Commander Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 (edited) I bought a Clarke 90 gasless mig welder a few years ago and aside from welding up a trolley for it from 3.5mm angle iron, I've not used it. I've got aspirations of fixing up an old car of some type (it's early days!) so figure I should sort my welding skills out... Here's my very first effort on some 0.5mm steel that I cut up and tried to weld back together. Blew through it a few times, some I was able to fix, others I made worse! :-) I know butt joints like this aren't the easiest place to start, but if anybody has any tips I'll gladly take them! Edited July 6, 2015 by Commander Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZMANALEX Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Keep practising and go on a college evening course Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98duffa Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Very Slow slight wiggles, if its glowing move along 👠Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth29 Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 That doesnt look bad. The best tip I picked up was to reduce the risk of blowing thru like that was to lean the welding tip in the direction youre going 45 deg or so - the opposite of what my old man told me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
san marino blue Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Hello, i am a maintenance engineer and do loads of welding, MIG, TIG ,ARC and once in a blue moon gas. Are you definitely using gasless mig wire? Looks like a gas mig with no gas on that's all. As gasless MIIGs rely on flux in the wire to keep out the oxygen, rather than a separate gas shroud,used in gas MIGs, it maybe that you have the wrong wire. With thin stuff like car body work, you want very low amps, and try spot tacking and fill in between to minimise distortion. If your welder will take gas as well, it's better to use gas, an Argon/CO2 mix is best such as Cougar 5 It is better at keeping out the oxygen and also cools the weld Setting the MIG is 60% of the battle, 20% practise, 20% ability If you know someone who can weld ask them to come and show you a few things Other than that, College is a great idea, good old You tube for tips As already said slight weave, weld away from yourself as you can see where you are going, a decent mask also helps especially as you get a bit older and your eyesight aint what it used to be! Rust is an insulator so clean as much off before you start. It'll burn off, but can be hard to strike Well ventilated area as there are some nasty things in stainless and galvanised coatings especially. Galv also spits like hell Cover your arms and don't wear a v neck t shirt because you'll get terrible sun burn on exposed skin and V neck T shirts are for girls, not blokes! I tend to hold the end of a nod down mask as I was brought up on hand helds and it steadies my hand, but whatever feels comfortable I have a guy who works for me uses both hands on the torch, works for him I also like plenty of background light Practise with different wire feeds and currents and metal thicknesses, the more practise the better you'll get, it's not rocket science, just touchy feely The thinner the metal the quicker you need to move the torch as well Start on thick stuff and work your way down as you get the hang of it After a few weeks you'll be welding Kit Kat wrappers back together! Once you can join two bits of soggy bog paper upside down, you've cracked it Ideally you want to blend the two pieces of metal together, the wire should just replace the vaporised metal, not stick it together You want good penetration (Don't we all), so you want to see the weld just coming through the back If you can get the pieces flat or an inverted V, that makes things easier, up welding and upside down welding is much harder. Keep your tips clean(Oooooh Matron) and replace regularly, the right size for your wire. Keep your wire dry and rust free too if it's kept in a shed or garage There are some good cheap MIGs out there now, there's no reason why you can't get some ok results at home As with most things the more bucks you have the better the bit of kit you'll get 500 notes buys an alright TIG for home use or a great MIG. TIGS are the boys on body work, but a cheap MIG is an ok start and you will be able to get it to work for you Forget ally welding, you'll get nowhere with a cheap MIG and that stuff 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leonk Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Excellent advice. You've started with thin stuff which is much harder. Get a few bits of 2mm to practice on to build your confidence up. Get the best mask you can. Seeing what you are doing is half the battle. A proper pair of welding gloves. Practice and know what is going wrong. Not enough penetration, wire speeds, bad earth, etc. More importantly and stating the obvious, always check nothing is smouldering away. ready to catch fire when you pack up and go back in the house! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsexr Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Great advice above from san marino looks like he`s covered it all. Defo get an auto darkening welding mask it will make all the difference. Got a 135 mig and it gets me out of trouble. Its one of those bits of kit that you might not use a lot but so handy when you need it. Would`nt be without one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 Cheers chaps, plenty to be going at here! Keep practising and go on a college evening course I have already looked in to this and there aren't any not unless I have 6 weeks spare and want to learn to stick weld an oil rig or something daft... Hello, i am a maintenance engineer and do loads of welding, MIG, TIG ,ARC and once in a blue moon gas. Are you definitely using gasless mig wire? Looks like a gas mig with no gas on that's all. As gasless MIIGs rely on flux in the wire to keep out the oxygen, rather than a separate gas shroud,used in gas MIGs, it maybe that you have the wrong wire. With thin stuff like car body work, you want very low amps, and try spot tacking and fill in between to minimise distortion. If your welder will take gas as well, it's better to use gas, an Argon/CO2 mix is best such as Cougar 5 It is better at keeping out the oxygen and also cools the weld Setting the MIG is 60% of the battle, 20% practise, 20% ability If you know someone who can weld ask them to come and show you a few things Other than that, College is a great idea, good old You tube for tips As already said slight weave, weld away from yourself as you can see where you are going, a decent mask also helps especially as you get a bit older and your eyesight aint what it used to be! Rust is an insulator so clean as much off before you start. It'll burn off, but can be hard to strike Well ventilated area as there are some nasty things in stainless and galvanised coatings especially. Galv also spits like hell Cover your arms and don't wear a v neck t shirt because you'll get terrible sun burn on exposed skin and V neck T shirts are for girls, not blokes! I tend to hold the end of a nod down mask as I was brought up on hand helds and it steadies