critque these welds please

[monza]

Trey

I'm no pro welder, your welds are looking better for sure. Just a idea to toss at you... get some similar gauge scraps and practice on those before you go at it on the car. When ever I weld something I want to look 'pretty' I try and set up the same scenario and try and dial in welder and the technique before the real piece. Other non 'pretty welds' have at it.....

[WS6]

Trey, hope you don't take this the wrong way, just trying to be of some help to ya. The second set of pics does look better, but the spatter is a result of one of two things...either too much WFS for the voltage, or too much stick out. To balance out the WFS /voltage gradually increase the voltage until the weld sounds more like a hiss rather than a popping or crackeling...if it's too hot then decrease the WFS until you get that hissing sound again. The crackeling or popping sound is the wire jamming into the molten pool way too quickly to melt off properly, thus causing the spatter to fly all over. If the wire burns back up in the tip, then increase the WFS but not so much that the spatter returns. The spatter should be almost non-existant or really fine and can be brushed off with a wire brush very easily.

Oh and another thing, to tie in one stitch weld into the next, you want to let your puddle thin out some at the end of your first stitch weld(don't fill in the crater), then when you run the next one to it and tie in, you start your next weld in that crater where you left low(thin) and it all ends up being the same height and nobody can tell where you stopped or started, it all looks consistant and seamless.

Excellent info John. I'll be sure to keep this in mind. I was thinking that the splatter was mainly from the weld through primer I was using. It seemed that I would get more splatter when I had that stuff on the metal than not. This was my first time ever using the primer. Then again, it could have been settings as you have mentioned. Admittedly, I'm almost winging it on the settings. I've figured out how to tell when I need more heat and I've used the table on the inside of the machine's flap as a guide. I know when I have too much as well but I also try to pull the wand away if I think I can't go lower on the heat but am putting too much into that particular part. Seems to work but am I wrong in doing this?

I'll be sure to get better at stitching too.

Oh and don't worry about the thread jack. Tell Ed to get moving. I need a set of his C5 brake brackets for the rear. I know he's busy though. I'm just anxious. I've got a call into him now actually.

[WS6]

Trey

I'm no pro welder, your welds are looking better for sure. Just a idea to toss at you... get some similar gauge scraps and practice on those before you go at it on the car. When ever I weld something I want to look 'pretty' I try and set up the same scenario and try and dial in welder and the technique before the real piece. Other non 'pretty welds' have at it.....

Thanks Dave. I didn't consider any of these to be pretty welds so I just went at it. I'll definitely do that when I try to step up to pretty welds. There are times when I like to see raw welds instead of everything ground down and smoothed away. This was definitely not one of them, lol. I knew I wasn't capable of pretty welds yet.

[WS6]

Good info here. I have a mig welder and I see that you have tiny beads. Are you using smaller wire? Also, I have a place to hook up a bottle on the back of my welder, what should I buy for it? I know that will help out a lot. I never used it and want to try it out.

Call the local welding shop that you'll have to get the gas from. I've never heard of a welding place not taking the time to educate and inform their customers. If you are unlucky enough to find one, you've also found a place that should never get your money. Just tell the place you are new to all of this and they'll help you.

[John Wright]

Excellent info John. I'll be sure to keep this in mind. I was thinking that the splatter was mainly from the weld through primer I was using. It seemed that I would get more splatter when I had that stuff on the metal than not. This was my first time ever using the primer. Then again, it could have been settings as you have mentioned. Admittedly, I'm almost winging it on the settings. I've figured out how to tell when I need more heat and I've used the table on the inside of the machine's flap as a guide. I know when I have too much as well but I also try to pull the wand away if I think I can't go lower on the heat but am putting too much into that particular part. Seems to work but am I wrong in doing this?

I'll be sure to get better at stitching too.

Oh and don't worry about the thread jack. Tell Ed to get moving. I need a set of his C5 brake brackets for the rear. I know he's busy though. I'm just anxious. I've got a call into him now actually.

LOL, funny we mention Ed...he PM'd me on another forum and told me he has them ready, so jumped and ordered his C5 ebrake backing plates and cables yesterday. I already had the rest of the C5 rear brake stuff on the car and working.

About the spatter because of the primer. Reason for that is that the wire is feeding too fast for the puddle in that case because of the primer....facts still are that the wire is pushing into the molten puddle too fast and causes the spatter.

Too long of an electrical stick out can cause the same thing even though your settings are correct. That small dia wire only needs about 1/2 - 3/4" of stick out(ESO=electrical stick out, measured from the end of contact tip to the work). Keep that ESO distance constant or it's like changing your settings and it will confuse you when you are trying to get your welder set.

Be conscience of maintaining the same travel angle, when you go from pulling to pushing on your travel angle, it changes your settings so that can also confuse the situation of getting the welder set.

Be conscience of the arc length, watch it and you'll see that increasing the voltage or decreasing the WFS will lengthen the arc length, and decreasing the voltage or increasing the WFS will shorten the arc length. If the arc length gets too long, it will burn back into the tip, if the arc length gets too short you will get huge amounts of spatter and lack of fusion.

I know it sounds like alot is going on and to keep up with but with GMAW or FCAW, you only have two knobs to set. Apply the KISS method....LOL

[WS6]

Thanks John. I like having the back ground info that helps me learn why things work the way they do instead of just how to make it work.

Ed PM'd me on nastyz as well. Just waiting for him to get back to me on where he wants the money order sent to. I'll bend my own lines and unless he has a better setup, I'll just use Lokar for the ebrake cables.