Morris Minor Owners Club

i purchased a non gas welder for the simple reason, that i could only weld outside on the driveway. i'd have liked to have a gas welder, but it would have been pointless with the wind etc.

when i use the gasless welder, it tends to look like birds**t in a line. it's not a decent weld, although when ground down and filled, seems to be ok.

can someone point me in the right direction as to where i can improve my welding techneque? i tend to 'push' the welds and not pull them.

Try swapping the big power cables if you can. there is a specific section on migwelding.co.uk

polo2k wrote:Try swapping the big power cables if you can. there is a specific section on migwelding.co.uk

i don't understand what you mean there. there is the earth croc clip and the torch.

Sounds like you have a poor earth return. It is very important to attach the earth as near to where you are welding as possible and to a clean shiney metal surface.
Practice makes perfect, practice welding offcuts together on a workbench before you start on the car.
There are loads of mig welding tips and techniques on Youtube.

from personal experience, gasless welders are only good for thicker gauge metal but so long you are careful not to burn through and have a good 40 grit flap disc on a grinder it should turn out ok.
as for the polarity - gasless welders use a positive earth and negative torch, this is generally changed inside the compartment where the wire feed is, mine had two terminals which you switch depending on whther it is gasless or using gas.
for gasless it is positive = earth clamp and negative = torch
ive found that using gas outdoors works perfectly fine so long you have a windbreaker of some sort, an umbrella works well

lastly the ugly looking weld could be due to the welder you are actually using. i was using a powercraft gasless mig which made absolutely awful looking welds but once ground down it was perfectly ok (once i welded again and ground again). i recently changed to a snap-on mig using pub gas and the improvement is phenominal.

the mig welding forum is a great help but they would say that gasless is not very good unless you have one of the high end welders.

hope this helps

If the weld is piled up as you describe - I suggest you need more current!

If the weld is piled up as you describe - I suggest you need more current!

or move the torch faster as more current may burn through metal

You need to get the wire feed at the right speed, if it comes out too slow you will get the birds--t effect or the wire will stick to the nozzle, if its too fast the wire will push away from the work piece and you end up with strands of wire, the push method is the one you use on mig welding, like already been said it could be the earth connection or too low a voltage.

ok, i have taken on board your comments gents and thanks. i think it could be the current too low or poor earth. the machine is a sealy mightymig 100 don't get me wrong, it's a nice bit of kit. one thing i must say is that the wire i am using is what came with it (flux cored stuff). i have since purchased some more wire. is it worth trying different wire? i have checked the wire feed and that seems ok to me.

With it being a gasless welder, you can only use flux cored wire, the wire that came with it should be fine to use, use thicker wire for thicker steel. Oh and make sure the metal to be welded is clean.