my welds (still a newbie)
 

hi guys i have been on here for a long while but dont talk very much i have been doing some research on here and listening to your comments and have been doing practice welds... i got my mig from sear's and have been practicing but need your advice... i keep burning holes sometimes and i think i just cant get control of my hand speed... i know the pics are blurry im sorry but i couldnt tell on the camera because the light outside...

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...472_9_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...472_4_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...472_6_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...472_5_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...472_2_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...472_8_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...72_10_full.jpg

Thanks guys for looking but i need some advice so feedback is vital to me...

Re: my welds (still a newbie)
 

get a better camera. i can see a hole that is due to you moving too slowly but thats all i can really see. sorry i couldnt help more.

Re: my welds (still a newbie)
 

Re: my welds (still a newbie)
 

Those welds are looking like they have some oxygen getting in there. You using flux core wire? or solid wire? (cause i don't see a bottle anywhere)

Re: my welds (still a newbie)
 

That's flux X 1000. Practice is going to make the biggest improvement.
To me, flux core is hard to balance when doing thin wall pipe like most exhausts. I always found (using a cheap HR high/low wire feed welder) you either try to make a pretty weld without much buildup on high & risk blowing holes in it, or you cut the voltage back & deal with it looking especially nasty & possibly not penitrating some pipe.
I always choose high as long as you're not bridging a gap. You have to stay moving tho...

Cut your voltage back a hair & push the weld away from you. Try one, or two more welds like that & see if that feels alot more consistant for you. That or stay where you are & weld faster (What can you say).



It's not the lighting. You're out of focis. That cam should have a Marco mode. You need to be in that to take pictures within 2-3 feet of the lens & you're under a foot away it looks like. Set it to Macro focis & back off a foot.

Re: my welds (still a newbie)
 

cool i'll try everything you guys say... i am using Flux Core and i do have a Gas hook up but no tank... the brown on the pipe is from me dumping the pipe into water when i was done... these are just practice mild steel pipe so im not worried about them rusting... i was told from my friends dad that when working with Flux core if you reverse the polarity sometimes the fluxcore is better than the other polarity??? if anyone has tried this let me know... and thanks for the help guy's..

Re: my welds (still a newbie)
 

yeah flux sucks. low heat it doesnt penetrate. High heat blows holes through. theres no median :(. So what i did was set it on high and had the wire speed set at 5 and moved pretty fast. came out okay :P its still flux so what do you have to do? paint it :y

Re: my welds (still a newbie)
 

The brown aint from dumping it in water. I do that sometimes if I'm in a hurry & need something cooled off quickly. Mild steel will rust either way, so you're not hurting it. Use a wire brush to clean it up.
On mine I use high heat & get the joints as good as possible. A wire speed of about 4 & keep moving. Listen to the weld. If it were a good welder, you'd hear it be a lot more consistant than "bacon frying". Unfortunately, most cheap welders can't adjust down that fine, so by the time you get a perfect wire feed. You're blowing holes left & right.

With a little practice you can do a pipe without burning through. Maybe once, or twice, but a quick tack will fill any small hole. The real trick is knowing when you're about to burn through & stop. If you leave a tiny hole, it's no big deal. You can fill that without it even showing.
The other trick is knowing when to try to fill a hole & when not too. For a large hole you just need to keep going. Otherwise you'll continue to burn metal & make it larger. Go back to it later.

Re: my welds (still a newbie)
 

what heat do you think i should try see i can only select A B C and D for my heat and anything over B just burns this thin pipe... i have kinda tried the pushing teqniqe but i am more sucsesfull with the pulling the weld...

Re: my welds (still a newbie)
 

I have the same exact welder. I tend to throw the heat up to C when I weld piping. If you keep the wire feed low, you'll just end up burning through the pipe, so turn up the wire feed. This will get you some nice fat welds with good penetration. I try to push the welds, and avoid having the gun perpendicular to the welding surface, since that is when it is the hottest (highest chance to blow through).