Well it was pretty cold out today but I messed with the welder more today. I cranked up the voltage and lowered the feed speed and it burns through or does not penetrate so I just left it right above where it would just barely burn through and went faster then I'm use to and tacked it in a bunch of places. Trying to compensate for not having any gas left. It appears to be holding, I hit it with a BFH a few times and nothing broke, just have to fill in the holes and start on the other side. I tried a different piece of metal and had the same issues. Kinda helped to walk away from it for a day. No idea how to weld correctly I guess. I still am going to blame the welder.

 

With solid core wire and no shielding gas, the weld is going to be full of gas bubble holes...

 

Yup, not much I can do about it. It's either crappy weld it or duct tape the panels on, and I'm out of rivets. Or I can use seam sealer and body filler and por15 to hold the panels on I need the car and have no more money for gas for the welder. I plan on do a correct restore on the car at a later time, right now I'm just trying to seal it up with what I got laying around so I can drive it.

 

Bernie's advice is some of the best you are going to get. I weld and have qualified to stick weld pipe in all positons, am fair at TIG but I totally blow at MIG. All I can tell you about MIG is that the wire feed speed is really your amperage control. But in my stick/TIG world I don't have to worry about voltage control like you do for MIG. My only real attempt at helpful advice would be advise to you to get a couple different lens shades and try them all. I don't know your age or the condition of your vision, but believe me it makes a big difference. 10 shade is the starting place, but you may want to try a 9 or even 8 shade. It all depends on your age, if you are using a magnifier (cheater) lens or how many cover lenses you use. The more clear cover lenses you use, including a cheater, the more light is cut out from your vision.

 

Definitely good advice from everyone. Whenever I get money I am going to buy a auto-darkening helmet. I will also buy some more clamp on lights (probably 8-10) and get floursent and regular bulbs, since welding blows up the flouresent and I like them for body work. Right now I have no covers over my lens and it is in sad shape, the cover melted because I had the mask on the weld where I was welding, . But instead of buying a new lens I'm going to buy another helmet. My current lens is a 10.

I also read that pushing rather then pulling has less chance of blowing through, but when I push my tip gets clogged and I can't see what I'm welding. Just need more practice. I fiddled with the settings like crazy today in an attempt to get a good weld without gas, no dice.

I just turned 28 and I have contacts, but my hearing is still worse then my sight

Well here are a few pictures of my worst patch ever, but it don't move and has no holes.

 

MIG welding without shielding gas is not doable... You could always try flux core wire (FCAW), HF has the stuff cheap as does Lowes and Home Depot. It doesn't require shielding gas but does tend to spatter; just remember to reverse the polarity on your machine.

 

Are you welding with your contacts in? Not a good idea, as welding tends to dry out the area between the cornea and the contact, and next thing you know, you pull your cornea out with your contact.

 

This isn't much to do with the problem, but you are holding the gun too close to the work - even at a lower current setting you should be far enough back that you would be able to see the wire & weld pool, further back still if high settings/spray-transfer etc.

But as Bern said, you can't get any good result without gas, if using solid core wire. I don't mean to sound negative, I'm just saying this because I know the frustration you'll have trying.
Painted or zinc coated steel makes it more difficult too.

 

I was taught to rock the tip into what you are welding then pull. I use the guard for the tip as a guide and run it along what I'm welding so I don't go off course. Usually I flange all the edges of what piece I'm welding in so it is flush, I didn't do that this time. I know welding without gas is not good, but I have one panel left to weld and I'm almost out of wire as well. I also broke my shield today, good thing I always wear safety glasses or that could have sucked, permanent welding shield glass in my eyes. Hopefully I find another mask somewhere laying around here or I'm going to be screwing the last piece in and seam sealing the crap out of it. All the edges a couple inches wide I cleaned all the paint and rust off everything. Too bad I'm too awesome to get a job or getting all the things I want/need wouldn't be a problem to just go and get. First things first though need a car to get to an interview with that don't cost me over $100 to put gas in.

On another note a friend found some decals he had laying around from when he had an econoline pickup. Hopefully the Boss 144 decals and stripes will make the car go faster than 60mph

 

If your welder has burnback adjustment, set it so that when you release the trigger at the end of a weld, you have about 3/8-1/2" of wire sticking out past the shroud.
And hold the gun back when you're welding so that you also have at least 3/8-1/2" sticking out as you weld too (that's on panel work - more on heavy welding).

The shroud shouldn't normally touch the weld or the work - if the tip is that close you will have trouble with it fouling up, then the wire feed will become sticky.
If that happens, file the end of the tip clean & use a tip cleaner to smooth inside the bore. Some anti-spatter spray or dip will help keep it clean longer.