First oxyacetylene bead

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These are my first two weld beads. I would like to hear what you think. By the way this site is great. I'm learning a lot from all of you. THANKS!!! Attached Images
Reply:Mitchell,These are really good for your first attempt!   1.  I noticed on both welds, you could add a little extra filler metal to fill in the crater at the end of the weld.  The concave crater tends to crack, is a weak point, acts as a stress riser where a failure may initiate.2.  The beads a little irregular, so just practice on moving the torch at a constant speed, in a straight line, at a constant distance and angle from the joint.3.  When adding filler wire, dip the wire into the molten puddle, don't melt off the wire with the flame.  Also when adding the wire, dip - retract, dip - retract, at a steady rhythm to create nice even ripples in the weld.Looking forward to your next set of welds! Thanks for sharing, good work.
Reply:^^^^^ what he saidat the end of the weld you want to add a little moundas you would when tig weldingif you leave the "hole" cracks do indeed resulti've seen some aluminum welded and the end of the weld was like thatit was annodizedat the end of every weld there was a little white line in the black annodizationthat my friend is a crackand this piece is "brand new?"we still say "you want a tit not a cu*t at the end of a weld"...zap!
Reply:I like the second weld more, it seems to have a little more filler in it.  You should get better results with a thicker filler wire.  I like to use 3/32" for anything 1/8th inch and bigger.  I've had success with the 3/32" rod on metal up to 1/4".  I use a 1/16th inch rod for anything between 1/8th inch and 22 guage.  Buy those two rods and you should be covered for all welds up to 1/4 inch.Oh, when you finish with the weld, pull the torch off slowly and the metal wont bubble up as it hardens.
Reply:Looks like you should clean the steel a lot more before you start, you'll find it a lot easier to weld.  But there looking good, keep practicing!Stephen