***Sheet Metal Welding Woes...Need Advice***

[Bullitt-]

.. Good eyesight.....I'm Doomed to mediocrity......

    How about the red afterglow...seems like the better spots glow a little longer where the ones that don't look poor & every now & then one stays red hot a lot longer but still looks OK.

[hemiken]

Hey Wade, can you take a picture of the backside amd show us the penetration you are getting with your welding ? this will answer some questions to whether some welds are to hot or not hot enough buddy.

[Ross]

 

[Bullitt-]

Thought I'd move over to fresh area to keep it simple... 1st off welded with gas off looked wrong right off duuuuu.. anyway 2 welds looked good to me  1st pic front, second backside...Keep in mind this patch is about 3" tall.

[wagesofsin]

looks fine, and yes the gap may be to large, but thats not an issue. tack onto one side, wait a sec, tack on the other side and bridge. just be patient. thats better than some ive seen.
it will get better, and as was mentioned, you will become a welding feind!!!

[Bullitt-]

Finished welding the newer patch then ground down the excess    one side of the patch you could see light through practically the whole length...no "welding" just melted metal piled on top...2 sides did OK & the bottom, with the relatively large gap (thinner than a dime) did great.
  Sooo somewhere in my memory I have seen that a bit of a gap was intentionally left, while most material on the subject never mentions this... Any thoughts?

[hemiken]

You are correct Wade, the smallest of gaps is a good thing when welding with a mig welder, but if you were doing a butt join and welding with Oxy/Acetalyene then you would need the panels to fit flush against one another tightly to get best results.  You are mig weldind and a little gap does help with the penetration and excess wire forced into the join by the mig itself your doing great