Trying to weld, I’m terrible!

rr4406pak said
Trying to weld in some floor patches in my 69’ Dart. Using a MillerMatic 251 MIG welder with .030” wire. Can’t get a good weld for the life of me (as you can see). Been trying the whole day. I suck. Blowing holes through the floor. Turn the voltage and speed down and now the weld just piles up in ugly blobs (and still blow holes here and there). Ended up just grinding them down to see what I was doing. YouTubers make it look so easy, no idea what I’m doing wrong.
Would these ugly stitch welds hold though?
Any help is greatly appreciated. I’m so frustrated I want to give up… :-(

View attachment 1715987857

Looks like you're trying to run a continuous bead.

rr4406pak said
Trying to weld in some floor patches in my 69’ Dart. Using a MillerMatic 251 MIG welder with .030” wire. Can’t get a good weld for the life of me (as you can see). Been trying the whole day. I suck. Blowing holes through the floor. Turn the voltage and speed down and now the weld just piles up in ugly blobs (and still blow holes here and there). Ended up just grinding them down to see what I was doing. YouTubers make it look so easy, no idea what I’m doing wrong.
Would these ugly stitch welds hold though?
Any help is greatly appreciated. I’m so frustrated I want to give up… :-(

View attachment 1715987857

Running a contunuous bead will not work. Too much head gererated so warping is a problem. What I would do is find a tig welder for rent and practice. If you must use a mig, approach it as a whole bunch af good, solid tack welds...start at one end, make a tack approx 1/4 X 1/4 and let it cool. Tack the other end while you wait. Rinse and repeat. When all the tacks are combined, as long as you overlapped each one by 1/16, you will have a good solid weld with minimal warping. Don't grind it to make it look pretty, to many people do this and it ends up cracking because the material is so thin. Another thing I've done in the past is place a piece of thicker steel on the opposite side to serve as a heat sink. Just dont blow through the panel and weld your heat sink to the panel you're repairing!
Good luck, welding thin old sheet metal is a tough job for even experienced welders.
One last thing, make sure your weld prep is complete and very, very clean before you attempt the weld. A little more prep time and attention can save countless hours recutting and prepping again. Hope it works out...