How fast are you moving the wire gun? You need to be moving slow enough and with enough heat to melt the metal but not destroy it. Then set the feed to match your pace....

 

I move it quite slowly.. Its hard to tell when you are melting the metal.. especially with thin stuff because by the time i know i melted it I've burned through it.. Back to this Gas thing.. will that help with the slag? Cause I sometimes have problems with messing up the threads on stuff

 

for wire feed, you wanns kinda drag it accross the metal you're welding.

get the gas conversion kit. YOu'll want a 40cu ft. tank with 75/25 argon/co2 mix

it's like 90 bucks for the tank and like 20 bucks each fill.

Trust a guy that has came from welding fluxcored wires to full MIG. it's a night and day difference

 

bah humbug...hahahaha

I can do that with an oxyceylene torch...hahahaha

 

First off, are you sure its a 1/2" flange...that sounds a bit thick.

It just boils down to practice, practice, practice...but you already know that.

I have the same welder you have and just recently converted to the "Mig" setup. I have welded all sorts of stuff with it in the oem setup. I did a lot of the four-link/airbag suspension on my truck with it, fixed exhaust, repaired lawnmowers and much more. You just need to get all sorts of scrap steel and practice laying down beads at different settings and see how they come out.

The only reason I converted to the mig setup was because I want to be able the weld aluminum. It was fine for me in it original state. I got pretty good with it, but now I have to get the hang of it all over again.

On the splattering, I think you have the wire speed too high for the temp setting cause it shouldnt be that bad. There is a chart that came with the welder that has all the recommended settings for different thicknesses of metal.

Done with the new mig setup...not bad for my first attempt...


Also dont with new setup...unfortunately its not as pretty, but more visible (look next to the bov on the charge pipe...the big glob)


Sorry, my pics arent as good as dustins.


[Modified by Jeff C, 2:38 PM 1/22/2003]

 

we also have an oxy acetyline torch.. i just thought that was even harder to weld with.. is it? would that be better to use for welding that 1/2" stock? It is definitely 1/2".. straight from roadrace.. It's not an obscene amount of splatter.. but by no means does it look close to dustins.

 

it depends on what size metal you're gonna weld. The heavier gauge the metal, the bigger torch tip and rod you'll need

 

but it is possible to do the weld i needed? 1/2" steel to exhaust piping? with a big tip and big rod? what about fusion welding.. my buddy's dad just uses a coat hanger.. but he's been doing it for a while

 

oxyacetylene welding is a lot like tig, except you heat the surrounding metal up a lot more. It's harder to not burn through when there is a large disparity in thickness between the two pieces of metal but it can be done.

Don't use coat hangers! The metal is very, very low quality and the welds will eventually crack.. especially in something that is heat cycled a lot.

 

preparing/cleaning the to be welded area also helps....but if u can,definitely go with TIG

 

Stainless always looks nice hehe

 

damn.. that is like machine quality.. you guys are unreal! you should see mine.. it is like blobs of weld sometimes.. hahaha.. but seriously.. you think the oxy acetyline is gonna be better? There was just no way I was melting that 1/2" steel no matter how long I kept the wire on it.. I had it on a slow as i could get of a speed and cranked up to D.

 

Surely that was not his first weld.

spike, have you got a pic of your weld...I want to see how bad it is.

 

spike:

I know exactly what you are talking about. After welding my brother's entire custom 3" exhaust, intercooler piping, and downpipe with a fluxcore MIG welder, I learned a little here and there. Let me say one thing, the flange is the HARDEST part because (like other people mentioned) the metal is so thick. The trick I found is the angle at which you approach the metal. You want to touch more of the flange and pull the flange material onto the pipe.

First and most importantly you need gloves and a good mask you can see out of. Also, try and get real comfortable and find a place to rest your arm (preferably your wrist)

Second, clean the surface you are welding to with fine grit sandpaper and some chemical that dosen't leave a residue like acetone. If you you use a wirebrush, only brush in ONE direction.

Third, if you are touching up or starting on a bead after rotating the pipe say, make sure (especially with fluxcore) that you remove all of the buildup (white/brown ****) on top of the weld. You can do this by either cracking it off or a real course wire brush works well too. The tip of your welder REALLY needs to contact the surface well.

Fourth, your ground lead needs to be clean along with the surface you attach it to. If you are welding to the flange, I suggest attaching the ground clamp to the FLANGE which will force the current to flow through the pipe into the flange, ideally fusing the two together (also known as "welding"). However you may not be able to get a good connection and your wand may "stick" or "jump" of the material because the flange is not making a good connection with the pipe. On the pipe i welded the flange was slightly larger than the pipe so you can wedge thin sheets of metal around it which will help hold the flange in place and makes a better connection. And/Or you can tack the flange on at 2 or 3 spots which will also help with connectivity. (make sure to get a good tack and wait until you see the pool form to release the trigger, more on that later)

Fifth- the puddle. If you don't know about this listen carefully and experiment with a scrap piece of steal. When welding you need to create a "puddle" of metal which assures even penetration (ya ya). To make a puddle, you need to move the wand in either little concentric circles or forward in backward on the axis to be welded. You should notice (through the mask) a pool of metal FOLLOWING the tip of the welding wand, now you can start moving progressively down the material. You want to maintain this puddle the entire way, preferrably the same size and shape puddle which will give you a consistent looking weld. I have MIG fluxcore welds that look just like one of dustin's TIG pictures he posted (not the stainless that someone else did) with concentric circles and about 1/16 taller than the material welded on - it takes practice.

Now, I cannot say im professional or even good at welding. It seems that some pieces turned out really nice, and others, well lets just say they required a lot of grinding. The most important things I can tell you is have a clean surface, good connection and watch your puddle. You can actually "pull" material together with the welder once you get good. Also a little "trick" I learned is if you turn up the heat and turn down the wirespeed you can cut a hole in the metal very quickly -ideal for mounting blow-off valves.

Hopefully some of this helps. And i can probably tell you that by the time you're done welding you'll want to start over again because your ending welds will look 10x better than the ones you started on . Practice!!!!!!!

Oh and another sidenote, there are tons of different types of wire available for MIG such as steel, aluminum, etc. Most importantly there are wires available for surfaces that are corroded or for combining alloys that have more or less carbon. You may notice that aluminized steel is harder to weld than straight up steel. BUt you will at the same time notice that the regular steel piping will have surface rust in about a day or so if gone unpainted. So if all else fails, try to find a better wire for your application.

Hope something helped!
-Rob


[Modified by stizzit, 1:57 PM 1/22/2003]

 

I can tell you right now that the kid's welds are terrible.

haha...J/P Spike....it's me, Frank.

Did you guys get the flex pipe yet?

 

haha.. what up frank.. nah still waiting on it.. thought it would come today but no luck.

 

Rob.. thanks a ton.. i'm gonna read over a couple more times and go at it.. my problem is that when it starts to puddle it caves in and falls through.. i've gotten pretty decent at it except for that flange. i'll see if i can round up a pic of my welding.. thanks again!

 

What about computer controlled welding?

 

what also helps is pre-heat the two peices of metal you are welding.. (helps when you have a small/weak welder)