MIG welding advice

[rustbucket]

Hellllo,

I recently purchased a MIG welder... a Clarke 105en (I know it's not great, but can't afford anything better)

I got some 1mm steel, and trying the welder on lots of different settings, but just can't get it to actually weld. It just keeps creating lumps of melted welding wire on the surface on the metal, and only very occasionally melts/bonds the steel. Occasionally it creates the right sound and welds properly for about half a second, but then just starts spattering again.

I'm using carbon gas and 0.8mm wire.

Is there any pieces of wisdom about what might be causing this? Is it settings, unclean steel? I know it's probably a combination, but I just can't seem to get it right.

Maybe I just wasted £80 on a crap piece of kit.

[rustbucket]

A bit more research, it seems that not enough power is making it through.

Apparently this could be the contact tip being too far from the point of weld.

Even on full power it's just building up and not penetrating at all.

The other day it was welding much better. Since then I don't think I've changed anything, except the gas, but before I was using pure Argon gas, now I'm using pure carbon.

What other things could be causing the lack of power? My electronics skills are nearly non-existant.

[1_eyed_jim]

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Plasticman]

get onto 0.6 wire and the correct gas for starters
mm

[fazzer]

as mm says 0.6 wire would probably be better,also steel needs to be clean.you,ll probably find the fact that welder is only a 105amp makes welding more difficult i use a 135 turbo and that works great.try using co2 gas(pub bottle)probably more suited to your welder.other than that keep practising.