It is indeed! in all honesty, i think that 90% of the birdshit welds and grape cluster beads that come out of a flux welder is the fault of the nature of the wire. when i got my Hobart gas rig, i was freekin AMAZED at how clean the welds were and how decent my ability realy was... see above cause i thought the shitty welds were my fault. now ya need to get that welder offa the floor. build yerself a good cart, thats another good practis project
Ok, so ive done some test panels here. I figured Ill try a bunch of these and find out what works best for me.
well, I got the steel today and put this together tonight. I have room for the tank in the back, itll stand on the grate. I hope to get that this weekend or monday. Ill weld on a chain & hook later for holding the tank, as well as bolt on some nice locking casters to the bottom.
Simply put, the wire is your problem. all of the test sheets you showed look pretty good, but lose the "lace weld" on the bottoms. Unless you are looking to start welding drill stem together, it is pretty usless on anything automotive. I have managed to teach most of my miscreant employees how to weld in about a week.just keep with it and get rid of the flux. ( the nature of flux core is for situations where wind or location is a problem. ) The secret is GAS. you can run a smaller diameter wire (.23 is my favorite) and stick with an inexpensive "mixed gas" you can get a 75% argon mix for cheap, or a tri gas if you are REALLY broke. the better the gas, the cleaner the weld. with gas, you can run hotter and faster than with flux, have alot less slag to clean, get better penetration, and lastly, you wont burn your bollocks nearly as bad. one last thing, when you do convert, get a tub of "anti spatter tip dip" you will spen alot less time cleaning out the nozzle on your torch.
Thanks for those tips. im going to get the bottle monday and start running it. I cant wait from what ive heard from everyone about it versus this flux im running currently.
day and night difference. and its nice that for some reason, the machine dosen't seem to run as hard to get a nice deep bead. seriously. we use a miller 135xlt for 99.0 percent of the welding work around here. keep building stuff and you will be an ace in no time. next big purchace, a bad ass bandsaw!
tell me all about it! haha. Im over here hunched over a piece with a hacksaw, holding it down with my foot!
and after that, bring on the gas axe! Or as Outlaw says, My favorite toy. My life has two chapters, "Life before oxyacetelene" and "DAMN THIS THING IS FUN!!!!". No more gently coercing that rusty ass bolt to come out, HEAT IT TO 800 DEGREES, SPRAY IT WITH DUBYA DEE AND LET 'ER RIP!!! worst case scenario is now a hot broken bolt instead of just a broken one. AND YOU CAN USE THE TORCH TO GET THE REST OUT ANYWAY! Seriously. Torches kick ass. buy a smith. (not a victor) all smiles from there on.
Let me start off by saying I am NOT a pro, but my welds look decent enough to not grind and I insure I get good penetration. Flux Core is messy stuff and difficult to get a clean weld. Buttttt, you DO need to learn to use it for when you run out of gas on sunday evening at 5:01pm when local Atwoods closed at 5:00pm. Itll happen, trust me! For the flux core wire, Id crank the heat up and wire speed too. For as thick of metal you show in the pictures and your only putting little dingle-berries on top of the metal, crank that heat up and wire speed too to keep the flux core wire feeding. I also like to lean the tip more when using flux core wire to push the weld into self..... if that makes sense.
try hotter settigs then adjust down ,miggs love clean metal . again check source of power , that your getting good voltages from your wall socket
I got the bottle, and after tinkering with it..... were you guys right... what a dreamer! i actally DID say to myself, "What the hell was I doing trying to learn with flux for?!" haha Its nice not having the shop filled with smoke, doors open and fans on high so i can stay concious. haha Heres the stand all built minus wheels i still plan on installing. and heres two square stock tubes I ran lines on to test both the gas and settings. thanks for everyones help to get me this far.
Lookin better now that you got gas. Keep practicing. Probably take some soapstone and a straight edge and mark the metal, and try following a straight line and get a uniform weld. Basically with a mig you want as flat of weld as you can get with good penetration. Your best bet is to take 2 pieces of metal, and do this with a few different thickness', and try some butt welds. Then look at what kind of penetration you are getting. If you got questions about welding too, (not saying you're getting bad advice on here or anything) but you could try www.shopfloortalk.com
That's what the welding instructor told me too, that and wiggle the tip back and forth across the gap, it'll pull a little more of the material into the weld and help level it off.
been practicing, but Ive outgrown the little table I built to just get me off the floor. I drew the plans for this table at the beginning of the week. took only 2 hours last night to build it, and cost less than 100 bucks in materials. Im going to put a 14 ga 4X8 sheet of steel on top real soon. Then mount the heavy vice and the dual grinder and hang another shop light over the table and Ill be set!
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