Give a man some settings and he welds for a day, teach a man what the setting does, and he welds what he wants.
Like the guy who say's, my welds usually look better but it's not the machine I'm used to. Or they would have looked better but I had a hard time dialing it in? Maybe, I'm having a problem can you tell me what I'm doing wrong?
Instant gratification. Seems it's what we want? All the pleasure with out the pain. I tried to share in the pain. The pain of learning. What this does, that does and how it has an effect on something else.
I'm going to briefly talk about the gap. What do you do if it is to wide? Can you adjust welding parameters to compensate?
Shielding gas was mentioned. How much is too much, and how does to little effect things?
Where does volts and WSF fit into the picture in melting that skinny wire? I commented about the big old ball at one point. Well...is it getting smaller now and why?
I posted a couple of my drawings. Did you look at those closely? If you study them, you might find a few answers to ease the pain of learning.
If you did what I suggested, you might also discover they start to make sense?
In doing what I do, I tend to remove a lot of metal from those who were taught "settings" to weld. The do as I do crowd. I get it, it's easy that way. Your still sticking it together, and with a bit of grinding, a bit of filler, good to go.
While anyone can weld, or paint cars for that matter, the fella who "knows", does it better, more consistently, uniformily, and understands why, because education put into practice yields better results.
For everything else is grinders and sand paper to remove imperfections that could probably have been avoided with education, the knowledge that goes with it, and practice?
Judging from your last picture of three beads on coupons, things are improving. Fantastic. Maybe it was as simple as more gas shielding? I'm sure with a excessive stick out it had to do something of benefit?
"Your welding Technique should be the same as used for regular steel welding"
Those reading may not appreciate the soundness of this advice, but in order to develop technique it takes knowledge. And knowledge must be applied in practice.
I liked the first weld of the three. What I'm not sure about is the color in between the weld and area protected by shielding gas? What's that about?
Did you do something different between them, because they look different in appearance? Went from skinny to plump in the middle one? And the third one. Where you squeezed and released the trigger. Maybe release sooner?
You mentioned early on a solid 4. I mentioned it was a good number. Pick a number between one and 10, 4 does sound good.
Now...if I was going in for surgery...criminal charges, trusting my life in the hands of others, I'd think 7 would better my chances.
Anyways, you discover something in your practice I'm all ears.
Practicing doesn't make perfect, but it gives repeatable results. The old adage of not learning by past history and repeating it, also holds true.
Look at what you did and ask why? Then ask what if? And remember 7 is obtainable.
Happy New Year.