Welding with a Fronius 2200 using .023 wire?

[Jordan Funk]

Has anyone used the Fronius Transteel 2200 to weld mild steel using .023 wire and if so, did you use the .030 liner successfully with that wire?? Also, did you have to use the .023 clamping piece to avoid bird-nesting or is the .030 clamping piece adequate for .023 wire using a .030 liner?

Thanks guys (and gals

 

[tom2207]

I run 0.030 , well 0.8mm in mine all the time , never tried anything thinner .
Welcome to the forum .

 

[Jordan Funk]

But do you run .023 steel wire in the .030 liner??? Thanks.

 

[zzr1200]

But do you run .023 steel wire in the .030 liner??? Thanks.

Yes, just use the correct size contact tip.

 

[tom2207]

But do you run .023 steel wire in the .030 liner??? Thanks.

sorry , ive never tried , .. thinner than that and I either braze it or reach for tig

 

[Jordan Funk]

Thanks guys.

 

[Memmeddu]

Has anyone used the Fronius Transteel 2200

Yes I did but I seriously have to say it's the worst ever welder for the money I've used.
Starting with the fact that on 3500 euro welder I can't stand a flimsy plastic drive motor assembly.
We constantly have to put shims below the tensioner because plastic got deformed or it's not rigid enough to keep pressure on the rollers.
Second problem is that this thing goes bad in all of a sudden.
Let's say you need to do a specific job for Wich you'd want to use manual mig mode.
You put your preferred parameters, you start welding etc...
Once you finished the job you might want to put it back on synergic mig or whatever.
Well you'll soon discover that the preset values from the factory have been deleted and it's running on your manual mig mode settings.
So you have to contact fronius dealer to get the parameters restored.
Now I've said enough but essentially that specific welder is a piece of @#*$

 

[tom2207]

Yes I did but I seriously have to say it's the worst ever welder for the money I've used.
Starting with the fact that on 3500 euro welder I can't stand a flimsy plastic drive motor assembly.
We constantly have to put shims below the tensioner because plastic got deformed or it's not rigid enough to keep pressure on the rollers.
Second problem is that this thing goes bad in all of a sudden.
Let's say you need to do a specific job for Wich you'd want to use manual mig mode.
You put your preferred parameters, you start welding etc...
Once you finished the job you might want to put it back on synergic mig or whatever.
Well you'll soon discover that the preset values from the factory have been deleted and it's running on your manual mig mode settings.
So you have to contact fronius dealer to get the parameters restored.
Now I've said enough but essentially that specific welder is a piece of @#*$

wow ,,, granted the drive is plastic , but as long as you dont have apes adjusting the tension its grand ,,, I have no bother with the settings as I just save my current setting as a job , then call it back as a starting point when I want it ,,, presets stay as they are grand and if you mess everything up just do a factory reset . Its light , punch and I find it welds really well.
Ive not bothered using it as a stick or tig as I have other welders for that job , if it had pulse on mig and metal motor feed it would be perfect , , but then t would be an ewm .
Interesting how different folk find things , like blind men describing an elephant I guess.

 

[Memmeddu]

wow ,,, granted the drive is plastic , but as long as you dont have apes adjusting the tension its grand ,,, I have no bother with the settings as I just save my current setting as a job , then call it back as a starting point when I want it ,,, presets stay as they are grand and if you mess everything up just do a factory reset . Its light , punch and I find it welds really well.
Ive not bothered using it as a stick or tig as I have other welders for that job , if it had pulse on mig and metal motor feed it would be perfect , , but then t would be an ewm .
Interesting how different folk find things , like blind men describing an elephant I guess.

Maybe just be the one we have at work Wich doesn't have a save button it's like 10 year old or something like that.
When you got yours?

 

[tom2207]

Maybe just be the one we have at work Wich doesn't have a save button it's like 10 year old or something like that.
When you got yours?

do you not have two save buttons on the front , labelled as '' job'' , they are the life saver , mines set as job one hot fast auto stitch welding , and job 2 1.6mm steel synergic with arc force up and I start from there ,,, tweak them as the job runs and just swap from one to the other ,,, I am the only one using my machine and I look after the torch and tips , so I dont actually have to turn the feed roller pressures up very far at all ,,, now in a work situation I can see where the temptation to just swing on the drive rolls would creep in ,,, mines about two years old , I bought it here off the site and have really only started to use it in the last few months ,,, some of it took a bit of tweaking to get things the way I like it , we made friends and now it and I have an understanding ,,, basically Im the boss not it , in return I give it a diet of clean wire and good gas ,,,, and all is grand . Day on I didnt like it one bit , but I was doing a tractor cab and a bit of it was on the tractor and a bit on the bench ,,, a couple of days in and we were friends .

 

[wyn]

I've had mine for maybe a year and it switches ok from manual to synergic without losing any settings.

I have only used it with 1mm wire and use 2 geared drive rolls to push it through a 4.5M torch.

