Angles, tubes & plate

[Ranger850]

Nozzle Dip and ani-splatter is available at almost any welding supply place.

 

[Denisefwd93]

Eck! Welded the Yakima gutter mounts to the vertical pieces we made to bolt on the cap. They look awful, but seem to be very strong, nothing knocks them apart, I did grind the edges to see and it actually did penetrate, surprise surprise! but I have a long way to go for I start building bridges!

The new mounts will go behind the big window.

 

[Denisefwd93]

Another try, I ground the black coating off the pipe and ground a notch to fit the curvature.

I'm having real difficulty moving the nozzle seems like all I manage are "tack welds" I cleaned the lens on both sides of the SDing helmet & wear my strongest reading glasses behind it, still have trouble seeing the actual "puddle".

 

[Ranger850]

Get a darker shield. I have poor vision and sometimes it is hard for me to see the puddle too. My mentor told me to get a darker shield and it helped. Getting your hand speed is important too. Don't rush. It takes a sec for it to puddle, when it does, pull it away.

 

[Denisefwd93]

I have a self darkening automatic I'm not about to hold a hand-held shield in front of my face

I hit the pipe with a BIG hammer sideways, still holding!

Oh! Looked up cheater lens, they fit on the back side just like glasses they add magnification.

I think it's more me being nervous and really not having the experience that comes from hours and hours of practice, no hurry, it took me a lifetime to get to this point LOL

 

[scotts90ranger]

If it helps, take the chrome end part off of the gun, it's just there to protect the tip on a flux core, completely unnecessary for function...

Yeah, I mostly just wing it, not really watching the puddle but it mostly works out. I'm used to stick welding though and have done more lately than I've done in a long time. If it helps, slow the wire speed to give yourself some time to think and get things going. Remember to concentrate on the bigger/thicker piece of metal, keep the wire there longer so you don't burn through. If you burn through, add wire speed or just stop and do a bunch of short welds to build up the hole and fill it in

Also, on that thin wall stuff, the low setting on the welder should be enough, with slow wire speed that will bring the heat up some and help the welds penetrate some and give yourself some time to see what is going on better.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Do you have some 500 watt halogens? getting lots of light on the subject really helps.

Cheater lenses help.

I bought some glasses made specifically for welding. I'm nearsighted, I need bifocals. I got the optician to put the myopic section at the top of the lens, so I didn't have to tilt my head back to see up close. Since then I've invested in glasses for welding that have a focal point about 10-12 inches in front of my face.

 

[Ranger850]

I put a tinted shields on the inside of my hood to make things darker. Its auto darkening too. I weld aluminum a lot and it burns a little brighter that steel. I forgot about the magnifying lenses you can put on the inside. I don't need those YET...

 

[Denisefwd93]

Thank you everyone for the encouragement! I must say, this is a little bit easier then trying to learn stick welding about 12 years ago.

 

[Denisefwd93]

Duh! the setting was set too dark, DNS think it's called. 9.5 seems about right.
got the non gas tip cover cone too.