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[Webby the Bear]

Don't over think the bevels for thin stuff like 3mm; running the grinder along the sharp corner ought to be enough. The gap between the pieces should be the thickness of the wire, even with thin sheet.

Having had a try with thicker metal, you should find the sheet metal much easier, as you're now watching the actual weld.

ok fair enough, thanks nick.

ive been out and put a bunch of 45 degree (roughly) bevels on the 1.5mm scrap I have left so will see tomorrow if this improves things with the gap about the same as the wire. im thinking that as bevelling makes the weld area thinner I do need to keep an eye on the gap so thanks for that tip.

[Webby the Bear]

Rookie mistakes this morning 

Doing some butt welds. Couldn't figure out why my usual settings weren't seeming to work.... was getting in all sorts of bother. This went on for about 'arf an hour  then realised I wasn't leaving any distance between tip and workpiece 

Backed my distance off to about 10mm and got welding nicely again 

I think its cos I was concentrating so hard.

Anyways, was welding 1.5mm steel. gapped. and workpieces bevelled. penetration was better. but still not all the way through. ill post up some pics.

wonder why I cant get the penetration especially on something that thin.

only thing I can see is that my gas flow isn't 5LPM..... its actually 3LPM ( I misread the ''pee shooter'' thingy).

Clarkes instructions say 3-5LPM indoors is fine. but then loooads of people have said it needs to be nearer 10.

what do we think?

ps will post up some piccies in a bit

[Marks DTM Calib]

You don't need masses of gas when welding inside, ten is a lot.

A witches breath is what I was always taught.

[Webby the Bear]

Fair enough then Mark.

Any idea why im not getting the pen. that I need? I know you mentioned the machine not being great for penetrating but.... 1.5mm steel? 

[Marks DTM Calib]

Nothing wrong with the machine, at 135amp max you will only get full pen on steel thicknesses up to circa 2.5mm.

Remember that it is all about the weld pool, move it slower and it will penetrate deeper.

[Webby the Bear]

Ok, thanks mate

Reckon it's worth dropping down settings? Therefore being able to stay on the area for longer without burning through?

[henryd]

Also Webby too much gas can cause the weld pool to cool prematurely thus harming your penetration,I know you aren't getting as much gas as you'd like but being a small torch you've probably got plenty,I'm with Mark that I only ever have just enough gas to weld cleanly, unless outside or in draught,different ballgame then

[Webby the Bear]

Fair enough Henryd, thanks for that 

Ok, one last question for today ('ad a belly full of welding today  )

Stick out..... the distance between contact tip and work piece.

My contact tip is recessed quitefar in to my nozzle, someone mentioned this could be an issue and that I should be looking for contact tip to just be sticking out the nozzle. how do you adjust this? do you simply unscrew contact tip until its sitting where you want? I cant see that being the case...do I have to buy a longer tip(s)?

[Webby the Bear]

Just a quick update...

I sawed off the end of my nozzle  in an effort to reduce stick out

Been out this morning with new shortened nozzle and also plugged in to the mains as opposed to an extension lead. I started off welding 3mm steel. I got to say, right from the off there feels like theres more power in this thing. placebo? not sure. however I thought id go right back to basics. I re-read everything everyones put and watched basics videos etc.

 so started running beads on the 3mm and first one I did got real good penetration...so much so that it started coming through the other side as opposed to just a ''leech'' mark.

 Ran a few more beads... no problem. then I started getting globules of molten on my tip. and then it kept happening. so I reduced WFS. That sorted it but obviously then started to only make occasional contact and the weld was crap. very frustrating. the only solution was to increase my tip distance but them I got the machine gun rattle.

 I think I haven't been paying enough attention to my tip distance. some times I get globules on the tip. other times it would sound like a machine gun drive by shooting haha. and then other times it would weld ok. I tried to listen for the bacon sizzling. got it a couple of times but it just didn't seem to ever last long.

 finally, I got a much better view of the puddle with a 45 degree angle as opposed to the 2o degree youre ''supposed'' to have. andthat felt most comfy and the weld seemed to go a bit better when I did that so that's what I stuck to.

 ill keep practising but I think I may have to invest in a course at my local college cos I really wanna get this down cos I do really enjoy it.

 anyways I did a few beads and a few joins. ill post 'em up in a few..see what u guys think.

[Webby the Bear]

[4x4]

You need to find what works best for,and that takes time,try different settings and different distances etc

[Webby the Bear]

Yeah definitely right mate. theyre not th prettiest but they do hold 

I know you have to use a lot of amps to mig weld. so if in the future I got a more powerful mig welder what sort of thickness would I be able to weldand get full penetration?

or.

do I leave themig welding and try stick welding for the thicker stuff (kinda want to be able to do some thicker material)

[aaronjb]

About the biggest welder you'll get on a domestic supply is 180A (e.g. the Clarke MIG196) which on paper will do 6mm steel..  Arc won't go any thicker necessarily.

Thicker than that and you'll need a three phase supply fitting Then again, what on earth are you planning on building, Webby? 

[Marks DTM Calib]

You already have the biggest you can run off a 13A socket, anything more will require a dedicated mains feed.

[aaronjb]

Actually good point .. there's probably bigger available for plugging into a 16A or 32A socket, still on 240v.. but you'd still need to rewrite the house

(Or have a dedicated feed put into the garage like I did..)