Butt weldling Problem

[jacko-73]

I'm struggling to butt weld 0.8mm together on my car. I'm using the equivalent of a portamig 211 on power setting 2 with wire speed between 5 - 7 using .6mm wire.

The weld is full of holes. I thought the wire speed was too high as it was spluttering, however when i turn it down i get no penetration.

Apologies if this should be in the beginners section...

Any advice?

Cheers

 

[W4yne]

Hi!


I have a Portamig 215 and for welding car panels 0.8 - 0.9mm I usually have it set for coarse volts 1, fine volts 2-3 with wire speed between 2.5 to 3 with 0.6 wire and argon mix gas of 95% argon 5% Co2. I normally test mine on a piece of scrap first of similar thickness to which I am welding just for fine tuning.

Where my machine has a minimum of 15A I believe your's would be 20A? I wouldn't think that there would be too much difference between the two machines though, the wire speed you are using does seem a little high. Is the wire you are using clean, free from rust etc? Good luck.

 

[gordon stephenson]

Looks a little cold to me, have you tried the voltage on the next power setting?

 

[jacko-73]

Thx for the suggestions. I will try the power on the next setting and slow the speed right down and see the results.

Yes my MTA 211 goes down to 20amps so should be similar to the portamig.

cheers

 

[Drains]

Jacko. Set your voltage (that's the power setting to you), then hold the torch in one hand, wire feed speed control in the other. Lid down. Pull trigger and aim at a bit of scrap ( what distance are you holding your torch away by the way?). Adjust feed speed until you get a nice smooth crackling sound. If the wire is balling, too slow, if it's hitting the job, too fast. There's a point somewhere in the middle that's what you're looking for.
Si

 

[jacko-73]

Thanks all - reducing the wire speed down to 3 resolved all my problems.