For staino, the larger the cup the better the coverage and resultant bead colour because of the cooling effect on parent metal larger cups have. I'll often use a jazzy10 or 12 on staino, I only use the really big cups if there are access issues and I need a really long stick out to get into where I...

i think it depends a bit on what your comparing to. many use standard gas lens with a wider screened cup (eg furick, which has its own diffuser screens in it) because its easy to swap to smaller cup eg for steel use or tight spaces, even tho it costs more. its a bit of a pain to swap from large size...

let me know if that doesn't work.
however i question 14 years on here and thats your only post ??

a cheap machine can hold you back, especially if your fighting the machine. one of the common issues with cheap machines is they don't always deliver the amps/volts they say they do (or do for the first bit then drop down). therefore tend to run cold welds. also why some people use settings that are...

i assume the top is on the flat back side. where do the legs fit? just looking at what handles the loads. how much load does the circle part take? if the load is small then a small weld would be fine and easy to do. maybe a bit of fine tuning the mig set up so its not quite as messy. however a few b...

thats how you end up with bad welds.
don't be those guys.

jody has heaps of video's on this. basically you want to scratch the rod like lighting a match. do this where your going to weld so the weld will hide the arc marks. after the strike your probably going to be long arcing a bit, which is ok. just keep it long, bring it back to where you want to start...

nice build.

sounds similar to what i see here in local box store product reviews. usually its a case of blaming the product instead of the operator. blame the welder/wire/whatever when they are not using it correctly. seen that with many other items.

i had a look at some other brands of auto darning lens. Lincoln make one at around $200us. a company i know of sell another brand but thats still more than what you can buy a whole complete helmet for. i have heard of ones being made for pipeliner setups but $$$$. i found a local non-welding shop th...

Then what quality 2 x 4 lenses you recommend? I'm thinking it's the uv keeping them from triggering, which is why they have a shield on it. Explains why light triggers it but not the sun. i recommend none. no one that i can see even sells them here. buy a decent helmet. the shield is to keep weld s...

I mean I'm just using them because they are a standard size that fits standard helmets. I could buy dedicated helmets but then finding replacement lenses will be harder. you normally don't replace them because they rarely fail. mine are 6-7 years old now. tho i can still get replacement parts if i ...

Al_Bundy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 08, 2024 6:05 pm I figured those would be two less variables that I can eliminate to be able to focus on just the welding part.

i so wish other people would learn that.
the key to learning most things is to reduce the variables at play, which makes it easier to learn.

good job. certainly getting there. the outside is better than some of mine and i've seen pro's do it worse. thats really good fit up which makes things a lot easier. with those tacks i would increase the pre flow a bit so your not getting that black oxidized ring on the tacks. also i like to do a li...

if its the cheap non-adjustable ones then throw it in the bin. you can't fix them, they are disposable. those size lens are made to fit in the old style cheap fixed lens helmets. you need the fully adjustable ones. adjustable shade, adjustable sensitivity and adjustable delay. even the cheap ones he...

quite possibly using pulse which can give the fine ripples, but bigger dimes can be from doing double fill to build up the dime.
however i have also seen this look from double pulse mig.

what brand/model?
can you post pics of it?

have you tried the O's gun manipulation? one advantage of it is you tend to slightly favor one side, the side you move forward on, which is handy for welding different thicknesses or horizontal. i'm not a huge fan of the back/forth style, try to make it look like tig. only time upgrading machine hel...

I am using an auto darkening helmet. I have it cranked all the way up to 210 amps. I was trying to weld 1/8" aluminum. I haven't tried other materials. Thanks for your response. it sounds like your learning to tig weld and starting on aluminum, which is a little tough. have you mig welded or s...

thank you arno. always good info.

not sure what you mean by "just glows overly bright".

what helmet/hood do you have and what is it set to?
what amps are you running?
and what size material?
have you welded steel and/or stainless?

the bottom bit has to support sideways. but also vertical pull. especially with metal cladding the expansion/contraction will pull the bottom up/down. get a bit of dust, workshop grind under it and it will lift off the floor a bit. a capillary break is usually a strip of plastic or tar paper/felt be...

thats much easier to see. i would not weld it. a weld won't stop the angle from lifting off the concrete. welding on concrete is usually frowned on as the concrete can blow chunks out of it. i would just go hire a concrete nail gun or just glue it (as long as the concrete is clean). i notice no capi...

pics would help. i don't recommend welding against concrete. also i would not recommend welding to the kick out flashing. you will destroy any rust proofing. also not sure why you would want to as thats away from the inside panel. also that kickout is to push water out that drains down the back of t...

you need to go see a construction engineer or builder.
its not really a welding topic.
down here we have kitset sheds/leanto that you can put up yourself. not sure if you have similar.

pay to post a pic of the situation.