I finally hauled my 85lb welder out to the garage to test it, after fixing it months ago, to prepare to bring my Fiero back from the dead, by replacing the upper frame rails, reattaching the strut tower to the lower rail, and welding the part of the space frame that the right front of the cradle bolts to back on. Oh and new trunk corners. Yeah that's all it needs.

SO, I finally suited up and after reading a few books and watching a few hours of online videos, I came up with THIS:



Using the recommended settings on the sticker inside the welder door, for 14 gauge steel, 0.030 flux core wire, after cleaning the slag off with a wire wheel.

I cut off a piece of the square tubing I found to practice with. I cut the first 9 degree angle from the blueprint with a dremel, because my grinder with a cutting wheel cut too fast, too unpredictably.

The second weld:



cosmetically a little better. As far as penetration:



The back has some heat discoloration, but you can still plainly see the cutting line. I'm thinking I'll have to grind the weld flush to the tube to see how well it did?

Still VERY excited!

[This message has been edited by RWDPLZ (edited 12-09-2011).]

That's pretty good for a second weld and using flux core wire. I hate the splatter from flux core and went with shielding gas. Knocks splatter down nicely. Good luck with the frame repair.

Not bad at all. I have seen alot worse. Welding is one of those skills/arts that will get better with time and practice. Your doing just fine. Good job!

Those are good first and second welds, but penetration is more important than cosmetic appearance.

I tend to weld 1 heat setting higher and 1 wire speed setting slower than recommended to ensure proper penetration and melting of the weld pool (makes it look better!).

Also on anything thicker than 16ga, you can bevel the edge to help ensure you melt the inside material.

Attaching the new frame rails to the stock fiero sheet metal is going to be a challenge with the flux core wire. Might want to go ahead an bite the bullet for the gas conversion. For the lighter weight stuff, you will want to pulse weld - weld for 1 second, cool for 2 seconds, weld for 1, cool for 2.

[This message has been edited by fieroguru (edited 12-10-2011).]

Get on youtube and start watching

Also, on thinner stuff, remember that is you play with angles, the material can be thicker than if you were to weld it 90deg from surface(hope I explained that so it makes sense). Go from thick to thin and be quicker on the thin. Sanding discs make it all look new

Tip: When but welding like that if you can get a stronger by grinding the edges at an angle. Basically to make V for you fill,

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trueleo.com
RSpiderII@aol.com

Assuming that it is 110v welder, I would turn the heat up to full power on the size material you have in the picture. Bevel the edges with a grinder first for better penetration. Also, keep your arc movement in a "C" pattern. Think of it like making a bunch of continuous Cs across the gap you are welding. Will look like nice stacked dimes when you are done CCCCCCCCCCCC Hope that makes sense.

I'm not sure what the frame rails on these cars are like, but I would expect sheet metal, or at least thinner material than what you have practiced on. Get some thinner stuff and try that. Purposely burn through a few times so you know what to expect when that happens, and when you can expect it.

Otherwise, not bad for first time out!

[This message has been edited by brownc00 (edited 12-12-2011).]

quote Originally posted by fieroguru: ...penetration is more important than cosmetic appearance.

There's a joke to be made there, but I'm not going to do it.

Those look like my first welds also What welder are you using?

looks like you can turn the heat up some and the leave the wire feed where you have it... As others have said, flux core is very messy. However, according to the sticker on my Lincoln 140, flux-core can weld thicker metal. I usually only use flux-core on thick parts that will not be seen. I have welded 3/8" motor mount brackets with regular .030 and gas and got good penitration (best to bevel the edges)... Once you start to use the gas, you will rarely want to use flux-core...

On you pratice pieces, the inside seam should be filled; turn up the heat and move a bit slower. also, if your gonna be welding two different thickness of metal together, try to pratice on simmilar size scrap pieces first. It get a bit tricky at first; you will burn through the thinner metal or not get good penitration on the thicker metal...

EDIT to add:
Get one of those auto-darkening $59 harbor freight welding helmet; it makes a huge differance in your welds... Actually, I think there on sale for $39.00
Edit again:
I know I have a $39 coupon for this welding helmet at my office. If you would like to buy one, I can give you the coupon code
http://www.harborfreight.co...ng-helmet-91214.html

[This message has been edited by ALJR (edited 12-12-2011).]

The welder is a 110V Mac Tools MW145



In order to turn up the heat on this model, I believe I'd turn the voltage knob up to 3 from 2? It has 4 settings, and the knob is the speed control, it was set to 25 when I made those welds.

