I went and borrow a licoln weldpak 100 from a friend of mine earlier so that I could weld the sheetmetal for my half doors that I am building. Well it has been about 4 yrs since I have welded anything and when I learned how to weld it was with a 220 Miller mig welder with argon. So this is a big step down from that. Anyways when I first started it was just burning holes through the metal so I turned it all the way down and I turn the wire speed down. It was still burning holes in it so then I turned the wire speed up some so that I could move faster. That did better for a while then it started burning holes again and also the damn thing pops and sputter a lot so I cant ever get a good weld. I dont need anything real strong it is just holding sheet metal. Anyways is there a trick to this? It seems like I would start getting better and then all of a sudden it was burning holes in it again.
It's probably mostly the flux core wire. It burns hotter than regular solid core mig wire. The flux core wire will also have a lot of splatter.
The popping and sputtering could be caused by a worn or wrong sized contact tip. If it has a lot of slop it wont make good contact with the wire all the time. You should be able to find tips for it at lowe's, home depot, or a welding shop.
I dont know if it even exists, but you might try to find a smaller diameter wire. (I'm assuming you're using .035) It wont burn quite as hot since it takes less heat to melt it.
Also with it being thin sheet metal, weld an inch, skip agout 5-6 inches and weld another inch, repeat. This helps keep the sheet metal from getting too hot, because that's when you burning holes.
Also with it being thin sheet metal, weld an inch, skip agout 5-6 inches and weld another inch, repeat. This helps keep the sheet metal from getting too hot, because that's when you burning holes.
my stuff must of been really thin. All i could get was a spot weld on my half doors. I used the chicago 90a flux core welder set on low and speed about 1/3 up. of course it was the filling cabinet that was thin...so I guess that would work.
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On the door itself I left a inch to fold to a 90 degree (vise grips) to lay the sheet metal on to weld it. I used 1 in square tubing I got from work to make a frame for the inside of the door. Not alot of work in Progress pics but. I think you would get the idea.
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If I could re do it. I wouldn't make it so square... with the flat sheet metal laying on the 90 degree turn on the doors a more curved shape would of looked better. IMHO.
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I kept the driverside mirror to keep it street legal. that is a pic not finished.
Anyway, I may have got carried away...when you were talking about welding and not fabing.
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doors completed.
Sorry,
Mike
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