Thought I would post an update on this. I expected I would struggle and I did. Attempts at welding resulted in what looked like chicken shit stuck to pieces of metal.
The first thing that helped was discovering that the glass inside my welding helmet had a protective sheet of plastic that needed to be peeled off. At least I could actually see what I was doing then.
I then put the welder away and did a bit of research and found some things which were a huge help.
Apparently the gas regulator on my welder - Clarke 135 TE - is a bit crap. its numbered 0 - 6, but no gas actually comes out until its turned to at least number 5.
Next thing was that apparently the most common fault with novices welding thin metal is holding the nozzle too far away from the metal being worked on. Apparently the nozzle should be almost touching the metal, but preferably not quite touching it.
Last thing was to run the bead away from yourself rather than towards yourself. Cant remember why tbh, but when I went back out and put all three of these into practice I immediately produced strong and acceptable looking welds. Frankly, I was amazed at the transformation, so I have now started to weld my old 190 back together.
I hope this may be of some help to someone else who has a bash at welding in the future.
Particularily the shouty man from Brackley, who I believe has the same machine, and has also struggled, iirc.
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Topic: Mig welders. (Read 5709 times)