I also do have one of those cheap auto-darkening helmets, looks pretty similar to that Harbor Freight one, as well as welding gloves and a welding shirt. They're a lot cheaper on ebay than the local welding place, Airgas.

weld on 4 with 35 speed
If it burns thru turn the heat down

not bad, my suggestion is that by the look of the weld you need to steady you hand and slow down a little.

jon

2 tips for the beginner:

1) Your vision is everything. Get your face in close. Look for the metal to MELT. Push or pull the puddle. Don't worry about the material buildup. Welding is melting the 2 pieces of metal together, not building a bunch up on top.

2) Steady your hand by placing your forearm on something steady. If not available, use your other hand as well as you can

3) Start at a pretty high angle (90deg) until you have a puddle, then tilt and push or pull


I've used every type of welder. I'm afraid I find flux core by far the most difficult, especially with margial heat output.

If you can add gas, add it. It will make a world of difference. Get a small bottle of 75/25 argon/co2. It makes A WORLD of difference.

Either way, practice by pushing the puddle (Usually best for MIG), then pulling the puddle. If you can't successfully do this (material builds up too fast) then you don't have enough heat. You can turn the wire speed down to compensate, but only to the point where you have continuous arcing. Don't let the arc become intermittent as this will cool the weld-exactly the opposite of what you need.


I like to practice my setup on a piece of scrap. It gives you the feel and you can test different setups. Butt welding is the most challenging weld. As noted, chamfering will help give a good weld.
Chay

I don't how people can weld without gas. If we run out, I stop welding. I don't even like to tack weld without gas.

My first weld (I got better at it):



Thin stuff is harder to weld well than thicker stuff. If you are welding thin stuff (like body sheet metal) to thicker stuff (like replacement frame rails) then you need to concentrate towards the thicker stuff, otherwise you just burn through the thin stuff. Welding a butt joint on something thin like exhaust pipe is an interesting challenge!

The main thinks to remember are cleanliness is most important, you cannot weld rust or dirt/paint, and being able to see. It's hard to weld if you cannot see what you are welding/the puddle. Best thing I bought (besides gas) was an auto darkening helmet.

Other things to consider are are push vs pull technique to control/affect the heat, no going to fast or slow, stitching (short burst instead of a continuous arc to keep the heat down for thin stuff) and just experimenting on various thicknesses of metal and joint types to find the best setting before you actually weld the thing you 'really' want to weld!

Forgot to add, wear proper clothing to protect your skin from sunburn. I've lost count of the number of times I have burnt myself because it's summer and I am only waring a tank top, think it won't take long and end up severely burning myself (usually my shoulder/chest). Painful!

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Dave

www.ltlfrari.com

[This message has been edited by ltlfrari (edited 12-14-2011).]

nice job!!!

Another thought for your practice welds is to cut through them across the weld so that you can see what sort of penetration you are getting into the base metal.

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Dave

www.ltlfrari.com

From what i saw on your first pics, keep your motion consistent; You're varying the width of the pattern too much and your pace is also varying and your losing track of the actual Line your trying to weld.

My Teacher told me, There's a difference between a simple error and a defect. A Defect will be a weld that is weakened for its purpose. But if the Defect is of no harm towards it's original purpose then it is not a defect.

There's also a technique that i forgot what it was for. But this is an example and not the actual note.
Make a 2" weld, go 1" ahead then make another 2" weld...This would repeat until you ran out of road, so to speak.

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I actually prefer Flux wire welding over all the other types of welding, it's just my own preference.

The method i made for the Thin metal is what one of the members mentioned, but i didn't know it was called Pulse welding.

I broke some rules that i was taught at school, but only to meet the rule i said in the beginning about defects.

I would just make the wire touch the metal to make a small spatter, This cause for small specks of metal to accumulate on the butt weld.
But, i would repeat this all around the pipe, once there was a good amount I'd start from the beginning and do spot welds.
Once, that was done i began to just do a complete weld pass.

My exhaust has staid intact for more then a year and still holding.

but, my welds are hideous :P . If my Old Welding Mentor saw those welds he would be ashamed...Although i could just grind them down...But, then that would also ruin one of his teaching about "It'll make it look Neat, but it weakens the welds"

Trust me, it's hard( to achieve this) but once you learn to weld properly; You'll make a weld that is beautiful with perfect penetration. Trust me, i only managed to do it once, but wow.

Frustrating eh.

The 110 you've got there is enough to do 1/4" easily in a single pass. That tubing is baby stuff so no need to chamfer. Don't start with a "weave or stitch". Keep your stinger at about 90* for butt welds and 45* for fillets. When it first arcs, don't pause, keep moving. Instead of weaving, you want to "whip" it. Move in the direction of the cut about a 1/3" and then move directly back into the puddle about an 1/8". This is all relative, bigger wire, longer strokes. I suggest you go get some .035 and tips. This is the most common method you'll find in a production environment. It is also much easier to control when you're first learning. As you gain better wrist control, you can keep moving forward but slightly rotate the stinger in a sort of tapping motion to create the same effect.

