manothewoods

Many thanks to you all for your input, I ave just purchased some 2.5mm mildtrode electrodes and these seem to make fillets without too many problems. The guy I spoke with also gave me some pointers and even offerred to come round if I had any further difficulties, its nice to know that there are people out there that will help a fella in need. Many thanks to HWooldridge for the link as this was how I found this place.

okay so I have 6013 but where in the uk can I buy the other rods as most places only seem to sell 6013? Thge comments about arc length are interesting as are travel speed as I have also tried running the rod pretty much in the puddle and holding it there for a reasonable amount of time but I seem to just get larger amounts of weld forming on either side of the join?

many thanks to all the responses, I have just tried uppiing the amperage and this seems to help a little although burnthrough is becoming a problem and removing the slag is very difficult. All the suggestions about trying different rods are great and I want to give that a go, does anyone know of a place that sells a variety of rods in the uk? Thanks also for the safety prompt, I have a full face mask with glass lense of the required spec- I like to be able to use my eyes. Although much of the work I am doing is non structural I am a bit of a perfectionist and I would like my welds to look neat as well as serve a purpose oh and chrispy thanks for the info on hole filling no wonder I can't seem to fill some of the gaps.

In the uk websites I only seem to be able to find 6013 do you think I should try some of those instead?

I have attached some pictures to show the trouble I have been having. This mess was made using a 2mm rod with 2mm steel, supported with a magnetic welding clamp ( I have tried using non magnetic clamp and there is no difference) earth is connected to right end of piece or bottom depending on which picture you look at. The amperage was a little over 60 amps. I tried to use the the L shape as suggested above but again metal was deposited on either side but with no join between the 2. Pic 1 was weld before slag removal.

In answer to a few questions I have been trying to weld 2mm steel at 90 degrees to each other i.e an L shape. I have the AC welder (Clarke Welder (UK make) set at just below 60 amperes. The metal is cleaned from dirt grease and is sanded so it is shiny I found that this made striking the arc much easier. The rods I have been using say that they are general purpose 1.6mm electrodes ideal for welding mild steel blah blah I cannot seem to find any numbers like the ones mentioned in this thread or have any idea where to obtain them in the uk. I nievely thought that these would be okay. When I finish running a seam it looks okay and then I chip off the slag and there is rarely a bond between both bits of metal. I am having trouble differentiating between the slag and the metal in the weld puddle.

I am still very green to stick welding and have just finished my first project of building a forge, however th welds look reall messy where I have tried to create the fillets and I have only managed to get adherance to both pieces of metal at random points. I have looked at a lot of resources on the web and havetried altering the angle of arc, the amperage, the arc length, made sure the metal was clean etc. I seem to bve able to get the weld material to adhere really neatly but only to one part either the horizontal piece or the vertical piece. I am really confused and a bit frustrated as I can do really neat welds on the flat but as I said barely get any join when it comes to welding 2 bits at a 90 degree angle to each oher. any help greatly appreciated.