Wow I’m a lousy welder

I too share the " I'm a grinder not a welder moniker. Been trying to learn from scratch over the last two years, a little here a little there on all types of welding but the welds just don't get any better looking. I've been a natural with most other tools but welding remains a challenge.
One good side benefit from all that grinding is all those sparks are a great stress reliever and they make me feel like a manly man.


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Flyinfool said:
There is also an adjustment for how hard the drive roller grips the wire. I have mine set so that if there is a momentary obstruction the drive wheels will slip instead of birds nesting. There is a fine line between allowing a bit of slip when needed to being to loose and not getting even feed. I almost always use .023 solid wire.
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This is brilliant.
I will slack off the tension so it slips instead of continuing to try and push wire.
I think the obstruction occurs at the tip from poor practices. A momentary blockage and it’s all over.

On the plus side switching to solid core and gas resulted in much better beads.


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Are you sure you have the gun and ground leads connected to the proper terminal (positive/negative). That changes depending on the type of wire you are using either flux core or solid.
 
Yes, I double checked that to be sure.
Thanks @Latinrascalrg1 for raising it though as it seems it's always the little things that trip me up.
 
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I have a different MIG gun for each size of wire that I run: 030, 035, 045. When you get into special FCAW wires or thin wire (why .024 specialty wire? Gen purpose is .035 in solid wire) the sizing of the sleeve and/or liner will make a significant difference on feed reliability. Auto-set welders like your Miller will not cope with wire feed issues. The computer relies on feed being rock stable. There are some tricks that go beyond tightening the feed rollers, but I'll wait until you've isolated your issue before going there.
 
Ok, I just looked at the pdf for my welder and the drive wheel is different side to side. One side is for flux core and the other for solid.
Thanks @NOBLNG for bring up flipping the wheel. I know for a fact that it's set for flux core because it's leaving small knurling marks in the flux core wire.

I have the .024 wire because I was using it for autobody sheet metal. It's only rated for .030 solid wire not .035 so that's my limit there. I don't have much call for .024 now so I might get a roll of .030 for general purpose work.
 
DavidR8 said:
Thanks @NOBLNG for bring up flipping the wheel.
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Actually FOMOGO mentioned flipping the wheel before I did! And Flyinfool is right about setting the drive rolls looser...better to have them spin than constantly bird nesting. That said, if it is bird nesting there is definitely a problem somewhere.
 
Indeed @FOMOGO mentioned it first. My apologies good sir!


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No apology required. Just glad you got it figured out. That's one of the great things about this site, there's almost always someone to point you in the right direction. Can't count the number of times I've been helped out, or learned something new following someone else's search for an answer to a their question. Mike
 
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