First welds with new MIG need advice

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I have very limited esperience with MIG and really welding in general.  I can stick weld a bit, enough to know I am getting the penetration I need and the the weld will hold but I have maybe 15 minutes on a Clarke 130en MIG.  That basically sums up my wire feed experience.  I bought a Hobart 210 MVP a few days ago and finally got around to running some welds.  I had a guy from work bring me a small sheet of steel that is between 14ga and 1/8" closer to the 1/8" so i went with 1/8" settings for the most part.  All welds are with Hobart .030 wire (was the sample spool) with the machine running on 115 volts with the settings of 5/25.  I am looking for any advice as to what I can do differently to improve what I have done.  Most of the welds I was using a circular motion on the welds.  I think my biggest problem is fully seeing what is going on and I am not sure how to change it.  Where should I position my eyes in relation to the weld?  In front of the gun, behind?  I am having a real hard time seeing the puddle and keeping an eye on where I need to be going.  Most of my welds I had my head in front of the gun trying to watch where I was going while trying to see under the tip of the gun to see the puddle but it didn't seem to be working to well.  You can see this better where I was trying to keep straight joining metal in some of the lower pics.These were the first attempts.  Seemed good, had good penetration as the bottom of the steel had a glow when finished.  You can see the undersides of most of the welds in the other pictures.  The top weld was with the settings at 4/20 and the two below that were at 5/25 which seemed like better penetration.This was about 6" weld with setting at 5/25 again.Another 6" weld with 5/25 settings.I gave it a shot joining the plate steel to the tube on a dolly I have.  Settings again were at 5/25 with circular motion in the gun.  You can see how I was up and down on the weld, it was hard for me to see the joint as I was moving.  Should I be running the the helmet at a lower setting?  I was running with it at shade 10.This is the opposite side and I tried slowing down the gun to get a fuller weld.  Again it was tough to see the joint to see where I needed to be.  Same 5/25 setting.This was my last full weld as I ran out of wire.  This was the underside of the plate so I had a pretty deep crevice to work with.  I had the welder set at 5/25 on this weld but it looked like I went too fast on the first pass as it was leaving a bunch of voids deep in the crevice so when I did the other side I tried slowing it down and ended up burning through about half way across.  I then did a 2nd filler pass which brought the metal up and went with a 3rd pass to try and make it look decent.  I know it's ugly but I am pretty sure it's not going anywhere.Overall I am pretty happy for my first 30 minutes or so using a wire feed welder.  Any help, tips, instruction would be great as I really don't have anybody I know local that has any more experience than myself...especially on where to position myself to see what I need to be seeing.  Hopefully in the near future I can get a bottle so the welds are a lot cleaner.
Reply:Looking at Hobarts manual, your settings are low for 1/8" on 115v. I see 7/40 with .030 FC wire and 115v input from the chart in the manual, about what I'd expect to see from general experience.With FC wire you should keep the gun pointed at the weld you have already laid, and "drag" the bead. You want to look into the gun, so keep your head slightly behind the gun. FC wire is a bit more difficult to see the puddle than with bare wire/gas because you have to differentiate between the slag and the molten puddle. It takes practice and you need to pay close attention to what's happening around the arc, not the arc itself.Circles, C's, Z's straight ... all depends what works for you. I know some guys who like to teach circles or cursive e's. I personally prefer to start guys out with a straight drag. It helps keep things simple at 1st. I usually suggest going to C's or a Z pattern when doing filets simply to push the puddle where you want it to go between the 2 pieces. I usually reserve circles for guys who simply can not slow down enough.As far as lens shade, darker may be better. Everyone's eyes are different and what works for me may be too dark or too light for you. Also cheap hood usually have very poor optics. If you read a bit you'll find any number of guys who have noted how much better they can see as soon as they get a decent hood. A "good" hood doesn't have to cost a fortune. My fixed shade Jackson probably has better optics than my $300 Miller does at a fraction of the price. The advantage the Miller has is I can quickly change shades if I'm doing tig , mig or stick with a student to see the puddle the best. I've tried any number of mid range priced AD hoods that were certainly decent, so you don't have to spend a fortune to get a decent AD hood. Price generally does reflect quality in this area however.If you can, I'd suggest going to 230v power if you have the option. You are pretty much maxing out the machine at the suggested settings on 115v. A long 230v extension cord plugged into a 30 amp dryer outlet will give you plenty of power to run that machine to it's maximum capacity. Remember the settings change when you go to 230v power.Overall you aren't doing a bad job for the amount of time you have in. I've certainly seen a lot worse on peoples first attempts. Keep practicing. If you are thinking about moving to gas and solid wire, it will help you see the puddle better and get a good idea just what the metal is doing without the slag to hide the weld. If you do that, I'd suggest pushing the weld rather than dragging, but other than that everything pretty much stays the same except tweeking the wire speed a bit..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:I do plan on going to 230 volt but at the time all I have in the garage is an outlet for 115.  When I get a cord I will run 230 as you said from the dryer outlet.  I messed up on my metal thickness earlier, it's much closer to 14 gauge instead of 1/8" which is why I went with the lower setting of 5/25 instead of 7/40.  I am pretty sure 7/40 would have burned through, perhaps something in the power setting 6 range would have been more adequate....I didn't really have enough wire to experiment.  I have an 8" spool of .035 I will load up when I get a chance and give that a go.Thanks for the head/lens positioning tips.  I probably don't have the best welding helmet made, probably closer to the bottom side but so far it works.  This is the helmet I bought at the local store.http://www.ebay.com/itm/BLACK-AMERIC...item4d0012a3b6
