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Some welding I did today
- Thread starter Charley Davidson
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- Nov 8, 2011
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Same setting just a little lighter parent metal, plus I slowed down a bit.
Question on settings for a 3 range welder. When you jump up to the next range how much of a change do you need to make in wire feed? Example: I'm in med. at 4 for wire speed, if I jump to high where should I go with wire feed? Please give me a few scenarios like med. 12 to high ?wire feed?
Question on settings for a 3 range welder. When you jump up to the next range how much of a change do you need to make in wire feed? Example: I'm in med. at 4 for wire speed, if I jump to high where should I go with wire feed? Please give me a few scenarios like med. 12 to high ?wire feed?
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- May 1, 2011
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I am far from an expert weldor...but here are a couple of the hooks that I make and sell at www.boltonhooks.com :
Here is one "Hot off the press" so to speak:
Here is one after going over it with a small file to remove splatter, then media blasting, and finally primer'ed:
I use a Milller 210 MIG welder set at 5/75, 75/25 gas at 20 CFH, and Lincoln L56 .030" wire on 33lb spools.
My technique is to push the weld (only "drag when there is slag"), and weave in a C or half-circle pattern from side-to-side or piece-to-piece to ensure I am melting the puddle into each side, in other words get good penetration on both sides of the weld bead. One day I will try to get a video...
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- Jan 22, 2011
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Here's a short clip showing a couple of different movements during MIG.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI3pZxoPRvA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI3pZxoPRvA
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- Apr 30, 2012
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charley
as far as using a higher setting every welder is different and you want more heat not faster welding. if the feed is to high your putting in too much filler without reaching higher temp and puddle flow, you want flow not buildup. I would try a test piece the same thickness and just a small amount more wire feed on the higher setting and slow down concentrate more time in the center pushing it to the edges it should be a hissing sound and keep your tip back if your cone adjusts on the tip pull it out so about 3/16" of cone sticks out past the tip. if you have burn move the cone out more it will help stop burn back. but keep the cone close to the weld. no one mentioned this but you cannot have fan blowing on the area or be in a windy area if there is wind more gas is required. it's hard to tell someone how to do it and with a mig a good weld has a sound you will learn if it dont sound right it probably is not right. on a higher setting i will start center move left, pause center, move rt ,pause center, move left pause center, move right keeping most of the heat in the center so the weld lays down in the center. more heat time in the center make the puddle more liquid and it flows out to the sides instead of building up in the center. and if thats 1/2" stock make your weld at least 1/2" wide
I would find some thick scrap, I was a gas pipe fitter in the boiler makers union years ago and that means nothing anymore i have to practice before i weld anything. and i dont have the equipment i had then. i make my settings on scrap the same thickness first untill i'm happy then weld the part it saves a lot of grinding lol
i tried reading back if your using .030 or .035 wire you may not be able to move a heat range up using .030 without to much burn back.
I hope that helps
steve
as far as using a higher setting every welder is different and you want more heat not faster welding. if the feed is to high your putting in too much filler without reaching higher temp and puddle flow, you want flow not buildup. I would try a test piece the same thickness and just a small amount more wire feed on the higher setting and slow down concentrate more time in the center pushing it to the edges it should be a hissing sound and keep your tip back if your cone adjusts on the tip pull it out so about 3/16" of cone sticks out past the tip. if you have burn move the cone out more it will help stop burn back. but keep the cone close to the weld. no one mentioned this but you cannot have fan blowing on the area or be in a windy area if there is wind more gas is required. it's hard to tell someone how to do it and with a mig a good weld has a sound you will learn if it dont sound right it probably is not right. on a higher setting i will start center move left, pause center, move rt ,pause center, move left pause center, move right keeping most of the heat in the center so the weld lays down in the center. more heat time in the center make the puddle more liquid and it flows out to the sides instead of building up in the center. and if thats 1/2" stock make your weld at least 1/2" wide
I would find some thick scrap, I was a gas pipe fitter in the boiler makers union years ago and that means nothing anymore i have to practice before i weld anything. and i dont have the equipment i had then. i make my settings on scrap the same thickness first untill i'm happy then weld the part it saves a lot of grinding lol
i tried reading back if your using .030 or .035 wire you may not be able to move a heat range up using .030 without to much burn back.
