Please help me with welding!

[I like karts]

Well, I have an arc welder, and I have been trying to weld stuff, but whenever I do it just makes this horrible splattery weld that doesn hold well, I think I might be holding the welder too far away (I'm holing the tip likr 1/2 inch off should it be touching?), but it might just be a crappy welder.
btw the welder is a campbell-hausfield flux core 80


Please help!

[AutoMX]

im too lazy to look it up but i take it that it's a stick and not a wire feed. a stick should be as close as possible without touching (as far as i know), i read about 1/8" away to 1/4".
for a wire feed, it more or less works up to an inch away but close is suggested since the welds are cleaner and it heats the metal a bit more evenly.

[I like karts]

it's wire feed, and thanks

[Kenny_McCormic]

Hold gun about 1/2 inch form weld, angel gun in direction of the bead, keep bead 1/4 to 3/8" wide, should sound like frying bacon, try increasing amperage and feed rate. With practice your welds will still look like **** unless you mod it to mig but they will be super strong and look nice cleaned up. You want the amp/feed rate adjusted so the back side of what is being welded gets bright red or brighter(end result should be dull gray and fused together on non welded side).

[Stonecutter]

Bad spattering can be caused if you're using dirty or rusted metal, the amperage is set too low, the spool feed speed is too fast for the amperage, or you have a bad ground.
I usually use an air grinder to pre-clean the metal where the welds will be. Also, grind, sand, or clean the metal where you attach the ground clamp unless you're using clean metal.

Get some scrap pieces of the same thickness metal that you typically use and practice welding them with different settings. My welder came with a video and an instruction guide that lists the most common settings for various metal thicknesses.
Basically, it's just a case of practice makes perfect. After a while you'll know your welder and what spool speed and amp settings to use.
Keep your tip at a 45 degree angle when starting the arc and while welding.
oh yeah.... if you're using gas (argon), you can't have any wind blowing the gas away from the weld area. If it's windy you have to put a tent or barrier around the work area. I prefer to use the flux core wire so there's no need to use the gas, which can get expensive or time consuming to refill if you do a lot of welding.