After day 1 results, Alan gave me some sheet metal. We thought this would be more beneficial, considering my welding on 4130 wasnt all that great yet and so many holes burnt through while learning to weld. So I tried welding some of these flat sheets of mild steel together without much luck still. I kept burning holes and nothing looked right. I rang Amweld where I bought my torch, for some assistance.
He explained that the torch may be operating too hot. After setting the regulators to 4psi the Henrob 2000 torch valves are not required to be fully open and each tip has a range of heat settings (not just full on). Basically too much acetylene means that that the amount of heat was too much thus burning holes. After setting the regulators correctly and moving to the correct tip, I opened the acetylene so the black smoke had just dissapeared then added oxygen to gain a neutral flame. This meant a lower temp flame. Now I could actually aim the torch at the metal and watch it heat until I saw a puddle...and it didnt even blow a hole. Well not as quickly as previously anyway. I was able to move the torch at a steady rate and keep the molten puddle moving. I quickly got used to the dip in / dip out method of using filler rod, but of course still isnt perfect.
I ran the torch in lines across my practice sheets until I felt more comfortable. The welds started looking much nicer than ever before. They looked and felt alot stronger too. Everything was looking better, but still not perfect. At this stage I am up to around a total time of around 2 or 3 hours of welding.
Unlike my welds from day 1, I was unable to break any of the 3 welds I made to the 4130 steel tube today. It was great to see my welds didnt have slag, looked neater, and didnt break when I strength tested them. Now I just have to work on making that beading look even nicer and ensuring penetration is good.
More detailed pictures are available in my photo album here.
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