Hi all,
I tried out some of your recommendations today and welded a couple of fillets. I took two pieces of 50 mm x 50 mm x 3 mm mild steel angle and clamped them back to back with about a 25 mm overlap, so that I could weld a fillet down each side. I know the steel looks rather rusty in the pictures but I cleaned off as much as I could using a wire cup brush. The rust really is very superficial.
First I tried the angles RoyJ suggested, together with Brian's idea of hanging the cable over my shoulder, and made sure I watched the pool like Grant said. For all the welds I used 3.25 mm 6013 rods, 145 amp current setting and no weave. My welder is on the end of a long electricity supply line so I reckon I get more like 120-125 amps. Anyway, 145 amps is the next setting up from what I would normally use for a butt weld in 3 mm plate. The first weld had a minor slag inclusion at the beginning but it's way better than the fillets I was doing before. Here's a picture:
My technique looks much improved. I think I was using the wrong angles and not watching the arc closely enough. Now I reckon I just need to practice a bit to get rid of those little slag inclusions at the start of a weld, neaten up my restarts and banish the small patches of undercut and spatter. Any suggestions?
Thanks very much for the help!
Chris