 years ago, not brilliant but I get by..
Just crack on, more you do it , better you get.
mig welding.co.uk is a good help
get a load of scrap metal of different thickness, a vice and big hammer for bashing it apart to check your welds.
Take your time, read A LOT (that link is an excellent one) and don't be worried about getting critisism on the forum when posting your welds -
their tips REALLY help.
Keep your wire dry and don't forget to flip the eye shield down before you get blinded!
I thought you could weld
No serious Brad just give me a shout if you want at any time
Graham
On ChrisL's point, my youngest bought me an automatic mask a few years ago and it's been invaluable, wouldn't be without it now 
quote:
Originally posted by Daddylonglegs
This is worth a look
Well, good luck with that machine, you'll soon be cursing and swearing wondering why you bothered.
Best thing is to get a go on a BIG proper mig to master the welding bit. Small machines are useless for beginners IMO
quote:
Originally posted by coozer
Well, good luck with that machine, you'll soon be cursing and swearing wondering why you bothered.
Best thing is to get a go on a BIG proper mig to master the welding bit. Small machines are useless for beginners IMO
When I started welding I borrowed some videos from the library. They were made by the welding institute and were invaluable. Youtube would also be worth looking at. Good luck and have fun.
I learnt on a clarke 90A gasless. Great little machine for cars and up to 3mm steel, as long as you didn't rush it.
Gasless is very handy for outdoor work, and the flux seems to help if the metal isn't as clean as it could be in awkward corners. Always looks a
bit messy after the weld is done as it is covered in the flux residue, but that cleans off PDQ with a wire brush in a grinder.
That leads me on to wire. Use 0.8mm flux cored stuff, I get it off the bay in batches of 10. Good price when bought like that. Avoid the 4.5kg reels
unless you have loads of welding to do in a short space of time, the 0.9kg ones last a fair time, plus they are unlikely to go rusty (game over
then)
Buy plenty of tips. A wire brush in a grinder and flapwheels are your friends. And if doing "spotwelds" get a metal punch/joddler. Saves a
huge amount of time and effort drilling all those holes.
I'd go with practising with a decent machine before you condemn your efforts with the Kende piece of crap. It is one case where a bad workman blames his tools does not apply, if your welder is crap you will not get a good result.
Learning on gasless is harder, the welds wont look so "neat".
I would learn with 0.8m mild steel wire and gas!
The best thing you can get if you dont have one is an auto darkening mask..they are pretty cheap these days, you will be able to see what you are
doing, getting the weld started at the right angle is the hardest part.
Start with the thinner of the wires, gives a little more time and you can run things a little hotter. I started a few months ago, would not call
myself a welder yet. but it opens up a whole different way of looking at things.
Example where in the past you would have put a whole and bolt, you might weld on a tab.
As above, get a whole load of scrap to work on, including some lengths of steel that will be the same spec as what you're intending to work on.
Start with butt welds first, then go on to angles etc. I got an auto darkening mask off Ebay for <£30, it's worked fine and is so much easier
than a flip down mask. Don't forget the welding gloves as well, things get seriously hot really quick, and sunburn is not pleasurable at any
time.
For the welding itself, there's a fair few video's on that mig-welding link, plus many more on youtube. The one tip I picked up early on was
listen to the weld. If it sounds like frying bacon (a constant clean sizzle) then your wire speed and power are spot on. If it fits and spurts then
something is wrong.
All good advice, and I think I've bumped into most of those pitfalls.
I also invested in a pair of nomex cooking gloves from lakeland plastic. Don't know if they still make them but they're fantastic for
handling hot work.
I moved over to tig, and felt like i'd found my home. I also moved over to tig about the same time I found the mig-welding.co.uk forum, so i
think better education had more to do with it.
All great advice, I feel like a pro already.
Wow didn't realise auto darkening helmets had got so cheap, just bought one! Cheers for the heads up
It really is the way to go. Makes a tremendous difference to the quality of start you get, and it removes all temptation to do the wrong thing.
Furthermore, closing your eyes tight isn't necessarily enough to avoid arc-eye.
Make sure you wear gloves. Wont want the spatters going on your arms. Very sore.
quote:
Originally posted by nickharding
Make sure you wear gloves. Wont want the spatters going on your arms. Very sore.
quote:
Originally posted by nickharding
Make sure you wear gloves. Wont want the spatters going on your arms. Very sore.
quote:
Originally posted by DIY SiI have to say that I rarely wears gloves when working on cars as I find they restrict my movement on the gun. And if you're doing it right, there shouldn't be that much splatter.
You need gloves. Don't forget the huge amounts of UV the weld kicks out. it's not good for your skin. If feeling matters, get a good set of
tig gloves - mine are calf-skin and there's very little sensation I don't get. ahem.
When I'm doing thin plate (say at 30A) I have to dial up the lightness on the mask and there's very little peripheral sensation of light.
