mig welder destroying tips?

[BeNos]

hey all
first off id like to say what a great idea for a forum. top stuff
anyway i got myself a second hand pretty sure its a unimig craft 180(NOT 100%sure but its blue and says unimig and craft 180 on the side) and its approx 10 years old but done little work for the last 9 or so years.
anyway i was having a bit of a play around today and i literally destroyed 10 brand new tips and the gas shroud. and all i did was make up a steel bench.
i think the power setting was close but not 100% sure. and the wire feed well seemed to vary so much it was hard to get it correct.
anyway my welds looked like the hymalayas and some not overly strong. and was hard to get a consistand weld going.
what could possibly be going wrong? the material i was welding was 3mm box steel and mig wire is .6mm boc mild steel wire.
is my wire liner cactus? or is it purely user error? i never really had to much cap between head and weld pool but its possible it was to close.
any help appreciated or even if someone can confirm if that welder name sounds correct?
thanks heaps

 

[madkayaker]

are you using gas and if so what flow rate?

 

[Porschemaniac]

Hello BeNos,

And welcome to the forum- seriously, this has to be THE best forum on the web and you'll get helpful advice on a multitude of subjects (not just welding).

I'm not familiar with the welder that you mention - have you tried a quick Google on it?

If your welds are tall and not strong, that suggests a lack of penetration to me - so it could well be a power setting issue. The fact that you managed to destroy several tips and the gas shroud, though, seems contradictory to that - unless you are holding the torch much too close (which may be the problem).

If you do not know the machine's history, or it's been standing idle for a while, then the liner may not be helping. How consistent is the wire feed, with the tip away from the workpiece? Just try pulling the trigger with the torch aiming into open space and see how smooth the wire feed is. Is there is any jerkiness, first check the tension on the feed rollers and if that doesn't work, replace the liner.

You mention that you are using .MM BOC wire. What gas are you using - and do you have adequate gas flow?

It's always hard to diagnose faults like this without seeing the workpiece, so some photographs may well generate some more specific feedback.

All the best,

Ian.

 

[W4yne]

Hi there Benos,

I think the first place I would start if the machine has been left lying around for nine years is change the wire liner, it maybe the reason why your wire speed is vaying?

hey all
first off id like to say what a great idea for a forum. top stuff
anyway i got myself a second hand pretty sure its a unimig craft 180(NOT 100%sure but its blue and says unimig and craft 180 on the side) and its approx 10 years old but done little work for the last 9 or so years.
anyway i was having a bit of a play around today and i literally destroyed 10 brand new tips and the gas shroud. and all i did was make up a steel bench.
i think the power setting was close but not 100% sure. and the wire feed well seemed to vary so much it was hard to get it correct.
anyway my welds looked like the hymalayas and some not overly strong. and was hard to get a consistand weld going.
what could possibly be going wrong? the material i was welding was 3mm box steel and mig wire is .6mm boc mild steel wire.
is my wire liner cactus? or is it purely user error? i never really had to much cap between head and weld pool but its possible it was to close.
any help appreciated or even if someone can confirm if that welder name sounds correct?
thanks heaps

 

[Justme]

That or the wire if that too has been in the machine for 9 years.

 

[BeNos]

gas im using air liquide arcal 5? pretty sure it is. gas flow seems good. approx 10l/h or what ever the reading on the gauge is.
and it seems normally to have a fairly good feed but havent sat it there heaps just pulling the trigger. but on occasion it does seem to jerk.
what is the normal distance between gas shround and the workpiece. approx 10-15mm?
if so thats probs half my problem is to close.
but i think il just replace the liner anyway just to put my mind at ease, as it has been sitting for quite a while. recheck the tension on the guide thingo inside the cover and give it another crack. and il aso try get some pics but i sort of ground them back abit and have been painted. but most seem pretty strong just a couple havent really got a grip. they are basically forming big blobs and not really penetrating the world. also i was getting alot of skipping. i think a small percentage was not enough of a v in the material but would have thought a 180 amp unit should get a pretty decent penetration thru 3mm steel. without any gap?
thanks for your help fellas but mor is always appreciated.
cheers ben

 

[BeNos]

That or the wire if that too has been in the machine for 9 years.

na a new role of wire was fitted to the unit when i purchased it. i sort of got it thru a bloke we use at work. it was his inlaws unit when he owned a panel shop. the bloke i got it off put a new tip and wire in it and made sure it all worked ok. it seemed to go alright for him giving me the sense its user error but also have been told by the bloke at boc that the main problem with backburning is wire liners or pulling away from the job and i was never pulling away. as these dam tips are like 2 bucks a pop.