 

[Memmeddu]

do you not have two save buttons on the front , labelled as '' job'' , they are the life saver , mines set as job one hot fast auto stitch welding , and job 2 1.6mm steel synergic with arc force up and I start from there ,,, tweak them as the job runs and just swap from one to the other ,,, I am the only one using my machine and I look after the torch and tips , so I dont actually have to turn the feed roller pressures up very far at all ,,, now in a work situation I can see where the temptation to just swing on the drive rolls would creep in ,,, mines about two years old , I bought it here off the site and have really only started to use it in the last few months ,,, some of it took a bit of tweaking to get things the way I like it , we made friends and now it and I have an understanding ,,, basically Im the boss not it , in return I give it a diet of clean wire and good gas ,,,, and all is grand . Day on I didnt like it one bit , but I was doing a tractor cab and a bit of it was on the tractor and a bit on the bench ,,, a couple of days in and we were friends .

The one we have at work can't switch from synergic to manual without having to adjust default settings again
It will get stuck on 14.2V and too much wire feed speed
But when you try to increase a single value it changes both .
And it's seriously a PITA.
The torch gets dirty in seconds.
It seriously feel like a waste of money.
We recently got a three-phase Lockerman and it's a lot better than that .
Obviously yhere's a difference in current outputs but the settings don't get lost after switching mode

 

[trigger3]

everything is a piece of **** when your a amateur. ive had zero problem with my 2200. cant remember but i may of used .023 in .045 liner. just use the .023 rollers and contact tips

 

[Memmeddu]

everything is a piece of **** when your a amateur. ive had zero problem with my 2200. cant remember but i may of used .023 in .045 liner. just use the .023 rollers and contact tips

Problem is I'm not.
I'm used to non synergic machines too (350A migatronics and telwin) I've welded everything with them, hundreds kgs of wire "went" through my hand.
From regular ER70S6 to stainless steel, aluminum, flux core, and Corten.
I've told you my experience with the fronius we have, when it works it's a great machine but if you switch it in manual you have to restore the factory settings.
Knowing their reputation I thought it was how it works but from your replies I now think our unit is faulty

 

[trigger3]

its sounds as yours is faulty. if the 2200 was a lousy machine , certainly i wouldnt stand for it

 

[tom2207]

Problem is I'm not.
I'm used to non synergic machines too (350A migatronics and telwin) I've welded everything with them, hundreds kgs of wire "went" through my hand.
From regular ER70S6 to stainless steel, aluminum, flux core, and Corten.
I've told you my experience with the fronius we have, when it works it's a great machine but if you switch it in manual you have to restore the factory settings.
Knowing their reputation I thought it was how it works but from your replies I now think our unit is faulty

down load the manual from Fronius , and check the model hasnt changed , if its the same as the pictures there may be a software flash for it ,,, I was using mine yesterday and it was happy to swap about ,,, try the job store thing , if yours has that function ,,,,

 

[henry Kadzielski]

Has anyone used the Fronius Transteel 2200 to weld mild steel using .023 wire and if so, did you use the .030 liner successfully with that wire?? Also, did you have to use the .023 clamping piece to avoid bird-nesting or is the .030 clamping piece adequate for .023 wire using a .030 liner?

Welcome to the forum, I had to get the calculator out to work out what you were using (numbers that the rest of the world can understand ). I have a few Fronius machines and can't believe that there will be a problem with the one you have. However most likely it will be a faulty operator unit. Granted the thinner the wire, the greater the risk of bird nesting. What you most likely experiencing is a feed issue. If the liner has a kink, contaminated with rust or debris and or the wire is old and rusty, you will have feed issues. Not knowing your exact situation I can only guess and put some solutions forward.
Arcing in the liner or in the torch neck is another major contributor to feed issues. How old is you setup? Have you checked the tip? Arcing in the tip and or spatter on the end of the tip is one of the greatest causes of feed issues. You must have some type if issue, it's just a matter of finding it.
Is there a particular reason for using .023 wire, as the .030 is much more resistant to bird nesting.
Final comment, the tension should be set, such the wire should feed and not bird nest if it gets jammed.
Just my two cents worth.

 

[Erie Fred]

I have a small Lincoln welder set-up for .023 only.
Use it on sheetmetal with 100% CO2

 

[tom2207]

Im running 0.8mm wire and welding 0.7mm car panels when I have to , usually 0.9 mm and my repair sections for floors etc are 1.2mm by choice , I use the thicker steel as a heat soak when Im welding and just match up faces . now I use stitch welding on the internal timer when Im down that thin , its one of the main reasons for getting the machine as it runs stich so well , no gas cut off , its more like a slow pulse setting , takes a bit of experimenting to get it nice , but once I have it set up like that I save it as job 1 and its there at the touch of a button

 

[Jordan Funk]

I cannot get my Fronius 2200 Transteel to feed .023 wire. I get birdnesting between the back of the clamping piece and the mouth of the liner every time at the welder end. I wonder if I cut my liner too short? Any guidance on how to cut the liner to the correct length and how to deburr would be appreciated. I assume Transteel wants the liner long enough that it butts up against the back of the clamping piece on the welder end and butts up against the back of welding tip on the torch end. Should there be any gap at all at either end. Thanks.