You want wide coverage and decent penetration use a push, need a small weld with max penetration you pull.

Gas is nice, but it doesn't make a difference in weld integrity. Flux WILL burn hotter and give better penetration. For thin stuff like exhaust pipe, weld down! Put the pipe in a vice or on any horizontal surface, start at the top, pull the weld straight down the cut about a third of the way, rotate and repeat. It'll be hot enough to stick and gravity will keep it from burning through. Don't weave, don't whip, just drag it down. You have the least chance of burning through and it doesn't have to be super strong because it's just exhaust pipe.

I have years and years of every type of welding under my belt, in almost every environment. Any questions, feel free to ask.

[This message has been edited by FriendOfYours (edited 12-14-2011).]

Thanks for all the advice so far. I went out to Airgas today and got a bottle of 75/25, the hose to connect it to the fitting on the welder (already have the regulator), and converted the welder over to use it, loading the new spool, and reversing the polarity. I'll try it out tonight or tomorrow.

I've also been practicing with the cutting wheel in the grinder, so now I can actually cut a consistent straight line on a line I draw on the metal I redrew the rail in 2D and 3D to make sure I got all the measurements and angles correct before I started cutting and transferring the measurements to the steel tubing. I finished measuring out and cutting all the notches in the rail, and it's ready to weld up. I'm just going to get a LOT more practice before I try welding on it.

quote Originally posted by Francis T: I don't how people can weld without gas. If we run out, I stop welding. I don't even like to tack weld without gas.

he used a gasless flux cored wire - the flux keeps out the air around the weld pool just like mma/stick welding

however it would be easier for a beginner to use gas with just solid wire - as you can lower the amps a little further down thus be able to weld thinner material.

jon

So I finally tried the setup out tonight with the 75/25 gas mix

-I CAN SEE! I can actually see the puddle as I'm welding, where before I could just see a bright white spot. Now it looks just like it does in videos I've seen.

-I used another small scrap piece I had cut off the end. I cut a line on 3 sides with a cutting wheel in the grinder, clamped it together, and welded it while it was held in the vice.

Here's the first weld, with the recommended settings on the welder for gas and 0.030 (speed 30, voltage 3), and moving slower than I did with the previous flux core welds:



There's a kind of hole at the bottom where I stopped, that didn't happen the second and third times?

Here it is on the opposite side, showing what looks like excellent penetration?



And after grinding and sanding down the surface with a grinding disc and sanding disc with the grinder:



You can see where that hole was at the bottom

2nd gas weld: same speed setting as the first, but I turned the voltage down to 2 to see what it would do



Looks like not very good penetration?



And ground back, can see some small holes in the middle. Can also see the cut at the top, that went around 3 sides.



And the third weld on the bottom. I thought I had a before pic, oh well. Penetration looked the same as the second weld, was also using voltage setting 2.

Porosity.

What's your flowmeter say when you pull the trigger and what's your regulator set to? Keep the cup about a half inch from the puddle

[This message has been edited by FriendOfYours (edited 12-16-2011).]

quote Originally posted by FriendOfYours: Porosity. What's your flowmeter say when you pull the trigger and what's your regulator set to? Keep the cup about a half inch from the puddle

Looks like that was it exactly! I had the regulator set to 22 cfh (door recommendation was 20, but 22 was as low as I could get it), so I turned it up to 35 cfh, speed 30 and voltage setting 3, and the weld looked great. Ground it back, and only one small hole! Also had good penetration on the other side of the metal,more like a straight line instead of the uneven globs in gas weld 1 above.

Now we're getting somewhere!

Here is a vertical up weld I did a few weeks ago at work...



This was done with an industrial size (480) Miller w/ pulse though. I can only dream of being able to lay a bead like this down with my garage unit lol.

That's a nice vertical weave you got there. Just out of curiosity does any one do some TIG here?

Beautiful ...Just...I can't fault that I'm just jealous,lol.

I do.... I have a commercial 300 Amp L-tec tig unit and have been welding for many years now. Tig is the way to go, harder to learn but you can basically weld anything with it. That vertical weld is very nice. I do a lot of stainless welding and I am decent at aluminum. I really love the Tig. I have even welded some Recumbent bike frames for a local company recently. I think we did like twenty complete frames. I built my own recumbent bike and it is getting powder coated right now. Cannot wait to get it back so I can ride it. Peace

Pete