 

[BeNos]

over 250 views and no one new to shed some light into my problems in life haha.
ive decided to fork out for a new liner and some more tips and a new gas shield and see how it all goes.

 

[Wozzaaah]

Strange, I can see 4 replies offering sound advice.
Ignore the figures, most of the viewers will be guests who aren't able to reply.

 

[BChild]

3mm box section with 0.6mm wire - I'm not an expert just still learning but for anything that needs to be well held together I thought 0.8mm would be better???

 

[BeNos]

3mm box section with 0.6mm wire - I'm not an expert just still learning but for anything that needs to be well held together I thought 0.8mm would be better???

ah very interesting point. mayby i should go to .8mm wire with everything else.
is there a way to store wire so it wont rust as the role of .6mm wire is almost brand new.

 

[BChild]

ah very interesting point. mayby i should go to .8mm wire with everything else.

Like I said I'm not an expert but I had to make a jig up to align a replacement subframe heel board on a mini and it was 3mm thick plate I used 0.6mm wire and a chamfer to the but joint and I had to do several passes before I was really happy with it

I've just welded together some gates and that was 2mm - 3mm thick steel and 0.8mm wire meant it was just prep (clean) and then

my limited understanding is 0.6mm wire helps when welding thin stuff 0.7-1.0mm body panels as it reduces the effective amps (someone will correct me if I'm wrong)

is there a way to store wire so it wont rust as the role of .6mm wire is almost brand new.

The better halfs not totally happy with my storage location - I double poly bag whatever wire I'm not using and store it in the airing cupboard - I told her the price of the 5 kg roll and said if it stays in the garage I will be useless after a while and asked if she minded me buying a new roll everytime I needed to do some welding and she hasn't mentioned it since.

But she is very tolerant!!!

 

[madkayaker]

the vacume storage bags could be a good way forward for wire storage

 

[Dusty]

some of us would rather wait for a photo or two before even trying to guess at a solution, other that that already suggested.....

 

[SirDick Diodenob esquire]

I fitted a brand new Murex torch to my mig and the first thing I did was to melt the tip and the gas shroud , I should have done this to the decrepit old torch that was already fitted but I have to find everything out the hard way . The wire feed is fine and am using Murex wire in good condition and Argoshield light at 12L/min . I think the problem was too many amps and wire feed too slow made worse by me not immediately noticing that the wire wasnt coming out the end as still having difficulty seeing clearly whats happening at the weld , could be your problem is as simple as this ?

 

[BeNos]

i think its very possible sirdick. im still getting the hang of the settings and things like that.
i got a hold of some .9mm wire. (was more than half the price of the .8mm stuff) and gave it a quick go, was heaps better but think i may have not got the correct wire roller and am having weird wire feed issues now. though still managed to grenade another tip within a couple of minutes. but i think that was a problem with the wire roller. will have enother play tomoz and see what happens.
and dusty i did say taking a pic now would be pointless as i have ground them back a bit and painted them so a picture is not going to tell anything more than yep its a rather average weld. i will give this new wire a run and see how it all goes from there, but initial thoughts are heaps better.
thank you to all those who offered advice. it was all correct. thanks

 

[BeNos]

new wire pics

well got a hold of some new tips, new gas sheild and some .9mm wire(it was heaps cheaper than .8).
well gave it a bit of a crack. i found that power setting 4 or 5 out of 6 and wire speed 3-4 out of 10 was ok on the 3mm box. still managed to grenade about 2 tips but was heaps better than what it was before.
i could lay an alright bead but not get a real nice zigzaggy finish. but i guess that will come with pratice. the bigger wire seems to not need heaps of wire feed. so i guess with the bigger wire and a real high power setting i should be able to weld 5 or 6mm stuff fairly easily with enough practise.
anyway here is some pics

 

[BeNos]

also there was no prep in any of them photos.
seems to me to still be building up to much though
peoples thoughst?