I did City and Guilds Level 1 with MIG. It amounts to about 30hrs welding and plenty of opportunity to pick your tutor's brains. When I'd done it I felt ready to start my Land Rover chassis repairs and have been making ok progress. I'm very glad I did the Level 1. When I've done with my chassis...
I have a Portamig 216S (15-215 amps, 12 voltage steps).
I'm welding approx. 2mm sheet steel with 0.8mm wire.
Couple of questions today.
1. Setting wire speed relative to voltage
I've dialled in myself to wire speed 5 voltage 4. The MIG settings calculator on this site suggests wire speed 3.5...
I know this thread is a year old but.. I was searching for some charts for my Portamig 216S and this thread came up. If you did too.. you might find this useful: https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/calculator.htm
I had already dialled in to about voltage 4 and wire speed 5 for welding ~2mm sheet...
I hadn't.. but it looks like they have thought of it:
https://yrmit.co.uk/product/rear-body-mounting-nut-plate-land-rover-defender-series-23/
I was talking to my Dad last night and we actually arrived at "rivet an ally plate in, and add a rubber spacer both sides..".
I was trying to do...
I have a portamig with reverse polarity option. I'm a beginner mild steel MIG welder using wire feed and Argon95 gas.
I have a mount point on my Series Land Rover that I'm considering repairing. It's corroded by being in contact with steel over the years. (I think it's birmabright, not pure...
I've actually learned a lot from this thread. Cheers all. :)
I am now turning the cylinder off first, draining the line, then turning the reg off.. and being more mindful of maybe leaving something smouldering somewhere. Cheers all.
Cheers, some good tips there, especially the 30-60min "cool off"..
I've read dust/metal particulate can build up in the welder over time. How frequently do you blow the insides out with an airline? Not too regular I assume as nobody mentioned it so more of a spring clean thing?
I'm new to welding.
When I finish and tidy away, I turn my gas off (regulator first, then bottle), drain the gas down with the torch until the regulator dials read zero, power off the welder, and tidy up the inside of the torch nozzle with a round file.
Is there anything else to do to keep...
I finally sparked up my portamig today and had a play welding some scrap up and experimenting with the settings.
I found some settings that worked well enough for the 2mm steel I was playing with. It wasn't burning through and the other side looked well scorched so the penetration seemed ok...
Cheers guys. That looks like what the welders on my course had so that makes sense.
I'll have him put a suitable plug on the welder for me at the same time. Looking forward to getting started. :D
I think this is the right board to post this as I'm sure it gets asked a lot by newcomers..
My Portamig 216s has arrived and now I need to wire it up.
The booklet says it needs a quick blow 20A fuse.
I'm having a separate circuit installed so I don't need to put it on the sockets ring main...
So that's what the 'A' dials are. :doh:
I admit I don't fully understand the connection to amperage.. but it looks like that Portamig has everything I need. Thanks all.!
By Wire Speed I mean a separate dial on the welder to control how fast the wire comes out when I press the gun feed.
I don't know what "synergic wire feed linked to voltage" means. It sounds like the welder automatically changes the wire speed depending on the voltage settings, but does not...