Reply:If you can't get real life "hands on" training and experience, there's the next best thing!  COLLEGE....... That is "U of Y"!!!  (University of YouTube)!!!!!  It's online college you can attend for freeeeeeeee!I highly suggest you look up any and ALL mig welding videos by "Weldingtipsandtricks.com". In fact, go to that website to learn all sorts of tips for all types of welding!  From there, you'll also find this mig welding series which is probably the BEST you'll ever see!  Below is a link to part one of the series. Enjoy:[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjR9CPgRKbc&feature=youtube_gdata_player"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjR9CPgRKbc&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/ame]Lincoln Power Mig 216Lincoln AC/DC-225/125Miller  625 X-Treme PlasmaMiller 211 Forney 95FI-A 301HF 91110Victor Journeyman O/PMilwaukee DaytonMakita  Baileigh NRA Life Member
Reply:I probably don't have the best welding helmet made
Reply:Looks allright considering you're using 115V and gas-less flux core. The welds look a bit cold but that's inevitable with 115VThere is no logical reason to use a weaving motion, unless you're a robot, not a human. Only time to use a weave is for vertical welds generally speaking. Why would any welder choose to deliberately introduce inconsistencies into their welds if they had a choice? The usual response I get to this question is something like "it looks pretty." Human hands have a hard enough time making a straight line. Weaving is often used as a cover-up for bad weld settings that are too cold, or too hot.1)--->Acquire an angle grinder and clean off your metal before you attempt to weld. Cleanliness is godliness. 2)---->Get yourself access to 220 volt power. 3)----> Strongly consider investing in a bottle of CO2, flow regulator, and also a solenoid valve if needed. You should strongly consider not wasting money on that gas-less flux core crap. Instead, use low-cost, time-tested,  E71T-1 gas-shielded wire. You're want to use .035" wire.  For thin sheet under 1/8(3mm) use solid wire ER70S-6. (The former tends to burn through. NEVER use solid wire for thicker than 1/8" material unless you have high-current equipment.)If you do #3, you'll be able to make welds that look like this.NOT like this.Last edited by Joshfromsaltlake; 04-09-2012 at 06:29 AM.
Reply:I do plan on getting gas someday but at the moment it will have to wait due to funds.I did some more practice today and here is what I came up with.  I switched to E71T-GS wire in .035  I forgot I switched wire diameter at first and started with 1/8" settings for .030 wire which was way too hot at 7/40.  It ended up being a good thing though as I had a burn through where I got to practice filling it back in.After I figured out the settings were for .030 I changed to settings for .035 which on 1/8" is 6/20....I did check the metal on my caliper and it was right at .100 so the 1/8" settings should be a hair on the hot side according to the chart.  Here are the first 3 beads on the .035 wire at 6/20.  How on earth do you finish welds without burning out the end?  At the starts I was burning through a hair then I started my weld about a quarter inch in and worked back to the edge and then pulled away quickly.  That seemed to work well but I couldn't figure out how to do the finish weld without a burn.  I am not sure about the penetration but I think it was ok.  I held two spots too long and the underside in 2 places started to sag but never fully penetrated.These 2 runs are both at 6/20 as well but these are where I started about a quarter inch in and worked back to the edge then pulled away to try not to burn.  I actually stopped short on the last weld so I didn't have a burn through. The last one I started using the same 6/20 setting on some dolly tubing.  That's what I was welding the plate onto in the first set of pictures.  The 6/20 burned through almost immediately so I backed the settings down to 4/15 and then it was intermittant as the wire speed was too low.  You can see where the weld started to pile up about one inch in to two inches in.  Upped it to 4/20 and it seemed to do just fine the rest if the weld.  I then went back to the first inch and filled in the hole which I know is very ugly.  All in all I think these look better than my first but there is still a lot to be desired.  Hopefully I can get some gas one of these days and give it another go.Thanks for the video links as well as the tips on head/helmet/gun positioning!
Reply:If your are right handed try working right to left, gun leaned over in the direction you are going ( to the left) not a full 45deg. angle but maybe 60 deg and drag your weld, as the bead heats up you will see a puddle of molten metal and you should see the flux forming a slag pool behind that, as you drag you should be able to see your puddle clearly behind the arc where the wire is touching the metal. This is for Flux welding, not gas, I would however strongly reccomend hard wire and gas for sheet metal, the flux core gives guys a hard time and is better suited to thicker materials."Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum"Lincoln Idealarc 250 AC/DCMillermatic 251   Syncrowave 300   30A spoolgunLincoln MP210Hypertherm 45(2) LN 25(2) Lincoln Weldanpower 225 CV(4) SA200   1 short hood    SA250    SAM 400