Wire Feed Speed Set 10 Times Too Fast

[Paul Dorsey]

According to http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/calculator.htm my mig welder ought to be unraveling mig wire at 2.2 meters/minute. This figure is taking into account my setup and material to be welded.

My welder dispenses wire even when this dial is set to
'0', and it does so at 62 ft/minute (or 19.5 meters/minute). WHAT??
HELP????????????? 19.5 VS. 2.2?????????????

 

[weldequip]

Let me guess....it's an SIP??
weldequip

 

[malcolm]

It is fixable though even with a SIP. There's a little electric looking thing on the circuit board with a screwdriver slot in it that can be twiddled to sort this kind of thing. Trim pot they call it.

10x too fast is impressive.

 

[Paul Dorsey]

Let me guess....it's an SIP??
weldequip

I am a beginner. What's an SIP?
Paul

 

[irondarren]

SIP is a make of welder that seem to have more problems than most, what make of welder is yours

 

[rtbcomp]

Does the control knob have any effect at all? If it is a SIP sounds like the transistor has gone short circuit.

 

[Paul_R]

Could be a Cosmo, same problems different colour box.

 

[Paul Dorsey]

Thanks,
It's a inexpensive Marquette 90. I have welded with it, as a beginner for 2 years, off and on. Never very impressive though.
There is no 'circuit board' on the unit. Nor is there a screwdrive slot, nor any kind of adjustment.
Quite frankly, I wonder if the wire speed given on the chart is accurate. The only guy who looked at it did not mention the wire feed speed as a posible reason for my beginner's problems, and he used it!
(THE WIRE FEED SPEED, GIVEN IN THE CHART FOR MY SITUATION IS 2.2 METERS/MINUTE- ARE YOU SURE THAT THIS IS OK?
In the same amount of time, my speed is 62 feet (I measured it!)
Paul

 

[Paul Dorsey]

Thanks,
It's a inexpensive Marquette 90. I have welded with it, as a beginner for 2 years, off and on. Never very impressive though.
There is no 'circuit board' on the unit. Nor is there a screwdrive slot, nor any kind of adjustment.
Quite frankly, I wonder if the wire speed given on the chart is accurate. The only guy who looked at it did not mention the wire feed speed as a posible reason for my beginner's problems, and he used it!
(THE WIRE FEED SPEED, GIVEN IN THE CHART FOR MY SITUATION IS 2.2 METERS/MINUTE- ARE YOU SURE THAT THIS IS OK?
In the same amount of time, my speed is 62 feet (I measured it!)
Paul

 

[Drains]

62ft /min is waaaaay too much for a wee welding set. That's a foot a second. Too much for a 400Amp job most of the time too!

Believe the chart.

 

[irondarren]

Wire speed is voltage dependant, but just had a quick check of the chart and 2.2mtrs/min is for 0.8mm wire on 1.2mm plate, which sounds about right. At 62ft a min or 19.5mtrs a min, my thermo arc cant produce enough voltage to burn wire at that speed.
Just check at 16.5volts on 0.8mm wire feed speed is around 2.5mtrs a min. Difficult to tell on an industrial as they are more geared for thicker plate than thin plate, and the wire speed dial is from 0 - 20 mtrs over about 300 degrees of a turn.

Do you have any pics on any welds, because at that speed the wire will not melt but leave un melted strands.

There is normally a viable resistor on the pcb of the wire controller, that allows adjustment or fine tuning via a screwdriver.

 

[weldequip]

It's a inexpensive Marquette 90.

That's a new one on me got any pics?
weldequip

 

[Paul Dorsey]

OK, according to what I've been told here today the amount of wire that my little 90 amp mig welder OUGHT to dispense is about 1.5" per second and not 10 times that amount. This is the reason, then, that I've always complained about it sputtering. But, I just thought I wasn't holding it right or something similar.

When I pulled the cover off the welder I see that the motor that sits behind the rollers is only about the size of a pharmacy prescription bottle- and yet you says it's impressive that it rolls out 10-15 inches per second? Beyond the 'wire speed dial' (which is already set as low as it will go), and since there's no other adjustment for the wire speed- what do you suggest I do? The warrantee on it has expired.