I hope that helps
steve
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- Apr 30, 2012
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the two center pics with the red background look pretty good
what i forgot to say was if its a part you can move after jigged and spot welded raise one side so you are welding down in the bottom of a v it helps keep it uniform
steve
what i forgot to say was if its a part you can move after jigged and spot welded raise one side so you are welding down in the bottom of a v it helps keep it uniform
steve
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2011
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- 581
Just to clarify, you do not mean to insinuate that undercutting is good, Right? Actually undercutting is a very undesirable condition as it creates a stress riser point by reducing the parent metal thickness.
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- Jun 12, 2011
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Since it is thinner material, and you are using the same setting, essentially you have increased the joule input. On the thicker sections like the one's in the first pictures, try turning up your amps and increasing the wire feed some. And Practice, Practice and Practice, Remember, Somebody Had to be the Very First Person to Ever Try to Weld!
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my undercut comment was to say he has enough base metal melting that it's not a cold weld just laying on top of that thick metal. my bad wrong term I said i have been out of it too long and i would have to practice my first weld would probably not be as nice as his first weld with my new welder. there were 6 big hobarts dual spoolers in the shop i worked and they all had differences
steve
steve
I am not sure what machine you are using but that metal seems fairly thick and it may be, that you are getting cold welds because your welder may be grossly underpowered, it may not be up to the job for that thickness of steel. For that thickness I trust that you are also beveling the edges to get further penetration.
With that undercut the arc is melting the edges away but not enough wire feeding it to replace it or your travelling too fast, I am guessing here but it appears that the steel you are using is about 20-25mm thick and if so you would need to use at least 1.2 to 1.6mm wire with probably around the 300-350amps. Can't tell about the majority of your welds as I can't get a good look at them in those images, however the one that stands out is the 2'nd bottom pic in post 11, I would fail that job outright as the weld is cold with no tie in on the toes. Sorry, but to me that weld is not structurally sound.
To get an idea of tie in have a look at the following images, 2 are in a weaving bead and the other three straight weld bead, apart from the last pic most of these are using 10 and 12mm plate and the last one is of the underneath of a welding table I made using a 25mm top and had to tack a half of an I beam frame (16mm?) to the top so it wasn't an overly big bead, but enough to hold the 2 together, but you should get an idea of tie in, it is where the edge of the weld is fused to the both sides of the metal you are welding, if you don't have enough heat and amps then the bead just sits on top of the metal instead of biting in.
The other thing you may want to consider is to do multipass beads especially on metal this thick, otherwise you will get a lot of distortion trying to do a big bead in one pass.
If you do get more of these to do, you may want to look at a better/bigger 3 phase welder. Just my 2 cents for what it's worth.
With that undercut the arc is melting the edges away but not enough wire feeding it to replace it or your travelling too fast, I am guessing here but it appears that the steel you are using is about 20-25mm thick and if so you would need to use at least 1.2 to 1.6mm wire with probably around the 300-350amps. Can't tell about the majority of your welds as I can't get a good look at them in those images, however the one that stands out is the 2'nd bottom pic in post 11, I would fail that job outright as the weld is cold with no tie in on the toes. Sorry, but to me that weld is not structurally sound.
To get an idea of tie in have a look at the following images, 2 are in a weaving bead and the other three straight weld bead, apart from the last pic most of these are using 10 and 12mm plate and the last one is of the underneath of a welding table I made using a 25mm top and had to tack a half of an I beam frame (16mm?) to the top so it wasn't an overly big bead, but enough to hold the 2 together, but you should get an idea of tie in, it is where the edge of the weld is fused to the both sides of the metal you are welding, if you don't have enough heat and amps then the bead just sits on top of the metal instead of biting in.
The other thing you may want to consider is to do multipass beads especially on metal this thick, otherwise you will get a lot of distortion trying to do a big bead in one pass.
If you do get more of these to do, you may want to look at a better/bigger 3 phase welder. Just my 2 cents for what it's worth.
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