However, if I've got the current right up (say at 80A), I can sense the uv flash around the sides of the mask, the garage lights up and I can
feel the heat through the gloves and my sleeves.
So, wear gloves, avoid the uv and all the long-term issues that come with it.
I would never recomend gasless welding.
The gas helps form the weld, keep it clean and makes life easier.
If you need assistance im just outside hinckley in leicestershire, and I can give you some hints and tips.
Regards
Steve
From my own experiences:
1) Welding without gloves and sleeves is a BIG mistake. I don't sunburn easily and the last time I did a sill replacement I did it glove and
sleeveless on one hand, that arm ended up red and the fingers of the ungloved hand were sore they were that burned. Spatter never seems to be an issue
with me until it falls into a glove, but I'd risk that over UV burn and cancer any day.
2) Gasless - never used it but Ive seen a few who have experience of both and all of them inform me it's very hard to get a good finish, better
for welding gates than cars.
3) Metal can never be too clean for welding.
4) You need a good quality welder with sufficient adjustment, many larger welders won't go <40A which can be difficult when welding 0.7mm
sheet, but small ones often sacrifice on quality and make getting a neat weld very tough.
[Edited on 2/6/12 by coyoteboy]
CoyoteBoy
Everything you say is totally true.
I clean everything, even if it's fresh sheet that's just been cut - the odds are very high there will still be some surface scale on the
metal. I clean it with a cup brush, then scrub it down with acetone to be sure any residue is removed. Acetone is great because it evaporates really
quickly and leaves nothing behind.
It's ruiniously expensive if bought from a chemist, but it only costs £5 per litre from a hairdressers wholesalers.
Managed to get on the garage today to give it a go. Been so busy at work this year, Ive hardly touched the car.
First picture
Its only a Kenda welder, and I know you will get at me about it being crap, but it should do for what I want it for.
Its got two switches, one for wire speed, and one for high and low power.
The bottom weld was first, its 3mm steel by the way. Set at high with medium speed on the wire.
Second from top was set at low power.
The other two, I just altered the wire speed slightly while on high power.
Then I had a quick go with 1mm steel.
I tried all the settings and adjusted my gun movement speed.
Is it the wire thickness that caused holes or is it just the settings that causes the holes.
I know the welds aren't straight, but that's because I was kneeling on the floor while welding to close to me.
While welding, it is suggested to keep the gun 10mm (3/8 inch old money) from the work. Do you trim the wire 10mm long from the gun, or trim it
against the gun, then hold the gun 10mm from the work and then pull the trigger.
Comments, advice, calling it a pile of crap is all welcome.
I will practise some more tomorrow, hopefully they will be straighter.
Brad.
10mm of wire hanging out, then remain about 10mm from work.
Try acctually welding 2 peices of metal too!!
second picture looks good - nice penetration.
you have to spend time here: http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/index.php
The guy that set the forum up has done plenty of instructional videos. They're also quite a welcoming bunch.
Dont forget a bucket of water, and a fire extinguisher. If you burn yourself, the cold water will help reduce the burn damage by removing some of the
heat.
Then remember to check the garage about 20-30 mins after you stop welding.
ie check for fires. They tend to start small and get bigger.
Cover up ALL exposed skin, you will get anything from mild to severe sun burn.
My Garage tee Shirt gets trashed quite often, as holes in it tend to give me freckles on my chest!
Its not a good idea to use a welder to get a sun tan!
Poorly fitting clothes have give me sunburn of the neck / top chest, and a 3" round bit on my Tum, due to large holes.
Learn by other peoples mistakes NOT your own!
Although I'm fortunate to have a big welder, I only ever leave about 5mm of wire sticking out of the gun when welding flat bits. The more you
leave sticking out, the more it can wander and that makes life much harder. And the cheaper welders that I've used in the past have made this
worse.
The other thing is to try and get your mask as close as possible to the weld. If you can't see what the weld pool is doing, you stand little
chance of knowing how to correct things. But don't get so close the splatter messes the screen up!
I've not welded since my apprentoid course,mbut when a friend did some work on kermit a couple of years back, he brought a huge thick fireproof blanket to cover up bits of the car not being welded to stop splatter damage anywhere else.
I bought some welding sleeves as well (from weldequip). means I can work in a t-shirt and when i need to weld (because it is an addictive habit) then
I know my arms are protected.
Many years ago with my first mig, my 10 year old son came in the garage while I was welding and asked for a go....
Stuck an old top on him, gloves and my mask. Talked him through what was needed, and set him away with some scrap.
I didnt have a spare mask, so just held a spare mask glass to my face (yep) while he splattered weld everywhere, after half an hour he lost interest
and went in the house.
For a few days after, I had a perfect mask size glass outline with a nice red face. I still weld wearing a t shirt, keeps my freckles topped up
Heh, once in the early days I was welding some tiny brackets, didn't know better and got up close with some goggles rather than a full mask.
I looked like rudolf for a week.