At Home In The Woods

[Obed]

Pardon me if you've mentioned it and I missed it, but is there a reason you aren't practicing on thinner metal?

Joshua,
I did start practicing with thinner material. Here are the links. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/157965-home-woods-497.html#post3262898
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/157965-home-woods-497.html

I am now practicing on 1/4" metal because that is a similar to the thickness I'll be using when I mount the ball hitches on my box blade and scraper blade.

I still really think you are asking too much of your welder, working on metal that thick. Almost all of the welds you're showing look cold to me. You have managed to produce a few that look like they got okay penetration, but you are leaving yourself no margin for error at all. On top of that, you are really making life hard for yourself, trying to learn under such adverse conditions. I admire your persistence--I'll say that.

Yes, most of my T-welds were cold welds. However, the welds at the end of my practice day were much better than the first.

Yes I am pushing the limits of my cheap welder. I'm also pushing the limits of my inexperience.
Obed

 

[joshuabardwell]

Fair enough. Keep up the practice
and surely you'll get there.

 

[MotorSeven]

Without gas, these welders will never make "pretty" welds. I started on a 90 amp gasless that my neighbor gave me & I ended up converting a wave runner trailer into a 4-wheeler trailer that holds 2 wheelers. I was also teaching myself at the time and had the same troubles with penetration. You must be able to see what you are doing, or you can never push op pull a puddle. An auto-darkening helmet and good light is a must for me. Those last welds of yours will hold, and that trailer I built is still in use 13 years later.

 

[Beltman60]

Obed this is what you have to work with
I too think this has enough penetration to hold your your hitch to the box blade
if not back to the house grind area down and try again
as far as the gaping when putting your main root pass tack the other end before making the root pass and that should keep from gaping
I say go for it you can practice all you want real world welds that hold is what you need

 

[MotorSeven]

Without gas, these welders will never make "pretty" welds. I started on a 90 amp gasless that my neighbor gave me & I ended up converting a wave runner trailer into a 4-wheeler trailer that holds 2 wheelers. I was also teaching myself at the time and had the same troubles with penetration. You must be able to see what you are doing, or you can never push or pull a puddle. An auto-darkening helmet and good light is a must for me. Those last welds of yours will hold, and that trailer I built is still in use 13 years later.

 

[Obed]

Seeing what I'm doing seems to be my biggest obstacle. I pointed a work light at my target and that may have helped some. While welding, I can't really tell how thick the bead is that I am laying. I also have trouble being able to see where the two pieces of metal meet.

My helmet is auto-darkening. I have the darkness set to "10" which is what the manual recommends for a 90A welder. I'm going to test adjusting the darkness knob while welding to see if the shade control is actually working. I wonder if the shade is too dark.

 

[dex3361]

Seeing what I'm doing seems to be my biggest obstacle. I pointed a work light at my target and that may have helped some. While welding, I can't really tell how thick the bead is that I am laying. I also have trouble being able to see where the two pieces of metal meet.

My helmet is auto-darkening. I have the darkness set to "10" which is what the manual recommends for a 90A welder. I'm going to test adjusting the darkness knob while welding to see if the shade control is actually working. I wonder if the shade is too dark.

I have the same hood and use it on the lowest setting of 8 (I think). I also picked up a chceater lens, sorta like reading glasses for welding. This set up is used for my 240volt Longevity mig welder.

 

[J F]

Alright obed, we need a pic of you wearing that snazzy helmet.

 

[clemsonfor]

I think your moving the torch or gun to fast esp if your useing a 3 wire speed on that machine. You need to be "weaving or stiching" the weld very slowly at that speed. I normally use about a 5-7 speed on that machine on the thickstuff i weld, maybe more like a 6, on thin stuff i am useing like a 3. I am no expert but i do have the same machine that you have. I use figure 8's when i weld and not circles or random patterns.

 

[clemsonfor]

Without gas, these welders will never make "pretty" welds. I started on a 90 amp gasless that my neighbor gave me & I ended up converting a wave runner trailer into a 4-wheeler trailer that holds 2 wheelers. I was also teaching myself at the time and had the same troubles with penetration. You must be able to see what you are doing, or you can never push op pull a puddle. An auto-darkening helmet and good light is a must for me. Those last welds of yours will hold, and that trailer I built is still in use 13 years later.

Without gas, these welders will never make "pretty" welds. I started on a 90 amp gasless that my neighbor gave me & I ended up converting a wave runner trailer into a 4-wheeler trailer that holds 2 wheelers. I was also teaching myself at the time and had the same troubles with penetration. You must be able to see what you are doing, or you can never push or pull a puddle. An auto-darkening helmet and good light is a must for me. Those last welds of yours will hold, and that trailer I built is still in use 13 years later.

same post 52 minutes apart?