My first attempt with my Arcmate 160D

[tempsho]

This is my first time MIG welding with my brand new Arcmate 160D. What do you think of these welds. I don't know what kind of penetration I am getting. Maybe tomorrow I will cut them open to see how deep the weld goes. Any tips you can give me? (besides lots of practice and patience)

[Gadget]

They look pretty good to me but I'm not a MIG guy.

[SICFabrications]

the welds have too much wire speed and not enough voltage. youre getting cold lap on the toes of the weld and the throat is too tall.... basically meaning you are running cold and too slow

[tempsho]

So bump up the voltage and the travel speed a bit then? Thanks for the tips, i'll give that a shot.

[oneeyedmac]

Any updates. I love to see progress pics, it gives me hope that someday, maybe, I'll get this....

[rustycase]

Yup! SICF is a great judge!

...When the bead looks like a caterpillar settin on the plate, you just didn't get enough penetration and it would not have been the best structural weld.
Burn it in!
rc

[tempsho]

Here is the cart I built for both of my machines.



I cranked up the voltage, went a bit slower and the results improved a bit.

[KHK]

Looking GOOD!

[Tritium]

Looks GREAT compared to my welds.

Thurmond

[SICFabrications]

yep, much better.... as you start to get used to laying down the "hot glue" now, you can start to manipulate the torch to gain that "signature" looking weld bead.