Harbor Freight Auto Dark Helmet

Stan you are right about learning to weld easier and faster with an auto dark helmet. I've been practicing using 5/16 6013 on 6 ga. sheet steel trying to get up the nerve to start fabricating a grass catcher. I learned more in 20 min of practice tonight than I did in 2 or 3 hours previously.

If anyone can give me tips about about how to finish the weld at the edge of the sheet without burning a notch in the metal, that'd be greatly apprieciated.

Tim

You are a he-man!

By the way, for what you are describing, don"t feel as if you must weld long consistant beads around the entire grass catcher. You may want to use short beads spaced across the sheet, and allow plenty of cooling between each short bead. If you get the work to hot, it will expand(warp). Just something to bear in mind when welding 6ga sheet steel.

I think I can help you with the burning through at the edge problem---don't use 5/16" electrodes. Since they won't even strike an arc at less than about 350 amps, of course they're going to burn through metal that's just over 3/16" thick. And since they're about the size of Little League bats, they're hard to control without using a tripod.

Okay, just kidding; I know a typo when I see one. But if either the numerator or denominator you gave is correct, you may be using rod that requires too much power for the job you're doing. 3/16 and 5/32 are both bigger than I'd use (I discount the possibility that you're using 1/16 and accidentally called it 5/16---for one thing, it wouldn't burn a notch on the edge of 6 gauge without you really working at it.) With metal .2031 thick, you should have good luck with 3/32 or 1/8 6013, 6010, 7014, or 7018.

6010 (6011 if your welder is AC only) is an extremely effective electrode that welds better than it looks like it's welding. Compared to the medium penetration, heavy flux electrodes like 6013 and 7014, 6010/6011 always seem to be on the verge of being out of control. The powerful arc, the spatter, and the heavy smoke make you think you're burning up the work, but the deep penetration and quick freezing can make them outperform the gentler electrodes---even on thin metal.

6013 is a pleasant rod to weld with. It strikes and restrikes easily with either AC or DC. You can run it so that the slag lifts itself off as it cools. You can get a weld bead that's so beautiful that you want to take a picture of it and frame it. The only problem is that it doesn't like dirt, or grease, or rust, or poor fit up, or cold metal. And sometimes, it lays down what looks like a perfectly good bead, but when you chip away the slag there are areas that look exactly like two half size beads, side by side, with a space (filled with crispy slag) between them. I've tried ten brands of 6013, every size from 1/16 to 1/4 (Peewee League bat), and more hours than I want to think about, trying to find out why that happens. I've run hot, cold, fast, slow, near, far, and always, it sometimes just happens. If 6013 didn't also happen to be particularly good at creating a texture I use for a lot of a certain kind of sculpture, I would have stopped liking it a long time ago.

Be careful with the knob on the back of the headband---the splines on the tightening mechanism strip out pretty easily. And if you get your hands on a wire feed welder that has a 100% duty cycle at 300 amps or more, and you get in real close to the work and then weld until your gloves are smoking, the optics in your helmet will malfunction---but they'll come back after it cools for a few hours.

All the best, Stan

I am using I think 3/32 6013 on new 16 ga. sheet metal.

Last night I was running at 40-45 amps DC- and tried it at about 35-40 amps AC. Making pretty nice welds, and my 90 degree butt welds with scrap pieces are plenty strong. Just need to work on a consistenly smooth bead that is not too heavy, and finishing off the edges better. Welding from both sides toward the middle may be just the ticket.

Regards,
Tim

16 gauge is a whole different story. I've spent hours trying to get decent welds on 16 gauge using 3/32 6013 (and other 3/32 electrodes). Last year I covered the sides of a grill top welding table with 16 gauge sheet metal, and built a chimney cap out of 12 and 16 gauge, plus a couple of other small projects.

The table I covered was at the community college welding shop, so I got to use every process I thought might work. I got reasonably good results using one of our smallest GMAW welders---a Lincoln 175 amp unit running .023 solid wire and 75/25 shielding gas. If I'd had more practice with that machine, I think the results would have been quite good.

I had my usual indifferent results using the 6013. It really helps if the cosmetic aspect isn't important; I can get quite decent results when the weld bead doesn't have to be continuous. That project, however, was going to be in the welding shop until they tear the place down, probably, so I wouldn't have been comfortable turning out work that would have been structurally sound but ugly.

The chimney cap was another project where I was unwilling to accept an ugly but functional result. I spent an altogether unreasonable amount of time filling holes I'd burned through the metal---either in the initial welding of the seams, or in trying to fill those holes.

I frequently try to use stick when wire feed would be a more practical process. Partly it's the challenge of knowing that it CAN be done with stick.

It sounds like you've gotten enough good suggestions that you should be able to finish your project with good results. Try some 3/32 6010 or 6011 sometime, though. If you have a welder with at least 70 volts open circuit voltage (it should say so somewhere on the machine, or you can measure it across the leads) you should get surprisingly good results (some grinding will be necessary) running your electrodes fairly cool---45-60 amps.

All the best, Stan

Glenn