My Welder/Welding Advice

[Kocher93]

Hello CK5ers,

Making a long story short my dad got a mig welder at auction for $200. I know it's late to ask, but it's a new looking Firepower 160 with 2 10lbs spools of wire. It's made by a sub company of Victor. Good deal?

Anyway today I finally got into practicing with this thing. This is my weld with a flux core wire.



So how does this look? What do I need to do differently?

Thanks in advance for help guys.

 

[blazinzuk]

You need to use anti spatter spray LOL! Looks good maybe speed it up a touch. You are doing well enough for sure

 

[bigjbear]

Hit it with a hamer and see if it stays together.

 

[Deuling]

I'd say it looks dang good for flux core. I hate flux core.


Maybe it's just the angle but looks like there is more weld on the horizontal piece.

 

[Kocher93]

Lol it may be the angle cause in person it looks like more is on vert. Is there a way to get this slag off easier it doesn't want to come off like my stick welds.

 

[Deuling]

Wire wheel on a grinder

 

[Kocher93]

Alright guys so day two of fiddling with this welder. I only had about 25 minutes to spare since I got home from work late and the girlfriend was coming over. It's not easy being a Plumber and protecting the health of the nation, but prevailing wage so I would sleep at that job if I could.

So today I went and I tried to speed up my wire speed, I basically went from some what quick to speedy gonzales



Boom, so where in this range should I be, beginning looks a little slow and the end looks way crazy fast. I'm thinking second quarter of that looks good?

 

[Deuling]

Yah id say a 1/4 of the way in looks really nice.

But its not all about how well it "stacks" and looks, gotta look at the edges, is it undercutting? Is it at all rounded over, or does the weld seem to just blend in nice to the surfaces?

Your doing some damn good welds for flux core IMO. I always seemed to have a lot of trouble finding where I liked it.

 

[twoslo4five0]

the biggest thing is penetration, welds look good but flip the steel over after you burn it in, does the other side have tinting? that's how I always know I have good penetration and my welds usually don't look that pretty on 220 gas.

 

[Kocher93]

Yea the other side has a tint to it almost a blueish to it. It blends good, doesn't sit on top doesn't undercut until the end. Always at the end of my weld it digs in and almost burns through it. How do I prevent this?

 

[Deuling]

It does that at the end because as your going down it, the metal is getting hotter, as you get to the end, there is no more material to soak up the heat, so it melts quick.

Ive been told both slow down and add more wire in, or speed up right at the end to not burn through.

Experimenting is the best answer though. To find what works for you.

 

[Keitha]

I think it looks like the weld is sitting on top of the mettal a bit and could use more penetration. Try turning the heat up a bit as you turn the wire speed up.
Look at the edge of the weld. It should look like it is melted into the metal and not sitting on top of it.