Newbie needs advice

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I got my first welder up and running yesterday. It's a Lincoln SP-180T. I've put 4 or 5 hours of practice into it so far, and I wanted to get some feedback on the progress I'm making. Here it is after I cleaned it up:After that, I cut it in half so we could take a look at the insides:Any hints?What am I doing right? What am I doing wrong?
Reply:see in yer pic #8 how the metal you depositied is  sitting on top of the angle and is seperate globs?that is cold..not enough heat to melt the angle or melt together..this joint is not a good thing to practice, get some flat plate and run some long beads..try a little more heat, learn to watch the puddle flow along as you weld..make sure yer hood lets you see well,without that you have no chance...
Reply:your having major sheilding gas problems, you have heaps of porosity those welds will be very weak. you need to post up what wire your using, your gas and flow rate and welder settings for any one to make a good guess as to the problem.
Reply:Wire Feed is 2/10 Amp is c (e is highest)Gas bottle is barely open which maxes out the gauge.
Reply:Originally Posted by ScottmkivGas bottle is barely open which maxes out the gauge.
Reply:I figured out how to adjust the gas. It was much too high when I did those welds
Reply:Definatly wrong gas flow. I get by with 16 psi welding inside quite nicely with my lincolin 180T, I started to run it lower after i used my first bottle up too fast. Try your settings under the door. it will show the best heat for what thickness of material and what wire. also make sure your whip is pushed in tight. you will hear the gas come right from the end of the gun when it is.Nothing Ever Got Done By Quitting, Never Give Up.
Reply:When you open the valve on your gas bottle, you want to open it all the way, til you feel it seat. That takes the high pressure off of the valve seals. Then you adjust your flow with the regulator. That applies to Oxygen, too, but not acetylene (or other fuel gases). They should only be opened a max of 1 1/2 turns.
Reply:Those welds look a little cold to me....
Reply:I suggest you start on larger sectional sized material.That looks like 1"? A short weld length needs to be right from the start and gives you little time to adjust and little weld to assess.Give yourself time on the metal to start and feel the weld to give yourself a chance to get your travel, amps, torch angle etc right . ie welds 3 or so inches long.Then go to smaller sections .If thats all you have try laying the SHS along each other and start with a corner fillet.Last edited by Brett; 07-02-2011 at 08:08 PM.A good guess is better than a bad measurement
Reply:along with the others advice practice straight beads make sure you have a good ground with clean metal some of those blobs look like you were bouncing 350P 30A spool gun cut master 51  syncro 250 other stuff " take a dog off the street and make him prosper and he will not bite you sad the same cannot be said for man" i didnt use punctuation just to piss you off