First time build - Steel Frame CNC Router

[valdis034]

And how about using inserts? Then you dont have to worry about wall thickness.

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[njhussey]

Or do what EddyCurrent did and glue in a strip of 6mm flat and drill and tap that...

[examorph]

Thanks for the advice guys, I ended up changing the arrangement slightly by only making the rear bed support from 3mm box, all other 4 (including front) are 4mm. So there should be enough box section to bolt the bed onto and will leave the back 3mm section as a support.

Spent half the day cutting/grinding more of the box section and the rest of the day, failing at welding Some horror shows for you below:

1st weld on frame:
Attachment 17844

thinking of cutting this off and starting again. It was over two runs, had let it cool down after doing a bit

Few more welds after this:

Attachment 17838Attachment 17839Attachment 17840Attachment 17841Attachment 17843

Ended up grinding it down and squaring it up many times before I got anything close to square. Ended up with the below, plan is to do both sides and then join them with the sections in between.

Attachment 17842

Was jumping from one side of the frame to the other when welding and did not go back to weld the opposite face until I could touch it again, hopefully this is ok.
Settings for the mig were 2 Volts and 3 for the speed.

Before I continue welding/assembling tomorrow, could you guys please help me with a few questions:
- Is it OK to go back over welds to fill in the gaps, if any?
- Any recommendations on getting into the tighter angles for welding?
- I ended up running 100mm constant welds down the side of the 100x50 box section, should I be splitting this into two runs. 50mm at a time and wait for cooling before going again?
- From the images shown, does the amount of "overlap" on each side of the weld look like its enough? I was worrying as I only really concentrated on filling the gap and wasnt sure if I needed to drag the weld over each face enough to properly join the two sections.

[Davek0974]

if i can suggest popping over to here...

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk

You can pick up a lot of good help, *some* of those welds look ok, some look dodgy but all will most likely do the job.

You should not need to re-run a weld, what sort of gap are you bridging? Any more that a mm or so and you will struggle.

[cropwell]

Have you got an auto-darkening mask. If it is set too dark you will not be able to see properly what you are doing. Also reflections from the back of the glass can make it difficult to see where the weld is going, I have a leather shroud on the back of mine to cut out reflections from the workshop lights.

cheers,

Rob

[examorph]

Dave - Thanks for the link, it was very helpful in clearing up some of my confusion. Gaps I would say so far have been ~1-2mm, although the rads make them look much bigger.

Rob - Thanks, think a good starting point for tomorrow would be to pick up a decent mask as so far I have been using the hand held mask that came with the welder.

[Clive S]

A decent angle grinder will work wonders to the look of the weld

[Davek0974]

Dave - Thanks for the link, it was very helpful in clearing up some of my confusion. Gaps I would say so far have been ~1-2mm, although the rads make them look much bigger.

Rob - Thanks, think a good starting point for tomorrow would be to pick up a decent mask as so far I have been using the hand held mask that came with the welder.

The mask will be 99% of your troubles - bin that hand-held POS, nobody uses them anymore. Get a reasonable auto-darkening helmet, around £45-50 but will be a life-changing purchase, set to about 10 or 11 on the scale to start with, fast reaction and MIG setting.

Then make sure you have some decent welding gloves at least one on your left hand anyway (assuming right-handed), hold gun with right hand and steady the end with part of the left hand. This will improve appearance and quality no-end.

Watch more videos - MIG is pretty easy to get right, but you need to follow examples, take a few examples too as there are some crap videos out there that will steer you wrong.

2mm is a big gap, get it smaller if possible, if not then use a gentle weaving motion on the run to get the two parts to fuse fully, only do one run but make it a good or at least usable one. Don't forget, you are not just applying weld, you need to get the three parts - two components and the mig wire to become one solid item.

Grinder work will make you a decent grinder not a decent welder - again, get it right from the start, only going where you need a fit. Do a test on two similar parts then cut down the middle, you want that weld to be going most of the way through if not all.

Practice, practice, practice.

What gas are using ????

One other thing - cover up ALL bare skin - MIG will give you a sunburn like no other and very fast, i can get a burn in as little as 6" of welding at 160A and it stings like hell, main target is the left arm and chest if shirt is open collar.