What could cause such as this? Too much Wheaties Cereal???

Thanks, Paul in Georgia

 

[rtbcomp]

If there's no PCB then the speed control is most likely a simple rehostat in series with the feed motor, or a multi-position switch rather than a variable resistance.

 

[Luke]

I think the cure is to find a cylindrical hollow object with a blanked off end, about 0.5m high by 0.3m OD, and place the welder in it, if it'll fit.

If not, larger models are availble, usually with wheels on.

 

[Martinslost]

agree'd bin it and start with a new welder this sounds like its broken rather than just something turned up too high.

Steve, only place I can find for Marquette welders is: http://www.iserv.net/~wmogrady/lube/welders/welders.html the top 90amp one may be the one being discussed??

 

[irondarren]

It is likely if there is no adjustment the rheostat is basically broken, meaning it has no wire control. Unless you are adept at electrical repairs and can find a replacement of similar resistance and fit a new one. It is likely to be to expensive to repair, hence it may be worth looking at a new one.

 

[rtbcomp]

It is likely if there is no adjustment the rheostat is basically broken, meaning it has no wire control. Unless you are adept at electrical repairs and can find a replacement of similar resistance and fit a new one. It is likely to be to expensive to repair, hence it may be worth looking at a new one.

Also if the motor is controlled directly by a rehostat you will have to get one with the same power rating as well as the same resistance.

Fir reference this is the circuit on my SIP TopMig

 

[Paul Dorsey]

Wire Speed 10x too fast?????????????

I have never been satisfied with my mig welding. I took a Votech Course locally and spent all of my time (proably 20 hours) on a Hobart Industrial Mig Welder welding a 1 ft. piece of angle iron. This was not punishment, but, the instructor wanted me to get use to the torch as I have tremors in some positions. However, most of my tremors were well controlled during that time.
Two years have passed since that then. My 90 amp welder has been used successfully. The torch on it is a Miller and I use .30" wire (.8MM) with a 75/25 (argon co2) gas for welding. I know that this is the correct setup. Even though the battery box on my TR3 is proably thicker than the bulkhead, I measured the metal to be about .0045" thick or 1.2mm.
When I enter these variables (wire thickness and metal thickness) into the calculator I found at http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/calculator.htm from this site, yesterday, I first learned of my wire feed speed problem. It states on this page, that it ought to spin out 2.2 meters/minute. I broke that figure down to a per second equivalent.
For my circumstances a good wire feed speed, according to the experts is 1.5 inches every second, and I say even at my welder's slowest speed it still spits out 10-15 inches. Get this that the slowest speed is "0", while at it's fastest speed, we get about twice as much wire, (20-30").
The motor is only the size of a pharmacy pill bottle, and since I'm a beginner, I never knew that it was too fast a wire feed speed. All I knew is that I couldn't really stop it from splattering and stuterring.
I still don't know what to do. Can anyone help?
Paul

 

[irondarren]

Paul, mig welding is easy, but you need the wire feed at the right speed for the voltage and the gas flow roughly right once you get passed that bit, its just practice. Always nice when mig welding if you can use both hands on the torch and steady yourself by leaning against something, this i have found takes out most of the shakyness.
Problem is unless you can get the wirefeed problem fixed in someway you will never get a good weld and will end up dis-hearted with welding because you won't be able to produce nice welds. Problem is its not your fault its the machine. I think if you take it to somewhere to get it fixed its going to cos a good few quid or dollars possibly more than the machine is worth, unless you know someone who is handy with electronics and will do it for a favour. I doubt the parts from maplins or somewhere similar will cost a fortune.
If you cant get it repaired as a favour, i would honestly say its better to go and buy a new machine thats got warrenty and you know will work, then you can begin to enjoy welding (maybe charge friends and family a few quid for little welding repairs and get some of your money back, that you spent on a new machine.
Im guess here by the way you talk that your from the US, if thats the case speak to shenion (here on the boards), he is another one of your country men, and seems to know whats good and bad. If your from the UK then take a look at the clarkes range of machines, reasonable prices, easy spare parts etc