my hand, but whatever feels comfortable I have a guy who works for me uses both hands on the torch, works for him I also like plenty of background light Practise with different wire feeds and currents and metal thicknesses, the more practise the better you'll get, it's not rocket science, just touchy feely The thinner the metal the quicker you need to move the torch as well Start on thick stuff and work your way down as you get the hang of it After a few weeks you'll be welding Kit Kat wrappers back together! Once you can join two bits of soggy bog paper upside down, you've cracked it Ideally you want to blend the two pieces of metal together, the wire should just replace the vaporised metal, not stick it together You want good penetration (Don't we all), so you want to see the weld just coming through the back If you can get the pieces flat or an inverted V, that makes things easier, up welding and upside down welding is much harder. Keep your tips clean(Oooooh Matron) and replace regularly, the right size for your wire. Keep your wire dry and rust free too if it's kept in a shed or garage There are some good cheap MIGs out there now, there's no reason why you can't get some ok results at home As with most things the more bucks you have the better the bit of kit you'll get 500 notes buys an alright TIG for home use or a great MIG. TIGS are the boys on body work, but a cheap MIG is an ok start and you will be able to get it to work for you Forget ally welding, you'll get nowhere with a cheap MIG and that stuff I'm using some SIP Flux Cored 0.8mm wire I picked up from Halfords and with the polarity reversed on my MIG for gasless welding. The welder will take gas, but I'm too tight to buy some - especially as those little disposable bottles seem quite expensive and the last one I had was spent in about a minute... Maybe I need a better regulator or something - any idea what sort of gas flow rate, pressure it's supposed to use? :-/ I've got some plain 0.8mm mild steel wire too, but it just seems to make big mounds on top of the metal rather than penetrating in to it so I've set that aside to practise on another time. For these thin bits I'm running it at really low-power and slow feed rates. I was playing around with the settings to see what's what (cos I really do have no experience!) and it seems pretty sensitive really - fiddle around too much and all sorts of stuff goes wrong - loads of splatter, arc seems to go on/off really fast, blow through, weld piles up on top, etc... I guess it's just experience, so hopefully I'll get there with more practise time... plenty of scrap metal in my garage to be going at! That bit of welding above was done horizontally and vertically - fancied a challenge horizontal welding was certainly the easier of the two. I've got an autodimming mask which seems ok and I use both hands on the handle of the welder - seems more stable to me. Welding Kit kat wrappers? You're showing your age - they're plastic these days! I'm not getting in to Ally welding with the MIG, just steel for now... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZMANALEX Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 There are 6 week part time welding courses available across UK colleges. Where is your nearest college? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 Abingdon / Reading / Oxford.. maybe i'm looking in the wrong places, but nothing's jumped out at me yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
350zroadsterGT Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 I was lucky enough for work to allow me to do a day release course for two years, tig is deffo best for thin plate work and keeps the warping down, if using a mig I do spot tacking, first to get the panel fixed in place, then every 1 to 2 inches, then fill in the short gaps, alternating around the panel to allow the last section to cool down, it keeps the heat in localised patches and minimises warping. I don't like gaseless wire but to get around the small and pricey CO2 bottle costs, try asking a friendly landlord for a pub CO2 bottle and regulator, you will then need to add some plastic pipe and rig up an adapter to your machines gas regulator, but the bottle will last for months even when used daily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliveBoy Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 BOC will rent you a large bottle of CO2 for around £8 a month I believe, refill charge isn't much either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 BOC will rent you a large bottle of CO2 for around £8 a month I believe, refill charge isn't much either. Don't even need to rent on a contract now I used to do that but now you pay a deposit on a bottle keep it as long as you want, get it refilled when you want and they give you the deposit back when you return the bottle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 BOC will rent you a large bottle of CO2 for around £8 a month I believe, refill charge isn't much either. Don't even need to rent on a contract now I used to do that but now you pay a deposit on a bottle keep it as long as you want, get it refilled when you want and they give you the deposit back when you return the bottle Sweet! URL? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 BOC will rent you a large bottle of CO2 for around £8 a month I believe, refill charge isn't much either. Don't even need to rent on a contract now I used to do that but now you pay a deposit on a bottle keep it as long as you want, get it refilled when you want and they give you the deposit back when you return the bottle Sweet! URL? Forget that - found a BOC outlet down the road from me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabbitstew Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Ive got both a mig gas welder & an arc welder, but never really had to use my mig much until last year when I decided to start repairing my project car. It involved bodywork - replacing sills etc, patching things up. I was using 0.6mm steel sheets. I taught myself easily enough just by watching a few youtube videos and practising on some new clean metal. As others have said, a lot of the problem is setting the welder up right. Mine has some example settings in the manual which werent far off and it was just a case of practising a few times in order to get the hang of what speed I needed to move the wire and in which direction. Once you start welding on an actual car its a completely different kettle of fish as 9 times out of 10 you may struggle to get a clean surface to weld on, or be hanging upside down under the car. Besides the actual welding, make sure you wear gauntlets and if you dont wear a long sleeve top you`ll end up with a lovely welding tan. (as I found out ) After welding half my project car up im getting quite good at it now, and even managed to sort the old lawn mower out which broke in half after some "enthusiastic" grass cutting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliveBoy Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 even managed to sort the old lawn mower out which broke in half after some "enthusiastic" grass cutting. pics, and more details please 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.