Reg Green was right!
Spent another couple of hours in the shop attempting to teach myself to weld.
I took some evening courses about a zillion years ago at a local tech college (the old "one night a week for 15 weeks" thing).
Anyway, I scored a used big ol' Lincoln 110V mig a while ago, and last week I finally got around to getting a 40 foot bottle of co2/AR and some nice new wire for it and decided to go through every welding "how to" I could find on the web and see what's up.
After all it seems that EVERY guy on here can do it, right?
So following the advice on the web, I start off by finding a combination of wire speed and power that gives me a nice-sounding "BzzzzzzzzT on a nice clean piece of steel. OK - now we have amps & speed. Now we practice on a flat piece and try to get a nice looking bead. two hours, and a pound or two of wire later, its starting to look good. Nice penetration, nice looking "stack of dimes" bead.
So, lets see if I can put two pieces of metal together.
Well, yes, If I use crazy glue, or "the handy man's secret weapon"
Otherwise - not looking so good. That was Monday.
Tuesday, ditto
Today, I start again with some fresh pieces of steel, hit them with angle grinder, get nice shiny surfaces, clamp them together in the form of a cross, and have at it.
And lay down some nice beads, undo the clamp and "clank, rattle" as the top one hits the floor while the bottom one stays on the table.
So - another couple of pieces of steel, all cleaned and scuffed, turn the power up some more, add a bit more gas. Weave the puddle between the two pieces of steel at the join. Ensure that puddle is well into BOTH pieces.
shut welder off, release the clamp.
Clank, rattle.
Sigh. Pass the duct tape, please. Red Green was right.