Welding advice

[CaptainCrash1971]

Hi Folks, some feedback please
I bought a Clarke welder 2nd hand off ebay a few months ago, but have only just gotten round to having a play.
I've got it set up with 0.8mm wire, new wire guide, disposable CO2 bottle (until something better comes along), and used some 1.5mm thick 25mm square box section to practice on.
After a couple hours messing around, I got the following welds

1.jpg
I cut the box section open to show the reverse off the welds.

2.jpg

I then used the settings from the 2 welds on the left to weld two pieces of box section together. The result was rather messy, but seems very solid (have done hammer test). The only problem is, when I cut it open, there doesn't seem to be any penetration on the other side, just some discolouration. Is this OK, or should there be some weld penetrating?
Anyway, three of the welds are shown below
3.jpg
4.jpg
5.jpg
Any help/feedback would be appreciated. Will hopefully be able to get back in garage tomorrow and practice with whatever advice I get.

[CaptainCrash1971]

Also, would it be better to get some sheet steel to practice on, or is the box section OK?

[Oily]

What settings have you got the welder set to,wire feed/amp etc?What does it sound like whilst welding?

[CaptainCrash1971]

Hi Oily
it's a Clarke 135te, set on 2 and min with wire speed at around 4-5.
Sounded a bit like it should I think, hard to say really.
Of course the only other variable is me, and lack of any skill whatsoever

[shh120m]

hi there

I use a clarke 135, its not the beefiest welder in the world but its more than capable for the haynes chassis. im not an expert by any means but i hope this helps

on 1.5mm i use it on 1 max to avoid over penetration and blowing through. Im not an expert by any means but i think your photos show a little over penetration( could someone verify this). With 1 max i tend to set the wire feed at somewhere between 7 and eight. 1 max also alows you to get good penetration while being able to take your time to drag the weld pool and get a nice pattern going.

On 2mm box i find the best setting to be 2 min at about 9 wire speed.
on 3mm plate or higher i tend to max it out and get the wire feed right up to 10, but you have to get that torch moving at a fair lick.

I hope this helps, the best thing to do is to keep practicing and eventually youll stumble on the perfect setting and youll know by the perfect "bacon" cooking noise and the look of oyur weld. A quick note- the small regulator on my 135 is crap and i find that the only way to get enough co2 to shield the weld is to have it set on full blast.

Heres a pic of what my little 135 can do, its not perfect by any means but its a good strong weld and looks ok, my welds were no where near this standard when i started my build.



Hope this helps

ps, its always easier to weld on sheet than to weld box section together, however you will have to weld loads of box on your chassis so i gues your better off practicing on box section

nathan

[Trif]

As an inexperienced welder I started off the same way. My welder is also the clarke 135 and as said above, you need to try feeds and power settings to see which works the best. The thing I found was having a well supported steady hand, I tend to try to rest/support my hands so that I have more control over the distance to the weld and the weld pool.
The disposable bottle last for no time at all. I ended up chatting my local landlord into selling me a CO2 bottle from his cellar. He let me have it for the cost of a refill (£14) on the proviso that I returned it when it was empty, I welded my chassis, my mates chassis, side steps for my landie, a full length roofrack for the same and I'm still using it. You just need to buy a regulator (got mine from machinemart. Hope you find some of this ramble useful.

[MikeB]

looks like a little over penatration to me, No expert but the discolouration is the heat effected zone which should go 10-20mm around the weld, on you test welds most of them show too much penetration the last two seem about right.

When doing a weld with two bits at 90deg (butt weld) i use a very slight left to right motion whilst dragging the weld pool along. This helps with a low amp welder.

On the really thick stuff, diff mount brackets working vertically top to bottom I was taught to use a V shape motion working down.

As others have said keeping a steady hand by supporting your arm on something helps to get a consistent weld, and I've found getting as close as possible so you can see the weld pool and the line/gap you moving along is key. The amount of welds that I have done that were perfect but go off course!!

I use 2 max for tacking and mostly 2 min for welding, mines a boc migmaster so wire speed is completely different I've never keep up with a setting on 9!!

[CaptainCrash1971]

Cheers for the replies guys. I've not had chance to practice much today. Luckily I only have things like headlamp brackets to weld on my chassis, (I bought the almost complete chassis from someone else)
It's just another skill I'd like to have to help me with my build.

[shh120m]

iv found welding to be a bit of a "dark art", no matter how many people tell you how and what to do, it really is one of those things that you have to teach your self by practice, practice and more practice. Just keep going mate and before you know it you'll have it mastered.

nathan

[HandyAndy]

Captain Crash....I have a spare 3ft gas bottle if you want to borrow (long term), its only for CO2, but I can get them refilled for £7 a bottle, let me know if it,d help, those little cannisters run out far too quickly, usually in the middle of a weld that you want to get finished

also have plenty of clean scrap sheet steel if you want to have a practice on sheet etc.

cheers
andy