Newbie looking for critique

[WranglerX]

Ok, I'll check but I'm fairly confident the wires are correct and plug into the front of the machine. Where is a good source for a beginner to but good but not expensive wire?

Typically all welders have the work lead (ground) and whip (GUN) lead connected front of machine.... Typical the place where polarity of welding cable is internal in cabinet area with wire spool and feeder..... As for wire, Hobart, Forney, ESAB, Miller... Try to stay with known brand names....

Image below is for my Hobart welder, but its typical of most welders for changing polarity

 

[etpm]

The wire is the .30 that came with the welder. 2 wires? I only have the one .30.

Just out of curiosity, what color is your wire? Is it copper colored? Like it's been copper plated? Or is it kinda grey, or steel colored? I'm asking because you said the wire is .30. What you really meant was .030. Which is a very common size for solid wire. Which will be copper colored. And must be used with gas.
Thanks,
Eric

 

[Pixguy]

Just out of curiosity, what color is your wire? Is it copper colored? Like it's been copper plated? Or is it kinda grey, or steel colored? I'm asking because you said the wire is .30. What you really meant was .030. Which is a very common size for solid wire. Which will be copper colored. And must be used with gas.
Thanks,
Eric

Thanks to all.
My wire is silver. I will buy Miller flux wire, check the polarity and try a bit more when I'm able.

 

[Fxfymn413]

There are a couple of "self tests" that you can do to evaluate how you are doing. The easiest is to just try to break the weld to see how it comes apart. Do a butt weld on a piece of 1/8" thick sheet a couple of inches long then put it in a vise and work it until it fractures. If the metal fails you probably doing OK, if the weld fails you need to keep trying. You can also cut through the weld to see if you are getting proper penetration. Look on-line for pictures of proper welds to compare them to.

To me the key to MIG is the sound of the weld. It should sound like bacon sizzling in a pan. The biggest mistake I made when I first started to weld was not setting the heat high enough to get good penetration because of my fear of burn through.

 

[mwemaxxowner]

Following, I'm in the same boat! Just bought a little 110 welder.

I've done a little welding at work that turned out well and looked okay, but I was using our nice Miller mig machine, and somebody else set it up for me.

 

[Kschwennsen]

I'm not an expert welder by any means but I am an Engineer and it looks like you have porous welds with no slag so I'm thinking you aren't running gas or flux core wire in a MIG setup, correct? It also looks like as others noted that you aren't getting any penetration and are moving the torch too slow.

I've self taught welding and have the YouTube certificate but seriously, alot of it is just practice and try your best to get better. the easiest welds are fillet welds where two pieces come together at a 90° angle. Cast needs to be heated so as not to crack, and deep welds should be filled with multiple passes.

I would suggest looking at welding videos online to explain the different wires and speeds. your welders owners manual can be indispensable as well. I was lucky to start out with a Millermatic 211 so I just set the plate thickness and forget it. I get nice looking welds, try weaving/swirling the pool or just make continuous lines of tack welds.

 

[Tony H]

Looking at the two beads on the hook shaped piece: I would slow down wire feed speed. When I weld, I push forward over my weld. Doing that seems to preheat the area about to be welded. Also you welds look like you slowly drew a line.
Try slowing the wire speed, push over what you welded and as you push, make small circles. Like a child drawing a Spring on a piece of paper. 1/4 to 3/8 circles

 

[athomp]

I'm not an expert welder by any means but I am an Engineer and it looks like you have porous welds with no slag so I'm thinking you aren't running gas or flux core wire in a MIG setup, correct? It also looks like as others noted that you aren't getting any penetration and are moving the torch too slow.

I've self taught welding and have the YouTube certificate but seriously, alot of it is just practice and try your best to get better. the easiest welds are fillet welds where two pieces come together at a 90° angle. Cast needs to be heated so as not to crack, and deep welds should be filled with multiple passes.

I would suggest looking at welding videos online to explain the different wires and speeds. your welders owners manual can be indispensable as well. I was lucky to start out with a Millermatic 211 so I just set the plate thickness and forget it. I get nice looking welds, try weaving/swirling the pool or just make continuous lines of tack welds.

I will second this comment - the weld is so porous that it looks like no shielding gas is being used. OP said he’s going gasless with a mig so he may not be aware that he needs to use flux-core wire. His welds look exactly like what happens when your argon runs out or welding outside in the wind and the gas blows away. Many years ago when all I had was a 110v fluxcore welder i was able to make decent welds in spite of no training. The pictures the OP shows do not look like just a lack of training problem, it looks like a (lack of) gas problem.

 

[ironhardware.com]

With flux core wire, chipping away your slag will reveal a more accurate result. Turn the heat up all the way and the wire speed at around 75% to start. Clean grind the edges of two pieces of steel and butt them together, use a steady hand and let off the trigger if you start to burn through. You can get a decent result with a little welder if you max it out and control the weld by starting and stopping (pulse welding). Burn that roll of wire up doing practice welds and then get some good wire. Hotter is better, if you can’t get the welder to burn through the material, turn down the wire speed until you get good penetration, then adjust your hand speed and settings in small increments. Keep a steady hand.

 

[Pixguy]

Ok, first, I could've sworn my wire was silver but instead it was gold. Bought Miller .30 flux wire today and at the settings you'll see, the results were worse. The photos below is with the newer wire.
Im open for more advise and curious what I'm screwing up

ignore the stick holders, they are from the previous stick welder.