What did I do wrong???

[ampa]

This I'm totaly ashamed of....one pic is all I'll post of this.... my first time usin my 120 volt 125 Lincoln wire feed...let me know whats wrong in the pic....the 1/4" piece I welded to the ear is not meant for strength...mainly just a spacer for the cylinder...I was gonna' use a thick washer...yes I noticed the other mistake as well...I'm plannin' to trim the bracket for the cylinder travel at the pivot point(bolt)....thanks in advance...take care <> Ampa :ashamed:

 

[Shield Arc]

Can you get a closer picture? Looks like you need to turn the voltage up, get the puddle to wet out more.

 

[crazyal]

Can you describe what it felt like when you were welding? Did it feel like the wire was pushing the handle back? Did the wire look like it was melting before it got to the weld? Did it feel like you could weld only a short distance before you had to stop and restrike the arc?

 

[rbcsaver]

A closer pic would be helpful. Was your argon /Co2 on and at proper flow rates? Looks like
a lot of mill scale remains. Did your welding sound like cooking bacon, or popping and the wire
pushing your feed handle away. Looks like too low amperage, possibly low gas flow and poor cleaning and ground contact.
regards,
Steve

 

[/pine]

are you sure the ground clamp was making solid contact?...if it felt warm it was probably not...paint (or painted metal) is not a good conductor...

 

[ampa]

Sorry guys..I forgot to mention .. I didn't buy the the Lincoln which comes with the gas attachments....I'm on a fixed income...and besides that for under $500.00 it sounded like such a good deal..I grabbed..it quick..anyhow guys....give me the true facts...I'll just never be a welder....I wonder though as bad as it looks if it would hold together?..under pressure..now there's a question that may be hard to answer...it's okay!... I asked for the trueth....and I got it.....back to the demo dvd I got with this machine....if I can find it I wasn't even gonna' mention this but I put the same exact pic in the hydraulic section.....and I knew I'd be asked...like.... who did the crappy weldin' job....oh' well what else can I tell ya....thanks once again guys....take care<> Ampa

 

[tbenn7362]

I certainly have seen worse welds for first attempts. as others have said looks cold--higher voltage --maybe slower feed. practice on some .25 scrap you will get the hang of it. it is hard to tell for sure but it looks like even though it is a cold weld there is lots of it---- it will probably hold for a long time. Dint feel bad my fil is a welder with 30years experience best i have ever seen. he used to tell me i welded like a farmer--just keep gobbing it on till it holds. I have since been upgraded to not bad.

 

[Shield Arc]

So you're running gasless fluxcore. You need to turn up the voltage, or turn down the wire speed. Majority of the Mig machines the amps are controlled by the wire speed. More wire speed = more amps, but you need voltage to go along with it. No matter what the case, that weld was put in too cold!

 

[Shield Arc]

Here is some Lincoln NR-212, with plenty of heat! :laughing:

 

[crazyal]

Step number one is to make sure you have a very good ground, a bad or intermittent ground will frustrate the heck out of you. Just because your able to strike an arc doesn't mean you've got a good ground.

I'm assuming your welder has 4 or 5 different voltage settings and variable speed control for the wire. Set it to a voltage and play with the wire speed and just try to get a feel for the differences. Keep a simple note book with what you find out so if you don't weld for a little while you'll be able to remind yourself where to start.