Post a pic up of your best welds

[Commotion]

U have to run gas with flux core. We run run 25% co2 mix I believe. I have found the gas can make u feel a bit crook. went to bed spinning after one late night and woke up with a hangover type thing. Must not have had enough ventilation.

The reason for the flux wire over solid is the fact the guys are too damn lazy to clean the metal first and previously had issues with weld integrity. The flux wire goes down over dirty steel fine and brings the impurities to the surface with the slag. The bonus is as HX mentioned, u can weld any position with pretty much the same setting. I do tend to tweak the wire feed a little bit when changing position but nothing like running solid wire.

The from memory the wire is XL-525 however I think the last batch were branded slightly different.

Cig weld did give us a couple of rolls of wire to try but not sure if that was it. We were using a WIA fcaw before the Hobart.

[snavy]

That could well be your problem, the fixed shade 11, I typically now use between 9 and 10 for the normal low to
mid current MIG and TIG I do, especially with steel or stainless. Aluminium, where the amps might be up around
170-190 I would use 11 maybe 12. And when doing really thin stainless I may be down to 15-30 amps and use
7 or 8.
As I have got older I am pretty sure the sun has got weaker. But as others have said, good working light or
helmet light can help too.

Shit gotta get a better helmet then!! What's a good helmet with multiple shade settings??

[snavy]

Keep gradually adjusting it lighter till you flash yourself and set delay to zero (and make sure its on weld not grind mode), pretty sure I have the same helmet, between 10-11 is what I use. Also, if its a constant hum crank the feed up till its crakling like bacon frying. And dont be afraid to go up on the voltage, we started using .9mm and it seems to like 1 click of more voltage than it did on .8mm

Thanks for you advise. Currently running .8 wire. What's the difference in wire sizes??

[mecmw]

Thanks for you advise. Currently running .8 wire. What's the difference in wire sizes??

Generally the diameter

[GHZ28]

Shit gotta get a better helmet then!! What's a good helmet with multiple shade settings??

This can be a very subjective thing, and to a great extent comes down to what you are prepared to pay.
I have an in with a Lincoln dealer so I have two Lincoln branded helmets. I have tried some of the cheaper
ones that I have bought to have as a spare here for when someone wants to watch or help etc but was
not happy with the colour. Probably only because of what I am used to, not because it is wrong or bad.

I just checked and mine are a 700G, small aperture, (that would be an 1840 now) and a 3350 large aperture 4 sensor.
Any of the brand name auto-darkening variable density helmets will be OK. Main spec I believe
is response time, 1/25000th of a second seems to be the industry standard these days.

If you are going to do any low amperage TIG then you need to spend more to get the better sensitivity,
but if its just MIG then just about anything will be fine.

In general I would say avoid the bargain basement <$100 helmets, but that depends on your budget.

Currently running .8 wire. What's the difference in wire sizes??

Between .9 and .8 nothing that us amateurs will really notice. .9 likes a slightly lower current/slower feed speed and
maybe .5 to 1.0 Volts more compared to .8. Mostly it depends on what hardware (guide/feed rollers and contact tips)
you have. Both sizes are suitable up to and beyond 3mm steel.

[Commotion]

My new helmet is a Lincoln. Only used it a few times at home with tig but like it a lot. Nice big viewing window but I won't take it to work. It will get destroyed in no time and cost me over $300. My last one was 10 years old, took it to work and killed it in a day. Only half the screen was darkening. My pre-requisit for another helmet was it couldn't have an on switch. Having to constantly turn them on or get flashed if u forget shits me.

Edit: just check in the shed, helmet is Viking mojo 3350

[nuk1ear]

The grey is Solarflux B on the inside of the tubes...after hearing how it's impossible to remove I found it pretty easy to get off the inside...just run the manifold for an hour at maximum volume and it's pretty clean inside after.

Where did you buy the solar flux b from? I can only find it on ebay from the USA which is at a reasonable price, aus sellers are very expensive from what ive seen.

[fantapants]

finally got around to working on the exhaust for my little honda. started this before i got sick. this is the first time ive felt confidant enough to try working under the car.



this is where i started...its 2 inch tube from work.



one end to the other...



tacked on the vband clamps...



purged her up... :D just in case lol



and wazzed away.



far from perfect, but im pretty happy for what amounts to the first real welding ive done since falling ill last year.

things were going great really. ran out of puff to finish the job, but got back to it today. and managed to bust my furick cup

soldiered on with a lot less pretty weld on the other end.

then set about working on the brackets and other half of the vbands... ran out of puff again.

[Nacho]

Shit, looking good dude. Must feel nice to be back on the tools.

[fantapants]

Yeah it's weird. On the one hand it feels awesome to get dirty again and make things again ... It really is a happy place kind of moment.

But it's tempered by the constant reminder of how far I am from being able to do "normal" stuff ... Sounds whingy I know, but yeah it's 50 50 lol

[Justengt4]

Nah good work mate...neater beads thsn I'll ever lay down

[jzx83]

Onya Pat. Run out of puff as many times as it takes, at least you're having a go.


Also, what Justen said.

[GHZ28]

Nice work Pat, as above, far better than I can ever hope to do.

[krisr]

Fuck, you can drive a TIG good sir. Well done!

[fantapants]

Thanks for all the support

Don't know if I'm being overly critical or I'm getting a lot of sympathy props but everyone seems to be fairly complimentary lol. Maybe I just take good hidden pics lol.

Got enough go in me today to finish it all off and fit it up. I was about 15mm too short overall once it was all bolted up. More annoying than anything ... Makes bolting the muffler on a bit fiddly lol. But got to drive the Honda again and she doesn't sound too awful lol. Really proud to have been able to put together even sub a simple little project