I am new to welding and today was the first bodywork welding that I have tried to do....I suck!!!!
I practiced on some scrap and it appeared that I was getting sorta OK penetration so I progressed to the real thing. All I did was blow blooming holes and have hot welder wire spit in my lap .
Can somebody suggest some solutions for me please? I am welding fresh metal on the rear panel at the point where it joins to the bracket that is on the boot floor. My new metal is 1.0mm. The welder is a 150amp affair and I have just put in a new spool of 0.6mm wire. The settings are shown here (pretty much I have tried several settings but even as low as it goes is blowing holes)-sorry if they come out too large;
Following is a gallery of my inability. It's my first car restoration and as I said my first welding but I have read every thread on here and thought I might have half a chance.......
The gap around the new metal varies between 0.5mm to 1.5mm.
The next 2 from inside the boot didnt come out all that well so you cannot see the penetration I got on the tiny blob of weld that didnt blow.
Some thoughts I had as to reasons;
- I suck
- Insufficient earth. It splattered alot and stop-started. The bolt in the picture is there to hold the plate in place but also to provide an earth
- I had sprayed some weld through primer onto all surfaces before welding but I just could not get a decent earth (this was before I added the bolt). I cleaned it all off with a flat wheel. Maybe there was sufficient residue left to cause the spitting. I had already cleaned off all the etch primer that was applied after sand blasting.
- The gap between the panels is too large?
- I suck
- The wire feed was a little irregular. I think it was not coping with the weight of the new wire spool.
Any help or ideas you can offer are greatly appreciated. There is only so much rear panel so I have to limit my hole blowing!!!!!!
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